The death has been announced of Bishop Philip James Thompson, OCR, OA, BTh, who passed away unexpectedly yesterday. The cause of death has been reported as cardiac arrest.

Bishop James served as suffragan bishop for the African Orthodox Church, Diocese of Long Island under Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan, OCR, OA. He was consecrated to the Episcopate on 21 April 2013 by Archbishop Brennan, Archbishop Francis Spataro OCR, OA, Archbishop Paget E.J. Mack of the Apostolic Episcopal Church and Archbishop William Manseau of the Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of America.

Bishop James’ journey towards ordination began with the Elim International Fellowship in Brooklyn, New York, in 1990. He served on the usher board and as a prayer practitioner, and from 1993 began taking classes at the church’s Bible Institute, where he subsequently taught. In 1999 he received a certificate for Outstanding Christian Service. He continued studies via extension from Oral Roberts University and then at Agape Old Catholic Seminary in Kentucky where he graduated Licentiate in Sacred Theology (2009) and Bachelor of Theology (2010).

After commencing seminary studies, Bishop James served for two years at St Lucy’s Old Roman Catholic Cathedral, New York, under Archbishop Louis Elias Milazzo. In 2012 he was ordained deacon and priest for the African Orthodox Church by Archbishop Brennan and received as a member of the Order of Corporate Reunion. He was admitted to the Second Class in the Order of Antioch in July 2013. In August 2015, the Synod of the African Orthodox Church elected him to the position of Treasurer.

Memory Eternal!

The Prince-Abbot and the Grand Chancellor met recently with Shea C. Megale, CompOCT, CompOLBC, touring England from the United States. Ms Megale is a Companion of the Orders of the Crown of Thorns and the Lion and the Black Cross, and can be seen wearing her insignia below. She was a guest of the Prince-Abbot at his London club and enjoyed tea before continuing her busy itinerary.

The Prince-Abbot has received awards from the Rt. Revd. Christian Kliver, Bishop for the German-speaking countries in the Apostolic Pastoral Congress and a member of the Confraternitas Oecumenica Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani.

The Apostolic Pastoral Congress is a Pentecostal Holiness church and a member of the Evangelical Alliance of Great Britain as well as a number of ecumenical groups.

Bishop Kliver has awarded the Medal “Pro Deo et Ecclesia” and the “Abbot Klaus D. Schlapps OPR” Memorial Medal to the Prince-Abbot. The latter medal commemorates the late Dom Klaus Schlapps OPR OA, Grand Prior and Duke of Saih Nasra in the Abbey-Principality and a member of the Order of Antioch, who was a mutual friend of the Prince-Abbot and Bishop Kliver.

Bishop Kliver, who is a member of the Order of the Crown of Thorns and the Order of the Sacred Cup, has been appointed a Chaplain of the San Luigi Orders in the Grand Priory of Continental Europe.

The Prince-Abbot has received the Badge of Honour – Cross of Merit for organization of soldiers of the Home Army Uprising Special Forces “Jerzyki” (“Swifts”) (Odznaka Honorowa Krzyż Za Zasługi dla Środowiska Żołnierzy AK Powstańcze Oddziały Specjalne “Jerzyki”). The Special Forces “Swifts” was the most prominent Polish underground resistance movement during the Second World War committed to achieving Polish independence from Nazi occupation and to taking an active part in the rescue of Jews from the ghettos in Warsaw, Podole and Lviv. It was said that by 1942-43 the group numbered some twelve thousand, and it had by then become an effective military force with a number of victories against the regime to its credit. The name “Swifts” derived from the nickname of the Polish commander Jerzy Strzałkowski.

In peacetime, the Swifts have maintained an association for veterans and to commemorate their members’ service during the war. An annual ceremony is held in memory of fallen colleagues (see photograph above). In 1987, the Republic of Poland conferred upon the Special Forces “Swifts” the Gold Cross of the Order Virtuti Militari.