George Alexander McGuire

Who was George Alexander McGuire?

George Alexander McGuire was the first Bishop, Metropolitan Archbishop of the African Orthodox Church. He was an Episcopal Priest who became involved in a movement to establish a Black Anglican denomination. He was consecrated a Bishop on 28 September 1921 in Chicago, Illinois by Joseph Rene Vilatte, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of America of the Syrian Church of Antioch. Vilatte was assisted by Bishop Carl A. Nybladh. This consecration placed Bishop McGuire in valid apostolic succession.

McGuire was from the Caribbean and was born on 28 March 1866 in Sweets, Antigua. He studied in local grammar schools, a teacher's college and the Moravian Seminary. He first served as a pastor of Moravian churches. In 1910, he became a physician and surgeon at the Boston College of Physicians and Surgeons while he was a pastor in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The AOC was originally called the Independent Episcopal Church. At its first Conclave, 10 September 1924, the name was changed to African Orthodox Church. McGuire was unanimously elected Archbishop of this new Church, enthroned with the title Archbishop Alexander.