Greetings to you and welcome to the application process. Our entry to admission into our church, our clerical training program, our religious order, and those who seek incardination will find all the needed information on this page.
All applications must be completed in full to be accepted and processed. A registration fee of $100 is due at the time of processing the application. Please note, there is no further financial requirement for the program directly. We do, however, request a small ongoing donation to support the judiciary. Indirectly, the student in the clerical program is required to borrow or purchase the books, vestments, and items as needed for the progression of training. Further, he or she will have to have altar training and will require travel or arrangements with a bishop or priest to further their training through clerical orders. Lastly, all members are required to attend the annual Synod usually held in the Midwest in the Fall.
All potential people seeking membership must fall into the following criteria:
- Must be over the age of 18yrs, 21yrs to seek the clerical orders
- Must complete a background check at your cost through us or may submit a federal background check, our cost varies based on states and what is discovered.
- Must have completed or is willing to be baptized, communicated, and confirmed with written verification provided if seeking holy orders
- Must have the ability to read/write in English and present and communicate effectively in person and in writing including the academic rigor of the clerical training program if seeking to be clergy/monastics
Those seeking incardination into the church proper must meet the following criteria:
- Must provide all prior minor/major orders in writing
- Must provide an excardination document from prior jurisdiction/diocese or community stating you have been released
- Must abstain from any ministry ongoing without the consent of a Presiding Bishops/Formation Director as part of the process, those who ordain or consecrate while in this process are severed immediately and need not reapply
- Must submit any formal education/seminary work to the Provost of the House of Studies as needed throughout the process or to show you have the knowledge and can be released from certain coursework. We see no need to redo what you already know.
The process of seeking admission is to speak to one of our presiding bishops, then we follow this path:
- A short phone interview is set and an informal discussion
- The Bishop will then make it known to the Formation Director that we have a potential new member
- The Formation Director will then email communication and welcome the potential member asking for two papers to be written:
- Religious Autobiography: This is a written history of your past, how religion or spirituality came into your life, key experiences, milestones, and aspects that set you on the path to a calling to ministry, monasticism, etc. and how these experiences make up who you are now.
- Ministerial Projection: This is a document that takes off where the other leaves off and offers up your intended ministry within the YR, why you chose to be with us, how our charism and your calling unite, what you want to accomplish, and how we might help you get there.
- When this is complete, the Formation Director will then seek to establish your understanding of The Ancient Apostolic Church of Alexandria but offering preliminary education through written and verbal Q&A to ensure the community is a good fit for you. The potential member should express their own beliefs, feelings, and what understood from the information. It is not important to be in total agreement but it is important to understand the terrain of the Tradition.
- Lastly, the Formation Director will either do a formal interview or decide to move the student on to the coursework after he/she is released from the first part of their formation. This can lead to the novice work in the Order of Mystics, to work with a teacher directly or to enter the House of Studies and this is determined by each person.
- If the potential member is seeking incardination or has prior knowledge or experience all of this will be worked through so that the coursework previously undertaken is needed and not just taken again. This decision is made by the Provost who is the Primary Instructor.
Governance
It is important to note that governance of the Alexandrian Church is a triad of Presiding Bishops set forth in the trinity ideal of the three who work as one. These administrative bishops hold posts within the training of students formation, are part of all discussions, handle all administrative issues, and make all final determinations. Note that they alone are the administrators; all other bishops hold auxiliary titles/roles and are set in posts for the benefit of Church and its current needs.