Leon Checkemian

Checkemian was ordained to "the four degrees of subdeacon" on 20 November 1866; on the following day he was advanced to "the degree of high deacon" and on 27 November 1866 was "anointed priest" in Behesni at the hands of Archbishop Chorchorunian with the permission of Archbishop Nazarin and also the newly elected Patriarch Antonius Peter IX. He served as priest at Besui 1866-68, Aintab 1868,Gurum 1868-77, Malatia 1868-77 & 1878-81 before serving in Constantinople 1881-85 when he left the Armenian Catholic Church.

Checkemian was ordained to "the four degrees of subdeacon" on 20 November 1866; on the following day he was advanced to "the degree of high deacon" and on 27 November 1866 was "anointed priest" in Behesni at the hands of Archbishop Chorchorunian with the permission of Archbishop Nazarin and also the newly elected Patriarch Antonius Peter IX. He served as priest at Besui 1866-68, Aintab 1868,Gurum 1868-77, Malatia 1868-77 & 1878-81 before serving in Constantinople 1881-85 when he left the Armenian Catholic Church.

Checkemian was ordained to "the four degrees of subdeacon" on 20 November 1866; on the following day he was advanced to "the degree of high deacon" and on 27 November 1866 was "anointed priest" in Behesni at the hands of Archbishop Chorchorunian with the permission of Archbishop Nazarin and also the newly elected Patriarch Antonius Peter IX. He served as priest at Besui 1866-68, Aintab 1868,Gurum 1868-77, Malatia 1868-77 & 1878-81 before serving in Constantinople 1881-85 when he left the Armenian Catholic Church.

Checkemian's claim to episcopal status does not appear until later. In 1901 he merely refers to himself as having "received from the Archbishop of Malatieh, Armenia, the degree of "Very Honourable Doctor". According to his seal, adopted after 1898, Checkemian was "consecrated a Bishop at Malatia, Asia Minor, 1878" and his own account was that on 23 April 1878 he was consecrated as Bishop of Malatia in the great Cathedral of Malatia by Archbishop Chorchorunian , receiving the titles "Most Honourable Lord Doctor and Very Reverend."

Although adduced as evidence of his episcopal status, the press report provides no conclusive evidence but rather supports the opinion that what Checkemian received from Chorchorunian was not the episcopate but one of the ranks of Wartabyd, vardapet. It was not uncommon for a diocese to be administered by a vardapet in the absence of a bishop and he was accorded quasi-episcopal insignia but not the episcopal status necessary to ordain. In his book, An Eastern Steps from Darkness to Light (1890) Checkemian had spoken of being "Equal to the bishop in all things, save the power of ordaining priests."

"This was his Oriental way of translating a stipulation, made at the time of his consecration, that he should not confer Holy Orders during the life of Archbishop Chorchorunian except with special permission. In other words, he was Episcopus in partibus infidelium, a bishop without regular jurisdiction consecrated to assist another bishop, now commonly called a Titular or Missionary Bishop."

In Armenian the word, A-a]nort, arachnort, referring to a diocesan prelate or primate, is a title given to the overseer of a given diocese. There are many cases in the Armenian Church where the arachnorts (primates) were vardepets and not necessarily bishops. A vardapet arachnort had all the powers and authority of a diocesan bishop, except the right to ordain priests. A vardapet who was arachnort had the right to confer only minor orders. It is possible, therefore, that Checkemian was the Arachnort of Malatia which means that he was the primate of that community and this translated rather into his claim to be Bishop of Malatia.

The following year, Dr. Checkemian created the Free Protestant Church of England as a common meeting place for all types of Protestant christians - Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc. On 4 May 1890, in order to remove any doubts as to his episcopal status, he received consecration from the above mentioned Bishops Charles Isaac Stevens and Alfred Spencer Richardson.

Some church historians have criticised Primus Richardson for being involved in consecrating Dr Martin, and later on 4 May 1890 assisting Archbishop Charles Isaac Stevens (a former REC of UK presbyter) of the Ancient British Church in the sub conditione consecration of Leon Chechemian. According to FPEC tradtion, these consecrations occurred in one of Bishop Richardson's London churches, most likely at Christ Church, Carlton Hill. Dr Richardson was the first Anglican tradition bishop to bestow the historic episcopate to other Christian denominations without requiring them to strictly follow Anglican theology - this idea was stated to be a good gesture in the past by various Church of England divines but had to that point never been acted upon. He was establishing a precedent later followed by his church's communion partner the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United States. On 5 December 1896 REC Bishop Peter Fayssoux Stevens (1830 - 1910) consecrated Edward Russell Middleton as bishop for the Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church. This church body is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, and still maintains the historic episcopate.