The Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church, also known as the Antiochian Catholic Apostolic Church, the Metropolitan Catholicate of Antioch, the Metropolitan Catholicate within the Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church, or simply, the Antiochian Church and legally the Antiochian Metropolitanate, is the proper continuation of the Church of Antioch, the second oldest established apostolic—meaning, pertaining to the Apostles of Jesus—church in all existence after the Church of Jerusalem (which has been absorbed into Antiochian jurisdiction alongside the Alexandrian Church in Egypt).

The autocephalous—meaning self-lawed and self-headed, or simply, independent—church of Antioch’s establishment is primarily attributed to Saints Peter, Paul, and John with two jurisdictional churches of the Antiochian Church attributed also to Paul and John (Hierapolis and Smyrna). Saint Peter, First Among Equals, and first metropolitan bishop of the Antiochian Church, consecrated Saint Evodius—one of the first identifiable Christians—as his apostolic successor. After the death of Saint Evodius, Saint Peter chose Ignatius Theophorus-Nurono as his successor. From then on the spiritual brothers of Saint Ignatius in the ordained priesthood, all of whom were students of Apostle John, were chosen as the bishops of the two other episcopal sees: Saint Polycarp appointed to Smyrna after the death of Saint Bucolus, who before him was Saint Strataes, and before him, Saint Apelles, and Saint Papias appointed to Hierapolis where Apostle Phillip is buried. These three holy men are members of the Fathers of the Great and Holy Church.

Historical and theological distinctiveness of the Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church resulted from the series of Arian, semi-Arian, Old Oriental, [Greek] Orthodox Catholic, and Roman Catholic upheavals and schisms—or, divisions of men—that occurred in the Antiochian Church since the deposition of Saint Eustathius the Great in 330 (AD/CE). The influence of the Church of Constantinople also came as a result, overshadowing the Antiochian Church which resulted in a further gradual process of separation via the supporters of Saint Eustathius, remaining out of the state-sanctioned Imperial Greek Catholic Church of the Roman Empire.

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Remaining out of the state-sanctioned church, the historical development of the Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church's administration primarily consisted of presbyter-bishops following the Alexandrian habitude after having lost the historical episcopate according to the traditional, Antiochian understanding. Eventually, it's historical episcopate would be restored through some either submitting to the state-sanctioned church and its successors; through receiving clandestine ordination for the sake of the salvation of souls; and, very belatedly, through non-Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic clergy joining those who remained both outside and within the state-sanctioned church and its successors, and who desired to embrace some tenets of the Ancient Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Christian tradition.

 

Some of these non-Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic clergy who assisted the Antiochian Metropolitanate's lesser-known presbyter-bishops have included Johann Frederik Nico Bloom van Assendelft-Altland of the Primitive Antiochian Apostolic Orthodox Church of the Syro-Byzantine Tradition, whose episcopal genealogy extended back several bishops to Ignatius Peter IV of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch—an ecumenical prelate who labored to heal wounds of schism and provided a means for others to spread Christianity according to the Syriac tradition (something which would later be discouraged and rejected by his successors); it also included William Bernard Crow of the Ancient Orthodox Catholic Church and Order of Holy Wisdom—a man whose historical episcopate likewise extended back several bishops to Ignatius Peter IV. Through these bishops being influenced by the lesser-known presbyter-bishops of the Antiochian Metropolitanate and others, conflict surrounding the historicity and the episcopal ministry of the Antiochian Metropolis was not without warrant. Nevertheless, several Antiochian Apostolic clergy would be incardinated in those churches and depart following a lack of full conversion of those churches to the genuine tradition of Ancient Orthodoxy as hoped, for a greater, public presence and organizational cohesion. Yet, they would be conferred the authority to retain their ecumenical holy orders and return to the Antiochian Metropolitanate's then-decentralized hierarchy singularly, instead of serving within two jurisdictions that had similar names; and, following, those former jurisdictions were dissolved with the incardination of van Assendelft-Altland into the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and the death of Crow and his church being subsumed into the British Orthodox Church via the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

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Since then, the following churches have claimed to be the proper continuation of the Church of Antioch alongside the Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church: the Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, and the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, among other lesser known jurisdictions. Those other claimant successors to the early Antiochian Church are accorded due respect.

This autocephalous church of Antioch—the Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church—is governed collaboratively by the Apostolic Synod of Antioch. Among them, the Bishop of the Cathedral of Christ the King—or, Ecumenical Metropolitan and Catholicos—has honorary status as First Among Equals, being in historic, apostolic succession through the founders of the Antiochian Church. He is also the First Among Equals within the Ancient Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church as a whole institution, working alongside the Ecumenical Metropolitan of the Syracusan Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church—or Syracusan Catholic Apostolic Church—who serves as Second Among Equals.

The Antiochian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church has defined its doctrines through the upholding of the Council of Nicaea which Saint Eustathius participated in, in addition to the Ancient Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Statute, and those subordinate canons and decrees of the Great and Holy Apostolic Church of Jesus the Christ. It is guided and protected by the Holy Spirit, and so protected from falling into heresy, as other members of the Ancient Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church also hold. All beliefs of the church are based on the Holy Bible and Holy Tradition, which have been collectively called the deposit of faith. Formal worship, termed the Antiochian Liturgy or Divine Liturgy of Saint Ignatius, is regulated by church authority, with the Great Mystery—the Eucharist, or Holy Communion—being central in worship.