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Alexander, Daniel William
1883 to 1970
African Independent Orthodox Church (1962- )
African Orthodox Church (1924-1962)
African Church (1920-1924)
Ethiopian Catholic Church in Zion
Anglican Church - CPSA
Roman Catholic Church
South Africa
Daniel William Alexander was born on December 23, 1883 in Port
Elizabeth. There are conflicting reports about his birth
parentage. Johnson (1992:78) says he was born on December 25, and
that his mother was of Cuban and Javanese extraction, but in his
application for a French passport he said his father was a French
subject from Martinique and his mother was an African. He was
brought up as a Roman Catholic, but later joined the Anglican
Church. He was commandered to serve as a cook in the Anglo-Boer
War when he was living in Johannesburg, and went to Natal. He was
arrested as a British spy and imprisoned in Pretoria, and
released when the British took the city. His first wife, Maria
Horsley, died about this time (Johnson 1992:79). He met an
Anglican priest, Father Godfrey, who asked him to help with a
funeral, and he became an Anglican, and began to study for
ordination (Johnson 1992:80). He was a catechist at St. Cuthbert's
Anglican Church in Pretoria when he married his wife Elizabeth on
August 29, 1902. He later joined Brander's Ethiopian Catholic
Church in Zion, where he was a Provincial Canon, Director of the
Rand, and Prebendary of St. Augustine's Pro-Cathedral
(Kampenhausen 1976:578).
According to Johnson (1992:81) Alexander
left Pretoria and the Anglican Church in 1914. In about 1920 he
joined the African Church of J. Khanyane Napo, who had also been
a member of the Ethiopian Catholic Church in Zion. He was
stationed in Kimberley, and, tired of being summoned to
Johannesburg for meetings about quarrels between the leaders,
left to form the African Orthodox Church in 1924. He sought to
affiliate this with George McGuire's African Orthodox Church in
the U.S.A. after reading a sermon by McGuire in "Negro World" of August 9, 1924 (Marks & Trapido 1987:221), and was consecrated a
bishop by McGuire and others in America in 1927.
In about 1928
Reuben Spartas in Uganda made contact with Alexander.
Alexander traveled to Uganda in October 1931, and on Trinity
Sunday 1932 he ordained Reuben Spartas and Obadiah Basajjikitalo
as priests (Welbourn 1961:81). When travelling back to South
Africa Alexander met a postal clerk, James Beuttah, in Mombasa.
Beuttah suggested that he return to Kenya to visit the
independent schools associations. In May 1935 Alexander wrote to
Archbishop Isidore of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
Johannesburg, asking for letters of introduction to Fr. Nikodemos
Sarikas of Tanganyika and the Patriarch of Jerusalem (Githieya
1992:158). The Archbishop replied, suggesting that he visit the
Patriarch of Alexandria. Alexander arrived in Kenya on
November 18, 1935, and founded a seminary with eight students at
Gituamba. In June 1937 he ordained two of his students and
priests and two as deacons and returned to South Africa (Githieya
1992:167-168). The African Orthodox Church in South Africa
received government recognition in 1941. In 1960 two bishops from
the American branch of the AOC visited South Africa to consecrate
two new bishops. Shortly after the consecration, they deposed
Alexander, and promulgated "emergency regulations" to govern the
church. After that, mainly as a result of American interference,
the AOC broke up into several factions, and Alexander changed the
name of his branch to the African Independent Orthodox Church.
Stephen Hayes
Bibliography:
Githieya, Francis Kimani. 1992. The New People of God: The
Christian Community of the African Orthodox Church (Karing'a) and
the Abathi (Agikuyu Spirit Churches). U.S.A.: Emory University,
Ph.D. dissertation.
Welbourn, F. B. 1961. East African Rebels: A Study of Some
Independent Churches. London: SCM.
This article is generated by the Database of African Church
Leaders, which is part of the Database of African
Independent Churches maintained by Stephen Hayes. All rights reserved.
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