Oriental Orthodoxy in Guatemala

Oriental Orthodoxy in Guatemala refers to adherents of Oriental Orthodox Christianity in Guatemala. Most of the Oriental Orthodox Christians in Guatemala are ethnic Maya, who are under ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch.

History
Emergence of Oriental Orthodoxy in Guatemala was closely related to the process of canonical revival within particular Christian communities. By 2012, first contacts were initiated between the Renewed Ecumenical Catholic Church of Guatemala (Iglesia Católica Ecuménica Renovada en Guatemala, ICERGUA) and representatives of Syriac Orthodox Church in North America, and within a year full communion was achieved. Leaders of ICERGUA accepted theological positions of Oriental Orthodox Christianity, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas of Antioch. Conversion process was particularly successful among indigenous Maya in Guatemala.

This revival movement was led by Eduardo Aguirre-Oestmann, a former priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guatemala. In 2003, Aguirre formed ICERGUA as a charismatic independent catholic church. In 2006, Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Guatemala, excommunicated Aguirre and adherents of his group. They were excommunicated for schism, and Aguirre also for distancing himself "from the communion and the norms of his priesthood" by founding the Comunión Ecuménica Santa María del Nuevo Éxodo in 2003. In 2007, Aguirre was consecrated as bishop of ICERGUA by a bishop of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church at the parish church in San Juan Comalapa. ICERGUA was a member of the Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic Churches.

When ICERGUA was collectively received into Syriac Orthodox Church in 2012-2013, it was reorganized as the "Central American Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch" (Arquidiócesis de Centro América de la Iglesia Católica Apostólica Siro-Ortodoxa de Antioquía, ICASOAC). As of 2015, ICASOAC has not published membership figures but includes a 2009 estimate of ICERGUA membership on its website, which gives figures between 50,000 and 350,000.

It also controls the only Oriental orthodox church in the US Territory of Puerto Rico in the town of Aguada.