I read about the Bragan Rite whilst reading up on the non-canonical (formerly canonical?) Orthodox church in Portugal. I understand it's allowed in RC churches in the Archdiocese of Braga...Are there any canonical Orthodox churches using it now the Portugese are in schism?
Not that I know of, but next time I go to Portugal, I want to attend it. But in Braga, in the actual Roman church. The "Orthodox" church of Portugal is just a charlatan's work, not even a schism.
There was a group of Portuguese and Brazilians who converted to an Old Calendar church and had the grandiloquent name of "Church of All Portugal, Spain and Brazil" with the proud aim of becoming the Orthodox Church of Iberia and of the lands colonized by them. They repented though and asked and received the protection of the canonical Orthodox Church of Poland.
Things were well, until the original leader of the group, Metropolitan Gabriel, passed away. The newly elected bishop João was elevated in Poland, just to the "plain" rank of bishop but returned wearing the vestiments of a metropolitan and claiming he had been elevated to this rank. Besides this, some financial scandals appeared and some ethical-theological too. Part of the Brazilian clergy entered in contact with the mother church in Poland which started investigations and found out about the financial and heretical misbehaviour of Bishop João - pretending to be a metropolitan being the smallest of them. The Portuguese side of the group was defrocked and two of the Brazilian priests were made bishops by the Polish Church: Archbishop Don Crisóstomos of Rio de Janeiro and Bishop Don Ambrósio of Recife, which are canonically under the Polish Church and with their jurisdictions limited to Brazil only.
Another part of the Brazilian clergy and faithful wanted to stay away from all this story and were accepted by Don Mitrophan of the US Eastern Diocese of the Serbian Church. That's the group led by Archpriest Alex. Both groups are very honest, faithful and active in missionary action in Brazil.
The Portuguese group, still under the charlatan João, is still up to their misdoings in Portugal, unfortunately.
