George Alexander McGuire (28 March 1866 – 10 November 1934) was the founder of the African Orthodox Church,[1] and a prominent member of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

[3] In his adulthood, he studied at the Moravian Miskey Seminary in the Danish West Indies, and at Mico College's Antigua campus.

He initially joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was the first independent black Christian denomination in the country, founded in the early nineteenth century.

On 2 January 1895, McGuire formally joined the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, and two years later he was ordained as a priest.

[4] McGuire led small, predominantly African American churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Richmond, Virginia; and Philadelphia.

St. Philip's Episcopal Church of Richmond, Virginia lists "Reverend George Alexander McQuire" as rector from April 1898 to November 1900.

Not long after, he was elected bishop by a group of autonomously governed black Episcopal churches from the United States, Canada, and Cuba.

While it admits to membership and other privileges persons of all races, IT SEEKS PARTICULARLY TO REACH OUT TO THE MILLIONS OF AFRICAN DESCENT IN BOTH HEMISPHERES, and declares itself to be perpetually autonomous and controlled by Negroes.

[3]Initiating negotiations for episcopal ordination, McGuire sought to acquire apostolic succession for this independent church; he first sought consecration through Patrick Cardinal Hayes of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and Bishop William T. Manning of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

Following these series of denials, McGuire was consecrated by Rene Vilatte of the American Catholic Church,[note 1][3] who was made bishop through an Oriental Orthodox church after having sought consecrations from numerous mainstream Episcopal, Old Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox bodies.

In December 1921, three months after his consecration, McGuire—through the intercession of Eastern Orthodox prelates—was granted an audience with Patriarch Meletios while the latter was on a visit to New York City.