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Founding
The Church of Aphrodite was founded by Gleb Botkin. It was founded in New York, and it became one of the first legally recognized pagan religions in the U.S. -
Principles
Gleb Botkin published "The Church of Aphrodite: Its Principles and Practices" which outlined its core beliefs and rituals of the movement. The text was a foundational document for the religion. -
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Activity
The church functioned as a small movement, with the founder as its primary leader. It had few followers -
Founders Death
The founder, Gleb Botkin passed away in 1969, and the Church of Aphrodite had an extreme decline in activity. Without anyone to succeed the previous founder, the movement began to die down. -
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Continued activity - END
The Church of Aphrodite influenced the Goddess movement and neopaganism. Feminist spiritualists and pagan practitioners took inspiration from the churches emphasis on the "divine feminine". There is not set/known date to mark when the church disbanded, but being that it no longer exists as an active organization, its ideals still are followed by a few people.