1. Aladura, literally “the owner of prayer” in Yoruba, refers to a group of churches which originated in Yoruba-speaking areas of Nigeria and Benin. These churches were founded by Nigerian Christians who left Anglican, Methodist, and Catholic churches, hence they are sometime referred to as African independent churches. See Omoyajowo (1982) and Peel (1968) for detailed discussions of the origins of the C&S Church.
2. A variation of this story relates that the hunter saw a bird and that he was tracking it. It was a large white bird, which he then realized was an angel. The angel went into the earth, into a sort of cave; the side where the angel touched the earth is controlled by C&S; the cave where the angel disappeared is controlled by the Christ Apostolic Church.
3. Another example of an angelic intervention is described by Peter Alatunse C. O. Blaize (n.d.) in his pamphlet,An Angel Appeared in a Farm at Aboru Agegein 1928.
4. This idea was expressed in a vision of an early convert to Christianity in Abeokuta in 1867, recorded by Matthew Luke: “She found her feet lifted up as if she were under the cross; she had gone with Jesus to the judgment hall and had been pleading his innocency with wicked men that rose up to condemn him, saying, ‘This innocent man who raised the dead… you are going to kill’… But they did not listen to me, and so they killed him. The drops of blood are as if he is just slain, they dropped on my sin-stained garment and I am clean” (McKenzie 1992: 132–3).
5. For a discussion of the ranks within the C&S Church and the configurations of dress (garment styles, sash colors, and cap types), see Omoyajowo 1982: 162–4.