NORFOLK -- Two small parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia have quit the denomination over gay ordination and joined a group of dissident churches based in Northern Virginia.

The breakaway Anglican District of Virginia announced Friday that Christ Church in Emporia and Grace Church in Purdy had become members. The district now has 23 parishes.

Nationally, the Episcopal Church has seen an internal split over denominational leaders' endorsement in 2003 of the ordination of a noncelibate gay man as a bishop.

-- The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot