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Overbeck was born in Bonn, Germany, and attended the University of Bonn where he became a specialist in Syriac. [[ordination|Ordained]] to the Catholic [[priest]]hood, he did further studies at the Vatican Library and became a professor at Bonn. Disillusioned with the claims of the Roman Church, he left his position at Bonn and began attending Lutheran services. In 1857, he moved to England where he married and taught German in Oxford and later at Staff College, Camberley. Overbeck's marriage after his Catholic ordination was considered a canonical impediment to the priesthood, and while there was an initial inquiry as to whether he could be re-ordained, he continued his work for the rest of his life as a layman.
His translations of [[Ephrem the Syrian]] sparked an interest in the Orthodox Church. In 1864, Overbeck was chrismated into the Orthodox Church. He then published, in 1866, ''Catholic Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism'', which contained the groundings for his work for the next twenty years. A year later, be he began publishing a periodical, ''Orthodox Catholic Review'', aimed at putting forward Orthodoxy and rejecting Catholicism and Protestantism. His early works contained a number of refutations of what would later develop into the [[Ecumenism|ecumenical movement]].
1867 saw Overbeck, with 122 signatures from the Oxford Movement, petition the [[Church of Russia]] for the establishment of a Western Rite church in full communion with the Eastern Rite. A seven-member synodal commission was then formed, and invited Overbeck to attend. The idea was approved, and Overbeck set about submitting a draft of the proposed Western liturgy. The base of Overbeck's submission was the Tridentine Mass of 1570, which added in an [[epiclesis]] and the [[Trisagion]] hymn. This rite was submitted in 1871, and was examined and approved by the commission. Overbeck focused his efforts on the Old Catholic movement, which had rejected Papal Infallibility. He continued to engage in polemics with Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox [[conversion|converts]] using the Byzantine rite.
