The faith, doctrine, system, and practice of the Anglican Church.
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Anglicanism
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the faith and doctrine and practice of the Anglican Church
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Anglicanism
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Book of Common Prayer |
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Anglicanism most commonly refers to the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Communion, a world-wide affiliation of Christian Churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority, since each national or regional church has full autonomy. As the name suggests, the Anglican Communion is an association of these churches in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.[1] With over seventy-seven million members, the Anglican Communion is the third largest communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Terminology
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For more details on the universal Church of which Anglicanism is a part, see Christian Church.
The word Anglicanism was a neologism in the 19th century, being constructed from the much older word Anglican.[1] The word refers to the teachings and rites of Christians in communion with the see of Canterbury. It has come to be used to refer to the claim of those Churches to a unique religious and theological tradition apart from all other Christian churches, be they Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Protestant.[1]
The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a Medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning "the English Church".[2] As an adjective, Anglican is used to describe the people, institutions and churches as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the Church of England.[1] As a noun, an Anglican is a member of a church in the Anglican Communion but not all member churches of the Anglican Communion use the word Anglican in their names; some use the word Episcopal: for example, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Scottish Episcopal Church. The word is also claimed by followers of dissenting groups which have left the Communion or have been founded separately from it, though that use is disputed by the Anglican Communion.
Anglicanism defined
Anglicanism, in its structures, theology and forms of worship, is understood as a distinct Christian tradition representing a middle ground between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and, as such, is often referred to as being a via media (or middle way) between these traditions. The faith of Anglicans is founded in the Scriptures and the Gospels, the traditions of the apostolic Church, the historic episcopate, and the early Church Fathers. Anglicans understand the Old and New Testaments as 'containing all things necessary for salvation' and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. Anglicans understand the Apostles' Creed as the baptismal symbol, and the Nicene creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.
Anglicans celebrate the traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Holy Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or the Mass. The Eucharist is central to worship for most Anglicans as a communal offering of prayer and praise in which the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are recalled through prayer, reading of the Bible, singing, and the consecration of bread and wine as instituted at the Last Supper. Whilst many Anglicans celebrate the Eucharist in similar ways to the Roman Catholic tradition a considerable degree of liturgical freedom is permitted and worship styles vary from simple to elaborate.
Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. It was called "common prayer" because all Anglicans used to use it around the world. In 1549 the first Book of Common Prayer (BCP) was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury. Whilst it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, the Prayer Book is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the Anglican Communion together.
Anglicans uphold the Catholic and Apostolic faith and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In practice Anglicans believe this is revealed in Holy Scripture and the catholic creeds, and interpret these in light of Christian tradition, scholarship, reason, and experience.
Doctrine
Catholic and Reformed
In the time of Henry VIII rather than theological disagreement, the nature of Anglicanism was based on questions of jurisdiction - namely, the belief of the Crown that national churches should be autonomous. The effort to create a national church in legal continuity with its traditions, but inclusive of the doctrinal and liturgical belief of the Reformers, was joined by a real concern to make the institution as hospitable as possible to people of different theological inclinations, so as to maintain social peace and cohesion. The result has been a movement with a distinctive self-image among Christian movements. The question often arises whether the Anglican Communion should be identified as a Protestant or Catholic church, or perhaps as a distinct branch of Christianity altogether.
The distinction between Protestant and Catholic, and the coherence of the two, is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican Churches and throughout the Anglican Communion by members themselves. Since the Oxford Movement of the mid-19th century, many churches of the Communion have embraced and extended liturgical and pastoral practices dissimilar to most Reformed Protestant theology. This extends beyond the ceremony of High Church services to even more theologically significant territory, such as sacramental theology (see Anglican sacraments). While Anglo-Catholic practices, particularly liturgical ones, have become more common within the tradition over the last century, there remain many places where practices and beliefs remain on the more Protestant or Evangelical side.
Guiding principles
For high church Anglicans, doctrine is neither established by a magisterium, nor derived
from the theology of an eponymous founder (such as Lutheranism or Calvinism), nor summed up in a confession of faith (beyond
those of the creeds). For them, the earliest Anglican theological documents are its prayer books,
which they see as the products of profound theological reflection and compromise. They emphasise the Book of Common Prayer as a key expression of Anglican doctrine. The principle of looking to the
prayer books as a guide to the parameters of belief and practice is called by the Latin name lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of prayer is the law of belief"). Within the prayer
books are the so-called fundamentals of Anglican doctrine: The Apostles' and
Nicene Creeds, the scriptures (via the lectionary), the sacraments, daily prayer, the
Evangelical Anglicans point more to the more protestant Thirty Nine Articles, with their insistance on justification by faith and predestination, and their hostility to the Roman Catholic church. Following the passing of the 1604 Canons, all Anglican clergy had formally to subscribe to the articles. Now, however, they are no long viewed as binding. The degree to which each of the articles has remained influential varies. Arguably, the most influential of them has been Article VI on the "sufficiency of Scripture," which states that "Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." This article has informed Anglican biblical exegesis and hermeneutics since earliest times.
Anglicans look for authority in their so-called "standard divines" (see below). Historically, the most influential of these -
apart from Cranmer - has been the sixteenth century cleric and theologian
Finally, the extension of Anglicanism into non-English cultures, the growing diversity of prayer books, and the increasing interest in ecumenical dialogue has led to further reflection on the parameters of Anglican identity. Many Anglicans look to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 as the "sine qua non" of Communal identity. In brief, the Quadrilateral's four points are the Holy Scriptures, as containing all things necessary to salvation; the Creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds), as the sufficient statement of Christian faith; the dominical sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion; and the historic episcopate.
Anglican divines
- See also: John Donne, George Herbert, and William Laud
Within the Anglican tradition, there have been certain theological writers whose works have been considered standards for faith, doctrine, worship, and spirituality. While there is no authoritative list of these Anglican divines, there are some whose names would likely be found on most lists - those who are commemorated in lesser feasts of the Church, and those whose works are frequently anthologised.[3]
The corpus produced by Anglican divines is diverse. What they have in common is a commitment to the faith as conveyed by Scripture and the Book of Common Prayer, thus regarding prayer and theology in a manner akin to that of the Apostolic Fathers.[4] On the whole, Anglican divines view the via media of Anglicanism, not as a compromise, but "a positive position, witnessing to the universality of God and God's kingdom working through the fallible, earthly ecclesia Anglicana."[5] These theologians regard Scripture as interpreted through tradition and reason as authoritative in matters concerning salvation. Reason and tradition, indeed, is extant in and presupposed by Scripture, thus implying co-operation between God and humanity, God and nature, and between the sacred and secular. Faith is thus regarded as incarnational, and authority as dispersed.
Among the early Anglican divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the names of Thomas Cranmer, John Jewel, Richard Hooker, Lancelot Andrewes, and Jeremy Taylor predominate. The influential character of Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity cannot be overestimated. Published in 1593 and subsequently, Hooker's eight volume work is primarily a treatise on Church-state relations, but it deals comprehensively with issues of biblical interpretation, soteriology, ethics, and sanctification. Throughout the work, Hooker makes clear that theology involves prayer and is concerned with ultimate issues, and that theology is relevant to the social mission of the church.
The eighteenth century saw the rise of two important movements in Anglicanism: Cambridge Platonism, with its mystical understanding of reason as the "candle of the Lord," and the Evangelical Revival, with its emphasis on the personal experience of the Holy Spirit. The Cambridge Platonist movement evolved into a school called Latitudinarianism, which emphasised reason as the barometer of discernment and took a stance of indifference towards doctrinal and ecclesiological differences. The Evangelical Revival, influenced by such figures as John Wesley and Charles Simeon, re-emphasised the importance of justification through faith and the consequent importance of personal conversion. Some in this movement, such as Wesley and George Whitefield, took the message to the United States, influencing the First Great Awakening, and created an Anglo-American movement called Methodism that would eventually break away, structurally, from the Anglican churches after the American Revolution.
By the nineteenth century, there was a renewed emphasis on the teachings of the earlier Anglican divines: Theologians such as
John Keble,
The twentieth century is marked by figures such as Charles Gore, with his emphasis on natural revelation, William Temple's focus on Christianity and society, J.A.T. Robinson's provocative discussions of deism and theism, Darwell Stone's and E. L. Mascall's thomism and defence of Catholic orthodoxy, and Kenneth Kirk's Moral Theology.[7] Outside England, one sees such figures as William Porcher DuBose, William Meade, and Charles Henry Brent in the United States. More recently, theologians such as Henry Chadwick. John Macquarrie and Don Cupitt, who rejected all the doctrines of historic Christianity in favour of a "Christian Buddism",[8] Jeffrey John, N.T. Wright, and Rowan Williams have added to the mix.
Churchmanship
"Churchmanship" can be defined as the manifestation of theology in the realms of liturgy, piety and — to some extent — spirituality. Anglicanism diversity in this respect has tended to reflect the diversity in the tradition's Protestant and Catholic identity. Different individuals, groups, parishes, dioceses and provinces may identify more with one or the other, or some balance of the two.
The range of Anglican belief and practice became particularly divisive during the 19th century when some clergy were disciplined and even imprisoned on charges of ritualism while, at the same time, others were criticised for engaging in public worship services with ministers of Reformed churches. Resistance to the growing acceptance and restoration of traditional Catholic ceremonial by the mainstream of Anglicanism ultimately led to the formation of small breakaway churches such as the Free Church of England in England (1844) and the Reformed Episcopal Church in North America (1873).
Anglo-Catholic (and some Broad Church) Anglicans celebrate public liturgy in a way that sets off the act of worship as something special and very important. To that end, vestments a are used by the priests and servers, special settings for the service are sung, often incense is used. Nowadays in most Anglican churches the Eucharist will be celebrated in a manner quite similar to the Lutherans or Roman Catholics, though in many churches more traditional models of worship are common, (e.g., an "eastward orientation" at the altar). The Eucharist may be conducted by priest, deacon and subdeacon dressed in their traditional vestments, using incense and sanctus bells and with prayers adapted from the missal or other sources said by the presiding celebrant. Such churches may practice Eucharistic adoration, such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. In terms of personal piety, some Anglicans may recite the rosary and angelus, be involved in a devotional society dedicated to "Our Lady" (the Blessed Virgin Mary) and seek the intercession of the saints.
In recent years the prayer books of several provinces have, out of deference to a greater agreement with Eastern Conciliarism (and a perceived greater respect accorded Anglicanism by Eastern Orthodoxy than by Roman Catholicism), instituted a number of historically Eastern and Oriental Orthodox elements in their liturgies, including introduction of the Trisagion and deletion of the filioque clause from the Nicene Creed.
For their part, those Evangelical (and some Broad Church) Anglicans who emphasise the more Protestant aspects of the Church stress the Reformation theme of salvation by grace through faith. They emphasise the two dominical sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, viewing the other five as "lesser rites". Some Evangelical Anglicans may even tend to take the inerrancy of Scripture literally, adopting the view of Article VI that it contains all things necessary to salvation in an explicit sense. Worship in churches influenced by these principles tends to be significantly less elaborate, with greater emphasis on the Liturgy of the Word (the reading of the scriptures, the sermon and the intercessory prayers). The Order for Holy Communion may be celebrated bi-weekly or monthly (in preference to the daily offices), by ministers attired in choir habit, or more regular clothes, rather than Eucharistic vestments. Ceremony may be in keeping with their view of the provisions of the controversial Ornaments Rubric of the historic English prayer books — no candles, no incense, no bells and a minimum of manual action by the presiding celebrant (such as touching the elements at the Words of Institution).
In recent decades there has been a growth of charismatic worship among Anglicans. Both Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals have been affected by this movement such that it is not uncommon to find typically charismatic postures, music, and other themes evident during the services of otherwise Anglo-Catholic or Evangelical parishes.
The spectrum of Anglican beliefs and practice is too large to be fit into these labels. Many Anglicans locate themselves somewhere in the spectrum of the Broad Church tradition, and consider themselves an amalgam of Evangelical and Catholic. Such Anglicans stress that Anglicanism is the "via media" (middle way) between the two major strains of Western Christianity. Via media may be understood as underscoring Anglicanism's preference for a communitarian and methodological approach to theological issues rather than relativism.
Practices: prayer and worship
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For more details on on the daily Anglican morning office, see Morning Prayer.
- see also Evensong and Prayer of Humble Access
In Anglicanism, there is a distinction between Liturgy, which is the formal public and communal worship of the Church, and personal prayer and devotion, which may be public or private. The Liturgy is regulated by the prayer books and consists of the Holy Eucharist (some call it Holy Communion or Mass), the other Sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Anglican worship: an overview
- See also: Church of England parish church
Anglican worship services are open to all visitors. Many Christians of other churches will find much that is familiar in Anglican worship (though some may find elements of it strange, or even objectionable).
Anglican worship originates principally in the reforms of Thomas Cranmer, who aimed to create a set order of service like that of the pre-Reformation church, but less complex in its seasonal variety, and in the vernacular language rather than in Latin. This use of a set order of service sets Anglican worship apart from most Protestant traditions. Traditionally the pattern was that laid out in the Book of Common Prayer. Although many Anglican churches now use a wide range of modern service books, the structures of the Book of Common Prayer are largely retained, and churches which call themselves Anglican will have identified themselves so because they use some form or variant of the Book of Common Prayer in the shaping of their worship.
Anglican worship, however, is as diverse as Anglican theology. A contemporary "low church" or Evangelical service may differ little from the worship of many mainstream Protestant churches. The service is constructed around a sermon focused on Biblical exposition and opened with one or more Bible readings and closed by a series of prayers (both set and extemporized) and hymns or songs. A "high church" Anglican service, by contrast, is a formal liturgy celebrated by clergy in distinctive vestments which may be almost indistiguishable from a Roman Catholic service. Between these extremes are a variety of styles of worship, often involving a robed choir and the use of the organ to accompany the singing and to provide music before and after the service. Anglican churches tend to have pews or chairs, and it is usual for the congregation to sit or kneel for prayer, and to stand for hymns and for certain other parts of the service such as the Gloria, the Creed, and the reading of the Gospel. High Anglicans may genuflect or cross themselves in the same way as Roman Catholics.
Until the mid-twentieth century, the main Sunday service was typically morning prayer, but the Eucharist has slowly become the standard form of worship in many Anglican churches; this again is a distinction from typical Protestant practice. Other common Sunday services include an early morning Eucharist without music, an abbreviated Eucharist following a service of morning prayer, and a service of evening prayer, sometimes in the form of sung Evensong, usually celebrated between 3 and 6 p.m. The late-evening service of Compline was revived in parish use in the early 20th century. Many Anglican churches will also have daily morning and evening prayer, and some have midweek or even daily celebration of the Eucharist.
An Anglican service (whether or not a Eucharist) will include readings from the Bible that are generally taken from a standardised lectionary, which provides for the entire Bible (and some passages from the Apocrypha) to be read out loud in the church over a three year cycle. The sermon (or homily) is typically about ten to twenty minutes in length, though it may be much longer in evangelical churches. Even in the most informal evangelical services, it is common for set prayers such as the weekly Collect to be read. There are also set forms for intercessory prayer, though this is now more often extemporaneous. In high churches there may be prayers for the dead.
Although Anglican public worship is usually ordered according to the canonically approved services, in practice many Anglican churches use forms of service outside these norms. Many Evangelical churches sit lightly to the set forms of morning and evening prayer, though generally respecting the canonical order of Holy Communion. Liberal churches may use freely-structured or experimental forms of worship, including patterns borrowed from ecumenical traditions such as those of Taizé Community or the Iona Community. A small number of Anglo-Catholic churches use the modern Roman Catholic liturgy of the Mass (with minor modifications such as praying for the Anglican bishop) and other traditional Catholic devotions such as the Angelus and Benediction.
The Anglican Eucharist
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, where the priest may say Mass alone without the presence of anyone else (a quorum of one), an Anglican priest requires the presence of at least one other (a quorum of two).
It is a canonical requirement to use wine rather than unfermented grape juice in the Eucharist and both bread and wine are always offered. In high churches the sacrament may be reserved and a presence candle may be lit.
Whilst infant baptism is still the norm in Anglican churches, there are also orders of service for thanksgiving and the dedication of children whose baptism is deferred until they are older. Anglicans regard baptism as an unrepeatable sacrament. Protestants baptised as Christians in other churches can be confirmed within the Anglican church but would not be baptised again unless there was some question as to the validity of their baptism. Confirmed Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians can simply be received into the Anglican Church.
Only baptized persons are eligible to receive communion[9]. In the past, it was common to restrict
communion to those who had not only been baptised, but also been
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is the foundational prayer book of Anglicanism. The original was one of the instruments of the English Reformation and was later to be adapted and revised in other countries where Anglicanism became established. The BCP replaced the various 'uses' or rites in Latin that had been used in different parts of the country with a single compact volume in the language of the people so that "now from henceforth all the Realm shall have but one use".
With British colonial expansion from the seventeenth century onwards, the Anglican church was planted across the globe. These churches at first used and then revised the use of the Prayer Book, until they, like their parent, produced prayer books which took into account the developments in liturgical study and practice in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which come under the general heading of the Liturgical Movement.
Holy Eucharist
Anglicanism officially teaches the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but the specifics of that belief range from transubstantiation, sometimes with Eucharistic adoration, to something akin to a belief in a "pneumatic" presence, which may or may not be tied to the Eucharistic elements themselves. The normal range of Anglican belief ranges from Objective Reality to Pious Silence, depending on the individual Anglican's theology.
The classic Anglican aphorism with regard to this debate is found in a poem by John Donne:
- He was the Word that spake it;
- He took the bread and brake it;
- and what that Word did make it;
- I do believe and take it.[10]
Anglican belief in the Eucharistic Sacrifice ("Sacrifice of the Mass") is set forth in the response Saepius officio of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to Pope Leo XIII's Papal Encyclical Apostolicae curae. Anglicans and Roman Catholics declared that they had "substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist" in the Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation and the Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement.
Sacraments
As befits its prevailing self-identity as a via media or "middle path" of Western Christianity, Anglican sacramental theology expresses elements in keeping with its status as being both a church in the Catholic tradition as well as a church of the Reformation. With respect to sacramental theology the Catholic heritage is perhaps most strongly asserted in the importance Anglicanism places on the sacraments as a means of grace, sanctification and salvation as expressed in the church's liturgy.
Of the seven sacraments, Anglicans recognise two as having been ordained by Christ and the five others are regarded variously as full sacraments by Anglo-Catholics or as "sacramental rites" by Evangelicals.
Altogether, the seven are: Baptism, Confession
and absolution, Holy Matrimony, Holy
Eucharist (also called Holy Communion or Mass),
Divine Office
All Anglican prayer books contain offices for Morning Prayer (Matins) and Evening Prayer (Evensong). In the original Book of Common Prayer these were derived from combinations of the ancient monastic offices of Matins and Lauds; and Vespers and Compline respectively. In some official and unofficial Anglican service books these offices are supplemented by other offices such as the Little Hours of Prime and prayer during the day such as (Terce, Sext, None and Compline).
In England, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some other Anglican provinces their modern prayer books contains four offices:
- Morning Prayer, corresponding to Matins and Lauds
- Prayer During the Day, roughly corresponding to the combination of Terce, Sext and None (Noonday Prayer in the USA)
- Evening Prayer, corresponding to Vespers
- Compline
In addition, most prayer books include a section of prayers and devotions for family use. In the US, these offices are further supplemented by an "Order of Worship for the Evening", a prelude to or an abbreviated form of Evensong, partly derived from Orthodox prayers. In the United Kingdom, the publication of Daily Prayer, the third volume of Common Worship was published in 2005. It retains the services for Morning and Evening Prayer and Compline and includes a section entitled "Prayer during the Day". 'A New Zealand Prayer Book' of 1989 provides different outlines for Matins and Evensong on each day of the week, as well as "Midday Prayer", "Night Prayer" and "Family Prayer".
The prayer offices have an important place in Anglican history. Prior to the Catholic revival of the nineteenth century, which eventually restored the Holy Eucharist as the principal Sunday liturgy, Matins and Evensong were the usual expressions of common worship. This nurtured a tradition of distinctive Anglican chant applied to the canticles and psalms used at the offices (although plainsong is often used as well).
Some Anglican monastic communities have a Daily Office based on that of the Book of Common Prayer but with additional antiphons and canticles, etc. for specific days of the week, specific psalms, etc. See, for example, Order of the Holy Cross [1] and Order of St Helena, editors, A Monastic Breviary (Wilton, Conn.: Morehouse-Barlow, 1976). The All Saints Sisters of the Poor [2], with convents in Catonsville, Maryland and elsewhere use an elaborated version of the Anglican Daily Office. The Society of St. Francis publishes Celebrating Common Prayer which has become especially popular for use among Anglicans.
Some Anglo-Catholic groups use the Anglican Breviary, which is an adaptation of the Pre-Vatican II Roman Rite and Sarum Rite, along with supplemental material from cognate western sources, to provide such things as a common of Octaves, a common of Holy Women and other additional material. It contains all eight historic offices in one volume, rather than the traditional four, but does not contain the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was bound along with many editions of the Breviarium Romanum.
Organization and mission of the Church
Principles of governance
Contrary to popular misconception, the British monarch is not the constitutional "Head" but in law "The Supreme Governor" of the Church of England, nor does he or she have any role in provinces outside England and Wales. The role of the crown in the Church of England is practically limited to the appointment of bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. This process is accomplished through collaboration with and consent of ecclesial representatives (see Ecclesiastical Commissioners). The monarch has no constitutional role in Anglican churches in other parts of the world, although the prayer books of several countries where she is head of state maintain prayers for her as sovereign.
A characteristic of Anglicanism is that it has no international juridical authority. All thirty-nine provinces of the Anglican Communion are independent, each with their own primate and governing structure. These provinces may take the form of national churches (such as in Canada, Uganda, or Japan) or a collection of nations (such as the West Indies, Central Africa, or South Asia), or geographical regions (such as Vanuatu and Solomon Islands) etc. Within these Communion provinces may exist subdivisions called ecclesiastical provinces, under the jurisdiction of a metropolitan. All provinces of the Anglican Communion consist of dioceses, each under the jurisdiction of a bishop. In the Anglican tradition, bishops must be consecrated according to the strictures of apostolic succession, which Anglicans consider one of the marks of catholicity. Apart from bishops, there are two other orders of ordained ministry: deacon and priest. No requirement is made for clerical celibacy and women may be ordained as deacons in almost all provinces, as priests in some, and as bishops in a few provinces. Anglican religious orders and communities, suppressed in England during the Reformation, have re-emerged since the mid-nineteenth century, and now have an international presence and influence.
Government in the Anglican Communion is synodical, consisting of three houses of laity (usually elected parish representatives), clergy, and bishops. National, provincial, and diocesan synods maintain different scopes of authority, depending on their canons and constitutions. Anglicanism is not congregational in its polity: It is the diocese, not the parish church, which is the smallest unit of authority in the church, and bishops must give their assent to resolutions passed by synods. (See Episcopal polity).
Focus of Unity: The Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury has a precedence of honor over the other primates of the Anglican Communion, and for a province to be considered a part of the Communion means specifically to be in communion with the See of Canterbury. The Archbishop is, therefore recognised as primus inter pares, or first amongst equals even though he does not exercise any direct authority in any province outside England, of which he is chief primate. The current Archbishop of Canterbury as of 2007, Rowan Williams is the first appointed from outside the Church of England since the Reformation: he was the former Archbishop of Wales, .
As "spiritual head" of the Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury maintains a certain moral authority, and has the right to determine which churches will be in communion with his See. He hosts and chairs the Lambeth Conferences of Anglican Communion bishops, and decides who will be invited to it. He also hosts and chairs the Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting and is responsible for the invitations to it. He acts as president of the secretariat of the Anglican Communion Office, and its deliberative body, the Anglican Consultative Council.
Instruments of unity
The Anglican Communion has no international juridical organization. All international bodies are consultative and collaborative, and their resolutions are not legally binding on the independent provinces of the Communion. There are three international bodies of note.
- The Lambeth Conference is the oldest international consultation. It was first convened by Archbishop Charles Longley in 1867 as a vehicle for bishops of the Communion to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action." Since then, it has been held roughly every ten years. Invitation is by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
- The Anglican Consultative Council was created by a 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, and meets biennially. The council consists of representative bishops, clergy, and laity chosen by the thirty-eight provinces. The body has a permanent secretariat, the Anglican Communion Office, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is president.
- The Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop Donald Coggan in 1978 as a forum for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation."
Ordained ministry
-
For more details on on the Anglican priesthood, see Anglican ministry.
Like the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches (but unlike most Protestant churches), the Anglican Communion maintains the threefold ministry of deacons, priests, and bishops.
Episcopate
The bishops, who possess the fullness of Christian priesthood, are the successors of the Apostles. The primates, archbishops and metropolitans are all bishops and members of the historical episcopate, and derive their authority through apostolic succession — an unbroken line of bishops that can be traced back to the apostles of Jesus.
Presbyterate (Priesthood)
Bishops are assisted by the clergy. The "clergy" is a term applied widely across many religions. While a priest might be Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Orthodox Christian and a minister might belong to any Protestant church, both terms are used in Anglicanism to refer to those who have taken Holy Orders.
An archdeacon is a priest responsible for administration of an archdeaconry, which is the principal subdivision of a diocese. In the Church of England the position of Archdeacon can only be held by an ordained Priest who has been practicing for 6 years; in some other parts of the Anglican Communion the position can be held by a deacon as well. In parts of the Anglican Communion where women cannot be ordained as priests or bishops, the position of Archdeacon is effectively the most senior office a clergywoman can be promoted to.
Parishes within a diocese are normally in the charge of a priest, known as the parish priest, pastor, rector, or in some cases, vicar. A curate may assist the rector at a parish. Priests may perform many functions not directly connected with ordinary pastoral activity, such as study, research, teaching or office work. They may serve as a chaplain, a canon (a priest who is specifically attached to a cathedral), prebendary (a type of canon), dean (a head canon), or subdean (a dean's deputy).
The Roman Catholic and most Eastern Orthodox Churches do not recognise the validity of Anglican ordinations and treat convert clergy as laypeople. In contrast, the Anglican Communion recognises Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox ordinations as valid. Outside the Anglican Communion, Anglican ordinations (at least of male priests) are recognised by the Old Catholics and various Independent Catholic Churches.
Diaconate
