Who is the head of the church in an Anglican Church?

Answer 1

The Pope is not the Head of the Church of England, otherwise known as the Anglican Church. Please note the following brief history of the Modern Anglican Church.

King Henry VIII requested that Pope permit him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. The Pope refused and Henry married his mistress anyway and renounced Catholicism. He removed England from the Pope's control, seized many of the Church's assets and declared himself to be the head of the Church. Henry's repudiation of papal authority led to the Church of England's existence as a separate entity: a new branch of the Christian Church that was neither Catholic nor Protestant but a hybrid that became known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England. It became official in 1536. Henry funded the first printing of The Bible in English to spite the Pope.

Another Perspective

While Henry did indeed request the pope for an annulment, not a divorce, he did so because it was custom and practice at that time. Sometime previously the King of France had obtained a divorce or annulment , from this source at great financial cost, but as I say, just as in any industrial dispute today, it was custom and practice.

At no time had the Bishop of Rome been head of the Anglican Church, the Church in Britain was in this country within a few years of the Crucifixion and the popes claim to sovereignty had not been made till several hundred years after that time. Further the popes claims to authority relied on the gifts of the Roman Emperors not on the Divine Will. Authority is on the shoulders of the Episcopal College not on the papacy!

What Henry did do , was to enter another arena, on the side of the Eastern Church and of the Conciliarists, by pointing out that according to the Councils, [Nice,] No bishop can interfere in another bishop's see!

Answer 2

The Head of the Church of England and the Anglican Church is, and always has been, Jesus Christ, whom rules through Revelation, Scripture and Tradition.

The Supreme Governor (under God) of the Church of England is the reigning monarch - currently H M Queen Elizabeth II. As the Church in England is very rightly under the law of the land, the Church is politically subservient to the Crown, as far as the Law of God allows, in the form of the Crown as chief magistrate.

The spiritual leader of the Church of England, and the whole Anglican Church is the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Rt Rev Dr Rowan Williams. The archbishop is Christ's deputy, and a descendant of the apostles who rule through the medium of Synods and Councils.

In individual Anglican churches within parishes, the church is run by the diocesan bishop's representatives - the churchwardens. These are elected (usually 2) per parish, by the whole parish not just the church members, and serve for a set term - usually a year or sometimes three years before having to stand for election again. The churchwardens are the 'heads' of each individual church having powers even to set up disciplinary procedures, if necessary, against the parish priest if he or she is found wanting. The parish priest (or, in the Anglican Church the 'vicar' or 'rector' ) is the spiritual leader of the church and has the responsibility for conducting services, visiting, preaching and administering the sacraments.

Answer 3

At one time the Pope recognized the validity of orders of the Anglican Church and the entire Anglican Communion. However a political dispute between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1896 sent the Pope into a rage and in his anger toward's Archbishop of Canterbury Pope Leo XIII published the papal Bull the Apostolic Curae in 1896 in which he declared Anglican Orders to be " utterlly null and void." This means that the pope does not recognize the validity of Anglican deacons, priests or bishops. All Churches in the Anglican Communion are no longer recognized as 'valid' by Rome, ie: The Church of England, The Canadian Anglican Church, The Episcopal Church USA etc.

Answer 4

Technically, the pope is the head of all of Christianity. However, Protestant denominations do not recognize him as their head.