The Anglican Way

The name "Anglican" means "of England", but the Anglican Church exists worldwide. We find our origins in the sixth century in England, when Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to Britain to bring a more disciplined apostolic succession to the Celtic Christians. The Anglican Church evolved as part of the Roman Church, but the Celtic influence, which was already present throughout the English Isles, was absorbed into the Roman portion of the church, perhaps most notably by Charlemagne's tutor Aidan. The Anglican Church spread worldwide, first by English colonization, and then by English-speaking missionaries.

Early English Church

The Anglican Communion inherits many centuries of catholic and apostolic tradition, especially that part which began in the British Isles when the first Christian missionaries came to her shores. Christian missionaries had reached England by the time of the Council of Jerusalem in 50 AD. When the Romans withdrew from Britain in 407 AD, they left a legacy of Christianity among the Celtic people. Though these Celtic Christians had become isolated from the See of Rome, they were still in existence when Augustine arrived two centuries later. It is from these early Celtic beginnings that Anglicans point to as the beginning of the Church in England.

It was not until 597 that Gregory the Great, then Bishop of Rome, felt the need to centralize the Church in England under Roman authority and away from Celtic Christian spirituality. In that year, a group of monks led by their prior, Augustine arrived in Kent, located in the southeast corner of England. While the Church in England had become primarily centralized under the Bishop of Rome, these Celtic Christian communities survived in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, and they helped to ensure that, from her very beginnings, the Anglican Church was not going to be exclusively English in origin.

The English Reformation

The conflict of authority in England between church and state certainly dates back to the arrival of Augustine, and has festered for many centuries. The murder of Thomas a Becket was one of the more famous episodes of this conflict. The Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, contains 63 points; the very first point is a declaration that the English church is independent of its government.

In the life of the Church, the Reformation was another notable time when the body of Christ rent assunder. News of Martin Luther’s action in Wittenberg certainly reached England when, 20 years later, the Anglican branch of the church formally challenged the authority of Rome. These separations must grieve the Holy Spirit, because schism is not an act of God but of human sin. However, the English Reformation was in many ways distinct from the Reformation taking place on the continent of Europe. The Anglican Church, catholic and maintaining apostolic succession, did finally separate from the Roman Catholic Church.

There is a public perception, especially in the United States, that Henry VIII created the Anglican Church in anger over the Pope's refusal to grant his divorce. While certainly this was an important feature toward the final break with Rome, historical record indicates that Henry spent most of his reign challenging the authority of Rome. The issue of divorce was just one of a series of acts that collectively split the English church from the Roman church in much the same way that the Eastern Orthodox church had split off five hundred years before. The other false perception is that Henry VIII started the Anglican Church. Henry’s intention was not to start a new Church but instead, to be the temporal head of the Catholic Church in England. Yet, before his official act of defiance before the Bishop of Rome, the Pope bestowed upon Henry VIII the title, “Defender of the Faith”. Henry, never formally excommunicated, dissolved the monasteries and abbeys in 1536. Henry’s insistence that the Church in England remain theologically Catholic while separate from the Church of Rome. The issue of whether England was going to be a Catholic Church or a Protestant Church did not end upon the death of Henry. It would not be until the reign of Elizabeth I that this issue would be put to rest.

The newly-separated Anglican Church was given some formal structure in 1562 during the reign of Elizabeth I. That structure is not a management process or governing organization. What binds us together is not common administration but a shared tradition and a shared belief. Referred to as the Elizabethan Settlement, Elizabeth declared that the Church was going to be a Church of Sacraments and Scripture. It was to be both Catholic and Reformed. This via media has become synonymous with Anglicanism.

Our Anglican belief is written down in the Holy Bible, the Creeds, and the Early Ecumenical Councils of the early Church. What makes our heritage unique from the Reforms made on the continent of Europe is our tradition is also embodied in liturgical worship. What Anglicans hold in common is the Book of Common Prayer. If you want to know what an Anglican believes, he will point you to the Scriptures and the Book of Prayer Common.

The first Book of Common Prayer was produced in 1549. In it, the Latin liturgy was radically simplified and translated into English, and for the first time a single 'use' was enforced throughout England. It has been revised numerous times since then, the most significant revision being the first, in 1552. The 1662 English Book of Common Prayer forms the historical basis for Anglican liturgy around the world. Over the years, many Provinces throughout the Communion have developed own prayer books, but all have borrowed heavily from the English tradition rooted in Archbishop Cranmer's original work. The official prayer book of the Anglican Church, USA today is the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

The way we Anglicans worship says a great deal about how we understand ourselves and the world we live in. How we view the world and our role in it is best understood in the light of the works of blessed Richard Hooker. His masterpiece is the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. These works are philosophically Aristotelian, with a strong emphasis on natural law eternally planted by God in creation. On this foundation, all positive laws of Church and State are developed from Scriptural revelation, ancient tradition, reason, and experience.

Anglican Polity

When the English people settled the British Empire, they took their Christian faith with them and thus the Church of England spread overseas. Eventually these overseas parishes became autonomous provinces of the Communion. These churches, while autonomous in their governance, are bound together by tradition, Scripture, and the inheritance they have received from the Church of England. Together these autonomous provinces make up the Anglican Communion, a body headed spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Within the Anglican Church, there is no central administration. There is no Pope, President, or chief executive. Scripture, tradition, and reason instead unify the Anglican Church. We stay together because we want to stay together. It is only by the grace of the Holy Spirit that keeps the Anglican Communion together! Every ten years, the Archbishop of Canterbury meets with all the bishops throughout the Communion in what is called, the Lambeth Conference.

In the American Episcopal Church, the Church gathers every three years for General Convention. The Presiding Bishop presides over the Convention. The General Convention is divided into two “houses”, the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies which comprises both ordained and lay representatives from every diocese throughout the Episcopal Church.

All of this and more is part of our rich and storied heritage that St. Uriel’s enjoys. Through our Anglican ethos, we continue to be faithful to the Lord’ s calling. We seek to live and teach the Faith as handed down by the saints. We seek to be faithful in the Lord’s great commission.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."    (Mt. 28:19-20)