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| Part of a series on Anglicanism | ||
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Anglicanism is rooted in the beliefs and practices of Christian churches which either have historical connections with the Church of England or maintain a liturgy compatible with it. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a mediæval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are termed Anglicans. The great majority of Anglicans are members of churches belonging to the Anglican Communion. However, there are a great variety of nonaffiliated Anglican churches, most notably the Continuing Anglican Churches.
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. The Church of England, as established under the Elizabethan Settlement in 1559, had been understood both by itself and by contemporaries as a Reformed Protestant Church; albeit one that happened to retain episcopal structures and a defined liturgy. However, in the religious controversies of the late 16th century, this understanding came to be seen as unsustainable; so that by the mid 17th century, the Church of England (and associated episcopal churches in Ireland, Scotland and in England\'s American colonies) came to be seen as comprising a distinct Christian tradition whose theologies, structures and forms of worship represented a middle ground, or via media, between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. In the 19th century the term Anglicanism was coined to describe this tradition.
The degree of distinction between Reformed and western Catholic tendencies within the Anglican tradition is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican Churches and throughout the Anglican Communion by members themselves. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. 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. 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 those churches in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.65 (March 13, 1997) With over seventy-seven million members, the Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
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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. The word refers to the teachings and rites of Christians throughout the world 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; and is entirely distinct from the allegiance of some of these churches to the British Crown.
The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a Medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning "the English Church". "Anglicanism". Catholic Encyclopedia. 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.. As a noun, an Anglican is a member of a Church in the Anglican Communion. Not all member churches of the Anglican Communion use the word Anglican in their names; some use the word Episcopal as seen in The Episcopal Church (the province of the Anglican Communion covering the United States) or the Scottish Episcopal Church. The word is also used by followers of dissenting groups which have left the Communion or have been founded separately from it, though the Anglican Communion considers this to be misuse.
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Anglicanism, in its structures, theology, and forms of worship, is commonly 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, the first four Ecumenical Councils, 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 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 the Christian tradition of the historic Church, scholarship, reason, and experience.
Anglicans celebrate the traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Holy Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, the Lord\'s Supper 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 proclaimed through prayer, reading of the Bible, singing, and the reception of bread and wine as instituted at the Last Supper. Whilst many Anglicans celebrate the Eucharist in similar ways to the predominant western Catholic tradition, a considerable degree of liturgical freedom is permitted, and worship styles range from the 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 share in its use 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.
Although Henry VIII broke with the Church of Rome in the 1530s, he strongly resisted thereafter associating the English Church with the Continental Protestant Reformation. MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 198. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7. Henry\'s position was, however, reversed in the brief reign of his young son Edward VI 1547-1553, when the leaders of the Church of England - especially Thomas Cranmer - actively sought to establish England in the centre of evolving Reformed Protestantism; taking close account, in particular, of the views of Martin Bucer and Heinrich Bullinger in drafting the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion.MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 258. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7. Cranmer\'s Reformed Protestant ambitions, however, were not widely shared amongst the bulk of laity and clergy; and accordingly, the return to the religious forms of traditional Catholicism under Queen Mary was widely welcomed.
The Elizabethan Settlement redirected the Church of England again onto an unambiguously Protestant path;MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 288. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7. but, although no concessions were made to the Papacy or to Catholic doctrine, a small number of changes were then made to the Articles of Religion and to the Prayer Book to accommodate Lutheran beliefs and practices—especially in relation the Real Presence, and to the continuation of worship in more traditional forms. MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 289. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7. In the intervening period, however, Continental Reformed Protestantism had itself continued to develop—especially in Geneva and Heidelberg—but English divines who wished the Elizabethan church to take part in these developements were to be bitterly disappointed, as Elizabeth refused any change to the forms or structures of religion established in 1559.MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 291. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7. In particular, Protestant controversialists began to attack the episcopal polity, and the defined liturgy of the Elizabethan Church as incompatible with the true Reformed tradition; and, in response, defenders of the established church began, from the early 17th Century onwards, to claim these specific features as positively desirable—or indeed essential.MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 509. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7. Nevertheless, the Church of England was still invited in 1618—along with the Churches of Bremen, Switzerland, Geneva, Scotland and Heidelberg—to send delegates to the Synod of Dort, as one of the recognised leading Reformed churches.MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003). Reformation; Europe\'s House Divided 1490-1700. London: Allen Lane, 515. ISBN 0-7139-9370-7.
It is only following the English Civil War—and the associated abolition of English bishoprics and cathedral chapters, and attempted suppression of the Book of Common Prayer—that English churchmen began to recognise Anglican identity as having become distinct from and incompatible with the traditions of Reformed Presbyterian Protestantism. This distinction was formalised at the Restoration of Charles II, when the proposals of Puritan divines for further reform of the Prayer Book were thoroughly rejected—and 1,760 clergymen were deprived of their livings for failing to subscribe to the 1662 Book.
In the time of Henry VIII the nature of Anglicanism was based on questions of jurisdiction—specifically, the belief of the Crown that national churches should be autonomous—rather than theological disagreement. The effort to create a national church in legal continuity with its traditions, but inclusive of certain doctrinal and liturgical beliefs 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 as to whether the Anglican Communion should be identified as a Protestant or Catholic church, or perhaps as a distinct branch of Christianity altogether. The official position of the Anglican Communion is that, like the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions, it is a full and distinct branch of the "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church," created by Christ.
The distinction between Reformed 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 revived 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 resurfaced and become more common within the tradition over the last century, there remain many places where practices and beliefs remain on the more Reformed or Evangelical side (see Sydney Anglicanism).
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, compromise, and synthesis. 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 Athanasian Creed (extremely rarely recited, nowadays), the scriptures (via the lectionary), the sacraments, daily prayer, the catechism, and apostolic succession in the context of the historic threefold ministry.
Evangelical Anglicans point more to the more Reformed Thirty Nine Articles, with their insistence on justification by faith alone and predestination, and their hostility to the Roman Catholic church (see Anti-Catholicism). Following the passing of the 1604 Canons, all Anglican clergy had formally to subscribe to the Articles. Nowadays, however, they are no longer binding, but are seen as an historical document that has played a significant role in the shaping of Anglican identity. 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 Richard Hooker who after 1660 was increasingly portrayed as the founding father of Anglicanism. Hooker\'s description of Anglican authority as being derived primarily from Scripture, informed by reason (the intellect and the experience of God) and tradition (the practices and beliefs of the historical church), has influenced Anglican self-identity and doctrinal reflection perhaps more powerfully than any other formula. The analogy of the "three-legged stool" of scripture, reason, and tradition is often incorrectly attributed to Hooker. Rather Hooker\'s description is a hierarchy of authority, with scripture as foundational, and reason, and tradition as vitally important, but secondary, authorities.
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 the Anglican identity. Many Anglicans look to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 as the "sine qua non" of Communal identity.Sydnor, William (1980). Looking at the Episcopal Church. USA: Morehouse Publishing, 80. 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.
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.Booty, John. "Standard Divines", The Study of Anglicanism, 163 ff.
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.Booty, John. "Standard Divines", The Study of Anglicanism, 163. 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."Booty, John. "Standard Divines", The Study of Anglicanism, 164. 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.
Inside Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
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, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and John Henry Newman had widespread influence in the realm of polemics, homiletics, and theological and devotional works, not least because they largely repudiated the Old High Church tradition and replaced it with a dynamic appeal to antiquity which looked beyond the Reformers and Anglican formularies.Nockles, P.B. (1994). The Oxford Movement in Context - Anglican High Churchmanship, 1760 – 1857. CUP, pp 7–8, 113, 125, 127. Their work is largely credited with the development of the Oxford Movement, which sought to reassert Catholic identity and practice in the Anglican Church. Through such works as The Kingdom of Christ, Frederick Denison Maurice played a pivotal role in inaugurating another movement, Christian socialism. In this, Maurice transformed Hooker\'s emphasis on the incarnational nature of Anglican spirituality to an imperative for social justice. In the nineteenth century, Anglican biblical scholarship began to assume a distinct character, represented by the so-called "Cambridge triumvirate" of Joseph Lightfoot, F. J. A. Hort, and Brooke Foss Westcott. Their orientation is best summed up by Lightfoot\'s observation that "Life which Christ is and which Christ communicates, the life which fills our whole beings as we realise its capacities, is active fellowship with God."
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.Nichols, A (1993). The Panther and the Hind — A Theological History of Anglicanism. Clark, dedication page and p. 128. 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",Nichols, A (1993). The Panther and the Hind — A Theological History of Anglicanism. Clark, p. 167. Jeffrey John, N.T. Wright, and Rowan Williams have added to the mix.
"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 Reformed 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 ritual heresy 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 very special and of utmost importance. To that end, vestments 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 is celebrated in a manner quite similar to the Lutherans or Roman Catholics, though in many churches more traditional, "pre-Vatican II" 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 priests 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, and that Anglicanism is like a "bridge" between the two strains. Via media may be understood as underscoring Anglicanism\'s preference for a communitarian and methodological approach to theological issues rather than relativism.
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 and doctrine.
Of the seven sacraments, Anglicans recognise baptism and the Eucharist as being directly instituted by Christ. The other five sacraments are regarded variously as full sacraments by Anglo-Catholics or as "sacramental rites" by Evangelicals.
The seven sacraments are Baptism, Confession and absolution, Holy Matrimony, Holy Eucharist (also called Holy Communion or Mass), Confirmation, Holy Orders (also called Ordination), and Anointing of the Sick (also called Unction.)
Whilst infant baptism is the norm in Anglicanism, services of thanksgiving and dedication of children are sometimes celebrated, especially when baptism is being deferred. Anglicans regard baptism as an unrepeatable sacrament. People baptised in other traditions will be confirmed without being baptised again unless there is doubt about the validity of their original baptism. Already confirmed Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians are simply received into the Anglican Church.
Anglican Eucharistic theology is divergent in practice, reflecting the essential comprehensiveness of the tradition. Some very few Low Church Anglicans take a strictly memorialist (Zwinglian) view of the sacrament. In other words, they see Holy Communion as a memorial to Christ\'s suffering, and participation in the Eucharist as both a re-enactment of the Last Supper and a foreshadowing of the heavenly banquet -- the fulfillment of the Eucharistic promise. Most Low Church Anglicans believe in the Real Presence but deny that the presence of Christ is carnal or is necessarily localised in the bread and wine. Despite explicit criticism in the Thirty-Nine Articles, many High Church or Anglo-Catholic Anglicans hold, more or less, the Roman Catholic view of the Real Presence, as expressed in the doctrine of transubstantiation, seeing the Eucharist as a re-enactment of Christ\'s atoning sacrifice, with the elements actually transformed into Christ\'s Body and Blood.
Most Anglicans, however, implicitly or explicitly adopt the Eucharistic theology of consubstantiation, first articulated by the Lollards, or Sacramental Union, first articulated by Martin Luther. Luther\'s analogy of Christ\'s presence was that of the heat of a horseshoe thrust into a fire until it is glowing. In the same way, Christ is present in the bread and the wine.
The classical Anglican aphorism regarding Christ\'s presence in the sacrament is found in a poem by John Donne:
An Anglican position on the Eucharistic sacrifice ("Sacrifice of the Mass") was expressed in the response Saepius Officio of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to Pope Leo XIII\'s Papal Encyclical Apostolicae curae. Anglican and Roman Catholic representatives 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. Despite this agreement, other ecclesiological differences between the two churches prevent full intercommunion.
- 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. Donne, John. Divine Poems—On the Sacrament, (Flesher\'s Edition) http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/topics/doctrine_t001.htm
For more details on the daily Anglican morning office, see Morning Prayer.
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. Liturgy is regulated by the prayer books and consists of the Holy Eucharist (some call it Holy Communion or Mass), the other six Sacraments, and the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.
The 1596 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.
Anglican worship services are open to all visitors. 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 said in English rather than 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 written in the local language, the structures of the Book of Common Prayer are largely retained. 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" or Anglo-Catholic service, by contrast, is usually a more formal liturgy celebrated by clergy in distinctive vestments and may be almost indistinguishable from a Roman Catholic service, often resembling the "pre-Vatican II" Tridentine rite. 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 kneel for some prayers but to stand for hymns and other parts of the service such as the Gloria, Collect, Gospel reading, Creed and either the Preface or all of the Eucharistic Prayer. 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 once again become the standard form of Sunday worship in many Anglican churches; this again is a distinction from 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 and Anglo-Catholic churches there are generally 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.
Anglo-Catholic parishes might use the modern Roman Catholic liturgy of the Mass or more traditional forms, such as the Tridentine Mass, which is translated into English in the English Missal. Traditional Catholic devotions such as the Rosary, Angelus and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament are also common among Anglo-Catholics.
Only baptized persons are eligible to receive communion"Upholding Communion of the Baptized", ECUSA, June 22, 2006. . In the past, it was common to restrict communion to those who had not only been baptised but also confirmed. In many Anglican provinces, however, all baptised Christians are now often invited to receive communion and some dioceses have regularised a system for admitting baptised young people to communion before they are confirmed.
The discipline of fasting before communion is practised by some High Church Anglicans.
Most Anglican priests require the presence of at least one other person for the celebration of the Eucharist, though some Anglo-Catholic priests (like Roman Catholic priests) may say private Masses.
As in the Roman Catholic Church, it is a canonical requirement to use fermented wine for the Eucharist, Unlike in Roman Catholicism, however, the consecrated bread and wine are always offered to the congregation. In some churches the sacrament is reserved in a tabernacle or aumbry with a lighted candle or lamp nearby. Only a priest or a bishop may be the celebrant at the Eucharist.
Evensong at York Minster
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. 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, and especially during the eighteenth century, 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).
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). 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.
In England, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some other Anglican provinces the modern prayer books contains four offices:
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".
Some Anglicans who pray the office on daily basis use the present Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. In many cities, especially in England, Anglican and Roman Catholic priests and lay people often meet several times a week to pray the office in common. A small but enthusiastic minority use the Anglican Breviary, or other translations and adaptations 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. Others may privately use idiosyncratic forms borrowed from a wide range of Christian traditions.
Uniquely amongst Protestant churches, the Church of England at the Elizabethan Settlement maintained choral foundations for daily singing the Divine Office. This resulted from an explicit addition by Elizabeth herself to the injunctions accompanying the 1559 Book of Common Prayer - which had made no mention of choral worship - by which existing choral foundations and choir schools were instructed to be continued, and their endowments secured. Consequently some thirty-four cathedrals, collegiate churches and royal chapels maintained paid establishments of singing men and choristers in the late 16th Century Mould, Alan. The English Chorister: a History, 94. . All save four of these have - with an interruption during the Commonwealth - continued daily choral prayer and praise to this day. In the Offices of Mattins and Evensong in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, these choral establishments are specified as "Quires and Places where they sing".
For nearly three centuries, this round of daily professional choral worship represented a tradition entirely distinct from that embodied in the intoning of Parish Clerks, and the singing of "west gallery choirs" which commonly accompanied weekly worship in English parish churches. However, in 1841, the rebuilt Leeds Parish Church established a surpliced choir to accompany parish services; drawing explicitly on the musical traditions of the ancient choral foundations; and over the next century, the Leeds example proved immensely popular and influential for choirs in cathedrals, parish churches and schools throughout the Anglican communion Mould, Alan. The English Chorister: a History, 177. . More or less extensively adapted, this choral tradition also became the direct inspiration for robed choirs leading congregational worship in a wide range of Christian denominations.
In 1719 the cathedral choirs of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester combined to establish the annual Three Choirs Festival, the precursor for the multitude of summer music festivals since. By the 20th century, the choral tradition had become for many the most accessible face of world-wide Anglicanism - especially as promoted through the regular broadcasting of choral evensong by the BBC; and also in the annual televising of the festival of Nine lessons and carols from Kings College Chapel. Composers closely concerned with this tradition include Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Charles Villiers Stanford and Benjamin Britten. A number of important 20th century works by non-Anglican composers were originally commissioned for the Anglican choral tradition - for example the Chichester Psalms of Leonard Bernstein, and the Nunc Dimittis of Arvo Pärt.
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, and even this role is limited, as the Church presents the government with a short list of candidates to choose from. 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 archbishop. 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, though many Anglo-Catholic priests have traditionally been bachelors. Because of innovations that occurred at various points after the latter half of the twentieth century, 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, especially 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 diocesan bishops must give their assent to resolutions passed by synods. (See Episcopal polity).
The Archbishop of Canterbury has a precedence of honour 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 full 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 2003, 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 them. 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.
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.
An Anglican priest in Eucharistic vestments. Anglican clergy usually vest at the Eucharist. While the chasuble is considered to be more "high church" by some Anglicans, the alb and stole are common vesture.
For more details 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.
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.
Bishops are assisted by priests and deacons. Most ordained ministers in the Anglican Communion are priests, who usually work in parishes within a diocese. Priests in charge of the spiritual life of parishes are usually called the rector or vicar. A curate (or, more correctly, an \'assistant curate\') is a term often used for a priest (or deacon) who assists the parish priest.
Non-parochial priests may earn their living by any vocation, though these are usually related to the educational, social service or healing professions. Many other non-stipendiary priests will work in Christian-related fields such as chaplains of hospitals, schools, prisons and the armed forces.
An archdeacon is a priest responsible for administration of an archdeaconry, which is often the name given to the principal subdivisions of a diocese. An archdeacon is an episcopal vicar who represents the diocesan bishop in his or her archdeaconry. In the Church of England the position of archdeacon can only be held by someone in priestly orders who has been ordained for at least six years. In some other parts of the Anglican Communion the position can also be held by deacons. 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 an ordained woman can be appointed to.
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.
An Anglican deacon wearing a purple stole over his left shoulder.
In Anglican churches, deacons often work directly in ministry to the marginalised inside and outside the church: the poor, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned. Unlike Orthodox and Roman Catholic deacons who may be married only before ordination, deacons are permitted to marry freely both before and after ordination, as are priests. Most deacons are preparing for priesthood, and usually only remain as deacons for about a year before being ordained priests. However, there are some deacons who remain deacons. Many provinces of the Anglican Communion ordain both women and men as deacons. Many of those provinces that ordain women to the priesthood previously allowed them to be ordained only to the diaconate. The effect of this was the creation of a large and overwhelmingly female diaconate for a time, as most men proceeded to be ordained priest after a short time as a deacon.
Deacons may baptise and in some dioceses are granted licenses to solemnize matrimony, usually under the instruction of their parish priest and bishop. They sometimes officiate at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, in the churches that have this service. Deacons are not permitted to preside at the eucharist (but can lead worship with the distribution of already-consecrated Communion where this is permitted), absolve sins or pronounce a blessing in the name of the Church [3], (however, these last two are sometimes permitted in an indirect form). It is the prohibition against deacons pronouncing a blessing in the Church\'s name that leads some in the church to believe that a deacon cannot properly solemnize matrimony. In most cases, deacons minister alongside other clergy.
All baptised members of the Church are called Christian faithful, truly equal in dignity and in the work to build the Church. Some of the non-ordained exercise formal, public ministry in the name of the church, often on a full time and life-long basis. Lay Readers, also known as Readers, churchwardens, vergers and sextons are auxiliaries who do not hold holy orders.
A small yet influential aspect of Anglicanism is its religious orders and communities. Shortly after the beginning of the Catholic Revival in the Church of England, there was a renewal of interest in re-establishing religious and monastic orders and communities. One of Henry VIII\'s earliest acts was their dissolution and seizure of their assets. In 1841 Marion Rebecca Hughes became the first woman to take the vows of religion in communion with the Province of Canterbury since the Reformation. In 1848, Priscilla Lydia Sellon became the superior of the Society of the Most Holy Trinity at Devonport, the first organised religious order. Sellon is called "the restorer, after three centuries, of the religious life in the Church of England."Williams, Thomas J. (1950). Priscilla Lydia Sellon. London: SPCK. For the next one hundred years, religious orders for both men and women proliferated throughout the world, becoming a numerically small but disproportionately influential feature of global Anglicanism.
Anglican religious life at one time boasted hundreds of orders and communities, and thousands of religious. An important aspect of Anglican religious life is that most communities of both men and women lived their lives consecrated to God under the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience (or in Benedictine communities, Stability, Conversion of Life, and Obedience) by practicing a mixed life of reciting the full eight services of the Breviary in choir, along with a daily Eucharist, plus service to the poor. The mixed life, combining aspects of the contemplative orders and the active orders remains to this day a hallmark of Anglican religious life. Another distinctive feature of Anglican religious life is the existence of some mixed-gender communities.
Since the 1960s there has been a sharp decline in the number of professed religious in most parts of the Anglican Communion, especially in North America, Europe, and Australia. Many once large and international communities have been reduced to a single convent or monastery comprised of elderly men or women. In the last few decades of the 20th century, novices have for most communities been few and far between. Some orders and communities have already become extinct. There are however, still thousands of Anglican religious working today in approximately 200 communities around the world, and religious life in many parts of the Communion - especially in developing nations - flourishes.
The most significant growth has been in the Melanesian countries of the Solomon Islands,
