The Anglican Church

The Great Schism: Until 1054 there was only one Christian Church -- the CATHOLIC CHURCH. Its leadership was centered in five great Patriarchates -- Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople in the East and Rome in the West. After the Roman Empire became Christian some bishops increasingly became involved in political matters, and the bishops of Rome in particular began to claim power over the whole Church. This led to a tragic division in the Church, the "Great Schism" of 1054, when it split into the "Orthodox" East and the "Roman Catholic" West.

Not directly involved in that split was the Church in England, which the Bishops of Rome were determined to claim - especially after 1061, when a rival Papacy in Lombardy claimed allegiance from the See of Canterbury. In 1066, the Duke of Normandy (William "the Conqueror"), with the support and formal blessing of Pope Alexander II, invaded England. After seizing the English Crown, William replaced all but one of the English bishops with Norman bishops loyal to Rome. The Church of England was to remain under Papal jurisdiction for nearly 500 years, until the reign of King Henry VIII.

The Church in England: As the Anglican Church of Canada is derived from the Church of England, it is necessary to look briefly at the origins and development of English Christianity.

In its infancy, the early Church spread from Jerusalem around the Mediterranean regions, and then to other parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. Britain was, at that time, a part of the Roman Empire, and Christianity probably arrived with merchants and seafarers. By early in the 4th century the British (Celtic) Church was sufficiently strong to have a number of bishoprics: in the year 314 three British bishops participated in the Council of Arles, summoned by the Emperor Constantine.

Upon the departure of the Roman Legions in the 5th century, the southern parts of Britain were invaded by page Angles and Saxons, who drove the Britons and their Church into the safety of the western hills (Wales) and Cornwall. Although actually seven different kingdoms, from this time the southeast sector occupied by the Anglo-Saxons began to be called "Angle-land" (later contracted to "England").

In 597 a new Church mission headed by St. Augustine arrived from Rome. Augustine's claims to jurisdiction were rejected by the British bishops, but he succeeded in re-establishing Christianity in parts of the south of Britain. Meanwhile, Christianity was being spread in the north by Celtic missionaries -- notably St. Columba of Iona and St. Aidan of Lindisfarne.

Representatives of the Celtic missions in the north and the Latin missions in the south of England met at the Synod of Whitby in 664, and amalgamated to form a single Church -- the Church of England, with dual primacies at Canterbury and York. The unity achieved was particularly due to St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, a remarkable scholar at whose monastery the synod was held.

For the next 400 years the Church of EnglandD (like the Eastern Orthodox Churches) remained in communion with, but not under the formal jurisdiction of, the See of Rome. Although imposed by military force in 1066, papal jurisdiction brought certain benefits and so for a time was accepted. These benefits included a revival of scholarship, efficient administration and international support for the bishops when they found themselves in conflict with the state.

Early in the 16th century northern Europe was swept by Protestant "Reformation". Widespread and intense demands arose for the correction of abuses which had crept into the Western Church during the Middle Ages.

The Church of England was profoundly affected by the recovery of Biblical scholarship and other aspects of this movement, but nonetheless remained firmly Catholic in its Faith and Order.

At particular issue, once again, were the claims of the Bishop of Rome to universal jurisdiction over the whole Church, which had been firmly repudiated by the Eastern Orthodox Churches in 1054. In 1534 the Church of England also repudiated Papal jurisdiction and recovered the autonomy it had enjoyed prior to the Norman Conquest.

Contrary to widespread belief, the circumstances of the annulment of the marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon were merely the occasion, but not the cause, of this break with Rome. Henry founded no new Church; he merely restored rightful autonomy to an old one.

During Henry's reign there were no radical alterations in English religion. The clergy remained unchanged and the Church's principal service, the Mass, continued to be in Latin, although Henry supported the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, in ordering the use of English for the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed and the Bible Readings.

Although no longer under the jurisdiction of Rome, the Church of England remained thoroughly Catholic, and continued to be in communion with the See of Rome during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I until 1570. Since then, the Catholic Church has been not all "Roman", but has subsisted in three main groups of jurisdictions: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican.

Henry VIII died in 1547 and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI, during whose reign a number of reforms were introduced into the Church of England. In general these reforms were rather less radical than those introduced into the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council in modern times.

In the 17th century civil war erupted, culminating in 1649 with the execution of King Charles I and the abolition of Anglicanism. The parish churches were handed over to Presbyterians or Congregationalists, and for eleven years Anglicanism went underground. Politically and spiritually this was a disaster, and most Englishmen rejoiced when both the Church and the Monarchy was restored in 1660. The Evangelical Revival of the 18th century and the Catholic Revival (Oxford Movement) of the 19th century also brought renewed vigor to Anglicanism.

The Anglican Communion in today's world, The Anglican Church is taken to mean those tens of millions of people who worship in churches that are part of the Anglican Communion.

Some churches within the Anglican Communion are called Episcopalian. These churches (such as the USA) come from the Scottish Episcopal Church. The Scottish Church is as old as the English Church and has a very different history. The Anglican Communion, therefore, has two roots: the English Church and The Scottish Church.

When the British people settled the British Empire they took their religion with them and thus Anglicanism spread overseas. Eventually these overseas parishs became autonomous provinces of the Communion. These churches, while autonomous in their governance, are bound together by tradition, Scripture, the Prayer Book, Canon Law and the inheritance they have received from the the British Churches. They together make up the Anglican Communion, a body headed spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

If an Anglican church is a member of the Anglican Communion, it is said to be "in communion", or "in communion with the See of Canterbury".

There are three International bodies that make up the leadership of the Anglican Communion: The Lambeth Confrence; the Anglican Consultitive Council; and the Primates Meeting.