Cristnogaeth - Anglican Communion

Cristnogaeth
A Website on Christianity Featuring the Anglican Communion and Celtic Christianity

Anglican Communion - Introduction

On this page: Introduction // Structures of the Anglican Communion // Anglican Beliefs and Statements of Faith // Anglican History // Anglican Terms and Definitions

The Anglican Communion is composed of a group of national churches from around the world which are in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury and bound by the twin principles of autonomy and mutual accountability. Christianity was brought early on to Britain and spread through the efforts of Celtic monks. In 596 AD, Augustine was sent by the Pope in Rome to establish a Church of England under tighter control of Rome. Augustine established his bishopric in Canterbury and was the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In 664, the Roman brand of British Christianity won out over the Celtic version at the Synod of Whitby, and the Church of England came under strict Roman control.

In the 1540's, the English King Henry VIII's marriage troubles led to the re-establishment of an autonomous Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury remained the pre-eminent English bishop and has since become the pre-eminent Anglican bishop. As British influence spread across the world in the 1700's, 1800's and 1900's, the Church of England spread with it. When British dominance and power receded from the world, the Church of England remained in the form of autonomous national catholic churches. Today, this collection of churches makes up the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Compass Rose is a symbol of the international Anglican Communion.

The Anglican Communion has traditionally been bound together by two principles - mutual accountability and provincial autonomy. Mutual accountability has several interrelated facets to it. It describes a situation where no one province should take unilateral action in controversial areas; where there is collegiality amongst the bishops; and where there is general agreement to and enforcement of the catholic and apostolic faith and order. Provincial autonomy provides that - subject to the principle of mutual accountability - the national churches are to be self-governing.

In recent years, the Anglican Communion is facing a crisis of unity, polity and theology. This has been brought about by the North American Provinces determined to push a controversial agenda without regard to the Anglican principle of mutual accountability. The American Episcopal Church and the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster have taken unilateral decisions on sexuality that are contrary to the faith of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. They have ignored the counsel of the international Anglican Communion. At this time, it is not yet known what the exact fallout will be, but some kind of realignment seems inevitable.

Several Anglican primates have offered oversight to Anglican parishes in the United States and Canada, thereby creating multiple Anglican jurisdictions in North American. The realignment of the Anglican Communion is still sorting itself out and it is impossible to predict what will happen in the end. Many believe that the end result will be a permanent rupture in the Communion.

The Anglican Communion's official website includes a listing of the many national churches that make up the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is held together by instruments of unity, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conferences, the primates' meetings, and the Anglican Consultative Council. These institutions serve to unify the national churches.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is an important figure of unity within the Anglican Communion. While having no greater formal power then any other Anglican bishop, membership in the Anglican Communion is traditionally defined as those churches in communion with the Anglican See of Canterbury. This homepage includes information on the Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, a list of previous Archbishops, and a description of the Archbishop's role.

The Lambeth Conference is a meeting of all Anglican bishops from around the world held once every ten years. It is so named because it takes place at Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The official website includes information about the upcoming Lambeth Conference as well as links to the reports and resolutions of the previous Lambeth Conferences.

Undoubtedly, the 1998 Lambeth Conference will be primarily remembered for its sexuality resolution which was a balanced statement affirming the inclusion of men and women who perceive themselves as homosexual in the Church while upholding the catholic, apostolic, and Biblical standard of sexual behavior.

The annual primates' meetings have become increasingly important as the Anglican Communion nears its breakup. During these meetings, the leading bishops from each of the Anglican provinces get together to discuss the state of the Communion.

The Anglican Consultative Council is a body made up of bishops, clergy and laity which was originally intended to foster unity amongst the Communion between the Lambeth Conferences. The ACC meets every 2-3 years.

There is no international system of canon law binding on member churches of the Anglican Communion, however, the provinces do have internal canon law. The canon law home page provides links to the canon law and court decisions that are available on the internet. The Canon Law Institute deals with canon law from a more conservative perspective. Some reform initiatives advocate the creation of an international system of canon law.

The Anglican Church is not generally thought of as a confessional church, meaning that there is no foundational confession of faith which defines it. This is in contrast to the Lutheran Church with its Augsburg Confession or the Reformed churches with their Heidleburg Catechism. It should not be supposed, as some argue, that the Anglican Church, therefore has no set theology. Rather the Anglican Church is supposed to uphold the catholic and apostolic faith and teaching. The Church of England's "What it means to be an Anglican" page provides an excellent and succinct description of core Anglican beliefs.

There are some documents which illustrate Anglican beliefs. Anglicans Online has a site called What do Anglicans-Episcopalians Believe? which includes links to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, the Thirty Nine Articles (U.S. version) and the Episcopal Church's (USA) catechism. The original version of the Thirty-Nine articles is English and includes references to royalty which the Americans deleted. The Thirty-Nine articles are less important now then they once were. Their original purpose was to distinguish the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church on the one hand, and Anabaptists, on the other hand.

In recent years some North American organizations have sought to create orthodox statements of faith in response to the liberalization of the North American church. In Canada, the Anglican Essentials movement issued the Montreal Declaration of Anglican Essentials. In the United States, the Anglican American Council issued a statement titled A Place to Stand to define core Anglican beliefs. Both statements are sound and moderate theological statements.

The Church of England has a well thought out series of statements expressing its viewpoints on a number of important social and political subjects.

There are some good sites providing a more in depth history of the Anglican Church. The Britannia site includes a page on the history of Christianity in Britain which provides many interesting links to the full history of the Church in Britain, including the Church of England since it became independent of Rome. An excellent Anglican Timeline traces the history of the Episcopal Church back to the American Revolution and then the Church of England back to Henry VIII. The Church of England has a good, short History of the Church of England on its web site. A site of saint' biographical sketches allows one to to look up notable Christians by saint's day or alphabetically.

As I learned after joining the Anglican Church, there is a complex vocabulary that goes along with being Anglican. It is very nice to have numerous online glossaries of Anglican terms and definitions. St. Sam's Dictionary and Anglican Church Words, and all provide good general Anglican and Episcopal glossaries. Of course, there may be some words you encounter that you just won't find in these. Some terms are in use in some Anglican provinces but not in others. Still you will find most things identified in one of the glossaries listed above.