Anglican Rosary Prayers Pdf? The 49 Latest Answer

Religious belief of Christianity, primarily Catholicism

“Purification after death” redirects here. For the practice observed by various cultures of cleansing the bodies of the recently deceased, see Last Offices

Purgatory (Latin: Purgatory, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French)[1] is according to the belief of some Christians (mostly Catholics) an intermediate state after physical death for atonement.[2] The process of purgatory is the ultimate purification of the elect, entirely different from the punishment of the damned.[3] Tradition, with reference to certain scriptures, sees the process as a cleansing fire. Some forms of Western Christianity, particularly within Protestantism, deny its existence. Other streams of Western Christianity see purgatory[4] as a place that may be filled with fire. Some concepts of Gehenna in Judaism are similar to those of purgatory.

The word “purgatory” has come to refer to a wide range of historical and modern notions of postmortem suffering on the verge of eternal damnation.[5] English speakers also use the word in a non-specific sense to mean any place or state of suffering or distress, especially those that are temporary.[6]

The Catholic Church holds that “all who die in God’s grace and friendship but are imperfectly cleansed” undergo a process of cleansing which the Church calls purgatory “to attain the holiness necessary to enter the enter into the joy of heaven”. Catholicism also bases its teaching on the practice of praying for the dead, which has been in use in the Church since the beginning of the Church and is mentioned in the Deuterocanonical book of 2 Maccabees 12:46.[7]

According to Jacques Le Goff, the concept of purgatory as a physical place arose in western Europe towards the end of the 12th century.[8] Le Goff explains that the concept involves the idea of ​​a purgatory, which he says is “atoning and purifying and not punitive like the fires of hell”.[9] At the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, when the Catholic Church first defined its doctrine on purgatory, the Eastern Orthodox Church did not adopt that doctrine. The Council did not mention purgatory as a third place or as containing fire[10] which is also absent from the declarations of the Councils of Florence (1431-1449) and Trent (1545-1563).[11] Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. have explained that the term does not designate a place but a condition of existence.[12][13]

The Church of England, mother church of the Anglican Communion, officially denounces what it calls “the Roman doctrine concerning purgatory,”[14] but maintains the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and elements of the Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist traditions that for some there is purification after death and that the dead are prayed for.[15][16][17][18][19] The Reformed Churches teach that the dead are freed from their sins through the process of glorification.[20] Rabbinic Judaism also believes in the possibility of purification after death, and may even use the word “purgatory” to describe the similar rabbinic concept of Gehenna, although Gehenna is also sometimes described [by whom?] as more akin to Hell or Hades becomes. 21]

History of Faith[edit]

Image of a non-fiery purgatory (Gustave Doré: Illustration to Dante’s Purgatorio, Canto 24).

While the use of the word “purgatorium” (Latin purgatorium, a place of purification, from the verb purgo, “to purify, to purify”[22]) as a noun appeared perhaps only between 1160 and 1180, leading to the idea of ​​purgatory as a place [23] (what Jacques Le Goff called the “birth” of purgatory),[8] the Roman Catholic tradition of purgatory as a transitional state has a history dating back even before Jesus Christ to the worldwide practice of caring for the dead and praying for them and the belief, also found in Judaism, which is considered the forerunner of Christianity, that praying for the dead contributes to their purification after death. The same practice appears in other traditions as well, such as the medieval Chinese Buddhist practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead, who are said to suffer numerous trials.[5]

The Catholic Church found specific Old Testament support for post-mortem purification in 2 Maccabees 12:42–45,[24] part of the Catholic biblical canon but considered apocryphal by Protestants. [25] [26] [5] And according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the prayer for the dead was adopted by Christians from the beginning[27], a practice which implies that the dead should pray between death and moving into their final abode is helped.[5] The New American Bible Revised Edition, authorized by the Catholic Bishops of the United States, says in a note on 2 Maccabees: “This is the earliest doctrinal statement that prayer and sacrifice are operative for the dead. Judas probably intended his cleansing sacrifice to ward off punishment for the living. However, the author uses the story to demonstrate belief in the resurrection of the righteous and in the possibility of atonement for the sins of otherwise good people who have died. This belief is similar to, but not quite the same as, the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.”[28]

Over the centuries, theologians and others have developed theories, devised descriptions, and created legends that have contributed to the formation of a popular conception of purgatory that is far more detailed and elaborate than the fairly minimal elements that have been officially proclaimed as part of authentic doctrine the church.

Shortly before becoming a Roman Catholic,[29] the English scholar John Henry Newman argued that the essence of the doctrine was to be found in the ancient tradition and that the core consistency of such beliefs was evidence that Christianity “brought us originally from heaven was given. .[30] The teaching of the Catholic Church on purgatory, as defined in the Second Council of Lyons (1274), the Council of Florence (1438–1445) and the Council of Trent (1545–63), [5] [31] is without the imaginative additions of the popular notion of purgatory.

Christianity [edit]

Some Christians, typically Catholics, recognize the doctrine of purgatory, while many Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches would not use the same terminology, the former based on their own Sola Scriptura doctrine combined with their exclusion of 2 Maccabees from the Protestant canon of the Bible , the latter for their rejection of the term “purgatory”, although they acknowledge an intermediate state after death and before the Last Judgment; It is for this reason that the Eastern Orthodox offer prayers for the dead.

Catholicism[ edit ]

The Catholic Church calls what it calls the post-mortem purification of “all who die in God’s grace and friendship but are imperfectly purified,” purgatory. [32] Although purgatory is presented in popular imagination as a place rather than a process of purification, the idea of ​​purgatory as a physical place with time is not part of the Church’s teaching.[12] Fire, Another Important Element of Purgatory Popular fantasy is also missing from the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The purgatory of Catholic doctrine[edit]

At the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, the Catholic Church first defined its teaching on purgatory in two terms:

some souls are purified after death; such souls benefit from the prayers and pious duties performed for them by the living.

The Council stated:

[I]If they die truly repentant in charity, before having satisfied by worthy fruits of penance for (sins) committed and not committed, their souls are purified after death by penalties of purgatory or purgatory, as Brother John has explained to us. And in order to mitigate such punishments, these benefit from the offerings of the living believers, namely, the offerings of masses, prayers, almsgiving, and other duties of piety, which have been customarily performed by the believers for the other believers, according to the ordinances of the Church.[ 33]

A century and a half later, the Council of Florence reiterated the same two points in virtually the same words, again excluding certain elements of the purgatory of popular imagination, notably fire and place, which representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church opposed at the Council:[34] [The Council] also stipulated that if those who are truly penitent have departed in the love of God before satisfying themselves with the worthy fruits of penance for sins committed and omitted, their souls will be purified after death by the punishments of purgatory will; and in order to free them from such punishments they benefit from the voting rights of the living believers, namely, the sacrifices of Mass, prayers, and almsgiving and other works of piety, which are ordinarily performed by the believers for other believers according to the institutions of the Church.[35]

The Council of Trent reiterated the same two points and, moreover, in its Decree on Purgatory of December 4, 1563, recommended avoiding speculation and irrelevant questions:

Ever since the Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Fathers, has taught in Holy Councils and most recently in this Ecumenical Synod that there is purgatory and that souls are confined there by the right to vote of the faithful, and especially through the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy synod commands the bishops to insist that the sound doctrine of purgatory, transmitted by the holy fathers and holy councils, be believed by the faithful of Christ, nurtured, taught, and preached everywhere.

But the more difficult and subtle “questions” which do not lead to “edification” (cf. 1Tm 1:4), and from which very often no increase in piety arises, are to be excluded from popular discourses on the uneducated. Likewise, they must not allow matters that are unsafe or have the appearance of being a lie to be raised and discussed publicly. On the other hand, those things which tend to a certain curiosity or superstition, or smell of filthy gain, let the believer ban them as scandals and stumbling blocks.[36]

Catholic teaching on purgatory is presented as consisting of the same two points in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 2005, which is a dialogical summary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It deals with purgatory in the following exchange:[37]

210. What is purgatory? Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still need purification to enter into the happiness of heaven. 211. How can we help souls being purified in purgatory? Thanks to the communion of saints, the faithful who are still on pilgrimage on earth can help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers for them, especially the Eucharistic Sacrifice. They also help them through alms, indulgences, and penance.

These two questions and answers summarize information from sections 1030-1032[38] and 1054[39] of the Catechism of the Catholic Church published in 1992, which also speaks of purgatory in sections 1472-1473.[40]

Role in relation to sin[ edit ]

According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, those who die imperfectly purified in God’s grace and friendship, though assured of their eternal salvation, undergo purification after death in order to attain the holiness necessary to enter into the joy of God .[ 41]

Unless “redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness,” mortal sin, the object of which is mortal matter, and also committed with full knowledge and conscious consent, “brings exclusion from the kingdom of Christ and eternal death to hell, for ours Freedom has the power to make choices forever, without turning back.”[42] Such sin “disqualifies us from eternal life, the deprivation of which is called the ‘eternal penalty’ of sin”.[43]

Although venial sin does not deprive the sinner of friendship with God or the eternal happiness of heaven,[44] “it weakens charity, reveals a disordered affection for created goods, and hinders the progress of the soul in the practice of virtues and pursuits the morally good; it deserves temporal punishment”,[44] because “every sin, even venial, involves an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state of purgatory. This cleansing frees one from what is called the ‘temporary punishment’ of sin”.[43]

“These two punishments are not to be construed as a form of external vengeance imposed by God, but as a consequence of the very nature of sin. A conversion that springs from fervent love can thus achieve the complete cleansing of the sinner that no penalty would remain.”[43]

This cleansing of our sinful tendencies has been compared to the rehabilitation of someone who needs cleansing of any addiction, a gradual and probably painful process. It can be fostered throughout life through voluntary self-mortification and penance, and through acts of generosity that show love of God rather than of creatures. If not completed before death, it may still be necessary to enter the divine presence.[45] Saint Catherine of Genoa said: “As for Paradise, God did not put up doors there. If you want to enter, do so. An all-merciful God stands there with open arms, waiting to take us into his glory. I also see, however, that the Divine Presence is so pure and luminous – much more than we can imagine – that the soul, having even the slightest imperfection, would rather plunge into a thousand hells than do so before the Divine Presence to appear.”[46]

A person seeking purification from sinful tendencies is not alone. Because of the communion of saints: “The holiness of one benefits another, far beyond the harm that sin could do to another. Thus, resorting to the communion of saints allows the penitent sinner to be more quickly and effectively cleansed of the penalties of sin”.[47] The Catholic Church declares that by granting indulgences for expressions of devotion, penance and charity by the living “Opens the treasury of the merits of Christ and of the saints, to obtain from the Father of mercies forgiveness of the temporal punishments due for their sins”.[48]

Speculations and ideas about purgatory

Some Catholic saints and theologians sometimes had conflicting ideas about purgatory that went beyond those accepted by the Catholic Church and reflected or contributed to the popular image, which involves the idea of ​​purification by actual fire in a specific place and for a precise length of time . Paul J. Griffiths notes: “Recent Catholic thought on purgatory typically preserves the essentials of the basic doctrine while offering speculative, second-hand interpretations of these elements.”[49] As Joseph Ratzinger wrote: “Purgatory is not, as Tertullian suggested, a kind of transcendental concentration camp in which man is forced to be punished in a more or less arbitrary way, but it is the inner necessary process of change in which a man finds himself capable of Christ, capable of God and thus capable of unity with the whole community of the saints”.[50]

The speculations and popular notions that were common in the Western or Latin Church, particularly in the late Middle Ages, have not necessarily found acceptance in the Eastern Catholic Churches, 23 of which are in full communion with the Pope. Some have explicitly rejected the notions of punishment by fire at a specific location, dominant in the popular image of purgatory. The representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church at the Council of Florence argued against these notions but stated that they believe that after death there is a purification of the souls of the saved and that these are sustained by the prayers of the living: “If Souls who depart from this life in faith and charity, but stained with some defilements, whether they have unrepented small or great repentance, but have not yet borne the fruits of penance, we believe that within reason of be cleansed of these faults, but not by some purifying fire and special punishments in any place.”[51] The definition of purgatory adopted by this council excluded and mentioned the two terms with which the orthodox disagreed only the two points, which they said were also part of their faith.Accordingly, the agreement known as the Union of Brest states men formalizing the acceptance of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church: “We will not debate purgatory, but we trust the teaching of the Holy Church”.[52]

fire [edit]

Fire occupies an important place in the popular image of purgatory and has been the subject of speculation by theologians, speculation to which the article on purgatory in the Catholic Encyclopedia refers, the Council of Trent’s warning of “difficult and subtle questions which do not tend to edification.”[53]

Fire was never included in the Catholic Church’s defined teaching on purgatory, but speculation about it is traditional. “The Tradition of the Church speaks of a cleansing fire, with reference to certain Scriptures.”[54] The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers in this connection to two New Testament passages in particular: “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer harm, although he himself saved, but only as by fire”[55] and “that the tested authenticity of your faith – more precious than gold, which perishes when tested by fire – may be found as a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”.[56] Catholic theologians have also quoted verses such as: “I will put this third into the fire and refine it as silver is refined, and try it as gold is tried. They will call my name and I will answer them. I will say ‘You are my people’; and they will say: ‘The Lord is my God'”,[57] a verse which the Jewish school of Shammai applied to God’s judgment of those who are neither wholly righteous nor wholly wicked.[58][59]

The use of the image of a cleansing fire dates back to Origen, who, with reference to 1 Corinthians 3:10–15, is taken to refer to a process by which the dross of lighter transgressions will be burned and thus the soul, purified, will be saved ,[53][60] wrote: “Suppose you build on the ground that Christ Jesus taught, not just gold, silver, and precious stones – if you actually have gold and a lot of silver or little – Suppose you have silver , gems, but I’m not just saying these elements, but supposing you have wood and hay and stubble too, what will he become of you after your final departure? wood and with your hay and your stubble, that you may defile the kingdom of God? But you want to be left in the fire again for the hay, the wood, the stubble, and get nothing that is your due for the gold and the silver and the jewels? That’s not reasonable. So what? It follows that you receive the fire first because of the wood and the hay and the stubble. For for those who can discern, our God shall really be a consuming fire.”[61] Origen also speaks of a ennobling fire that melts away the lead of evil deeds, leaving only pure gold.[62]

St. Augustine tentatively put the idea of ​​purgatory after death to some Christian believers: “69. It is not incredible that such a thing should happen after this life, whether or not it is the subject of fruitful investigation. It can be discovered or hidden whether some of the believers will sooner or later be saved through a kind of purgatory, according as they have loved the goods that perish and according to their attachment to them.”[63]

Gregory the Great also argued for the existence of a Purgatorius Ignis (a purifying fire) before judgment to remove minor defects (wood, hay, stubble) rather than mortal sins (iron, bronze, lead).[64] Pope St. Gregory in the Dialogues quotes the words of Christ (in Mat 12:32) to establish purgatory: “Yet we must believe that before the Day of Judgment there is a fire in purgatory for certain petty sins: because our Savior says that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.” (Matthew 12:32) From this sentence we learn that some sins are forgiven in this world, and one others can be forgiven in the next: for what is denied as to one sin is consequently understood as granted as to another.”[65]

Gregory of Nyssa spoke several times of purification by fire after death,[66] but he generally has apokatastasis in mind.[67]

Medieval theologians accepted the association of purgatory with fire. Thus, the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas considered it probable that purgatory was close to hell, so that the same fire that tormented the damned purged righteous souls in purgatory.[68]

Ideas about the alleged fires of purgatory have changed over time: early in the 20th century, the Catholic Encyclopedia reported that most theologians had historically assumed that the fires of purgatory were in some sense a material fire, albeit from Ordinary fire of a different nature was the view of the majority of theologians at the time, that the term should be understood metaphorically.[69][70]

Pope Benedict XVI recommended to theologians the depiction of purgatory by Saint Catherine of Genoa, for whom purgatory is not an external fire but an internal fire: “The saint speaks of the soul’s journey of purification on the path to full communion with God, starting from her own experience of deep sorrow over the committed sins compared to God’s infinite love. […] “The soul,” says Catherine, “shows itself to God still bound to the desires and sufferings that result from sin, and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the beatific vision of God. ” Catherine affirms that God is so pure and holy that a soul stained by sin cannot be in the presence of divine majesty. We, too, feel how distant we are, how fulfilled we are in so many things that we fail God Aware of the immeasurable love and perfect justice of God, the soul suffers consequently from not having responded to that love properly and perfectly, and love of God Himself becomes a flame, Love Itself purifies it of the residue of sin.”[71]

In his 2007 encyclical Spe salvi, Pope Benedict XVI referring to the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 about a fire that both burns and saves, from the opinion that “the fire that both burns and saves is Christ himself, the judge and Savior, the encounter with him is the decisive act of judgment, before his gaze all lies melt away.[72]

This encounter with him that burns us transforms and frees us, allowing us to truly become ourselves. Everything we build up in our lives can prove to be a straw, just a din, and it collapses. But in the pain of that encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives are revealed to us, lies redemption. His gaze, the touch of his heart, heals us with an undeniably painful transformation “like fire”. But it is a blissful pain in which the holy power of his love burns through us like a flame, enabling us to become fully ourselves and therefore fully God.[72]

In this way, too, the link between justice and grace is made clear: the way we live our lives is not indifferent, but our defilement does not stain us forever if we at least keep reaching out to Christ, to the truth and to him Love. In fact, it has already been burned by the Passion of Christ. In the moment of judgment we experience and absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all evil in the world and in ourselves.[72]

The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transformative burning in terms of this world’s chronological measurements. The transforming ‘moment’ of this encounter eludes the earthly calendar – it is the time of the heart, it is the time of ‘transition’ to communion with God in the body of Christ.”[72]

Popular idea of ​​purgatory as a place

The Island of St. Patrick’s Purgatory

In his book La naissance du Purgatoire (The Birth of Purgatory), Jacques Le Goff writes the origin of the idea of ​​a third domain of another world, similar to heaven and hell, called purgatory, Parisian intellectuals and Cistercian monks to the last three decades of the twelfth century, possibly already 1170-1180. Before that, the Latin adjective purgatorius existed, as in purgatorius ignis (purifying fire), but only then did the noun purgatorium appear, used as the name of a place called purgatory.[73] Saint Robert Bellarmine also taught that “purgatory, at least the usual place of atonement, is within the earth, that the souls in purgatory and the damned are in the same subterranean space in that deep abyss which Scripture calls hell.” [74][75]

The change came about at the same time as the writing of the book Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii, an account by an English Cistercian of a repentant knight’s visit to the land of purgatory, which is reached through a cave on the island known as Station Island or St. Patrick’s became purgatory in lake Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland. Le Goff said this book “occupies an essential place in the history of purgatory, in the success of which it played an important, if not decisive, part”.[76]

One of the earliest depictions of St. Patrick’s purgatory is a fresco in the Monastery of San Francisco in Todi, Umbria, Italy. This long ago whitewashed fresco was only restored in 1976. The painter was probably Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio, and the date of the fresco is circa 1345. Purgatory is depicted as a rocky mound with separate openings in its hollow center. Above the mountain, St. Patrick presents the prayers of the faithful, which can help alleviate the sufferings of souls undergoing purification. In every opening sinners are tormented by demons and fire. Each of the seven deadly sins – avarice, envy, sloth, pride, wrath, lust, and gluttony – has its own region of purgatory and its own appropriate torments.

Dante faces purgatory (represented as a mountain) in this 16th-century painting.

Le Goff devotes the last chapter of his book to Purgatorio, the second canto of the Divine Comedy, a poem by the 14th-century Italian author Dante Alighieri. In an interview, Le Goff stated: “Dante’s Purgatorio represents the sublime conclusion of the slow development of purgatory that took place throughout the Middle Ages. The power of Dante’s poetry was instrumental in fixing in the public imagination that ‘third place’ whose birth was by and large fairly recent.”[79] Dante envisioned purgatory as an island off the antipodes of Jerusalem which was pushed up in an otherwise empty sea by the expulsion of the fall of Satan who left him, is fixed at the center of the globe.The cone-shaped island has seven terraces upon which souls ascend from the seven deadly sins or capital vices gereinigt werden. Zusätzliche Sporen an der Basis halten diejenigen, für die sich der Beginn des Aufstiegs verzögert, weil sie im Leben Exkommunizierte, Träge oder späte Reue waren. Auf dem Gipfel befindet sich der Garten Eden, von wo aus die von bösen Neigungen gereinigten und vollkommen gemachten Seelen in den Himmel gebracht werden.

Die katholische Kirche hat die Idee eines Fegefeuers eher als Bedingung denn als Ort in ihre Lehre aufgenommen. Am 4. August 1999 sagte Papst Johannes Paul II. über das Fegefeuer: „Der Begriff bezeichnet keinen Ort, sondern einen Daseinszustand. Wer nach dem Tod in einem Zustand der Reinigung existiert, ist bereits in der Liebe Christus, der die Reste der Unvollkommenheit als „Bedingung der Existenz“ von ihnen entfernt.[12]

In ähnlicher Weise sagte Papst Benedikt XVI. 2011 über die heilige Katharina von Genua (1447–1510) in Bezug auf das Fegefeuer: „Zu ihrer Zeit wurde es hauptsächlich mit Bildern dargestellt, die mit dem Raum verbunden sind: Es wurde ein bestimmter Raum konzipiert, in dem sich das Fegefeuer befand Katharina jedoch sah das Fegefeuer nicht als eine Szene in den Eingeweiden der Erde: Für sie ist es kein äußeres, sondern ein inneres Feuer. Dies ist das Fegefeuer: ein inneres Feuer.“[13]

Eastern Orthodoxy[ edit ]

Während die ostorthodoxe Kirche den Begriff Fegefeuer ablehnt, erkennt sie einen Zwischenzustand nach dem Tod und vor dem endgültigen Gericht an und bietet Gebete für die Toten an. Laut der griechisch-orthodoxen Erzdiözese von Amerika:

Der moralische Fortschritt der Seele, sei es zum Guten oder zum Schlechten, endet genau im Moment der Trennung von Körper und Seele; in diesem Augenblick entscheidet sich das endgültige Schicksal der Seele im ewigen Leben. … Es gibt keinen Weg zur Reue, keinen Ausweg, keine Reinkarnation und keine Hilfe von außen. Sein Platz wird für immer von seinem Schöpfer und Richter bestimmt. Die orthodoxe Kirche glaubt nicht an das Fegefeuer (einen Ort der Reinigung), das heißt den Zwischenzustand nach dem Tod, in dem die Seelen der Erretteten (derjenigen, die keine zeitliche Strafe für ihre Sünden erhalten haben) von allen vorbereitenden Makeln gereinigt werden in den Himmel einzutreten, wo jede Seele vollkommen und geeignet ist, Gott zu sehen. Auch die orthodoxe Kirche glaubt nicht an Ablässe als Erlass von Fegefeuerstrafen. Sowohl das Fegefeuer als auch der Ablass sind miteinander zusammenhängende Theorien, die weder in der Bibel noch in der alten Kirche bezeugt sind, und als sie durchgesetzt und angewendet wurden, führten sie zu bösen Praktiken auf Kosten der vorherrschenden Wahrheiten der Kirche. Wenn der allmächtige Gott in seiner barmherzigen liebenden Güte die schreckliche Situation des Sünders ändert, ist es der Kirche Christi unbekannt. Die Kirche lebte 1500 Jahre lang ohne eine solche Theorie.[80]

Die ostorthodoxe Lehre besagt, dass, obwohl alle unmittelbar nach dem Tod einem individuellen Gericht unterzogen werden, weder die Gerechten noch die Bösen den endgültigen Zustand der Glückseligkeit oder Bestrafung vor dem Jüngsten Tag erreichen,[81] mit einigen Ausnahmen für rechtschaffene Seelen wie die Theotokos (Gesegnete Jungfrau Maria), „die von den Engeln direkt in den Himmel getragen wurde.“[82]

Die ostorthodoxe Kirche hält es für notwendig, an diesen Zwischenzustand nach dem Tod zu glauben, in dem die Seelen vervollkommnet und zur vollen Vergöttlichung gebracht werden, ein Prozess des Wachstums und nicht der Bestrafung, den einige Orthodoxe Fegefeuer genannt haben.[83] Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the situation of the dead as involving suffering or fire, although it nevertheless describes it as a “direful condition”.[84] The souls of the righteous dead are in light and rest, with a foretaste of eternal happiness; but the souls of the wicked are in a state the reverse of this. Among the latter, such souls as have departed with faith but “without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance … may be aided towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection [at the end of time] by prayers offered in their behalf, especially those offered in union with the oblation of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, and by works of mercy done in faith for their memory.”[85]

The state in which souls undergo this experience is often referred to as “Hades”.[86]

The Orthodox Confession of Peter Mogila (1596–1646), adopted, in a Greek translation by Meletius Syrigos, by the 1642 Council of Jassy in Romania, professes that “many are freed from the prison of hell … through the good works of the living and the Church’s prayers for them, most of all through the unbloody sacrifice, which is offered on certain days for all the living and the dead” (question 64); and (under the heading “How must one consider the purgatorial fire?”) “the Church rightly performs for them the unbloody sacrifice and prayers, but they do not cleanse themselves by suffering something. The Church never maintained that which pertains to the fanciful stories of some concerning the souls of their dead who have not done penance and are punished, as it were, in streams, springs and swamps.” (question 66).[87]

The Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem (1672) declared: “The souls of those that have fallen asleep are either at rest or in torment, according to what each hath wrought” (an enjoyment or condemnation that will be complete only after the resurrection of the dead); but the souls of some “depart into Hades, and there endure the punishment due to the sins they have committed. But they are aware of their future release from there, and are delivered by the Supreme Goodness, through the prayers of the Priests and the good works which the relatives of each do for their Departed, especially the unbloody Sacrifice benefiting the most, which each offers particularly for his relatives that have fallen asleep and which the Catholic and Apostolic Church offers daily for all alike. Of course, it is understood that we do not know the time of their release. We know and believe that there is deliverance for such from their direful condition, and that before the common resurrection and judgment, but when we know not.”[84]

Some Orthodox believe in a teaching of “aerial toll-houses” for the souls of the dead. According to this theory, which is rejected by other Orthodox but appears in the hymnology of the Church,[88] “following a person’s death the soul leaves the body and is escorted to God by angels. During this journey the soul passes through an aerial realm which is ruled by demons. The soul encounters these demons at various points referred to as ‘toll-houses’ where the demons then attempt to accuse it of sin and, if possible, drag the soul into hell.”[89]

Protestantism[ edit ]

In general, Protestant churches reject the Catholic doctrine of purgatory although some teach the existence of an intermediate state. Many Protestant denominations, though not all, teach the doctrine of sola scriptura (“scripture alone”) or prima scriptura (“scripture first”). The general Protestant view is that the Bible, from which Protestants exclude deuterocanonical books such as 2 Maccabees, contains no overt, explicit discussion of purgatory and therefore it should be rejected as an unbiblical belief.[90]

Another view held by many Protestants, such as the Lutheran Churches and the Reformed Churches, is sola fide (“by faith alone”): that faith alone is what achieves salvation, and that good works are merely evidence of that faith.[91] Justification is generally seen as a discrete event that takes place once for all during one’s lifetime, not the result of a transformation of character. However, most Protestants teach that a transformation of character naturally follows the salvation experience; others, such as those of the Methodist tradition (inclusive of the Holiness Movement) teach that after justification, Christians must pursue holiness and good works.[92][93] Those who have been saved by God are destined for heaven, while those have not been saved will be excluded from heaven.[94]

Some Protestants hold that a person enters into the fullness of one’s bliss or torment only after the resurrection of the body, and that the soul in that interim state is conscious and aware of the fate in store for it.[95] Others have held that souls in the intermediate state between death and resurrection are without consciousness, a state known as soul sleep.[96]

As an argument for the existence of purgatory, Protestant religious philosopher Jerry L. Walls[97] wrote Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (2012). He lists some “biblical hints of purgatory” (Mal 3:2; 2 Mac 12:41–43; Mat 12:32; 1 Cor 3:12) that helped give rise to the doctrine,[98] and finds its beginnings in early Christian writers whom he calls “Fathers and Mothers of Purgatory”.[99] Citing Le Goff, he sees the 12th century as that of the “birth of purgatory”, arising as “a natural development of certain currents of thought that had been flowing for centuries”,[100] and the 13th century at that of its rationalization, “purging it of its offensive popular trappings”, leading to its definition by a council as the Church’s doctrine in 1274.[101]

Walls does not base his belief in purgatory primarily on Scripture, the Mothers and Fathers of the Church, or the magisterium (doctrinal authority) of the Catholic church. Rather his basic argument is that, in a phrase he often uses, it “makes sense.”[102] For Walls, purgatory has a logic, as in the title of his book. He documents the “contrast between the satisfaction and sanctification models” of purgatory. In the satisfaction model, “the punishment of purgatory” is to satisfy God’s justice. In the sanctification model, Wall writes: “Purgatory might be pictured … as a regimen to regain one’s spiritual health and get back into moral shape.”[103]

In Catholic theology Walls finds that the doctrine of purgatory has “swung” between the “poles of satisfaction and sanctification” sometimes “combining both elements somewhere in the middle”. He believes the sanctification model “can be affirmed by Protestants without in any way contradicting their theology” and that they may find that it “makes better sense of how the remains of sin are purged” than an instantaneous cleansing at the moment of death.[104]

While purgatory was disputed by the Reformers, some early patristic theologians of the Eastern Church taught and believed in “apocatastasis”, the belief that all creation would be restored to its original perfect condition after a remedial purgatorial reformation. Clement of Alexandria was one of the early church theologians who taught this view. Protestants have always contended that there are no second chances. However, for Lutherans a similar doctrine of what may happen to the unevangelized is expressed in the book titled What about those who never heard.[105] The reality of purgatorial purification is envisaged in Thomas Talbott’s The Inescapable Love of God[106] Different views are expressed by different theologians in two different editions of Four Views of Hell.[107]

Anglicanism [ edit ]

Anglicans, as with other Reformed Churches, historically teach that the saved undergo the process of glorification after death.[108] This process has been compared by Jerry L. Walls and James B. Gould with the process of purification in the core doctrine of purgatory (see Reformed, below).

Purgatory was addressed by both of the “foundation features” of Anglicanism in the 16th century: the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer.[109]

Article XXII of the Thirty-Nine Articles states that “The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory . . . is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.”[110] Prayers for the departed were deleted from the 1552 Book of Common Prayer because they suggested a doctrine of purgatory. The 19th century Anglo-Catholic revival led to restoring prayers for the dead.[111]

John Henry Newman, in his Tract XC of 1841 §6, discussed Article XXII. He highlighted the fact that it is the “Romish” doctrine of purgatory coupled with indulgences that Article XXII condemns as “repugnant to the Word of God.” The article did not condemn every doctrine of purgatory and it did not condemn prayers for the dead.[112]

As of the year 2000, the state of the doctrine of purgatory in Anglicanism was summarized as follows:

Purgatory is seldom mentioned in Anglican descriptions or speculations concerning life after death, although many Anglicans believe in a continuing process of growth and development after death.[113]

Anglican Bishop John Henry Hobart (1775–1830) wrote that “Hades, or the place of the dead, is represented as a spacious receptacle with gates, through which the dead enter.”[114] The Anglican Catechist of 1855 elaborated on Hades, stating that it “is an intermediate state between death and the resurrection, in which the soul does not sleep in unconsciousness, but exists in happiness or misery till the resurrection, when it shall be reunited to the body and receive its final reward.”[115] This intermediate state includes both Paradise and Gehenna, “but with an impassable gulf between the two”.[17] Souls remain in Hades until the Final Judgment and “Christians may also improve in holiness after death during the middle state before the final judgment.”[116]

Leonel L. Mitchell (1930–2012) offers this rationale for prayers for the dead:

No one is ready at the time of death to enter into life in the nearer presence of God without substantial growth precisely in love, knowledge, and service; and the prayer also recognizes that God will provide what is necessary for us to enter that state. This growth will presumably be between death and resurrection.”[117]

Anglican theologian C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), reflecting on the history of the doctrine of purgatory in the Anglican Communion, said there were good reasons for “casting doubt on the ‘Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory’ as that Romish doctrine had then become” not merely a “commercial scandal” but also the picture in which the souls are tormented by devils, whose presence is “more horrible and grievous to us than is the pain itself,” and where the spirit who suffers the tortures cannot, for pain, “remember God as he ought to do.” Lewis believed instead in purgatory as presented in John Henry Newman’s The Dream of Gerontius. By this poem, Lewis wrote, “Religion has reclaimed Purgatory,” a process of purification that will normally involve suffering.[118] Lewis’s allegory The Great Divorce (1945) considered a version of purgatory in the related idea of a “refrigidarium”, the opportunity for souls to visit a lower region of heaven and choose to be saved, or not.

Lutheranism [ edit ]

The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther was once recorded as saying:[119]

As for purgatory, no place in Scripture makes mention thereof, neither must we any way allow it; for it darkens and undervalues the grace, benefits, and merits of our blessed, sweet Saviour Christ Jesus. The bounds of purgatory extend not beyond this world; for here in this life the upright, good, and godly Christians are well and soundly scoured and purged.

In his 1537 Smalcald Articles, Luther stated:[120]

Therefore purgatory, and every solemnity, rite, and commerce connected with it, is to be regarded as nothing but a specter of the devil. For it conflicts with the chief article [which teaches] that only Christ, and not the works of men, are to help [set free] souls. Not to mention the fact that nothing has been [divinely] commanded or enjoined upon us concerning the dead.

With respect to the related practice of praying for the dead, Luther stated:[121]

As for the dead, since Scripture gives us no information on the subject, I regard it as no sin to pray with free devotion in this or some similar fashion: “Dear God, if this soul is in a condition accessible to mercy, be thou gracious to it.” And when this has been done once or twice, let it suffice. (Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper, Vol. XXXVII, 369)[121]

A core statement of Lutheran doctrine, from the Book of Concord, states: “We know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not prohibit; but we disapprove of the application ex opere operato of the Lord’s Supper on behalf of the dead. … Epiphanius [of Salamis] testifies that Aerius [of Sebaste] held that prayers for the dead are useless. With this he finds fault. Neither do we favor Aerius, but we do argue with you because you defend a heresy that clearly conflicts with the prophets, apostles, and Holy Fathers, namely, that the Mass justifies ex opere operato, that it merits the remission of guilt and punishment even for the unjust, to whom it is applied, if they do not present an obstacle.” (Philipp Melanchthon, Apology of the Augsburg Confession).[122] High Church Lutheranism, like Anglo-Catholicism, is more likely to accept some form of purgatory.[citation needed] Lutheran Reformer Mikael Agricola still believed in the basic beliefs of purgatory.[123] Purgatory as such is not mentioned at all in the Augsburg Confession, which claims that “our churches dissent in no article of the faith from the Church Catholic, but only omit some abuses which are new.”[124]

Methodism [ edit ]

Methodist churches, in keeping with Article XIV – Of Purgatory in the Articles of Religion, hold that “the Romish doctrine concerning purgatory … is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God.”[125] However, in the Methodist Church, there is a belief in Hades, “the intermediate state of souls between death and the general resurrection,” which is divided into Paradise (for the righteous) and Gehenna (for the wicked).[126][127] After the general judgment, Hades will be abolished.[127] John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, “made a distinction between hell (the receptacle of the damned) and Hades (the receptacle of all separate spirits), and also between paradise (the antechamber of heaven) and heaven itself.”[128][129] The dead will remain in Hades “until the Day of Judgment when we will all be bodily resurrected and stand before Christ as our Judge. After the Judgment, the Righteous will go to their eternal reward in Heaven and the Accursed will depart to Hell (see Matthew 25).”[130]

Reformed [ edit ]

After death, Reformed theology teaches that through glorification, God “not only delivers His people from all their suffering and from death, but delivers them too from all their sins.”[20] In glorification, Reformed Christians believe that the departed are “raised and made like the glorious body of Christ”.[20] Reformed theologian John F. MacArthur has written that “nothing in Scripture even hints at the notion of purgatory, and nothing indicates that our glorification will in any way be painful.”[131]

Jerry L. Walls and James B. Gould have likened the glorification process to the core or sanctification view of purgatory[132] “Grace is much more than forgiveness, it is also transformation and sanctification, and finally, glorification. We need more than forgiveness and justification to purge our sinful dispositions and make us fully ready for heaven. Purgatory is nothing more than the continuation of the sanctifying grace we need, for as long as necessary to complete the job”.[133]

Latter-day Saint Movement [ edit ]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teaches of an intermediate place for spirits between their death and their bodily resurrection. This place, called “the spirit world,” includes “paradise” for the righteous and “prison” for those who do not know God. Spirits in paradise serve as missionaries to the spirits in prison, who can still accept salvation. In this sense, spirit prison can be conceptualized as a type of purgatory. In addition to hearing the message from the missionary spirits, the spirits in prison can also accept posthumous baptism and other posthumous ordinances performed by living church members in temples on Earth. This is frequently referred to as “baptism for the dead” and “temple work.”[134] Members of the Church believe that during the three days following Christ’s crucifixion, he organized spirits in paradise and commissioned them to preach to the spirits in prison.[135]

Judaism [edit]

In Judaism, Gehenna is a place of purification where, according to some traditions, most sinners spend up to a year before release.

The view of purgatory can be found in the teaching of the Shammaites: “In the last judgment day there shall be three classes of souls: the righteous shall at once be written down for the life everlasting; the wicked, for Gehenna; but those whose virtues and sins counterbalance one another shall go down to Gehenna and float up and down until they rise purified; for of them it is said: ‘I will bring the third part into the fire and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried’ [Zech. xiii. 9.]; also, ‘He [the Lord] bringeth down to Sheol and bringeth up again'” (I Sam. ii. 6). The Hillelites seem to have had no purgatory; for they said: “He who is ‘plenteous in mercy’ [Ex. xxxiv. 6.] inclines the balance toward mercy, and consequently the intermediates do not descend into Gehenna” (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 3; R. H. 16b; Bacher, “Ag. Tan.” i. 18). Still they also speak of an intermediate state.

Regarding the time which purgatory lasts, the accepted opinion of R. Akiba is twelve months; according to R. Johanan b. Nuri, it is only forty-nine days. Both opinions are based upon Isa. lxvi. 23–24: “From one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before Me, and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched”; the former interpreting the words “from one new moon to another” to signify all the months of a year; the latter interpreting the words “from one Sabbath to another,” in accordance with Lev. xxiii. 15–16, to signify seven weeks. During the twelve months, declares the baraita (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 4–5; R. H. 16b), the souls of the wicked are judged, and after these twelve months are over they are consumed and transformed into ashes under the feet of the righteous (according to Mal. iii. 21 [A. V. iv. 3]), whereas the great seducers and blasphemers are to undergo eternal tortures in Gehenna without cessation (according to Isa. lxvi. 24).

The righteous, however, and, according to some, also the sinners among the people of Israel for whom Abraham intercedes because they bear the Abrahamic sign of the covenant are not harmed by the fire of Gehenna even when they are required to pass through the intermediate state of purgatory (‘Er. 19b; Ḥag. 27a).[136]

Maimonides declares, in his 13 principles of faith, that the descriptions of Gehenna, as a place of punishment in rabbinic literature, were pedagocically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the Torah commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature.[137] Instead of being sent to Gehenna, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated.[138]

Islam [edit]

Islam has a concept similar to that of purgatory in Christianity. Barzakh is thought to be a realm between paradise (Jannah) and hell (Jahannam) and according to Ghazali the place of those who go neither to hell or to heaven.[139] But because it does not purify the souls it resembles more the limbo than the purgatory.

In some cases, the Islamic concept of hell may resemble the concept of Catholic doctrine of purgatory,[140] for Jahannam just punishes people according to their deeds and releases them after their habits are purified. A limited duration in Jahannam is not universally accepted in Islam.[141]

Indian religions[edit]

Indian religions believe in purification of the soul in Naraka.[citation needed]

Zoroastrianism[ edit ]

According to Zoroastrian eschatology, the wicked will get purified in molten metal.[142]

Mandaeism[ edit ]

In Mandaean cosmology, the soul must go through multiple maṭarta (i.e., purgatories, watch-stations, or toll-stations) after death before finally reaching the World of Light (“heaven”).[143]

The Mandaeans believe in purification of souls inside of Leviathan,[144] whom they also call Ur.[145]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Anglicans believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that God the Father created us in love so that we could have a loving relationship with our Creator; we also believe that we have chosen to reject and break our relationship with this eternal God and live without relationship to God (called sin).

We believe that God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, lived in perfect relationship with God the Father and died on the cross to reconcile mankind’s relationship with God. We believe that by the power of God the Holy Spirit he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and remains at the right hand of the Father, and we believe that one day he will come again.

We believe that after Jesus’ ascension, God the Holy Spirit was given as a gift to all believers and equips, guides and renews God’s people as he conforms the church to the image of Christ.

We believe that through the death and risen power of Christ all who believe and confess Jesus as Lord can be saved from the penalty and power of sin and enjoy an everlasting relationship with God and life in abundance. We believe that no amount of good deeds will help us to live up to God’s perfect standard: only faith in Jesus of Nazareth and faith in His atoning work can heal our broken relationship with God.

• Categorized under Other,Religion | Difference between Anglican and Catholic

Anglicans versus Catholics

Despite coming from the same Christian roots founded by Jesus Christ in Judea 2000 years ago, Anglicans and Catholics have diverged into two separate forms of Christianity.

definition

Anglican refers to the Church of England and its related branches around the world.

Catholic comes from the Greek for general. It was the first form of Christianity and claims to have maintained apostolic leadership uninterruptedly since the time of St. Peter.

origins

The Anglican Church emerged during the Reformation. It was Henry VIII’s idea. Unable to secure a sanctioned divorce from the Catholic Church, he broke off to form his own sect. During the time of Elizabeth I, the Anglican Church was formalized.

The Catholic Church began as soon as Christ’s apostles began preaching after his death. In the 4th century AD, Catholicism was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire. Shortly before, the Council of Nicaea codified the Catholic faith.

guide

The Anglican Church has no central hierarchy that places one church or one priest above all others. This gives each individual church and region a lot of freedom to decide on politics. All Anglican churches are part of the communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury is considered first among equals, but this does not give him authority over churches outside his region.

The Catholic Church has a fully entrenched hierarchy. At the lowest level are the ministers, then the bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and finally the pope himself. Each level has authority over more assemblies. The pope is elected by the cardinals and is regarded as the successor of the apostle Peter. The pope is also considered infallible in questions of church doctrine.

beliefs and practices

Anglican priests can marry. Parishioners receive Communion but believe it is a symbolic act. The Mass involves a lot of “smells and bells,” as one cheeky parishioner put it.

Catholic priests must take a vow of celibacy. The same applies to monks and nuns. Communion is believed to be accompanied by the miracle of transubstantiation. Incense and bell ringing are used liberally at Mass.

controversy

In recent years, the autonomy of the Anglican Church has led to conflicts between more liberal branches, which want to admit gays and lesbians as members of the clergy, and conservation branches, which believe this is wrong. The Anglican Church is threatened with an irrevocable split.

Summary:

1. Anglicans and Catholics were one and the same until Henry VIII broke with the Church.

2. The Anglican Church avoids hierarchy while the Catholic Church embraces it.

3. Much of the Mass is the same, but Catholics believe that the bread and wine are in fact the body and blood of Christ.

4. Both churches have weathered their own storm of controversy in recent years.

Here are some of the frequently asked questions

More information on the Church of England vs. Catholic

While the Anglican and Catholic Churches are more alike, they differ in many ways. For example, the Catholic Church embraces hierarchy in the Church while the Anglican Church does not. Also, Catholic priests do not marry while Anglicans do.

So what is the definition of the Anglican Church?

It is a church related to the Episcopal Church of England in terms of practices such as communion and hierarchy.

What denomination is the Church of England? After what event did the Anglican Church in America cease communicating with its English counterpart?

The Church of England is categorized in the Protestant denomination. The Anglican Church in America ceased communicating with its English counterpart after the Revolutionary War of 1775-1783. The war led to the end of America’s independence and the formation of the United States of America. Although relations between the two nations resumed, religious, social, and cultural ties were not restored.

Anglican denomination in the United States

The Episcopal Church, based in the United States and with dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the Anglican Communion worldwide. It is a Protestant denomination and divided into nine provinces. The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African-American bishop to hold the position.

As of 2020, the Episcopal Church had 1,736,282 baptized members[2] including 1,576,702 in the United States.[3] In addition to the baptized, the church reports 138,822 other people who are active in congregations.[2] In 2011 it was the 14th largest denomination in the nation.[4] In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 1.2 percent of the adult population in the United States, or 3 million people, self-identify as Mainline Episcopalians.[5]

The church was founded after the American Revolution when it was separated from the Church of England, whose clergy are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Episcopal Church describes itself as “Protestant but Catholic”[6] and claims apostolic succession by tracing its bishops back to the apostles through holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer, a collection of rites, blessings, liturgies and prayers used throughout the Anglican Communion, is central to episcopal worship. A wide range of theological views are represented within the Episcopal Church, including Evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, and broad ecclesiastical views.

Historically, members of the Episcopal Church have played leadership roles in many aspects of American life, including politics, business, science, the arts, and education.[7][8][9][10] About three-fourths of the signers of the Declaration of Independence belonged to the Episcopal Church, and more than a quarter of all Presidents of the United States were Episcopalians.[11] Many of the wealthiest and wealthiest American families, such as Boston Brahmin and Old Money, are Episcopalians.[8][12] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many bishops were active in the social gospel movement. Since the 1960s and 1970s the church has taken a more liberal course, although there is a wide spectrum of liberals and conservatives within the church.[14] She has spoken out against the death penalty and supported the civil rights movement. The Church demands full legal equality for LGBT people. In 2015, the Church’s 78th triennial general council passed resolutions allowing the blessing of same-sex marriages and approved two official liturgies to bless such unions.[15]

names [edit]

Flag of the Episcopal Church

“The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America” ​​(PECUSA) and “The Episcopal Church” (TEC) are both official names set forth in the Church’s constitution.[16] The latter is much more commonly used.[17][18][19] An equivalent is used in other languages. For example, in Spanish the church is called La Iglesia Episcopal Protestante de los Estados Unidos de América or La Iglesia Episcopal[20] and in French L’Église protestante épiscopale des États-Unis d’Amérique or L’Église épiscopale. 21]

Until 1964 “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America” ​​was the only official name in use. In the 19th century, members of the High Church advocated changing the name, which they felt did not recognize the church’s Catholic heritage. They were opposed by the evangelical wing of the church, which felt that the “Protestant Episcopal” label accurately reflected the Reformed character of Anglicanism. After 1877, alternative names were regularly proposed and rejected by the General Convention. A suggested alternative was “the American Catholic Church”. By the 1960s, opposition to the deletion of the word “Protestant” had largely subsided. In a 1964 General Convention compromise, priests and lay delegates proposed adding a preamble to the Church’s constitution recognizing “The Episcopal Church” as a legitimate alternative designation, while retaining the former name.[22]

The 66th General Council voted in 1979 to use the name “The Episcopal Church” in the Oath of Conformity of the Declaration of Ordination.[23] The development of the name can be seen in the church’s Book of Common Prayer. The 1928 BCP read “According to usage of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America” ​​on the front page, while the front page of the 1979 BCP read “According to usage of the Episcopal Church”. .

“The Episcopal Church in the United States of America” ​​(ECUSA) was never an official name of the church, but is a common alternative in English. As several other churches in the Anglican Communion also use the name “Episcopal”, including Scotland and the Philippines, some, for example Anglicans Online, add the phrase “in the United States of America”.[25]

The full legal name of the national ecclesiastical body is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America,[16] established by the New York legislature and incorporated in 1821. The membership of the corporation “shall include all persons who are members of the Church.”[16][26] This should not be confused with the name of the church itself, as it is a separate body in relation to church governance.[16]

history [edit]

colonial era [edit]

The Episcopal Church has its origins in the Church of England in the American Colonies and emphasizes continuity with the early universal Western Church and claims to maintain apostolic succession (while the Scandinavian Lutheran and Moravian Churches accept this claim, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches ). do not acknowledge this claim).[27][28]

The first church was established in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 under the charter of the Virginia Company of London. The tower of Jamestown Church (c. 1639–43) is one of the oldest surviving Anglican church buildings in the United States. The Jamestown church building itself is a modern reconstruction.

Although there were no American Anglican bishops in colonial times, the Church of England had official status in several colonies, meaning that local governments paid tax money to local parishes and parishes performed some civic functions. The Church of England was established as an established church in Virginia in 1609, New York in 1693, Maryland in 1702, South Carolina in 1706, North Carolina in 1730, and Georgia in 1758.

From 1635 the sacristies and clergy came loosely under the diocesan authority of the Bishop of London. After 1702, the Society for Propagating the Gospel Abroad (SPG) began missionary work in the colonies. On the eve of the revolution about 400 independent congregations [by whom?] were reported in the colonies.

Under the leadership of Lutheran Bishop Jesper Swedberg, congregations in colonial America belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden established an ecumenical dialogue that led to altar and pulpit communion with the Episcopal Church in the 17th century, resulting in a union of all Swedes led Lutheran churches there into the Episcopal Church until 1846.[32]

Revolutionary Era[ edit ]

The Church of England, which adopted the symbols of the British presence in the American colonies such as monarchy, episcopate and even the language of the Book of Common Prayer, almost drove itself to extinction during the upheaval of the American Revolution. More than any other denomination, the Revolutionary War divided both clergy and laity in the Church of England in America, and opinions covered a wide range of political views: patriotic, conciliatory, and loyalist. While many patriots were suspicious of loyalism in the Church, about three quarters of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were nominally Anglican laity, including Thomas Jefferson, William Paca and George Wythe. It was often assumed that those considered “high church” were loyalists, while those considered “low church” were patriots: assumptions with potentially dangerous implications for the time.

Of the approximately three hundred Church of England ministers in America between 1776 and 1783, more than 80 percent in New England, New York, and New Jersey were Loyalists. This contrasts with the less than 23 percent loyalist clergy in the four southern colonies. Many Church of England clergy remained loyalists, taking their two oaths of ordination very seriously. Anglican clergy were obliged to swear allegiance to the king and to pray for the king, the royal family and the British Parliament. In general, Loyalist clergy kept their oath and prayed for the king or suspended worship. In late 1776 some Anglican churches closed. Anglican priests held services in private homes or lay readers, not bound by the oaths, held morning and evening prayers. In 1775 and 1776 the Continental Congress had issued decrees ordering the churches to fast and pray in the name of patriots. Beginning July 4, 1776, Congress and several states passed legislation praying for acts of treason by the King and British Parliament. The patriotic ministers in the South quickly found reasons to transfer their oaths to the American cause and prayed for the success of the revolution. A precedent was the giving of oaths during the Glorious Revolution in England. Most patriotic ministers in the South were able to keep their churches open and services continued.

Early Republic era[ edit ]

After the Revolution, American Episcopalians faced the task of preserving a hierarchical church structure in a society steeped in republican values.

When the Connecticut clergy elected Samuel Seabury their bishop in 1783, he sought ordination in England. The oath of supremacy prevented Seabury’s consecration in England, so he went to Scotland; The non-juring bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church consecrated him at Aberdeen on 14 November 1784, making him, in the words of scholar Arthur Carl Piepkorn, “the first Anglican bishop appointed to serve outside the British Isles”.[35] On August 3, 1785, the first ordinations on American soil took place at Christ Church in Middletown, Connecticut.

In the same year, 1785, deputations of clergy and laity met for the first general convention. They drafted a constitution, proposed a first draft of an American Book of Common Prayer and began negotiations with English bishops for the consecration of 3 bishops. The convention met again in 1786 to make several changes that would make their liturgy acceptable to the English bishops and to recommend three clergymen (who had been elected by state assemblies in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York) for ordination as bishops. The General Convention met again in 1789, beginning a regular meeting every three years. At the 1789 Congress they passed a constitution and canons and reorganized into a House of Representatives and a House of Bishops. This completed the construction of the Episcopal Church.

Later, through the efforts of Bishop Philander Chase (1775–1852) of Ohio, Americans successfully sought material assistance from England to train episcopal ministers. The development of the Protestant Episcopal Church is an example of how early Republic Americans maintained important cultural ties with England.

In 1787, two priests—William White of Pennsylvania and Samuel Provoost of New York—were consecrated bishops by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and the Bishop of Bath and Wells, after the legal obstacles were removed by passage through Parliament of the consecration of Bishops Abroad Act 1786. Thus there are two branches of apostolic succession for the American bishops: through the non-juring bishops of Scotland who ordained Samuel Seabury, and through the Church of England who ordained William White, Samuel Provoost and James Madison. All bishops in the American Church are ordained by at least three bishops. One can trace the sequence of each back to Seabury, White, Provoost and Madison. (See Succession of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.)

In 1789 [when?] representative clergymen from nine dioceses met in Philadelphia to ratify the original church constitution. The fourth bishop of the Episcopal Church was James Madison, the first bishop of Virginia. Madison was consecrated in 1790 by the Archbishop of Canterbury and two other Church of England bishops. This third American bishop to be ordained within the English line of succession was due to ongoing unrest within the Church of England over Seabury’s non-judgmental Scottish orders. The Episcopal Church thus became the first Anglican province outside the British Isles.[38]

On September 17, 1792, at the triennial general assembly (synod) of the Episcopal Church at Trinity Church on Wall Street in New York City, Thomas John Claggett, elected by the clergy and laity of Maryland, was elected by all 4 consecrated the existing bishops. He was the first Episcopal bishop to be ordained and consecrated in America and the fifth bishop to be ordained for the Episcopal Church in the United States.[39]

Nineteenth Century[ edit ]

In 1856 the first society for African Americans was founded in the Episcopal Church by James Theodore Holly. The society, called the Protestant Episcopal Society for Promoting The Extension of The Church Among Colored People, argued that blacks should be allowed to attend seminars and diocesan meetings. The group lost its focus when Holly emigrated to Haiti, but other groups followed after the civil war. The current Union of Black Episcopalians traces its history back to society.[40] Holly founded the Anglican Church in Haiti, where he became the first African American bishop on November 8, 1874. As Bishop of Haiti, Holly was the first African American to attend the Lambeth Conference. However, he was consecrated by the American Church Missionary Society, an Evangelical Episcopal branch of the church.

Episcopal missions chartered by African Americans during this period were chartered as the Colored Episcopal Mission. All other missions (white) were chartered as Organized Episcopal Mission. Many historically black parishes still exist today.[42]

When the American Civil War began in 1861, Southern Episcopalians established the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. In the north, however, the separation was never officially recognized. By May 16, 1866, the southern dioceses had rejoined the national church.

In the mid-19th century, evangelical Episcopalians troubled by high church Tractarianism formed their own voluntary societies while continuing to work in non-denominational organizations, and eventually in 1874 a faction opposed to the revival of ritual practices founded the Reformed Episcopal Church.

Samuel David Ferguson was the first black bishop ordained by the Episcopal Church, the first to practice in the United States, and the first black to sit in the House of Bishops. Bishop Ferguson was consecrated on June 24, 1885, with the then presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church serving as consecrator.

Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, interior, 1872

During the Golden Age, high-ranking laypeople such as banker J. P. Morgan, industrialist Henry Ford, and art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner played a central role in shaping a distinctive upper-class episcopal ethos, particularly with regard to the preservation of art and history. These philanthropists propelled the Episcopal Church into a quasi-national position of importance while also giving the church a central role in the country’s cultural transformation. Another sign of influence is the fact that more than a quarter of all Presidents of the United States were Episcopalians (see Religious affiliation of United States Presidents). During this period the Book of Common Prayer was revised, first in 1892 and later in 1928.

Era of Change (1958–1970) [ edit ]

At the 1958 General Assembly, a coalition of liberal church members succeeded in passing a resolution recognizing “the natural dignity and worth of every human being, of whatever color or race, as created in the image of God”. It called on bishops “to work together in charity and forbearance to … bring full opportunity in areas such as education, housing, employment and public accommodation”. In response, the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU) was formed in December 1959 to eliminate racial, ethnic, and class barriers within the Episcopal Church. Opposition from Southern church leaders prevented the Episcopal Church from promoting civil rights before 1963. A prominent opponent of the movement was Charles C.J. Carpenter, the Bishop of Alabama. By 1963, many church leaders felt more comfortable speaking out in favor of racial equality. That year, Presiding Bishop Arthur Lichtenberger wrote a pastoral letter urging Christians to work “across the lines of racial segregation in a common struggle for justice,” and the House of Bishops approved civil rights legislation. However, tensions surrounding the civil rights movement continued. At the 1964 General Assembly, when the House of Representatives rejected a resolution sanctioning civil disobedience in special circumstances, Assembly Assemblyman Thurgood Marshall led many African-American legislators in a “walk-out” protest against the Assembly.[48]

In 1967, Lichtenberger’s successor, John Hines, led the Episcopal Church to implement the General Convention Special Program (GCSP). The program was designed to divert $9 million over three years (a quarter of the church’s operating budget at the time) to fund special grants for community organizations and grassroots efforts facilitating black empowerment in America’s urban ghettos. The GCSP’s effectiveness was limited by the reluctance of conservative bishops in southern dioceses to object to granting grants to groups perceived as radical. The GCSP met opposition from the recently formed Foundation for Christian Theology, a conservative organization opposed to the “church’s involvement in the social, political and economic activities of our time.” The Special General Convention also witnessed Vietnam War protests. During this time, African American clergy organized the Union of Black Episcopalians to achieve full inclusion of African Americans at all levels of the Episcopal Church.

The liberal policies of Presiding Bishop Hines and the General Councils of 1967 and 1969 prompted a conservative response. With membership falling and a $1 million budget cut, the special program became an easy target for conservatives, who managed to drastically reduce funding for the program in 1970. It finally ended in 1973 without protest. A year later, Hines was succeeded by John M. Allin, Bishop of Mississippi and a conservative.

Women were first admitted as delegates to the general assembly of the Church in 1970.[52]

In 1975, Vaughan Booker, who confessed to murdering his wife and was sentenced to life imprisonment, was ordained to the diaconate in the chapel of Graterford State Prison in Pennsylvania after repenting of his sins and becoming a symbol of redemption and atonement.[ 53 ]

Recent history[edit]

In recent decades, the Episcopal Church, like other mainstream churches, has experienced declining membership and internal controversy over the ordination of women and the place of homosexuals in the church. The 1976 General Convention also passed a resolution calling for an end to apartheid in South Africa, and in 1985 called on “dioceses, institutions and authorities” to provide equal opportunity employment opportunities and affirmative action to address potential “racial injustices” in placement to be tackled by clergy. Because of these and other controversial issues, including abortion, individual members and clergy can and often do not agree with the stated position of the church leadership. In January 2016, the Anglican Primates Meeting in Canterbury ruled that in response to the “distance” caused by what it described as “unilateral action on doctrinal matters without Catholic unity”, the Episcopal Church should “for a period of three years [neither nor] represent [the fellowship] in ecumenical and interfaith bodies … [nor] participate in the decision-making on matters affecting doctrinal or polity.”[55]

Revised prayer book [ edit ]

In 1976 the General Convention approved a new prayer book that was a major revision and modernization of the previous 1928 edition. It contained many principles of the ecumenical movement and the liturgical movement that had also been discussed at Vatican II.[56] This version was adopted as the official prayer book in 1979 after an initial three-year trial period. As such, the liturgies used by the Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, and Reformed traditions are “nearly identical.”[57] However, several conservative congregations continued to use the 1928 version. During the Advent of 2007, use of the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary became standard in the Episcopal Church.[58][56] In 2018, the General Assembly authorized a Liturgy and Prayer Book Revision Task Force to consider further revisions, particularly to use more inclusive language and pay more attention to the stewardship of God’s creation.[59]

Women’s Ordination[ edit ]

On July 29, 1974, a group of women known as the Philadelphia Elevens were irregularly ordained priests in the Episcopal Church by Bishops Daniel Corrigan, Robert L. DeWitt, and Edward R. Welles, assisted by Antonio Ramos.[60] On September 7, 1975, four more women (the “Washington Four”) were irregularly ordained by retired Bishop George W. Barrett.[61] In 1976, following the controversy surrounding the ordination of the Philadelphia Eleven, the General Assembly permitted the ordination of women and recognized the ordination of the 15 Forerunners. The first women were canonically ordained in 1977. The first woman to become bishop, Barbara Harris, was ordained February 11, 1989.[62]

At the same time there was still tolerance towards those dioceses that opposed the ordination of women. In 1994 the General Convention affirmed the value of the theological position that women should not be ordained. However, in 1997 the General Convention determined that “the canons concerning the ordination, licensing and ministry of women are obligatory” and required non-compliant dioceses to issue status reports on their progress towards full conformity.[63]

In 2006, the General Council elected Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop. She was the first woman to become a primate in the Anglican Communion. Schori’s choice was controversial in the wider Anglican communion, as not all communion recognized the ordination of women.[64]

At the time of the founding of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), three US dioceses did not ordain women as priests or bishops: San Joaquin, Quincy, and Fort Worth. All three dioceses now ordain women following the departure of their Conservative majority. With the ordination of Margaret Lee on October 16, 2010 in the Diocese of Quincy, Illinois, based in Peoria, women were ordained priests in all 110 dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States.[65]

LGBT issues[edit]

The Episcopal Church affirmed at the 1976 General Convention that homosexuals are “children of God” who are accepted and pastored by the Church and deserve equal protection under the law.[66] The first openly gay person to be ordained was Ellen Barrett in 1977.[67] Despite such an affirmation of homosexual rights, the 1991 General Convention affirmed that “physical sexual expression” is appropriate only within the monogamous lifelong “union of husband and wife.”[68]

Gene Robinson in 2013

The church elected its first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in June 2003. News of Robinson’s election provoked a crisis in both the American Church and the Anglican communion at large. In October 2003, the Anglican Primates (the leaders of the 38 member churches of the Anglican Communion) called an emergency meeting. The meeting’s final communiqué warned that if Robinson’s consecration continued, it would “tear the very fabric of the fellowship at its deepest level”. The news of his ordination sparked such outrage that Robinson wore a bulletproof vest under his robe during the ceremony, which was attended by his longtime partner, and also received numerous death threats after his installation as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire.

In 2009, the General Assembly mandated the Permanent Commission on Liturgy and Music to develop theological and liturgical resources for same-sex blessings and to report to the 2012 General Assembly. It also gave bishops the ability to provide “generous pastoral assistance,” particularly where civil authorities have legalized same-sex marriages, registered civil partnerships, or civil unions.[71]

On July 14, 2009, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church voted that “all ordained ministry” be open to gay men and lesbians. The New York Times said the move was “likely to send shockwaves through the Anglican communion”. That vote ended a 2006 moratorium on the ordination of homosexual bishops, passed despite Archbishop Rowan Williams’ personal appeal at the beginning of the convention: “I hope and pray that there will be no decisions in the coming days that put us under pressure argue further.”[72]

On July 10, 2012, the Episcopal Church approved an official liturgy to bless same-sex relationships. This liturgy was not a wedding rite, but the blessing included an exchange of vows and the couple’s agreement to enter into a committed relationship for life.[73]

On June 29, 2015, at the 78th General Assembly of the Episcopal Church, the House of Bishops passed a resolution by 129 votes in favour, 26 against and 5 abstentions, removing the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman . [74] The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, expressed “deep concern” at the verdict.[75] In 2016, Anglican leaders temporarily suspended the Episcopal Church from key positions in its global communion in response to the Church’s amendment of its canons on marriage.[76][77][78]

Transgender people have also joined the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Rev. Cameron Partridge, who converted in 2001 and was ordained in 2005[79], was the first openly transgender priest to preach at Washington National Cathedral.[80]

separations from the church

Following the ordination of Bp. Gene Robinson in 2003, members of a number of congregations left the Episcopal Church.[14] For example, in Cleveland, Ohio, four parishes “with about 1,300 active members decided to leave the US Church and local diocese because of ‘diverging views on the authority of Scripture and traditional Christian doctrine.'”[81] Four dioceses likewise voted to leave the church; Pittsburgh, Quincy, Fort Worth and San Joaquin. Zu den genannten Gründen gehörten auch die der Diözese Pittsburgh, die sich darüber beklagte, dass die Kirche von liberalen Bischöfen „entführt“ worden sei.[82] Einige Jahre später, 2012, stimmte die Diözese South Carolina für den Austritt.

Die Episkopalkirche hat keinen der angeblichen Austritte der Diözese anerkannt und erklärt, dass sich eine Episkopaldiözese nach kanonischem Recht nicht aus der größeren Episkopalkirche zurückziehen kann. In einem „Hirtenbrief“ an die Diözese von South Carolina schrieb der Leitende Bischof Schori: „Während einige Führer den Wunsch geäußert haben, die Episcopal Church zu verlassen, hat die Diözese sie nicht verlassen. Sie kann es nicht aus eigener Kraft. Die Änderung, Auflösung, oder der Austritt einer Diözese aus der Episcopal Church erfordert die Zustimmung des Generalkonvents, der nicht konsultiert wurde.“[83] Sie schrieb weiter, dass die Diözese South Carolina „weiterhin ein konstituierender Teil der Episcopal Church ist, wenn auch eine Nummer Wenn sich herausstellt, dass diese ehemaligen Führer ihre Verbindungen zur Episcopal Church tatsächlich vollständig abgebrochen haben, werden neue Führer gewählt und eingesetzt durch die Aktion einer Diözesanversammlung, die von der breiteren Episcopal Church anerkannt wird, in Übereinstimmung mit unserer Verfassung und Kanonen.”

Viele scheidende Mitglieder schlossen sich der Continuing Anglican Movement an oder befürworteten eine anglikanische Neuausrichtung, indem sie eine Angleichung an die anglikanischen Provinzen in Übersee forderten, darunter die anglikanische Provinz des südlichen Kegels von Amerika und die Kirche von Nigeria. Einige ehemalige Mitglieder gründeten die anglikanische Kirche in Nordamerika, die im Jahr 2017 über 1.000 Gemeinden und 134.000 Mitglieder beanspruchte.[85] Die Führer der Episkopalkirche, insbesondere die ehemalige Leitende Bischöfin Katharine Jefferts Schori, reagierten mit einer entschiedenen Haltung gegen die Separatisten. Rechtsstreitigkeiten zwischen der Kirche und scheidenden Diözesen und Pfarreien kosten alle Parteien mehrere zehn Millionen Dollar; einer Schätzung zufolge gibt die Episcopal Church über 42 Millionen US-Dollar und die Separatisten rund 18 Millionen US-Dollar aus, was insgesamt über 60 Millionen US-Dollar an Gerichtskosten ausmacht.[86] Die Rechtsstreitigkeiten haben sich weitgehend um Kircheneigentum zentriert. Die bischöfliche Führung behauptet, dass sie als hierarchische Kirche das Eigentum an Gemeindeeigentum behält, wenn Gemeindemitglieder die Kirche verlassen. Ausscheidende Gruppen dagegen machen geltend, dass sie das Eigentum an einzelnen kirchlichen Einrichtungen und bischöflichem Eigentum behalten können sollten.[87]

Eigentumsstreitigkeiten der Kirche [ bearbeiten ]

In einem Brief an das Haus der Bischöfe im Sommer 2009 wies die Leitende Bischöfin Katharine Jefferts Schori die örtlichen Diözesen an, das Eigentum der Gemeinde nicht an ausscheidende Gruppen zu verkaufen. Sie erklärte: “Wir treffen keine Vereinbarungen, die religiöse Körperschaften ermutigen, die versuchen, die Episcopal Church zu ersetzen.”[89]

Bevor Schori diesen Standpunkt einnahm, hatten frühere Bischöfe Eigentumsstreitigkeiten in Pfarreien als interne Diözesanangelegenheiten behandelt, die “nicht der Überprüfung oder Aufsicht des vorsitzenden Bischofs unterliegen”. Ein Beispiel war, als der damalige Vorsitzende Bischof Frank Griswold am 11. Mai 2006 der Diözese West-Louisiana mitteilte, dass sich die Landeskirche nur auf Einladung des örtlichen Bischofs und der ständigen Diözesanausschüsse in Streitigkeiten über das Eigentum der Gemeinde einmischte.[90] In Schoris Brief heißt es, ihre feste Haltung sei der Konsens des Rats und drückte die Hoffnung aus, dass “diejenigen, die gegangen sind, Klarheit über ihre eigene Identität gewinnen können”.[89]

Nachdem die Diözese South Carolina für den Austritt gestimmt hatte, verklagte sie die nationale Episkopalkirche, um die Kontrolle über ihr Eigentum zu behalten. The departing diocese initially won, but mostly lost on appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court. Seven parishes affiliated with the departing group were allowed to keep their property. All other church and diocesan property in the lawsuit remained with the Episcopal Church and its affiliated local diocese.[91] The name “Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina” and related names and marks were initially claimed by the departing group. In 2019, a federal court ruled that they legally belonged to the Episcopal Church and its South Carolina affiliates.

Membership[edit]

As of 2020, the Episcopal Church had 1,736,282 active baptized members,[2] of whom 1,576,702 were in the United States.[3] In addition to active members, the church reported 138,822 other persons who are active in congregations.[2] Total average Sunday attendance (ASA) for 2018 was 962,529 (933,206 in the U.S. and 29,323 outside the U.S.), a decrease of 24.7% percent from 2008.[92] In 2016, a data-based quantitative study for the Journal of Anglican Studies, and published by Cambridge University Press, reported that The Episcopal Church had 2,405,000 total baptized members, including inactive members, and 1,588,057 active members in the United States.[93][94]

According to a report by ARIS/Barna in 2001, 3.5 million Americans self-identified as Episcopalians, highlighting “a gap between those who are affiliated with the church (on membership rolls), versus those who self-identify [as Episcopalians]”.[95] Church Pension Group also cited having 3.5 million adherents in 2002.[96] More recently, in 2014, Pew Research found that approximately 1.2 percent of 245 million U.S adults, around 3 million people, self-identified as mainline Episcopalian/Anglican.[5]

According to data collected in 2000, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Virginia have the highest rates of adherents per capita, and states along the East Coast generally have a higher number of adherents per capita than in other parts of the country.[97] New York was the state with the largest total number of adherents, over 200,000.[98] In 2013, the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti was the largest single diocese, with 84,301 baptized members, which constitute slightly over half of the church’s foreign membership.[92]

As of 2012, around 12% of members in the Episcopal Church are former Catholics who became Episcopalians.[99] In the years preceding 2012 over 225,000 Roman Catholics became Episcopalians and as of 2012, there are “432 living Episcopal priests [who] have been received [as priests] from the Roman Catholic Church.”[100]

According to the latest statistics U.S. membership dropped 2.7 percent from a reported 1,866,758 members in 2013 to 1,745,156 in 2016, a loss of 121,602 persons. Attendance took an even steeper hit, with the average number of Sunday worshipers dropping from 623,691 in 2013 to 570,454 in 2016, a decline of 53,237 persons in the pews, down 8.5 percent. Congregations dropped to 6,473.[101]

The Episcopal Church experienced notable growth in the first half of the 20th century, but like many mainline churches, it has had a decline in membership in more recent decades.[102] Membership grew from 1.1 million members in 1925 to a peak of over 3.4 million members in the mid-1960s.[103] Between 1970 and 1990, membership declined from about 3.2 million to about 2.4 million.[103] Once changes in how membership is counted are taken into consideration, the Episcopal Church’s membership numbers were broadly flat throughout the 1990s, with a slight growth in the first years of the 21st century.[104][105][106][107][108] A loss of 115,000 members was reported for the years 2003–05.[109] Some theories about the decline in membership include a failure to sufficiently reach beyond ethnic barriers in an increasingly diverse society, and the low fertility rates prevailing among the predominant ethnic groups traditionally belonging to the church. In 1965, there were 880,000 children in Episcopal Sunday School programs. By 2001, the number had declined to 297,000.[110]

Political leanings [ edit ]

Members of the Episcopal Church are generally more liberal and/or progressive than members of other Christian denominations in the United States. Despite the church’s liberal/progressive reputation, a significant portion of members describe themselves as Republicans, although they generally tend to skew moderate when compared to the rest of the Republican Party. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey of 35,000 Americans in 50 states, 49% describe themselves as Democrats, 39% describe themselves as Republicans, and 12% stated no preference.[111] Older male Episcopalians with incomes above $50,000/year are generally more likely to describe themselves as Republicans, according to the survey.

Influence [ edit ]

In the twentieth century, Episcopalians tended to be wealthier[8] and more educated (having more graduate and postgraduate degrees per capita) than most other religious groups in the United States,[112] and were disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business,[113] law, and politics.[114] Many of the nation’s oldest educational institutions, such as University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, were founded by Episcopalian clergy or were associated with the Episcopal Church.[115][116] According to Pew Research Center Episcopal Church “has often been seen as the religious institution most closely associated with the American establishment, producing many of the nation’s most important leaders in politics and business.”[117] And about a quarter of the presidents of the United States (11) were members of the Episcopal Church.[11]

The Boston Brahmins, who were regarded as the nation’s social and cultural elites, were often associated with the American upper class, Harvard University;[118] and the Episcopal Church.[119][120] Old money in the United States was typically associated with White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (“WASP”) status,[121] particularly with the Episcopal and Presbyterian Church.[122] In the 1970s, a Fortune magazine study found one-in-five of the country’s largest businesses and one-in-three of its largest banks was run by an Episcopalian.[8] Numbers of the most wealthy and affluent American families such as the Vanderbilts, Astors, Du Ponts,[12] Whitneys, Morgans, Fords,[12] Mellons,[12] Van Leers, Browns,[12] Waynes and Harrimans are Episcopalians.[8] While the Rockefeller family are mostly Baptists, some of the Rockefellers were Episcopalians.[12]

The Episcopal Church also has the highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita (56%)[123] of any other Christian denomination in the United States,[124] as well as the most high-income earners.[125] According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Episcopalians ranked as the third wealthiest religious group in the United States, with 35% of Episcopalians living in households with incomes of at least $100,000.[126] In recent years, the church has become much more economically and racially diverse[127] through evangelism, and has attracted many Hispanic immigrants who are often working-class.[128][129]

Structure [ edit ]

The Episcopal Church is governed according to episcopal polity with its own system of canon law. This means that the church is organized into dioceses led by bishops in consultation with representative bodies. It is a unitary body, in that the power of the General Convention is not limited by the individual dioceses. The church has, however, a highly decentralized structure and characteristics of a confederation.

Parishes and dioceses [ edit ]

At the local level, there are 6,447 Episcopal congregations, each of which elects a vestry or bishop’s committee. Subject to the approval of its diocesan bishop, the vestry of each parish elects a priest, called the rector, who has spiritual jurisdiction in the parish and selects assistant clergy, both deacons and priests. (There is a difference between vestry and clergy elections – clergy are ordained members usually selected from outside the parish, whereas any member in good standing of a parish is eligible to serve on the vestry.) The diocesan bishop, however, appoints the clergy for all missions and may choose to do so for non-self-supporting parishes.

The middle judicatory consists of a diocese headed by a bishop who is assisted by a standing committee.[131] The bishop and standing committee are elected by the diocesan convention whose members are selected by the congregations. The election of a bishop requires the consent of a majority of standing committees and diocesan bishops.[132] Conventions meet annually to consider legislation (such as revisions to the diocesan constitution and canons) and speak for the diocese. Dioceses are organized into nine provinces. Each province has a synod and a mission budget, but it has no authority over its member dioceses.

There are 110 dioceses in the United States, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Venezuela, Cuba and the Virgin Islands. The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe and the Navajoland Area Mission are jurisdictions similar to a diocese.[17][18][19] [133]

Governance [ edit ]

The Washington National Cathedral is the seat of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church as well as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, located in Washington, D.C. , is operated under the more familiar name of Washington National Cathedral

The highest legislative body of the Episcopal Church is the triennial General Convention, consisting of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. All active (whether diocesan, coadjutor, suffragan, or assistant) and retired bishops make up the over 300 members of the House of Bishops. Diocesan conventions elect over 800 representatives (each diocese elects four laity and four clergy) to the House of Deputies. The House of Deputies elects a president and vice-president to preside at meetings. General Convention enacts two types of legislation. The first type is the rules by which the church is governed as contained in the Constitution and Canons; the second type are broad guidelines on church policy called resolutions. Either house may propose legislation.[135] The House of Deputies only meets as a full body once every three years; however, the House of Bishops meets regularly throughout the triennium between conventions.

The real work of General Convention is done by interim bodies, the most powerful being the Executive Council, which oversees the work of the national church during the triennium. The council has 40 members; 20 are directly elected by the General Convention, 18 are elected by the nine provinces, and the Presiding Bishop and President of the House of Deputies are ex officio members.[135] Other interim bodies include a number of standing commissions ordered by the canons and temporary task forces formulated by resolutions of General Convention. Both types of bodies study and draft policy proposals for consideration and report back to the Convention. Each standing commission consists of five bishops, five priests or deacons, and ten laypersons. Bishops are appointed by the Presiding Bishop while the other clergy and laypersons are appointed by the president of the House of Deputies.[135] Task forces vary in size, composition, and duration depending on the General Convention resolution that orders them.[136]

The Presiding Bishop is elected from and by the House of Bishops and confirmed by the House of Deputies for a nine-year term.[137] The Presiding Bishop is the chief pastor and primate of the Episcopal Church and is charged with providing leadership in the development of the church’s program as well as speaking on behalf of the church.[138] The Presiding Bishop does not possess a territorial see; since the 1970s, however, the Presiding Bishop has enjoyed extraordinary jurisdiction (metropolitical authority) and has authority to visit dioceses for sacramental and preaching ministry, for consulting bishops, and for related purposes. The Presiding Bishop chairs the House of Bishops as well as the Executive Council of the General Convention. In addition, the Presiding Bishop directs the Episcopal Church Center, the national administrative headquarters of the denomination. Located at 815 Second Avenue, New York City, New York, the center is often referred to by Episcopalians simply as “815”.[140]

A system of ecclesiastical courts is provided for under Title IV of the canons of General Convention. These courts are empowered to discipline and depose deacons, priests, and bishops.

Worship and liturgy [ edit ]

Worship according to the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is central to the Episcopal Church’s identity and its main source of unity. The current edition of the BCP was published in 1979 and is similar to other Anglican prayer books in use around the world. It contains most of the worship services (or liturgies) used in the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church has a sacramental understanding of worship. The Episcopal catechism defines a sacrament as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given to us”. Episcopalians believe that sacraments are material things that God uses to act in human lives. The BCP identifies Baptism and the Eucharist as the “two great sacraments of the Gospel”. Confirmation, ordination, holy matrimony, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction are identified as “sacramental rites”. Private confession of sin is available in the Episcopal Church, though it is not as commonly practiced as in the Roman Catholic Church. This is in part due to the general confession provided for in Episcopal services.

The prayer book specifies that the Eucharist or Holy Communion is “the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day”. The service has two parts. The first is centered on Bible readings and preaching. At each service, four scripture passages are read from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The readings are organized in a three-year cycle during which much of the Bible will have been read in church. The second part of the service is centered on the Eucharist. The Episcopal Church teaches the real presence doctrine—that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ. However, it does not define how this happens, which allows for different views to coexist within the church. Generally, Episcopal churches have retained features such as the altar rail, the inclusion or exclusion of which does not elicit much controversy, but usually celebrate in the versus populum orientation.[citation needed]

ad orientem style High altar of an Anglo-Catholic churchstyle

Often a congregation or a particular service will be referred to as Low Church or High Church. In theory:

High Church, especially the very high Anglo-Catholic movement, is ritually inclined towards the use of incense, formal hymns, and a higher degree of ceremony such as ad orientem in relation to the priest and altar. In addition to clergy vesting in albs, stoles, and chasubles, the lay assistants may also be vested in cassock and surplice. The sung Eucharist tends to be emphasized in High Church congregations, with Anglo-Catholic congregations and celebrants using sung services almost exclusively. Marian devotion is sometimes seen in the Anglo-Catholic and some High Church parishes.

high Anglo-Catholic movement, is ritually inclined towards the use of incense, formal hymns, and a higher degree of ceremony such as in relation to the priest and altar. In addition to clergy vesting in albs, stoles, and chasubles, the lay assistants may also be vested in cassock and surplice. The sung Eucharist tends to be emphasized in High Church congregations, with Anglo-Catholic congregations and celebrants using sung services almost exclusively. Marian devotion is sometimes seen in the Anglo-Catholic and some High Church parishes. Low Church is simpler and may incorporate other elements such as informal praise and worship music. “Low” parishes tend towards a more “traditional Protestant” outlook with its emphasis of Biblical revelation over symbolism. A few “low” parishes even subscribe to traditional Evangelical theology (see Evangelical Anglicanism). The spoken Eucharist tends to be emphasized in Low Church congregations. Altar rails may be omitted in this type.

Broad Church indicates a middle ground. These parishes are the most common within The Episcopal Church. However, unlike the Anglican Church in England, most Episcopal “broad church” parishes make use of a liturgy that includes eucharistic vestments, chant, and a high view of the sacraments, even if the liturgy is not as solemn or lacks some of the other accoutrements typical of Anglo-Catholic parishes. Unlike many Roman Catholic churches, the altar rail has usually been retained and communion is usually served kneeling at the altar rail similar to a Tridentine Mass, because the Episcopal Church teaches, through its Book of Common Prayer, a theologically high view of the church and its sacraments, even if not all parishes carry this out liturgically.[147]

The Book of Common Prayer also provides the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. The daily offices can be said by lay people at home.

The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term “saint” is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. There are explicit references in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer to invoking the aid of the prophets, patriarchs, saints, martyrs and the Virgin Mary as in an optional prayer in the committal at a funeral, p. 504. In general Anglicans pray with the saints in their fellowship, not to them, although their intercessions may be requested. Those inclined to the Anglo-Catholic traditions may explicitly invoke saints as intercessors in prayer.[citation needed] The 1979 edition contains a provision for the use of “traditional” (Elizabethan) language under various circumstances not directly provided for in the book.

Belief and practice [ edit ]

Episcopal consecration of the 8th bishop of Northern Indiana in 2016 by the laying on of hands

At the center of Episcopal belief and practice are the life, teachings and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.[149] The doctrine of the Episcopal Church is found in the canon of scripture as understood in the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds and in the sacramental rites, the ordinal and catechism of the Book of Common Prayer.[150] Some of these teachings include:

The full catechism is included in the Book of Common Prayer and is posted on the Episcopal website.[174]

In practice, not all Episcopalians hold all of these beliefs, but ordained clergy are required to “solemnly engage to conform” to this doctrine.[175] The Episcopal Church follows the via media or “middle way” between Protestant and Roman Catholic doctrine and practices: that is both Catholic and Reformed. Although many Episcopalians identify with this concept, those whose convictions lean toward either evangelical Anglicanism or Anglo-Catholicism may not.[176]

A broad spectrum of theological views is represented within the Episcopal Church. Some Episcopal members or theologians hold evangelical positions, affirming the authority of scripture over all. The Episcopal Church website glossary defines the sources of authority as a balance between scripture, tradition, and reason. These three are characterized as a “three-legged stool” which will topple if any one overbalances the other. It also notes[177]

The Anglican balancing of the sources of authority has been criticized as clumsy or “muddy.” It has been associated with the Anglican affinity for seeking the mean between extremes and living the via media. It has also been associated with the Anglican willingness to tolerate and comprehend opposing viewpoints instead of imposing tests of orthodoxy or resorting to heresy trials.

This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a 16th-century apologist. In Hooker’s model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason.[178] Noting the role of personal experience in Christian life, some Episcopalians have advocated following the example of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral of Methodist theology by thinking in terms of a “Fourth Leg” of “experience”. This understanding is highly dependent on the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher.

A public example of this struggle between different Christian positions in the church has been the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man living with a long-term partner. The acceptance/rejection of his consecration is motivated by different views on the understanding of scripture.[179] This struggle has some members concerned that the church may not continue its relationship with the larger Anglican Church. Others, however, view this pluralism as an asset, allowing a place for both sides to balance each other.

Comedian and Episcopalian Robin Williams once described the Episcopal faith (and, in a performance in London, specifically the Church of England) as “Catholic Lite – same rituals, half the guilt”.[180]

Social positions [ edit ]

Economic issues [ edit ]

In 1991, the church’s general convention recommended parity in pay and benefits between clergy and lay employees in equivalent positions.[181] Several times between 1979 and 2003, the convention expressed concern over affordable housing and supported work to provide affordable housing.[182] In 1982 and 1997, the convention reaffirmed the church’s commitment to eradicating poverty and malnutrition, and challenged parishes to increase ministries to the poor.[183]

The convention urged the church in 1997 and 2000 to promote living wages for all.[184][185] In 2003, the convention urged U.S. legislators to raise the national minimum wage, and to establish a living wage with health benefits as the national standard.[186][187]

Marriage equality, gender, and sexuality [ edit ]

The Episcopal Church opposes laws in society which discriminate against individuals because of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender expression. The Episcopal Church enforces this policy of non-discrimination, women are ordained to all levels of ministry and church leadership.[188] The church maintains an anti-sexism taskforce.[189] Similarly, openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals are eligible to be ordained.[190][191] The Episcopal Church affirms that marriage is the historic Christian standard for sexual intimacy between two people but does encourage clergy and laity to maintain ministry and dialogue with “the growing number of persons entering into sexually intimate relationships other than marriage.”[192]

At its 2015 triennial general convention, the church adopted “canonical and liturgical changes to provide marriage equality for Episcopalians”. The “two new marriage rites” contain language that allows “them to be used by same-sex or opposite-sex couples”.[15] The blessing of same-sex relationships is not uniform throughout the Episcopal Church. Following the 2015 general convention, bishops were able to determine whether churches and priests within their dioceses were permitted to use the new liturgies. Bishops who did not permit their use were to connect same-sex couples to a diocese where the liturgies were allowed.[193] However, following the 2018 general convention, resolution B012 was amended to “make provision for all couples asking to be married in this church to have access to these liturgies”. This effectively granted all churches and clergy, with or without the support of their bishop, the ability to perform same-sex marriages. They may, however, refuse to do so.[194] The church also opposes any state or federal constitutional amendments designed to prohibit the marriages of same-sex couples.[195]

Racial equality [ edit ]

In 1861, John Henry Hopkins wrote a pamphlet entitled, A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of Slavery, attempting to give a view of slavery from his interpretation of the New Testament: he argued that slavery was not a sin per se. Rather, Hopkins argued that slavery was an institution that was objectionable and should be abrogated by agreement, not by war. Bishop Hopkins’ Letter on Slavery Ripped Up and his Misuse of the Sacred Scriptures Exposed, written by G.W. Hyer in 1863, opposed the points mentioned in Hopkins’ pamphlet and revealed a startling divide in the Episcopal Church, as in other American churches, over the issue of slavery. It was not, however, strong enough to split the church into Northern and Southern wings even after the war, as many other denominations did. And though the church did divide into two wings during the war, Hopkins was active in re-uniting them in 1865.[196]

The Social Gospel movement within American Christianity was a mainstay of racial justice and reconciliation activism amongst Episcopal clergy and laity alike throughout in the nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth century, it stressed a view of sin as being “more than individual” and “to be the consequence of forces of evil in human society so that salvation must involve the redemption of the social order as well as the redemption of the individual.”[197]

In 1991, the General Convention declared “the practice of racism is sin”,[198] and in 2006, a unanimous House of Bishops endorsed Resolution A123 apologizing for complicity in the institution of slavery, and silence over “Jim Crow” laws, segregation, and racial discrimination.[199] In 2018, following the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry said that “the stain of bigotry has once again covered our land” and called on Episcopalians to choose “organized love intent on creating God’s beloved community on Earth” rather than hate.[200]

In April 2021, the Episcopal Church released the findings of a Racial Justice audit after three years of study, it cited nine areas of needed improvement within the church regarding systemic racism.[201]

Abortion [ edit ]

The Episcopal Church affirms that human life is sacred “from inception until death” and opposes elective abortion. As such, the Episcopal Church condemns the use of abortion as a method of birth control, gender selection, family planning, or for “any reason of convenience”. The Church acknowledges the right of women to choose to undergo the procedure “only in extreme situations”. It has stated that laws prohibiting abortions fail to address the social conditions which give rise to them. The 1994 resolution establishing the Episcopal Church’s position gave “unequivocal opposition to any legislative, executive or judicial action on the part of local, state or national governments that abridges the right of a woman to reach an informed decision about the termination of pregnancy or that would limit the access of a woman to safe means of acting on her decision.”[202]

Euthanasia [ edit ]

The Episcopal Church disapproves of assisted suicide and other forms of euthanasia, but does teach that it is permissible to withdraw medical treatment, such as artificial nutrition and hydration, when the burden of such treatment outweighs its benefits to an individual.[203]

Development [edit]

The Episcopal Church accepts the empirical findings of biology and does not consider the theory of evolution to be in conflict with its understanding of Holy Scripture in light of reason. In 1982, the Episcopal Church passed a resolution to “affirm its belief in the glorious ability of God to create in any manner, and in this affirmation reject the rigid dogmatism of the ‘Creationist’ movement.” The church has also expressed skepticism toward the intelligent design movement.[204]

Capital punishment [ edit ]

Holding that human life is sacred, the Episcopal Church is opposed to capital punishment. At the 1958 General Convention, Episcopal bishops issued a public statement against the death penalty, a position which has since been reaffirmed.[205]

Climate change [ edit ]

The Episcopal Church website’s Creation Care Glossary of Terms defines climate change as a “crisis” consisting of “severe problems that arise as human activity increases the level of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, and the world’s average global temperature soars,” a statement which places the church’s stance on climate change in line with global scientific consensus on the matter. According to the church’s website glossary, the climate crisis is one of “triple urgency” resulting from “the intersection of climate change, poverty and inequality, and biodiversity loss.” The church’s range of advocacy areas with respect to the environment include public support for net carbon neutrality, environmental justice, opposition to environmental racism, support for renewable energy and for setting and meeting sustainability goals, and support for workers, communities, and economies as they undergo a “just transition” toward eco-friendly policies.[206]

Vaccinations [ edit ]

The Episcopal Church “recognizes no claim of theological or religious exemption from vaccination for our members and reiterates the spirit of General Convention policies that Episcopalians should seek the counsel of experienced medical professionals, scientific research, and epidemiological evidence,” while similarly condemning the “spreading of fraudulent research that suggested vaccines might cause harm.” In a similar vein, the church has expressed “grave concern and sorrow for the recent rise in easily preventable diseases due to anti-vaccination movements which have harmed thousands of children and adults.” The Episcopal Church has endorsed stronger government mandates for vaccinations and has characterized the choice to be inoculated as “a duty not only to our own selves and families but to our communities,” while describing the choice to not vaccinate, when it is medically safe to do so, as a decision which “threatens the lives of others.”[207]

Agencies and programs [ edit ]

The Society for the Increase of the Ministry (SIM) is the only organization raising funds on a national basis for Episcopal seminarian support. SIM’s founding purpose in 1857 – “to find suitable persons for the Episcopal ministry and aid them in acquiring a thorough education”. SIM has awarded scholarships to qualified full-time seminary students.[208]

Episcopal Relief & Development is the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church of the United States. It helps to rebuild after disasters and aims to empower people by offering lasting solutions that fight poverty, hunger and disease. Episcopal Relief and Development programs focus on alleviating hunger, improving food supply, creating economic opportunities, strengthening communities, promoting health, fighting disease, responding to disasters, and rebuilding communities.[209]

There are about 60 trust funds administered by the Episcopal Church which offer scholarships to young people affiliated with the church. Qualifying considerations often relate to historical missionary work of the church among American Indians and African-Americans, as well as work in China and other foreign missions.[210][211] There are special programs for both American Indians[212] and African-Americans[213] interested in training for the ministry.

There are three historical societies of American Episcopalianism: Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, the National Episcopal Historians and Archivists (NEHA), and the Episcopal Women’s History Project.[citation needed][214]

Church Publishing Incorporated (Church Publishing Inc., CPI) began as the Church Hymnal Corporation in 1918, dedicated initially to publishing a single work, The Hymnal 1918, which still remains in print. It is the official publisher for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States.[citation needed] Imprints include Church Publishing, Morehouse Publishing (independently founded in 1884) and Seabury Books (the “trade” imprint).[215]

Ecumenical Relations[ edit ]

Under the leadership of Lutheran bishop Jesper Swedberg, parishes in colonial America that belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden established ecumenical dialogue that resulted in altar and pulpit fellowship with the Episcopal Church in the 1700s, which lead to a merger of all of the Swedish Lutheran churches there into the Episcopal Church by 1846.[216] The Episcopal Church entered into a full communion agreement with the Church of Sweden at its General Convention in Salt Lake City on June 28, 2015.

Like the other churches of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church has entered into full communion with the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht, the Philippine Independent Church, and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar. The Episcopal Church is also in a relationship of full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America[217] and the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church in America.[218]

The Episcopal Church maintains ecumenical dialogues with the United Methodist Church and the Moravian Church in America, and participates in pan-Anglican dialogues with the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. In 2006 a relation of interim Eucharistic sharing was inaugurated with the United Methodist Church, a step that may ultimately lead to full communion.

Historically Anglican churches have had strong ecumenical ties with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Episcopal Church particularly with the Russian Orthodox Church, but relations in more recent years have been strained by the ordination of women and the ordination of Gene Robinson to the episcopate. A former relation of full communion with the Polish National Catholic Church (once a part of the Union of Utrecht) was broken off by the PNCC in 1976 over the ordination of women.

The Episcopal Church was a founding member of the Consultation on Church Union and participates in its successor, Churches Uniting in Christ. The Episcopal Church is a founding member of the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the new Christian Churches Together in the USA. Dioceses and parishes are frequently members of local ecumenical councils as well.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

Christianity in England

The Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican Communion, has a long history. Christianity probably began to be practiced in England no later than the early 3rd century. By the 4th century the Church was well enough established to send three British bishops – from Londinium (London), Eboracum (York) and Lindum (Lincoln) – to the Council of Arles (in modern-day France) in 314 In the 5th century, after the Roman withdrawal from Britain and the Anglo-Saxon invasion, St Illtud and St Patrick did missionary work in Wales and Ireland respectively. Isolated from continental Christianity in the 5th and 6th centuries, Christianity in the British Isles, particularly in the north, was influenced by Irish Christianity, which was organized around monasteries rather than episcopal sees. Around 563 St Columba founded an influential monastic community on the Isle of Iona in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.

An important step in the history of the English Church was made in 596 when St Augustine was sent on a mission to England by Pope Gregory the Great. He was charged with evangelizing the largely pagan southern English kingdoms and establishing a Roman ecclesiastical organization. He preached successfully to the King of Kent and converted him and a large number of his followers in 597. The Archdiocese of Augustine at Canterbury soon became the symbolic seat of the Church of England, which under his leadership established important links with Rome. Subsequent missionary work, such as that of St. Aidan in northern England around 634, helped to strengthen the English Church. At the Synod of Whitby in 664, the Church of Northumbria (one of the northern English kingdoms) severed its ties with the Celtic Church and accepted Roman usage, bringing the Church of England more fully into line with Roman and Continental practices.

The early Church in England was a distinctive fusion of British, Celtic and Roman influences. Although adopting the episcopal structure favored by the Roman Church, it retained powerful centers in the monasteries. The most important British bishoprics were the Archdioceses of York and Canterbury, which often fought for primacy. Church officials, such as the great historian and scholar Bede, played an important role in the development of English culture. The Church sometimes came into conflict with the English monarchy when St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, went into exile amid controversies over the investiture of William Rufus and Henry I. The martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, the most famous case of church-state conflict, demonstrated the church’s concern to protect its integrity against the throne in the 12th century. The writings of John Wycliffe challenged the form of the medieval church and became an early protest against Rome’s control of the English Church.

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Under King Henry VIII in the 16th century, the Church of England broke with Rome, largely because Pope Clement VII refused to grant Henry an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry wished for no reform – except along the lines of Erasmus’s Christian humanism – and intended to replace Rome’s authority over the English Church with his own. After Henry’s death, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer began changes that linked the Church of England to the Reformation. His The Book of Common Prayer revised traditional forms of worship to incorporate Protestant ideas. However, these efforts were thwarted by Queen Mary, who attempted to restore Roman Catholicism in England. When Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558, the Reformation was triumphant in England. Theologian John Jewel wrote that the Church of England had returned to old precedents. Richard Hooker defended the church against attacks by English Puritans and Catholics. Although the Puritans gained political power in the Commonwealth in the mid-17th century, the subsequent Restoration (1660) marked the beginning of more than a century of great influence for the Church of England. The church dominated the religious life of England, becoming a formidable social and spiritual force and closely allied with the power of the throne. It generated impressive forms of philanthropy, and clergymen usually performed the duties of civil servants.

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The Church’s influence on religious life in England began to wane in the 18th century, despite impressive efforts at reform. John Wesley, Charles Simeon, John Newton, and other ministers associated with the evangelical revival unleashed a wave of new religious fervor. Evangelical laypeople such as William Wilberforce and the Clapham sect fought against slavery and promoted social reform. In the early 19th century, the Anglo-Catholic (High Church) Oxford movement led by John Henry Newman, John Keble and E.B. Pusey, attempted to restore the ancient liturgy and address social concerns. The church made an impressive effort to embrace the diversity of modern English life while preserving its traditional identity.

What is Holy Communion (Eucharist)

The Holy Eucharist is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, in this sacrament we receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a practice to commemorate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples.

The Holy Eucharist is the most important sacrament of the Church, the central act of Catholic worship.

It helps us to unite and commune with Christ. The real presence of Christ in communion strengthens the individual, cleanses the venial sins, and helps the person avoid mortal sin.

In the following passage, Jesus explained the purpose of receiving Holy Communion (John 6:53-58): “Most truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in it She; whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not that which the fathers ate and died; Whoever eats this bread will live forever”

There’s always a popular question that gets asked. If a non-Catholic can receive Communion in the Catholic Church, a Catholic can also receive Communion in the Anglican Church or other non-Catholic churches. The following article will give you a clear answer to these questions.

Can non-Catholics receive communion in the Catholic Church?

An Anglican or Protestant is not permitted to receive Communion in the Catholic Church because Anglicans and Protestants do not believe in the true transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the true body and blood of Jesus Christ. Although they practice the ritual of Holy Communion, they do not believe that the host and wine have really become the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another reason why non-Catholics should not receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church is for their own protection, as they do not believe in the real presence of Christ in Communion. It is written in Scripture that it is dangerous for one who does not believe in the real presence of Christ in communion to take it. (1 Corinthians 11:29) “For whoever eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” .

When non-Catholics are invited to a Catholic occasion where Mass is being celebrated, they are called to the altar to receive the priest’s blessing.

Catholic priests can administer Holy Communion only to fully baptized Catholics who are in the state of grace and have no mortal sin. A mortal sinner is to receive Holy Communion only after he has gone to Confession and received the Sacrament of Penance. If, in some cases, there is no possibility of confession, a Catholic who wishes to receive Holy Communion must first make a complete repentance and later go to confession as soon as possible.

On some occasions or under certain circumstances, the Catholic priest may administer Holy Communion to a non-Catholic. This is especially true of the Eastern Orthodox Churches which share the same faith and belief in the sacrament but are not in communion with the Catholic Church.

Canon Law states: “Catholic ministers may lawfully administer the sacraments of Penance, Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick to members of the Oriental Churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church, if they ask for the sacraments of their own accord and they are properly disposed of . This also applies to members of other Churches which, according to the judgment of the Apostolic See, are on an equal footing with the Eastern Churches with regard to these sacraments” (CIC 844 § 3).

In the case of Anglicans and Protestants, Canon Law states: “Where there is danger of death or other grave need, Catholic ministers may lawfully administer these sacraments, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or the episcopal conference, to other Christians who are not making full communion with the Catholic one Church which cannot turn to an minister of their own community and ask for it of their own accord, provided they profess Catholic faith in these sacraments and are properly disposed” (CIC 844 § 4).

Can Catholics Receive Communion from Non-Catholic Churches?

A Catholic member cannot receive Communion from non-Catholic churches because, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, priestly ordination is not valid in these denominations because they do not follow the apostolic succession, which means they do not have the blessings and power, bread and Transforming wine into the true body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The Catholic Church believes that Jesus ordained his apostles as the first bishops and they in turn ordained other men who in turn ordained other men, and this continues to this day. Today’s bishops and priests are successors of successors of successors, etc. of the apostles, making their ordination valid.

During the Reformation, Anglicans and Protestants not only denied the pope as head of the church, they also denied the Catholic doctrine of clergy and sacraments. By denying some of the sacraments and doctrines of the holy order (priesthood), they became heretics, thereby breaking through the line of succession of the apostles.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, believes that the Orthodox Churches follow apostolic succession because their succession can be traced back to Saint Andrew. This means that their priestly ordination is considered valid in the Catholic Church, it also means that their ministers have the blessing and power to transform the bread and wine into the true body and blood of Jesus Christ. In the Orthodox Churches, a Catholic may receive Holy Communion under certain circumstances.

Can Non-Christians Receive Catholic Communion?

A non-Christian cannot receive Catholic communion because he is not baptized. Baptism is the first sacrament of the Catholic Church and the gateway to other sacraments. In an emergency, a non-Christian can be baptized in the absence of a priest, and an extraordinary minister can bring and present blessed communion as viaticum.

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Ofomah Stephen My name is Ofomah Stephen. I’m a Catholic writer. I publish articles based on Catholic teachings and doctrines to help you understand and learn more about Catholic practice, history, doctrine and teaching. See author’s posts

This article is about active religious orders. For closed orders, see Former religious orders in the Anglican Communion

Anglican novice monks in South Africa.

Anglican Orders are communities of men or women (or in some cases mixed communities of men and women) in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule of life. The members of religious orders take vows, which often include the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, or the ancient vow of stability, or sometimes a modern interpretation of some or all of these vows. Members can be lay or clergy, but mostly a mixture of both. They lead a common life of work and prayer, sometimes in one place, sometimes in several places.

title[edit]

Members of religious communities may be known as monks or nuns, particularly in those communities that require their members to reside permanently in one place; They may be known as brothers or sisters, a term used particularly (though not exclusively) by religious orders, whose members are more active in the wider community and often live in smaller groups. Among the brothers and sisters, the term beggar is sometimes used for orders whose members are geographically mobile, often moving between different small communal houses. Brother and sister are common forms of address in all communities. The titles “Father and Mother” or “Reverend Father” and “Reverend Mother” are commonly applied to the leader of a congregation, or sometimes more generally to all members who have been ordained priests. In the Benedictine tradition, the formal titles Right Reverend and Very Reverend are sometimes applied to the abbot (head) and prior (assistant head) of the community. [a] Benedictine communities sometimes apply the titles Dom and Dame to professing male and female members, rather than brother and sister.

history [edit]

Overview [ edit ]

Religious orders were dissolved by King Henry VIII when he separated the Church of England from papal primacy. In 1626 Nicholas Ferrar, a protégé of William Laud (1573-1645), founded the parish of Little Gidding with his family. As there was no formal rule (like the Rule of Saint Benedict), no vows and no cloister, Little Gidding cannot be described as a formal religious community such as a monastery, convent or hermitage. The household had a routine according to high Church principles and the Book of Common Prayer. Violently denounced by the Puritans and labeled a “Protestant nunnery” and an “Arminian heresy,” Little Gidding was attacked in a 1641 pamphlet entitled “The Arminian Nunnery.”[1] The fame of the Ferrars and the Little Gidding Community spread and they attracted visitors. King Charles I visited it three times, including on 2 May 1646 while seeking refuge after the Cavaliers were defeated at the Battle of Naseby. The community ended with the death of its last member in 1657.

Although the Ferrar Communion remained part of the Anglican ethos (Bishop Francis Turner wrote a treatise on Nicholas Ferrar before his death in 1700), Little Gidding did not do so until the mid-19th century with the Oxford Movement and the revival of the Anglican Orders reach the consciousness of the average Anglican parishioner. Since then interest in the Communion has grown and is not just limited to members of the Anglican Communion. According to ascetic theologian Martin Thornton, much of the appeal is due to Nicholas Ferrar and the Little Gidding congregation exemplifying the lack of rigidity (representing the best that Anglicanism can offer via the media) and “common sense” paired with “pastoral warmth”. , which can be traced back to the origins of Christianity.

Several religious orders for women were established between 1841 and 1855, including the Community of St Mary the Virgin at Wantage and the Society of Saint Margaret at East Grinstead. Male religious orders appeared later, beginning in 1866 with the Society of St. John the Evangelist, or “Cowley Fathers”. In North America, the founding of Anglican religious orders began in 1842 with the Nashotah Community for men in Wisconsin, followed in 1845 by the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion under Anne Ayres in New York.

In recent decades there has been a remarkable growth of religious orders in other parts of the Anglican Communion, notably in Tanzania, South Africa, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. There are currently around 2,400 monks and nuns in the Anglican Communion, of whom around 55% are women and 45% are men.

restoration [edit]

During the three centuries from Dissolution to Restoration, some views expressed a desire for a restoration of religious life within Anglicanism. In 1829 the poet Robert Southey confided in his Colloquies (cxiii.) that “in thirty years this reproach too will be effaced and England will have her beguines and her sisters of charity. They are urgently needed.”

Practical efforts were made in the religious households by Nicholas Ferrar in Little Gidding, 1625, and by William Law in King’s Cliffe, 1743; and under Charles II, says Fr. Bede [clarification needed] in his autobiography, “about 12 Protestant ladies of gentle birth and considerable means” founded a short-lived convent with William Sancroft, then Dean of St. Paul’s, as director.

Southey’s appeal carried weight, and before the thirty years were up, sympathy for the plight of the poor in great cities, and the impulse for a strong revival of the church, aroused a group of laymen, including William Gladstone, Sir T. D. Acland, Mr. A. J. Beresford-Hope , Lord Lyttelton and Lord John Manners (Chairman), to efforts which restored the Sisterhoods of the Church of England. On March 26, 1845, the Park Village Community was founded in Regent’s Park, London to serve the poor of St Pancras. The “Rule” was compiled by Edward Pusey, who also gave spiritual supervision. During the Crimean War, the matron and other sisters dated Florence Nightingale as nurses. The parish later merged with the Devonport Sisters, founded by Miss Sellon in 1849, and together they form what is known as Ascot Priory. The Sisterhood of St Thomas at Oxford began in 1847; and the Superior of the Holy Trinity Convent at Oxford, Marian Hughes, dedicated herself to such a life before Witnesses as early as 1841.

Activity [ edit ]

Four sororities combine to form the largest: those of Clewer, Wantage, All Saints, and East Grinstead; and the work of the first can serve as a model for that of others. The community of St. John Baptist at Clewer, near Windsor, came into being in 1849 through the efforts of a Mrs. Tennant and vicar, later Warden of the Society, Rev. T. T. Carter, to rescue “fallen women”. Under first matron Harriet Monsell, the number grew steadily, and by the early 20th century was over 200. Her community and church ministries include six homes for “fallen women”, seven orphanages, nine elementary and high schools and colleges, five Hospitals, missionary work in 13 parishes and visits to several barracks “marriage quarters”. Many of these are notable institutions and their work covers a wide area; two of the settlements are in India and two in the United States. A list of 26 sororities can be found in the Official Year-Book of the C.E. (1900), to which may be added 10 institutions of deaconesses, many living in community under one rule. In 1909 the number of women religious in England was estimated at about 1,300; while at the time of the dissolution under King Henry VIII there were only 745.[6]

The Episcopal Church of Scotland has three sororities and they are also located in Toronto, Saint John the Divine; Brisbane, Holy Advent. The Yearbook (1911) of the Episcopal Church of America mentions 18 American sororities and seven deaconess homes and training schools.

Virtually all Anglican sororities are born of works of mercy, and this largely explains the speed with which they have won the good will and trust of the Church. Their number is estimated at over 3,000 and the demand for their services exceeds the supply. Bishops are often their visitors, and church conventions, convenings, and Lambeth conferences have given them encouragement and regulation. This shift in sympathy has in turn found a hearing among modern historians, who are more and more inclined to discredit the sweeping defamation of the dissolution period.

This charitable activity, however, distinguishes the modern sister from the primitive and medieval nuns, who were monastic and contemplative, leaving external labors to deaconesses or lay women of the third order, or to the freer societies such as the beguines. Saint Vincent de Paul is credited with beginning the new era with his institution of the Sisters of Charity in 1634. Another modern feature is the wider recognition of family ties: Rule 29 of the Clewer Sisters directs that sisters shall have free intercourse with relatives whom they may visit at any time. But in essence, modern sororities follow ancient traditions. They are devoted to celibacy, have common property, and hold a common rule of prayer, fellowship, and work. Management is the responsibility of a sister superior, who is supported by various officials. The warden and chaplain are clergymen and the visitor is usually a bishop.

Types of orders and communities[ edit ]

Whilst there is no single central authority for all religious orders and many member churches of the Anglican Communion have their own internal structures for recognizing and regulating religious orders, some central functions are performed by the Anglican Religious Communities Department at Church House, Westminster, the Church’s headquarters of England, the Church Commissioners, the General Synod, the Council of Archbishops and the National Society. This department publishes the biannual Anglican Religious Life, a worldwide directory of religious orders, and also maintains an official website for the Anglican Communion of Religious Orders. Anglican religious life defines four categories of communion.

Traditional celibate religious orders and communities: Orders and communities in which members take a vow of celibacy (among other vows) and follow a common rule of life. They can be closed and contemplative or open and engaged in apostolic works.

: Orders and communities in which members take the vow of celibacy (among other vows) and follow a common rule of life. They can be closed and contemplative or open and engaged in apostolic works. Dispersed Communities: These are orders or communities whose members do not live together in community during vows (including celibacy). In most cases the members are self-sufficient and live alone, but follow the same rule of life and meet frequently in gatherings, often known as “chapter meetings”. In some cases, some members may live together in very small groups of two or three people.

These are orders or communities whose members do not live together in community during the vows (including celibacy). In most cases the members are self-sufficient and live alone, but follow the same rule of life and meet frequently in gatherings, often known as “chapter meetings”. In some cases, some members may live together in very small groups of two or three people. Recognized Communities: These communities live a traditional Christian life, including taking vows, but the traditional vows are adjusted or changed. In many cases, these communities accept both single and married members as members, requiring celibacy from the single and unrelenting devotion to their spouse from the married. They also change the vow of poverty, allowing personal possessions but requiring high standards for tithing to the community and the broader church. These communities often have residential elements but not full residential community life as this would be incompatible with some elements of conjugal family life.

These communities live a traditional Christian life, including taking vows, but the traditional vows are adjusted or changed. In many cases, these communities accept both single and married members as members, requiring celibacy from the single and unrelenting devotion to their spouse from the married. They also change the vow of poverty, allowing personal possessions but requiring high standards for tithing to the community and the broader church. These communities often have residential elements but not full residential community life as this would be incompatible with some elements of conjugal family life. Other Communions: This group includes communions that are ecumenical (including Anglicans) or that belong to non-Anglican churches that have entered into full communion relationships with Anglican churches (particularly, but not exclusively, certain Lutheran churches).

In the United States of America there is a clear distinction between “orders” and “communities” as the Episcopal Church has its own dual definition of “religious orders” (equivalent to the first two groups above) and “Christian communities”” (equivalent of the third group above).[b] The Register of Anglican Religious Life confirms this, stating: “This distinction is not used in other parts of the Anglican Communion where ‘Communions’ is also used for those taking traditional vows.”

Anglican Orders and Interdenominational Orders[edit]

Some religious orders are unique to the Anglican Communion. Certain large religious orders, such as the Society of Saint Margaret or the Community of the Sisters of the Church, are widespread and follow a rule of life specifically written for the community. Other communities follow one of several historical rules that predate the church divisions of the Reformation. These rules are followed by various orders, often manifesting in various current Christian denominations, notably (in most cases) Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism, and in some cases Eastern Orthodoxy as well.

Augustinian Order[edit]

There are a number of Anglican nunnery that follow the Rule of St Augustine of Hippo. This rule focuses specifically on keeping all thoughts and speech focused on God. There is no central Augustinian administration beyond the general rule.

Benedictine Order[edit]

The Benedictine Order is active in all of the above Christian denominations, including the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Within the Roman Catholic Church there is a central Benedictine confederation (notwithstanding the autonomy of each abbey) and the Anglican Benedictine orders maintain close ties with this central organization (though without actual membership). The rule places special emphasis on community life, hospitality to strangers, and achieving an appropriate balance between work, prayer, and recreation.

Carmelite Order[ edit ]

The Rule of Carmel has found more limited application in the Anglican Communion than some others. The Sisters of God’s Love community in Oxford, England is heavily influenced by Carmelite spirituality and follows elements of the Carmelite Rule, but their Rule has many other influences as well. The Episcopal Carmel of Saint Teresa in Maryland is a full expression of the Carmelite order and rulership within Anglicanism, established for this purpose with the support of the American House of Bishops. The Sisters follow the Discalced Carmelite Rule and therefore use the postnominal initials OCD.

Cistercian Order[edit]

Although a number of Cistercian monastic orders were established within Anglicanism, none have proved enduring. The longest Cistercian experiment was the Ewell Monastery community (1966 to 2004). Some Anglican communities follow an adapted form of Cistercian rule and a single member of the former Ewell Priory lives as a solitary Cistercian. The Anglican Cistercians, who are ecumenically connected to the Roman Catholic Cistercians, have existed since 2010.

Dominican Order[edit]

The Anglican Order of Preachers is a recognized “Christian body” of the Episcopal Church in the United States and has spread to Canada, Britain and Europe, the Philippines, Australia and India. The brothers and sisters live under a common rule of life and vows of simplicity, purity and obedience.

Franciscan Order[ edit ]

A number of Anglican religious orders follow the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi, although the Society of St. Francis is the largest and most widespread. The rule has a special focus on poverty and identification with the poor and destitute, as well as concern for the environment and respect for all creation.

Vincentian Orders[ edit ]

The Vincentian family of religious institutions founded by or in the spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul is found in the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions. In Anglicanism, the main Vincentian religious order for women is the Sisters of Charity and the main religious order for men is the Company of Mission Priests. The Rule places a special emphasis on caring for the poor and marginalized in society.

List of current orders[ edit ]

The following is a list of religious orders in the Anglican Communion with their initials and locations:

man commands:

Order of Women:

Mixed orders of men and women:

List of other communities[ edit ]

Moana St Clare (Diocese of Polynesia, Fiji) Community of St Barnabas and Cecelia, South Australia

In popular media[edit]

In her autobiographical series Call the Midwife, British author Jennifer Worth chronicles her time as a district nurse and midwife in East End London in the late 1950s alongside the community of St. John the Divine. In the books and BBC TV series of the same name, the order is renamed the Sisters of St Raymond Nonnatus.

The 1939 novel Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden is about a group of Anglican nuns (the Order of the Servants of Mary) who continue to attempt to establish a religious community at the Palace of Mopu in the Himalayas of Nepal, despite the sisters feeling sexual oppression and enduring forbidden love. Both the 1947 film Black Narcissus and the 2020 miniseries of the same name were adaptations of the book.

Gallery [ edit ]

Community of Saint Mary

Sisters of Bethany

Community of Saint Francis

Community of the Holy Name

community of transfiguration

Order of Julian of Norwich

Order of the Holy Paraclete

Order of Saint Helena

Anglican novice monks in South Africa

maid of Christ

community of resurrection

Alton Abbey

The St. John Baptist Church in Mendham, NJ

See also[edit]

References[edit]

The Church of England, or Anglican Church, is the primary state church in England, in which the concepts of church and state are intertwined. The Church of England is considered the early church of the Anglican Communion, representing over 85 million people in more than 165 countries.

While the Church upholds many of the customs of Roman Catholicism, it also embraces fundamental ideas adopted during the Protestant Reformation. In recent years, the Church of England has been viewed as one of the more progressive sects of Christianity and is known for its relatively liberal policies, such as B. Allowing the ordination of women and gay priests.

Facts about the Church of England

The British monarch is considered the supreme governor of the church. Among other privileges, he or she has the power to approve the appointment of archbishops and other church leaders.

The Church of England claims that the Bible is the fundamental basis of all Christian belief and thought.

The followers accept the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion.

The church claims to be both Catholic and Reformed. It affirms teachings found in early Christian doctrines such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Church also reveres the ideas of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, outlined in texts such as the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer.

The Church of England supports a traditional Catholic system of order that includes ordained bishops, priests and deacons.

The church follows an episcopal form of government. It is divided into two provinces: Canterbury and York. Provinces are divided into dioceses, which are headed by bishops and contain parishes.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is considered the longest-serving cleric in the Church.

The bishops of the Church play a legislative role in Britain. 26 bishops sit in the House of Lords and are referred to as “Lords Spiritual”.

In general, the Church adopts a mindset that includes scripture, tradition, and reason.

Sometimes referred to as the Anglican Church, the Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion which includes sects such as the Protestant Episcopal Church.

Around 9.4 million people visit a Church of England cathedral every year.

In recent years, women and homosexuals have been given the opportunity to participate in church leadership.

History of the Church of England

The earliest origins of the Church of England date back to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe in the 2nd century.

However, it is believed that the Church’s official foundation and identity began during the Reformation in England in the 16th century. King Henry VIII (famous for his many wives) is considered the founder of the Church of England.

Henry the Eighth

Henry VIII severed ties with the Pope in the 1530s after the Catholic Church would not allow him to annul his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, which produced no male heirs.

Henry passed the Act of Succession and the Act of Supremacy, essentially declaring himself supreme head of the Church of England.

After Henry’s death, Protestant reforms continued throughout the reign of Edward VI. entry into the church. But when Edward’s half-sister Mary ascended the throne in 1553, she persecuted Protestants and embraced traditional Roman Catholic ideals.

However, after Elizabeth I assumed the title of Queen in 1558, the Church of England was revived. The Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion became important texts outlining moral doctrine and principles of worship.

ecclesiastical movements

The Puritan movement in the 17th century led to the English Civil Wars and the Commonwealth. During this time the Church of England and the monarchy were suppressed, but both were restored in 1660.

The 18th century brought the evangelical movement, which promoted the Church’s Protestant customs. Conversely, the Oxford Movement in the 19th century emphasized the Roman Catholic heritage.

Both of these movements and their philosophies endure within the church and are sometimes referred to as “low church” and “high church.”

Since the 20th century, the Church of England has been active in the ecumenical movement promoting ideas of world Christian unity.

Church of England in America

Many of the early American colonists were Anglican Puritans. During the colonial period, the Anglican Church established branches in Virginia, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

After the American Revolution, the Anglican Church became an independent organization in the United States and called itself the Protestant Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church, USA, is the official organization of the Anglican Communion in the United States. It has been a self-governing body since 1785 and has around 1.9 million members.

Women and Gays in the Church of England

In 1992, the Church of England voted for women to be ordained priests. This decision sparked debate within the clerical community, but also opened the door for further empowerment of women within the church hierarchy.

Several attempts were made over the next few years to allow women bishops, but many were crushed by the opposition.

Finally, in 2014, the church passed legislation to ordain women as bishops. The archbishops of Canterbury and York – the church’s most elite officials – approved the bill later that year. The Church of England’s first female bishop, Rev. Libby Lane, was ordained in January 2015.

Since 2005, the Church of England has permitted the ordination of gay priests on condition that they remain celibate. Since 2013, homosexuals in unmarried communities have been allowed to become bishops.

Also in 2013, the House of Commons passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriages but did not allow the Church of England to implement them.

Many regard the Church of England’s uplift of women and gay clergy as a groundbreaking and long-awaited advance. Others in the church consider it sacrilege and blasphemy.

As the debate rages on, experts agree that the Church of England has paved the way for talks about expanding the role of gender and sexual orientation within Christianity.

Sources

History of the Church of England, The Church of England.

Church of England, BBC.

The Church of England in Early America, National Humanities Center.

Episcopal Church Fast Facts, CNN.

1. Make the sign of the cross on the crucifix (cross) and then recite the Apostles’ Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified; died and was buried. He descended into Hell; on the third day he rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.

2. Say the Lord’s Prayer on the next large bead.

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; your kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.

3. Say three Hail Marys on the following three small beads.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

4. Pray on the chain The Glory Be.

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was, is, and always will be, world without end. Amen.

5. Meditate on the first mystery on the great pearl and say the Lord’s Prayer.

They pray mysteries for each of the five sections (decades) of the Rosary according to the day of the week:

Monday and Saturday:

The Joyful Mysteries remind believers of Christ’s birth: The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38); The Visitation (Luke 1:39-56); The Birth (Luke 2:1–21); The Presentation (Luke 2:22-38); The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)

Tuesday and Friday:

The Sorrowful Mysteries recall Jesus’ suffering and death: Jesus’ agony in the garden (Matthew 26:36-56); The Flagellation at the Pillar (Matthew 27:26); The Crowning with Thorns (Matthew 27:27-31); Carrying the Cross (Matthew 27:32); The Crucifixion (Matthew 27:33-56).

Wednesday and Sunday:

The Glorious Mysteries focus on the resurrection of Jesus and the glory of heaven: The Resurrection (John 20:1-29); The Ascension (Luke 24:36-53); The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-41); The Assumption of Mary, Mother of God, into Heaven; The Coronation of Mary in Heaven.

Thursdays:

Pope John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light, also known as the Luminous Mysteries, in 2002: The Baptism in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13-16); The Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1-11); The sermon of the coming of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15); The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8); The institution of the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26).

6. Skip the centerpiece medallion and after that on the ten beads pray an Ave Maria on each bead; on the chain, pray a glory be.

Although a decade is 10, these 12 prayers make up a decade of the rosary.

Many Catholics add the Fatima prayer after the Glory be and before the next Our Father: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those dearest to Your mercy require. Amen.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 four more times to complete the next four decades.

8. At the end of your rosary, say the Hail, Holy Queen.

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. We cry out to you, poor banished children of Eve, we send up our sighs to you, lamenting and weeping in this vale of tears. Then, most gracious Advocate, cast your eyes of mercy upon us; and afterwards may our exile show us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus, o gentle, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. So that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

O God, whose only-begotten Son purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation through his life, death, and resurrection; grant, we beg you, that as we meditate on these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Message of the Pope for May:

To learn more about the Pope’s message for May, visit: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-04/pope-encourages-faithful-to-pray-rosary-at-home .html

String of beads used in various religious traditions

For the plant sometimes commonly known as prayer beads, see Abrus precatorius

Prayer beads are a form of beadwork used to mark the repetitions of prayers, chants or mantras by members of various religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Umbanda, Islam, Sikhism, the Bahá’í Faith and some Christian denominations such as Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Common forms of pearl worship include the mequteria in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the chotki in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Crown of Christ in Lutheran Christianity, the Dominican Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roman Catholic Christianity, the dhikr (remembrance of God) in Islam, the Japamala in Buddhism and Hinduism and the Jaap Sahib in Sikhism.

Origins and etymology[edit]

Beads are among the earliest human ornaments and ostrich beads in Africa date back to 10,000 BC. Throughout the ages, different cultures have made beads from a variety of materials, from stones and shells to clay.[1]

The English word bead is derived from the Old English noun bede, meaning a prayer.[2][3][4][5] The oldest image of a string of beads in a religious context, resembling a string of prayer beads, is found on the ‘Worshippers’ (or ‘Worshippers’) fresco in the Xeste 3 building of the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, Santorini (Thera,) Greece (Murals of Thera .)[6] from the 17th century (c. 1613 BC) It was used in Hindu prayers and meditation prayers in India. [citation needed] Buddhism later adopted this custom. [citation needed] When the ancient Hindus migrated to western Asia, this practice was carried to many parts of the world and became part of various religions.[1][3][7] The statue of a holy Hindu man with beads dates from the third century BC.[3][7]

Structure[edit]

misbaha, a device for counting tasbih

The number of beads varies by religion or usage. Islamic prayer beads, called misbaha or tasbih, usually have 100 beads (99 +1 = 100 beads in total or 33 beads read 3 times +1). Buddhists and Hindus use the japa mala, which usually has 108 beads, or 27 counted four times. Baháʼí prayer beads consist of either 95 beads or 19 beads strung with the addition of five beads. The Sikh Mala also has 108 beads.

The oldest set of prayer beads in Western Christianity, the pater noster cord, traditionally contains 150 beads for the 150 psalms in the Bible, although pater noster cords have been made from 50 beads, which are prayed three times. Catholics used the rosary (Latin “rosarium”, meaning “rose garden”) with 59 beads. The Oriental Orthodox Mequteria, used primarily by Coptic Orthodox Christians and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, contains 41 beads for praying the Kyrie Eleison, said during the 41 metanoias (prostrations) at each of the seven fixed times of Christian prayer (cf .Agpeya Breviary). Eastern Orthodox Christians use a knotted prayer rope, called either a komboskini or chotki, at 100 knots, although prayer ropes at 50 or 33 knots can also be used. The Lutheran wreath of Christ contains 18 beads. In the 1980s, Rev. Lynn Bauman of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States introduced Anglican prayer beads with 33 beads.[8]

The Greek “komboloi” (which are worry beads and have no religious purpose) have an odd number of beads – usually more than a multiple of four, e.g. (4×4)+1, (5×4)+1.

Use [edit]

Because the beads are automatically fingered, they allow the user to keep track of how many prayers have been said with minimal conscious effort, which in turn allows for greater attention to the prayer itself.

Judaism [edit]

Although the use of prayer beads increased within these religions, it did not enter Judaism, perhaps because of its association with other religions, and to this day Judaism does not use prayer beads. Although not used as a counting device, many Jews touch the knots on the tzitzites attached to their tallit (prayer shawl) at certain points in their prayers.[3]

Christianity [edit]

The Desert Fathers of the 3rd to 5th centuries used pebbles or knotted rope to count prayers, typically the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on my sinners”). The invention is attributed to Antony the Great or his companion Pachomius the Great in the 4th century. In the Vita of St. Paul of Thebes (AD 227 to AD 342), written by St. Jerome (AD 347 to AD 420), it is said that Saint Paul of Thebes cast pebbles ​​and used knotted cords to count prayers.[9]

Around the 8th century paternoster cords were used to count the 150 psalms of the Bible, but for those who could not read they were used to count 150 recitations of the Lord’s Prayer. Thus the Catholic Encyclopedia mentions strings of beads, presumably for prayer, found in the tombs of Saint Gertrude of Nivelles (7th century) and Saint Norbert and Saint Rosalia (12th century).[13] A more explicit reference is that in 1125 William of Malmesbury mentioned a set of precious stones used by Lady Godiva to count prayers. The oldest prayer beads found in Britain were discovered by archaeologists on Lindisfarne in 2022: they are made of salmon vertebrae and date to the 8th or 9th century.[15]

Catholics came to pray the Dominican Rosary with chains of 59 beads. The term rosary comes from the Latin rosarium “rose garden” and is an important and traditional devotional of the Catholic Church that combines prayer and meditation in sequences (called “decades”) of the Lord’s Prayer, 10 Hail Marys and a Gloria Patri, as well as a number of other prayers ( like the Apostles’ Creed and the Salve Regina) at the beginning and at the end. The prayers are accompanied by meditations on the mysteries, events in the life and ministry of Jesus. This traditional Catholic form of the rosary is attributed to Saint Dominic,[16] although some Catholic writers have disputed this claim.[12] Catholic rosary beads are made of crucifix and center, which can be made of sterling silver and/or gold, and beads, which are usually made of glass, amethyst, rose quartz stone, crystal, black onyx, lavender glass or pearl[17]. all parts can be made of any material. Catholics also use prayer beads to pray rosaries.

In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, particularly among Ethiopian Christians and Coptic Christians, prayer beads known as mequetaria/mequteria use numbers such as 41, 64, and 100 for length; The Mequetaria is used primarily for reciting the Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy) during Christianity’s seven fixed times of prayer. Regarding the first two numbers, the former represent the number of wounds inflicted on Jesus by the lashes, the nails, and the spear, while the latter represent Mary’s age at her ascension.

The Eastern Orthodox Church uses prayer ropes, which usually come in 33, 50, or 100 knots. The loops of knotted wool (or occasionally beads) called chotki or komboskini to pray the Jesus prayer. A leather prayer rope called a lestovka is more common among Russian Old Believers, although this type is not widely used by the Russian Orthodox Church today. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “The rosary is presented to the Greek Orthodox monk as part of his attire in the mandyas, or full monastic habit, as the second step in monastic life, and is called his ‘spiritual sword’.”[12]

The Lutheran wreath of Christ,[18] invented by Martin Lönnebo, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Linköping of the Swedish Lutheran Church, consists of 18 beads, some round and others oblong, arranged in an irregular pattern. Each has its own importance as a stimulus and reminder for meditation, although they can also be used for repeated prayer.[19]

In the mid-1980s, Anglican prayer chains were developed in the United States’ Protestant Episcopal Church, originating in the Diocese of Texas.[8] The set consists of 33 beads (representing the 33 years of Christ’s life) arranged in four groupings of symbolic meaning.

While there are liturgical churches that use prayer beads in prayer, non-liturgical Christian churches do not use them.

Anglican prayer beads

Oriental Orthodox mequteria of 41 beads

Greek Orthodox komboskini with 100 knots

Lutheran wreath of Christ

Hand Carved Roman Catholic Rosary Beads

A leather Old Believer Russian Orthodox Lestovka

Islam [edit]

In Islam, prayer beads are referred to as misbaha (Arabic: مسبحة mas’baha), tasbih or sibha, and contain 99 regular sized beads (corresponding to the names of God in Islam) and two smaller or mini beads separating every 33 beads. Sometimes only 33 beads are used, in which case one would go through them three times. The beads are traditionally used to keep count while saying the prayer. Prayer is viewed in Islam as a form of dhikr, which involves the repeated utterance of short phrases in praise and glorification of Allah. The prayer is recited as follows: 33 times “Subhan Allah” (Glory be to God), 33 times “Al-hamdu lilah” (Praise be to God) and 33 times “Allahu Akbar” (God is the Greatest), which equals 99 , the number of beads in the Misbaha.

To keep track of counting, either the right-hand phalanges or a misbaha are used. Using the misbaha to count prayers and recitations is considered an acceptable practice in mainstream Islam.[20] While they are widespread in Sunni and Shia Islam today, followers of the Salafi sects shun them as intolerable innovation.

In Ahmadiyya, misbaha and other forms of prayer beads are considered “innovation”. According to Mirza Tahir Ahmad of the Ahmadiyya community, the use of prayer beads is a form of innovation not practiced by the early Muslim community.[21]

a silver misbaha

a misbaha

Sikhism[ edit ]

Sikh worshipers may use mala (beads) while reciting verses from the Guru Granth Sahib.[22] These prayer beads can be used as part of Sikh clothing and worn around turbans or wrists. This is also referred to as Simranee.

Hinduism [edit]

An early use of prayer beads can be traced back to Hinduism[23][24][25] where they are called Japamala. Japa is the repetition of the name of a deity or mantra. Mala (Sanskrit: माला mālā) means “garland” or “wreath”.[26]

Japamala are used for repeating a mantra, for other forms of sadhanā or “spiritual practice”, and as an aid to meditation. The most common mala has 108 beads.[27] The most common materials used to make the beads are Rudraksha seeds (used by Shaivites) and stems of Ocimum tenuiflorum (Tulsi) (used by Vaishnavites).

According to the Vedic scriptures, 103 beads were used during the Treta Yuga, 108 beads during the Dvapara Yuga, and 111 beads in the Kali Yuga.

According to Hindu sashtras, there must be 108 beads.[28] Generally, rudraksha beads and lotus seeds are used for meditation.

Hindu Japa Mala prayer beads made from Tulasi wood, with the head bead in the foreground.

Buddhism[ edit ]

Prayer beads (Chinese: 佛珠; 念珠; pinyin: fózhū, niànzhū, Japanese: 数珠, romanized: juzu, zuzu, Korean: 염주 (yeomju), Tibetan standard: ཕྲེང་བ།) are also used in many forms of Mahayana Buddhism, often with a lower number of beads (usually a divisor of 108). In Pure Land Buddhism, for example, malas with 27 beads are common. These shorter malas are sometimes referred to as “prostration rosaries” because they are easier to hold when counting repeated prostrations. In Tibetan Buddhism, malas are also 108 beads: one mala counts as 100 mantras, and the eight extra are said to be dedicated to all sentient beings (the practice as a whole is also dedicated at its end). Larger malas are often used in Tibetan Buddhism; for example malas made of 111 beads. When counting, they calculate one mala as 100 mantras and the 11 extra beads are taken as an extra to make up for mistakes. [Confirmation needed]

Various types of materials are used to make mala beads, such as Rudraksha seeds, beads made from the wood of the Tulsi plant, animal bones, wood or seeds of the Bodhi tree (a particularly sacred tree of the species Ficus religiosa) or Nelumbo nucifera (the lotus plant). Semi-precious stones such as carnelian and amethyst are also used. Another commonly used material is sandalwood.[29]

Japanese Zen Buddhist prayer beads (Juzu)

Ancient Chinese Buddhist Qinan prayer beads (Niànzhū), Qing dynasty, 19th century, China; Adilnor Collection, Sweden

Bahá’í Faith [ edit ]

The Bahá’í Faith prescribes that the verse Alláh-u-Abhá “God the Most Glorious” be recited 95 times daily after the completion of the ablutions.[30] To facilitate this recitation, Bahá’ís often use prayer beads, although this is not required. Most commonly, Bahá’í prayer beads consist of 95 individual beads on a strand or a strand of 19 beads with 5 counts set. In the latter case, the person reciting the verses typically follows the 19 individual verses in a sentence with one hand and the sets of verses with the other (19 verses by 5 sentences for a total of 95 verses). Bahá’í prayer beads are made from any number of natural and man-made materials, including glass, precious and semi-precious stones, various metals, and wood. There is no record of the structure of the prayer bead string or the materials used.

Baháʼí prayer beads in a 19-bead, 5-set counter configuration

Materials for making prayer beads[ edit ]

Seeds and fruit stones[ edit ]

Gems and Gems[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Dubin, L.S. (2009). prayer beads. In C. Kenney (ed.), The History of Pearls: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present (Revised and Expanded Edition) (pp. 79–92). New York: Abrams Publishing.

(pp. 79-92). New York: Abrams Publishing. Henry, G., & Marriott, S. (2008). Beads of Faith: Pathways to Meditation and Spirituality with Rosaries, Prayer Beads and Sacred Words. Fons Vitae Publishers.

Fons Vitae Publishers. Untracht, O. (2008). Rosaries from India. In H. Whelchel (ed.), Traditional Jewelry of India (pp. 69-73). New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc.

(pp. 69-73). New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc. Wiley, E., & Shannon, M.O. (2002). A String and a Prayer: How to Make and Use Prayer Beads. Red Wheel/Sage, LLC.

Red Wheel/Sage, LLC. Winston, K (2008). Bead One, Pray Too: A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads. Morehouse Publishing.

Morehouse Publishing. prayer beads.

Media related to Prayer beads at Wikimedia Commons

Summary of the teachings and beliefs of Anglicanism relating to Mary, the mother of Jesus

Anglican Marian theology is the synthesis of the teachings and beliefs of Anglicanism relating to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Because Anglicans believe that Jesus was both man and God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, within the Anglican Communion and Movement, Mary is honored as Theotokos, a Greek term from koiné, “god-bearer” or “god-bearer.” ” means. one who gives birth to God”.

Anglicans of evangelical or lower church tradition tend to avoid honoring Mary. Other Anglicans respect and honor Mary for the special religious importance she holds within Christianity as the mother of Jesus Christ. This honor and respect is called reverence.

Mary has always had a place of honor within the English Church, but many of the teachings surrounding her have been questioned over the centuries, most as a result of the Reformation. While Protestantism relied on the interpretation of Scripture by a variety of reformers of the 16 Psalms, e.g. Psalm 148), Anglicanism has allowed Mary and the saints to be addressed.

England before the Reformation[ edit ]

In the legends of the 12th century about King Lucius, the apostles Fagan and Duvian are said to have built St. Mary’s in Glastonbury in the middle of the 2nd century as the oldest church in Great Britain.[1] Later accounts pushed its origin even further, attributing its founding to a visit by Joseph of Arimathea in AD 65 [citation needed] (There are some controversial rumors that elements may have been pious forgeries.) [citation needed]

The British Church generally preferred to dedicate parish churches to local saints who were credited with founding the Llan and introducing Christianity to the region. The replacement of these vernacular endowments with more general dedications to St Peter, St Paul and the Virgin Mary was a common aspect of the Saxon and Norman invasions, leading to oddities in some cases, such as the village near Cardiff which still stands dedicated as St since the 12th century parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By the High Middle Ages, Marian devotion was so widespread across the country that England became known as Mary’s dowry. England was the first country to celebrate the feast of the Assumption in 1060.

Many of the great English saints were devoted to Mary and wrote prayers about her. The Carmelite Saint Simon Stock is said to have received the brown scapular from her on Sunday 16 July 1251 in the city of Cambridge. St Edmund of Canterbury wrote many prayers addressed to her. St Richard of Chichester and St Thomas Becket were also particularly devoted to Mary, but the English saint best known for his devotion was St Anselm of Canterbury, who wrote and dedicated many prayers and books to “the spotless, ever virgin mother of Christ.” was. .

English Reformation[ edit ]

One aspect of the English Reformation was a widespread reaction against Mary as mediatrix alongside Christ, or sometimes even in his place. Such exaggerated devotions, partly inspired by depictions of Christ as an inaccessible judge and redeemer, were criticized by Erasmus and Thomas More and rejected by the Church of England. Along with a new emphasis on Scripture as the basic standard of faith, there was a renewed commitment by the Reformers to the belief that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God the Father and mankind. This rejected any overt devotion to Mary and diminished her place in the life of the Church.

The positive teaching of the English reformers about Mary centered on her role in the incarnation. It is summed up in her acceptance of her as the mother of God because that was seen as both biblical and traditional. Like the early church, almost all prominent Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin professed their belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary,[2] English reformers such as Hugh Latimer, Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel also believed in the dogma. They affirmed or denied the possibility that Mary was saved by grace from participating in original sin. The Book of Common Prayer in the Christmas Collection and Preface refers to Mary as “a pure virgin.”

From 1561 the Church of England calendar included five feasts associated with Mary: The Conception of Mary, The Nativity of Mary, The Annunciation, The Visitation, and The Purification. However, there was no longer a feast of the Ascension (August 15): not only was it not found in the Bible, but it was seen as the exaltation of Mary above Christ. Scottish and Canadian revisions of the prayer book restored August 15 as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Despite the lack of official veneration of Mary from the 16th century onward, reverence for her continued in the use of the Magnificat in evening prayer and in the naming and dedication of churches and Lady Chapels. In the 17th century, writers such as Lancelot Andrewes, Jeremy Taylor, Thomas Traherne, and Thomas Ken borrowed from the Catholic tradition for a fuller appreciation of Mary’s place in the prayers of the Church. Andrewes borrowed from Eastern liturgies in his Preces Privatae to deepen his Marian devotion.

The Cambridge theologian John Pearson, who became Bishop of Chester in 1672, affirmed both the Immaculate Conception and the perpetual virginity of Mary in his famous book An Exposition of the Creed, writing: “We believe that the mother of our Lord was not only before and after his birth, but also forever the Most Immaculate and Blessed Virgin.” Pearson explained the basis for proper Marian devotion:

When Elizabeth cried out in such a loud voice, “Blessed art thou among women,” when Christ was only just conceived into Mary’s womb, what an expression of honor and admiration can we think sufficient now that Christ is in heaven and this Mother with him! Far be it from any Christian to depart from this special privilege bestowed upon him, which cannot be communicated to any other. We cannot honor too reverently the Mother of our Lord unless we give her the worship due to the Lord Himself. Let us keep the language of the early church: let her honor and respect, let him be revered and adored.[3]

This reappropriation can be traced back to the next century and the Oxford Movement of the 19th century.

In 1922 the creation of a new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham under the aegis of Father Hope Patten sparked Anglican interest in a revival of pre-Reformation pilgrimage. From the early 1930s, Walsingham became a center of Anglican and Catholic Marian pilgrimage. From this grew the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in 1938.

Present[edit]

Mary has a new meaning in Anglicanism through the liturgical innovations of the 20th century. In most Anglican prayer books, Mary is again mentioned by name in the liturgical prayers. In addition, August 15 is widely celebrated as a feast or feast in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with scripture readings, a collection, and an appropriate preface. Other ancient feasts associated with Mary were also renewed and liturgical resources were offered for use in these feasts. Marian devotions such as the Rosary, Angelus and Regina Coeli are most commonly associated with the Anglo-Catholic and High Church movements within Anglicanism.

An Anglo-Catholic handbook, Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for Members of the Episcopal Church, first published in 1947, includes a section devoted to devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. These include the Rosary, the four seasonal Marian antiphons, the Memorare and the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin and Our Lady of Sorrows. A revised edition was published in 1967 and the book remains in print at Holy Cross Publications. A classic, the Anglo-Catholic Prayer Book was published in a completely new edition in 2000 and also includes a section of prayers to the Blessed Virgin, including Her Immaculate Conception and Assumption.

Anglican theologian Hugh Montefiore, former Bishop of Birmingham, while denying the Immaculate Conception and bodily assumption of Mary into heaven, says: “Christians rightly honor and venerate her as one of the great saints of God, the mother of Jesus.”[ 4]

English Lady Bands[ edit ]

Some of the most famous Lady Chapels were Lady Chapels. Lady chapels have existed in most English cathedrals since the late 6th century, often forming part of the apse. Traditionally, a Lady Chapel is the largest chapel in a cathedral. As a rule, the chapel was built to the east of the high altar and formed a projection from the main building.

The earliest Lady Chapel of any historical importance was that in the Anglo-Saxon Cathedral of Canterbury. Unusually, the Lady Chapel at Ely is an almost separate building to the north of the choir. The Lady Chapels in Norwich Wells Cathedral and Peterborough (in a position similar to that of Ely) were destroyed during the English Reformation.

Arguably the most famous of the Lady Chapels was the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew, built by Henry III in 1220. was built in Westminster Abbey. The Abbey also contains Henry VII’s Lady Chapel.

Joint Anglican-Roman Catholic Document[edit]

To encourage ecumenical cooperation despite differences of opinion on other matters, the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches issued a joint statement entitled “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” (also known as the Seattle Statement) on the role of the Virgin Mary in published Christianity. The document was published in Seattle, Washington on May 16, 2005 by Alexander Brunett, the local Catholic Archbishop, and Peter Carnley, the Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Western Australia, co-chairs of the Anglican-Roman-Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). . 5]

Much has been said about the difference between Anglican and Catholic Mariology. Because Anglicanism has no official position on these teachings, it can be difficult to say exactly what Anglicans believe. The description here attempts to outline the areas where Anglicans agree that there is no official binding doctrine.

Roman Catholic Mariology asserts that Mary should be accorded a devotion (hyperdulia) higher than the dulia accorded to the other saints. Eastern Orthodox theology and practice supports very similar views. Worship (Latria) is actually given only to God. While Anglicans may agree that only God should be worshipped, many disagree that Mary should receive a measure of worship above the other saints; She is simply the greatest of all saints and should be revered as such.[6]

Anglicanism also does not accept as authoritative the doctrines of the Ascension or the Immaculate Conception, although some Anglicans consider them to be devotional.[7] For example, the former Bishop of Chester, John Pearson, called Mary “a most pure, undefiled virgin.”[8] Even so, they are not bound by the particular forms used by the Roman Catholic Church to define them. Some [citation needed] agree with the Eastern Orthodox rejection of the Immaculate Conception, but agree that Mary was without actual sin during her life. Many also agree more closely with the Dormition as understood by the Orthodox.

calendar [ edit ]

Main festivals [ edit ]

Presentation of Christ in the Temple, also “Purification of the Virgin Mary” or Candlemas, 2 February (Church of England, Church of Ireland)

, February 2 (Church of England, Church of Ireland) The Annunciation, March 25 (Church of England)

Festivals [edit]

Visitation – (31 May or 2 July)

Blessed Virgin Mary or the “Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – (August 15)

Various names are used for the observance of 15 August in official Anglican liturgical calendars, but Anglo-Catholics will generally prefer to follow the broader Catholic tradition of referring to this as the Feast of the Assumption. So it is said in the Anglican Missal,[9] Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book,[10] and A Manual of Catholic Devotion[11] published by The Church Union.

Smaller festivals and commemorations[ edit ]

The Society of Mary, an Anglican devotional society, encourages members to observe a rule of life that includes a promise to “participate in Mass at the principal feasts of Our Lady.”[12]

Summary[edit]

Anglicans recognize the dogma advocated at the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) that Mary is the Theotokos, the “godbearer”. The reason Anglicans accept this statement is that it is primarily a Christological affirmation, affirming that Christ is God. However, the terms ‘Mother of God’ and ‘God Bearer’ are not used in the official formulas of the Churches of the Anglican Communion and some Anglicans would not wish to use these terms.

Some Anglicans agree that the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity is sound and logical, but without further biblical evidence it cannot be considered dogmatic. [citation required]

No Anglican denomination accepts belief in Mary as Coredemptrix and any interpretation of Mary’s role that obscures Christ’s unique agency.

Anglicans typically believe that all teachings about Mary must be connected to the teachings of Christ and the Church.

Anglicans recognize Mary as an example of holiness, faith and obedience for all Christians; and that Mary can be viewed as a prophetic figure of the Church. As the Gospel of Luke (1:48) says, “From now on all nations will call me blessed,” she is often given a unique significance within the communion of saints

Churches of the Anglican Communion observe at least some of the traditional Marian feasts of the ancient Catholic Church. The Church of England, for example, includes the Annunciation of Our Lady on March 25 as a observable feast in the calendar of its 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This calendar contains as “days in black letters” the Conception, the Nativity and the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but does not observe them liturgically. Some later prayer books, e.g. the 1991 Anglo-Catholic Anglican Service Book allow them to be so observed and may even publish certain Marian devotions and the most recent Anglican prayer books include St Mary the Mother of the Lord as a major feast in August fifteen.

Gallery [ edit ]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Protestant prayer beads may refer to:

Anglican prayer beads used by Anglicans and other Protestants such as Methodists

Crown of Christ, used by Lutherans

Topics referred to by the same term

Confession and prayer for absolution are important practices in the Anglican Church. Anglicans can participate in confession by following the traditional forms of confession practiced collectively by the congregation or privately with only a priest as witness. The practice of confession predates the Anglican Church, and its form and procedure have been inherited rather than invented.

1 Roman Catholic Origins The Anglican Church broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the English Reformation, but unlike many other Protestant denominations, the Church of England retained much of its Catholic heritage. According to Bishop Pierre Whalon, the main difference between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches is the question of authority, but both churches celebrate communion and perform baptisms, confirmations and other sacramental rights, including penance. The Anglican practice of confession was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.

2 Types of Confession Anglicans can participate in two forms of confession, general confession and private confession. The priest and the congregation make the general confession during Holy Communion and morning and evening prayers. An Anglican can also confess God in the presence of a priest without other witnesses, naming the specific sins he has committed and seeking special counsel.

3 General confession The priest and the congregation say the general confession and the prayer of absolution aloud. It is a confession of sins and a request for forgiveness without mentioning the specific sins committed by members of the congregation. There are various forms of common confession and absolution found in the Book of Common Prayer used by Anglicans. Specific forms may be used on special occasions, while more general forms may be used on other days.