On The End of All Things

The Sunday Next before Advent

STIR Up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Two and a half years ago, I began the Canterbury Calgarian as an attempt to figure out where my home was. In 2013 and early 2014, I had spent time exploring some of the basic theologies of various Christian traditions. Even today, I continue to on occasion attend Great Vespers at a local Eastern Orthodox parish out of reverence and appreciation for that tradition, and hold significant respect for the theological depth of the Roman Catholic tradition. It was in that context, as a lay person, that the investigation into Anglicanism was undertaken in this blog.

Yet today, I find that context is no longer applicable. When I began, I was an Anglican lay person who had recently come to make his home there. Today, I am an Anglican seminarian who has discerned a call to Holy Orders and is preparing for ordination. I am serving in a parish within the Diocese of Calgary, and the concerns reflected in this exploration have largely been concluded.

I am no longer as concerned with uncovering the historic nature of Anglicanism as I once was. The goal of this blog was to establish a clear vision of a traditional Anglican ecclesiology, one rooted in Holy Scripture and the teachings of the undivided Catholic Church. Over the past two and a half years and one hundred and fifty articles, a wide range of issues have been addressed from history, to the Sacraments, to the Anglican formularies and dozens of issues in between. The Anglican ecclesiological foundation has been laid.

As the year ends, it seemed appropriate then to consider a shift. In Christianity, death is not the end. There is a Tolkienesque sentiment there that finds its roots in Christ’s gospel. While this project is at an end, it does not mean that I do not have planned future projects to explore other questions of the faith.

In particular is this: having established this ecclesiological foundation, what are the implications?

Since the advent of digital technology and their proliferation, something that really only occurred within my own lifetime (one of the final generations of children to grow up without the ubiquity of personal computers, let alone personal digital devices), the pace of social change has accelerated dramatically. New secular sociological concerns and practices within society have profound impacts on how Christians live out their faith.

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are a product of 16th century British law and culture, and while they are still quite applicable today, what does that look like? What unperceived challenges do Christians face today that have not explicitly been addressed by these guidelines on how the Christian faith was to be lived out in English society of the day?

From falling rates of marriage to the loss of respect for the authority of Holy Scripture, to simple issues of international connectedness and the wider ranging impact of states upon one another, there are many issues that challenge us in how we are to live out our faith.

This is essentially a shift from academic understanding of theory towards praxis.

While this shift could be lived out in this blog, rather than do so I intend to start fresh with this new perspective and new goal on a new blog. That leaves nothing more than to close out this one.

I think as I reflect, perhaps the biggest conclusion that can be drawn is the great value to spiritual formation to considering the questions that have been considered here. Understanding the nature of these foundational elements of the Catholic faith and Anglican tradition. When someone asks me something about the Anglican tradition, I generally am able to answer. When questions come up today about where Anglicanism is heading or ought to be heading, I can argue from a foundation of Anglicanism actually meaning something—this is harsh reality that for many Christians who do not come from confessional traditions where subscription to a particular confession is a requirement for membership in a particular church, they may not know what their tradition actually professes and their own beliefs may ultimately be incompatible.

This experiment has reinforced in my mind the importance of catechesis and Bible study going forward. I, as an interested Christian, learned quite a bit, and while perhaps not all the details are necessary to know (I can’t really come up with any theological implications for failing to know about the participation of British bishops at the Council of Arles, for instance), overall it seems in many cases, Anglicans have failed to be taught the richness of our own tradition, nor do we even seem to realize how little we actually know about our history.

I’ll close this out with a favourite collect from the Book of Common Prayer:

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words, which we have heard this day with our outward ears, may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to the honour and praise of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wisdom of Saints: St Hilda of Whitby

Feast of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680

O GOD Most High, the creator of all mankind, we bless thy holy Name for the virtue and grace which thou hast given unto holy women in all ages, especially thy servant Hilda; and we pray that the example of her faith and purity, and courage unto death, may inspire many souls in this generation to look unto thee, and to follow thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Saviour; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

Details of St Hilda’s life are few and far between, with most of the account coming from St Bede’s history of the English Church in which he devotes a chapter to her life (Book 4, Chapter 23). Her story is notable for her piety, devotion to Scripture, her wisdom and role in the Synod at Whitby and finally by virtue of the fact that as a woman she retained the respect and influence that she did in seventh century Christendom.

St Hilda was born in 614 in Northumbria in England. Her father was Prince Hereric of Deira and her mother Lady Bregswith. Her father was the nephew of King Edwin of Northumbria. Born pagan, King Edwin was converted to Christianity around 627 and the royal household followed suit, with St Hilda being baptised that year at the age of thirteen.

While there is justifiable scepticism over whether or not someone has truly come to faith when they are converted to Christianity as the result of a monarch of head of their household being converted, St Hilda demonstrated throughout her life a profound commitment to Christ, and deep wisdom that comes from God (Jas 1. 5; 3. 17). St Bede records that when Hilda was still young and at a point when they were living in exile under Cedric, king of the Britons, her mother, Lady Bregswith, had a dream in which her husband, Hereric, was taken away from her and she was searching for him. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t find him. Finally she found a necklace and as she examined it the necklace blazed with bright light that filled all Britain with its brilliance. The dream is considered prophetic of St Hilda’s life, as her love of Christ, the wisdom she gave and the exemplar life she lived shone forth Christ’s light throughout Britain.

While she is viewed as having a devout and chaste youth, it wasn’t until she had reached maturity that she became determined to fully dedicate her life to Christ. At the age of 33, St Hilda chose the consecrated life, having become a nun in the Benedictine order. She had originally sought to travel to the continent. St Bede describes her determination, saying she sought, “to live an exile for our Lord’s sake… so that she might the more easily attain her eternal heavenly home.” St Bede goes on to record that St Aidan of Lindisfarne, known as the Apostle of Northumbria due to his missionary work throughout Northumbria, called on St Hilda to establish monasteries in Northumbria rather than simply living abroad. While himself a bishop, St Aidan was firmly rooted in the monastic Celtic traditions which had Christianised Britain from Iona in the north, rather than in the Roman tradition which had begun at Canterbury in the south.

St Hilda remained in Northumbria, and her noble upbringing aided in her establishment of a number of successful monasteries throughout the region. She was first made Abbess of the monastery called Heruteu (modern Hartlepool). There she earned an even greater reputation for piety and devotion to God. While she herself was Benedictine, she organized the monsastery using the traditions of St Columba and the Rule of the Irish Church. After some time as Abbess there, she established a new double monastery called Streanaeshalch, known more commonly as Whitby in 657. It was established under the same strict disciplines and Rule of Life as her previous monastery had been governed, but in this case the double monastery provided both for monks and nuns. Hilda as Abbess was considered both just, fair and wise, and as her reputation, particularly for wisdom, grew she began to be sought out for counsel by all manner of people, from bishops to kings.

She was extremely devoted to the study of Holy Scripture—a notable commonality among many of the wisest of saints—and it should be no surprise that no less than five of the monks who entered her monastery would eventually go on to ordination and consecration as bishops.

It should be noted that as an Abbess in the Celtic tradition, she was the supreme authority in the area, above even the bishops. This historical development stemmed from the missionary reality that bishops were based in cities which were connected by roads, whereas when St Patrick arrived in Ireland there were no cities or roads and so it was the monasteries that he formed which became central to the administration and maintenance of faith. When St Columba brought to the faith to Iona, that monastic-based form of Christianity began to spread throughout Britain, and was the tradition in which St Hilda had been raised.

This placed St Hilda in an important position when her monastery played host to the Synod at Whitby in 664, a synod convened to seek to determine the future of the Church in the region and whether it would continue in the Celtic tradition or would seek to adopt the more Roman styled Christianity which had arrived in Kent. St Hilda herself was a supporter of her own tradition, though the Synod ultimately sided with Rome.

In 673 and for the remainder of her life, she was afflicted with a painful illness. St Bede described it, saying God gave:

her holy soul the trial of a long infirmity of the flesh, to the end that, according to the Apostle’s example, her virtue might be made perfect in weakness. Struck down with a fever, she suffered from a burning heat, and was afflicted with the same trouble for six years continually; during all which time she never failed either to return thanks to her Maker, or publicly and privately to instruct the flock committed to her charge; for taught by her own experience she admonished all men to serve the Lord dutifully, when health of body is granted to them, and always to return thanks faithfully to Him in adversity, or bodily infirmity.

Her ability to endure and rejoice in suffering and her continued faith and rejoicing in the midst of great physical pain was an example to many, and again helped to bring many to faith in Christ by her example.

St Hilda was a patron of the arts and writing, beyond promoting learning, particularly study of the Scriptures, and some of the only words of her own in existance are a poem attributed to her, which if not written by the saint herself, certainly exemplifies her faith and teachings:

Trade with the gifts God has given you.
Bend your minds to holy learning,
that you may escape the fretting moth of
littleness of mind that would wear out your souls.

Brace your wills to action
that they may not be the spoils of weak desires.

Train your hearts and lips to song
which gives courage to the soul.
Being buffeted by trials, learn to laugh.
Being reproved, give thanks.
Having failed, determine to succeed.

On Holy Week

The Sunday Next Before Easter commonly called Palm Sunday

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Palm Sunday, also known as the Second Sunday in Passiontide or the Sixth Sunday in Lent, is the final Sunday before Easter Sunday and the first day of Holy Week, commemorating Christ's Passion. It is a period that takes Christians through Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the Last Supper and the washing of the disciple's feet on Maundy Thursday and his betrayal and crucifixion on Good Friday. It collects the totality of the anticipation and penitence of Lent and prepares us for the glorious triumph of Christ in the Easter Sunday resurrection. It is a complex pattern that contains several parts, each of which is described below.

The Great Fast of Lent lasts 40 days (excluding Sundays) in commemoration of Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness prior to his assumption of public ministry. It is a period today in which Christians prepare their whole lives as a holy offering unto God, and do so through prayer, repentance, fasting and almsgiving.

Lent developed out of the needs of the Church. When Emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians and himself converted to Christianity, thousands of people converted to Christianity, be it those who had never heard the Gospel before because of the difficulty in preaching due to persecution as well as those who sought to profess Christian faith in order to gain advantage, either by marrying into a Christian family, with Christian relatives or with political officials who now supported Christianity.

With so many adults seeking to become Christian, an intensive process of catechesis developed. Catechumens were traditionally baptised at Easter, and so in preparation for that baptism, Lent was developed as a final period of intensive training in Christian faith. At the start of Lent, the catechumens would make vows affirming their desire to be baptised. Sometimes family members would be involved in this as well. For the period of Lent through to Easter they would be instructed in the faith, and then be baptised. They would receive some additional limited training in the sacraments after Baptism.

Over time, this practice would change. Family members would play a more active role, and sometimes begin in ways to participate in the training. Eventually, the whole community would participate, and Lent became a time of preparation for the renewal of baptismal vows and a time of prayer and repentance for the failure to in all ways keep those vows.

As Christianity became more established, there began to be fewer adults in need of baptism, as more and more children were being raised in Christian families, Baptism was being performed on the infant children, who were in no position to be catechised. Yet, for parents and other older Christians, Lent remained a time for them to remember their own baptismal vows and prepare for Easter. The emphasis changed from preparation for Baptism to the commemoration of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection.

In Anglicanism, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with a service of imposition of ashes, recalling the Old Testament practice of sprinkling ashes on one’s head as a sign of repentance and humility. Its liturgical colour is purple, like Advent, as it is a season both of repentance and penance as well as anticipation of Easter.

Passiontide is the period covering Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, and ending on Holy Saturday. In this period, particular emphasis begins to be placed on Christ’s Passion (suffering, from the Greek). Palm Sunday is the second Sunday in Passiontide, and begins the recounting of the Passion of Christ, commemorating his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where the people laid palm leaves before him. It is the high point and most joyous of the Passiontide commemorations.

On Holy Wednesday, sometimes also called Spy Wednesday, we commemorate the decision of Judas Iscariot to betray Christ to the Sanhedrin. While this was clearly essential to Christ’s passion, it is also less frequently commemorated than other days during Holy Week.

After Holy Wednesday is Maundy Thursday. Maundy refers to the ceremonial washing of feet, and is in reference to how Christ washed the feet of his disciples after the last supper. Also known as Holy Thursday, the feast recalls not simply the washing of feet after supper, but also of Christ’s institution of the Eucharist. It initiates the Easter Triduum, the final commemoration of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. It is a solemn service, often celebrated in the style of a Tenebrae service, Latin for darkness, in which the candles and other sources of illumination are extinguished.

On Good Friday, commemorate Christ’s crucifixion with solemn and silent services of meditation. In many places, the cross is veiled, though if there is a crucifix it may be unveiled for at least part of the service. When the service has been completed, the congregation departs in silence, and a number of other activities happen, depending upon local particulars. Oftentimes the Stations of the Cross may be prayed. In other places, the end of the Good Friday service will start a prayer vigil lasting for the remainder of the Easter Triduum.

In this way, prayer takes precedence in the final hours of Christ’s death until Easter Sunday.

Taken as a whole, Lent is a great period of renewal and self-examination, and one in which we are invited, each year, to follow through the narrative of Christ’s passion. What better time to prepare yourself for renewal than prior to Easter? What better way to understand the scope of Christ’s human suffering than to walk through his passion with him?

There is power in the liturgy to help focus our thoughts on God, and perhaps nowhere is it more clear than Lent.

On the Anglican Communion

The Fifth Sunday in Lent commonly called Passion Sunday

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lent

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For someone who was neither raised Anglican, nor raised in a Commonwealth country, the Anglican Communion may take a word of explanation. This is particularly true for someone who is not familiar with Anglicanism at all, but has some basic knowledge of the Roman Catholic Church. Due to the many outward similarities—vestments, liturgies, etc—someone might think of the Anglican Communion as being a very similar structure to the Roman Catholic Church, with its leadership vested simply in the Archbishop of Canterbury rather than the Bishop of Rome.

This, however, is not the case. The Anglican Communion is in fact an association of 38 autonomous national Anglican churches, called provinces, which are in full communion with the Church of England. While the Archbishop of Canterbury is first among equals, his position is more akin to the Patriarch of Constantinople in the early Christian East or the Bishop of Rome in the early Western Church. The Archbishop has precedence of honour, but does not directly exercise authority outside of the Church of England as the Bishop of Rome does today.

While in certain ways, this organization more closely resembles both the organization of the Early Church as well as in certain ways the continued organization of the Eastern Orthodox Church, much like Anglicanism itself, the Anglican Communion is a product of its history.

With England spreading its political power throughout the world in the form of the British Empire, religion was sure to follow. The Church of England held services in Canada in 1578 and the first permanent Anglican parish established in North America was in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.

Following the American war for independence, the Episcopal Church was founded, borrowing its naming convention from the Scottish Episcopal Church. With the ordination of William White and Samuel Provoost in 1787, there was a direct tie to the Church of England by an autonomous national Anglican church, foreshadowing the nature of the Anglican Communion.

Shortly afterwards, Charles Inglish was consecrated as the Bishop of Nova Scotia, and given episcopal oversight over all of British territories in North America. Over the next hundred years, many more colonial bishops would be consecrated as a result of various English missionary societies. Missionaries had established Anglican churches throughout the British Empire, and it was in 1840 that Bishop Blomfeld of London published a letter asking the Archbishop of Canterbury extend the episcopate, as by this time there were millions of practicing Anglicans in the colonies, thus far only ten colonial bishops had been consecrated. As a result of his advocacy, the Colonial Bishoprics Council was created, and many new colonial sees and bishops were created.

While these first bishops were originally quite tied to England—they were de facto extra-territorial suffragan bishops in practice—they would ultimately gain greater autonomy over time, both personally and legislatively. After a series of legal decision relating to the stipends of colonial bishops in the 1850s and 1860s, colonial churches were given the ability to appoint and consecrate their own bishops.

This autonomy in the appointment of bishops led in 1867 led to the first Lambeth Conference, which was attended by 76 bishops from around the world. While in many ways modelled on the ecumenical councils of the Early Church, the Lambeth Conference was not designed to be authoritative, due in large part to the desires of colonial bishops to maintain their autonomy with respect to local circumstances, and instead the Lambeth Conferences were designed to be consultative in nature, helping bishops to from different parts of the world to connect with one another and in particular in the early days of the conferences, to help English bishops in the Church of England to understand the challenges and struggles of the colonial bishops.

In Canada in particular, the first Canadian synods were established in the 1850s, the first Canadian synods were established at the local level, and in 1861 the Church of England in Canada (a name that would be retained until the 1970s when it became the Anglican Church of Canada) became somewhat self-governing, though again largely this meant greater local autonomy rather than a colony wide organization for Anglicans in British North America. It took until 1893 for the first General Synod to be called in Canada, and one of its first acts was to promulgate the Solemn Declaration of 1893. This document laid out the relationship between the Church of England in Canada and the Church of England, as well as the limits on the autonomy of the Canadian General Synod.

Of particular importance, the Solemn Declaration declared that the Church in Canada would be in full communion with the Church of England, that it received the catholicity of the Church of England, described as:

one Faith revealed in Holy Writ, and defined in the Creeds as maintained by the undivided primitive Church in the undisputed Ecumenical Councils; receive the same Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as containing all things necessary to salvation; teach the same Word of God; partake of the same Divinely ordained Sacraments, through the ministry of the same Apostolic Orders…

This description incorporates the four tenets of the early Church: one canon of Holy Scripture, one faith defined by the three creeds and seven Ecumenical Councils of the early Church, the one sacramental life and the threefold order of apostolic ministry.

The solemn declaration goes on to incorporate the three Anglican formularies of the Book of Common Prayer, Ordinal and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.

This model would become fairly standard for the way in which the relationship between the Church of England and her daughter churches around the world would be viewed. It should be noted that while there is an emphasis on full communion with the Church of England, doctrine comes from the formularies and the early Church, not the Church of England itself.

In modern times, the Anglican Communion has added two more “Instruments of Communion” to the decennial Lambeth Conferences, namely the standing Anglican Consultative Council and the Primate’s Meetings. All three of these instruments work together to help provide a venue for dialogue and discussion, but unlike, for instance, the Roman Catholic Church, it is not the Archbishop of Canterbury that provides doctrinal leadership for all worldwide Anglicans, but in theory the inheritance of the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal and Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, along with Anglican catholicity, the Scriptures, the creeds and councils, the sacraments and the order of ministry.

On the Sacrament of Reconcilliation

The First Sunday in Lent

O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights: Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to thy honour and glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Lent

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The season of Lent, which began Ash Wednesday is a period of preparation, examination and repentance prior to the solemnity of Holy Week and the joyous celebration of Christ’s resurrection Easter Sunday. It seems only appropriate to discuss the Sacrament of Reconciliation in this context.

One of the first things that ought to come to mind when asked to distinguish Judaism from Christianity is the manner in which we are reconciled to God. In Judaism, it is through adherence to the Law, and sacrifice and ritual purification as a form of penance when the law has been broken. In Christianity, however, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are, regardless of actions or merits, reconciled to God and our sins forgiven. It should be no surprise that reconciliation has been counted as a Sacrament since the early days of the Church.

The sacrament has many names. Confession, or confession and absolution, is probably the most common term and is also used in the Book of common Prayer, the Articles of Religion describe it as Penance, a term also common in Roman Catholic practice, and Reconciliation is another common term, and the term used here, because the confession is our own action in the sacrament, while the forgiveness of sins, and thus reconciliation with God, is the grace we receive through it.

The practice of confessing sins is both Scriptural and dates back to the early Church. In the Epistle of St James, it says, “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed,” (Jas 5. 15-16). There are other verses throughout the New Testament that exhort the value of the confession of sins and confirm God’s forgiveness upon those who confess their sins. Of particular note and parallel to James comes from St Matthew’s gospel:

And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. (Mt 9. 2-7)

In this story, the paralytic is brought to Jesus for physical healing, but Jesus reminds us that spiritual healing through the forgiveness of sin is just as, if not far more, important.

Throughout history, however, there have been multiple practices of confession, namely the public confession and private confession. In Anglicanism, both forms can be found in the Book of Common Prayer. The confession and absolution comes in the liturgies for the Daily Offices as well as Holy Communion. These take the form of a public or general confession in which all profess to have sinned and ask for God’s forgiveness, followed by the priest announcing absolution, or the assurance of the forgiveness of sins. In addition, in Ministry to the Sick, the Book of Common Prayer also lays out, “A Form of Confession and Absolution” which is in fact a method for private, or auricular, confession. In this liturgy, the priest invites the penitent to confess their sins, and a form of confession is provided which allows the penitent to list their specific sins, rather than making a general confession.

In both cases, once the confession has been made, whether general or specific, the priest then pronounces the absolution, assuring us of forgiveness and echoing Christ’s words to the paralytic: “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

As the rubric to the liturgy describes it, “If the sick person feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter, he shall be moved to make a special confession of his sins.” It is this emphasis on troubled conscious rather than the necessity of being sick, which has seen this liturgy used at other times throughout the year for any parishioner who seeks to make particular private confessions to their priest. While it is not specifically offered in the way penance is offered year round and scheduled for specific times in a Roman Catholic parish, private confession is generally available in any Anglican parish simply by asking to schedule time for it with the Priest.

There are generally two ways it might be offered. First, in the Book of Common Prayer, a number of times before Holy Communion the priest is to read the exhortation, which includes a part which says:

And because it is requisite, that no man should come to the holy Communion, but with a full trust in God's mercy, and with a quiet conscience; therefore if there be any of you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet Minister of God's Word, and open his grief; that by the ministry of God's holy Word, he may receive the benefit of absolution, together with spiritual counsel and advice, to the quieting of his conscience, and the avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness.

In addition, in the season of Lent when Christians are called to examine themselves, a priest might specifically mention the availability of private confession.

Reconciliation with God and the forgiveness of sins is a true gift of God’s mercy, and one in which all Christians should rejoice. For many, confession is seen as something difficult and to be feared, but if anything, it is a comfort. As Thomas Becon, chaplain to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, once wrote: “Confession bringeth high tranquillity to the troubled man… while the most comfortable words of absolution are rehearsed unto him by the priest.” Again, one of the reasons to view this as the Sacrament of Reconciliation, rather than Penance, which emphasizes what acts of penance might be called of us, or confession, which emphasizes the confession of sins, reconciliation emphasises God’s loving forgiveness and the assurance thereof.

On the History of the Prayer Book

The Second Sunday in Advent

BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Advent

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

When the Church of England gained its independence from the Bishop of Rome, there was no equivalent to the Prayer Book in use in England. Different books existed for different rites. For instance, the Sarum Rite Missal which provided for the Eucharist, The Breviary provided for the daily offices while The Ritual included rites related to the other sacraments such as baptism, marriage and the funeral rites. The Pontifical was the Bishop’s book which included rites for ordinations.

These were maintained during the reign of Henry VIII who, despite having removed the Pope’s temporal authority over the Church and Realm of England, did not support continental reformers in the Protestant movement. It was not until the reign of his successor, Edward VI, that Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was able to compile the first version of the Book of Common Prayer, which collected the various offices and sacraments together, and provided for them in English. The title Book of Common Prayer can be misleading to some because Common was not meant to refer to it as being ordinary, but rather that it was shared by all. This was in keeping with the restoration of the practices of the early church of holding services in the local vernacular, rather than the later practice which had developed in the Western Roman Church which had required all services to be held in Latin regardless of local vernacular and whether or not the people would understand anything.

Cranmer’s work began in 1547 upon Edward VI’s coronation and the first version of the Book of Common Prayer was completed and authorized for use in 1549. It represented a slightly reformed theology, in keeping with Cranmer’s personal views, and collected the daily offices, readings for Sundays and Holy Days throughout the year, the Holy Communion, baptism, confirmation, holy matrimony, visitation of the sick and burial. An ordinal with rites for the ordination of Bishops, Priests and Deacons was added in 1550. The entire Prayer Book was only intended to be temporary and was supplanted by a new version in 1552.

The 1552 Prayer Book included several more revisions from the 1549 version, adjusting and removing certain aspects of Roman influence and doctrine. By the time of the 1552 version, it was quite explicit in the Prayer Book that humanity could offer no works to God which would contribute to their salvation, in contrast with Roman doctrines on salvation. Other aspects of Roman practice remained, however. The Sarum Rite was created in the 11th century, and thus it included within the Nicene Creed the filioque. The filioque has been preserved in the Book of Common Prayer since, however several ecumenical statements between the Anglican Communion and Eastern Orthodox Church have stressed that future revisions of Anglican Liturgy would remove the filioque clause.

With the death of Edward VI in 1553, however, the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I took the throne, and the Marian persecutions began as Roman practices were restored. Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake in 1556, however his work survived him as Cranmer’s 1552 Book of Common Prayer was restored in 1559 upon the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I. Over the next hundred years, several more revisions would take place as the English Civil Wars would challenge the religious status quo in England.

At the relative end of this bloody and destructive period, a new Prayer Book was published in 1662. This final version for the Book of Common Prayer, published along-side the Ordinal, represented a final acceptance of the fractured reality of English Christianity. While the previous Prayer Books were essentially used by all Christians in England, by the time the 1662 Prayer Book was published, it was the book used by Anglicans, while nonconformist protestants would develop their own liturgical books and styles. The 1662 Prayer Book represents the first truly Anglican Prayer Book, through it continues to hold to much of the language and theology of Cranmer’s original 1549 version.

The 1662 Prayer Book is viewed, alongside the Ordinal and 39 Articles of Religion, as one of the formularies of Anglicanism, as its doctrine fully reflects the breadth of Anglican doctrine in the way that was desired of the 1552 Prayer Book, which continental German reformer Martin Bucer hoped would make “fully perfect” the doctrines made implicit in the 1549 Book.

In addition to its doctrinal implications, the Book of Common Prayer 1662 is considered a literary classic, having introduced many phrases into the English language. While it was written in the language of the people, Cranmer maintained a particular poetic style that has made the Book of Common Prayer a classic along the lines of Shakespeare and the King James Bible. Such lines include, “speak now or forever hold your peace,” from the sacrament of Holy Matrimony or the even more famous, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” from the funeral rite.

As Anglicanism spread throughout the world with the expansion of the British Empire, so did the Book of Common Prayer. The Prayer Book has been locally adapted in many places, sometimes with more or less changes. In Canada, the 1962 Prayer Book minimally updates the language—mainly adjusting spelling to more conventional modern spelling while maintaining the original language and poetry—and rather simply adding some local observances, prayers suitable to local occasions and so forth. Others, such as the American Episcopal Church’s 1979 Book of Common Prayer represent a significant break from the 1662 Prayer Book tradition.

While the Book of Common Prayer remains extremely popular, it has been supplanted, both in England and in Canada, by modern alternative service books. Common Worship was introduced in the Church of England in 2000, and contains significantly revised liturgies, far less restrictive rubrics and updated language, while the Anglican Church of Canada had similarly authorized the Book of Alternative Services in 1985 with similar modifications. While these books have become the most commonly used, their strongest proponents do tend at least to view them as being in continuity with the Prayer Book and reflective of the theology and doctrine espoused by Cranmer.

The modern philosopher Roger Scruton, however, takes the approach of a purist, saying that, “To describe the new services as ‘alternatives’ to Cranmer is like describing Eastenders as an ‘alternative’ to Shakespeare, or Lady Gaga as an ‘alternative’ to Bach.” Debates over the effect of language are central to the discussion of the continued relevance of the Prayer Book, and the utility of modernised alternatives such as Common Worship and the Book of Alternative Services.

On the Essentials

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

LORD we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Harvest Thanksgiving

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving-kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There is a maxim, often mis-attributed to St Augustine of Hippo, which reads in its original Latin in necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. It is usually rendered into English along these lines of, “in the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, diversity; in all things, charity.” The question, then, becomes what is essential?

For Anglicans, it might be confusing. We have the Book of Common Prayer, ordinal and 39 Articles as our formularies. They define the practice of Anglican tradition, but are they essential to the Christian faith itself? Clearly not. The Lambeth Quadrilateral is in fact the document which defines the essentials for Anglicans, but in reference not merely to the Anglican tradition, but the Christian tradition as a whole.

The Lambeth Quadrilateral was a resolution of the 1888 Lambeth Conference, an international gathering of Bishops from throughout the Anglican Communion, made in response to the 1886 declaration of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America which included the following in its preamble:

we do hereby affirm that the Christian unity...can be restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence; which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men.

The full declaration of the American bishops was not adopted at the Lambeth Conference, however the four key points were adopted, declaring that the Anglican Communion would continue to affirm the historic faith of the undivided Catholic Church, and in doing so identified four specific areas.

First and foremost, the Lambeth Quadrilateral affirms the one canon of Holy Scripture as the ultimate standard of faith, and to quote Article VI of the Articles of Religion, the Quadrilateral affirms that Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation. While the canon of Scripture was not fixed in the Apostolic Age, primarily because most of what would become the New Testament was not committed to writing until near the end of the Apostolic Age, yet still Scripture was recognized as containing the revealed Truth of God, and the New Testament faithfully reproduced the faith of the Apostles and the Truth revealed by Christ during his ministry. The placement of the Scripture in the Quadrilateral again itself affirms Prima Scriptura which demands that Holy Scripture be held as the standard by which the faith, order and practice of the Church is measured.

Next, the Lambeth Quadrilateral affirmed the Catholic creeds, specifically the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed as faithfully articulating the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and to quote the Quadrilateral itself, "as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith." A key characteristic of the Catholic Church was that it held one faith, articulated in the Creeds and councils accepted both east and west. The Apostle's creed as the symbol of baptism, and the Nicene creed as a necessary articulation of orthodoxy in relation to the Christological controversies of the early Church. These creeds form the definition of orthodox Christianity precisely because they were accepted by the Catholic Church during the age of the fathers.

Third, the Quadrilateral affirms the two Sacraments of the Gospel. The sacramental life of the Catholic Church was universally held. One baptism, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and being born to new life, followed by the Supper of the Lord ministered, in the words of the Quadrilateral, with, "unfailing use of Christ's words of Institution," used to nourish Christians in their new lives in Christ. The Quadrilateral in no way rejects the Sacraments of the Church, but again merely reflects that the two Sacraments of the Gospel were the only two Sacraments universally received by the east and west, while other Sacraments of the Church have been received only in certain places and at certain times.

Finally, the Quadrilateral ends by affirming the importance of the Historic Episcopate and the three-fold order of ministry through bishops, priests and deacons. Implicit in this is the importance of Apostolic Succession, the idea that the authority of ordained ministers is derived from their following in the Apostolic commission. It is a further reminder that the Anglican Churches do not claim their own ministry. There is no such thing as an Anglican Priest, but rather a priest in the Catholic Church who ministers in the Anglican tradition.

Taken together, these are an affirmation of the faith, order and practice of the Catholic Church by which Christian unity may be affirmed. When any controversy arises in a given tradition, it must be reviewed in the context of these universal standards.

For instance, throughout history there have been controversies over issues such as how many altar candles may be present on the altar during Holy Communion. In order to determine if the issue is essential, the question asked is, first and foremost, is it addressed in Scripture? Then, is it addressed in the Creeds? Third, does it affect the administration of the Sacraments of the Gospel? Finally, does it affect the understanding of Apostolic Succession and the Apostolic ministry? If not, it is not an essential matter and there is room for diversity. In the case of altar candles, it is not a matter addressed in Scripture or the creeds. It doesn’t impact the Sacraments of the Gospel and neither does it impact the Apostolic ministry. Whether it be none, two or six, there is room for diversity on the number of altar candles as they are not essential to the faith.

This example may seem somewhat flippant, however it would equally apply to many of the controversies that cause major schisms these days, namely the ordination of women and proposed changes to the sacrament of Holy Matrimony to allow for the blessing of same-sex marriages.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsay was a strong proponent of Quadrilateral as a model for ecumenical reunion, particularly with the Eastern Orthodox Church. He had made significant progress in developing understanding on the basis of the Quadrilateral and the idea of the Anglican Communion as maintaining the Catholic faith, order and practice of the patristic Church. He had made significant progress in clearing the way on major issues; however, as is recorded in his personal journal, he was woken up in the middle of the night in 1976 and informed that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States had authorized the ordination of women as priests. He immediately began to weep, recognizing that the Anglican Communion had surrendered its claim to Catholicity over the issue, and had ended the immediate prospects for ecumenical reunion with the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The official status of the Lambeth Quadrilateral has come into question in some national Provinces in the Anglican Communion, however in the traditional view of Anglicanism, the Lambeth Quadrilateral remains an important document which records a defining characteristic of Anglicanism, which is to say that it seeks a return to the faith, order and traditions of the patristic Catholic Church, and its authority to determine doctrine is derived from that formula.

On Liturgy

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For someone who is new to Anglicanism, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday is probably their primary form of worship. From an outsider’s perspective, there might be one other piece of information they know of what to expect when they come to an Anglican church on a Sunday: liturgy. A formal prescribed order of service prescribed in some dusty tome that tells parishioners what to say, when to say it, when to sit, when to kneel, when to stand and when to sing.

There is a famous quotation by CS Lewis from his Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer where he says:

Every service is a structure of words and acts through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best--if you like, it “works” best--when through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.

In this, he describes the faithful utility of a liturgy when coming to worship in that it allows worshippers to focus on God rather than being concerned with an order of service. Lewis here expresses the practical reason for St Paul’s reminder to the Corinthians that, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Cor 14. 33) This is a useful understanding of why there is a written and ordered liturgy, but to take this understanding (and it should be noted Lewis was talking here on the subject of worship, not liturgy specifically) is only a minor part of the full meaning of liturgy, the expression of liturgy that we see only when we gather together to worship, just as worship of God occurs both corporately and privately, but it is chiefly expressed for many Christians on Sunday when they gather to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

The liturgy goes well beyond that, however. It is an ancient institution with roots in the early church where the liturgies sprung up out of Christ’s words of institution recorded throughout the Scriptures. As it is rendered in the Book of Common Prayer:

[Christ], in the same night that he was betrayed, took Bread; and, when he had given thanks, he brake it; and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is my Body which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise after supper he took the Cup; and, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all, of this; for this is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins: Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.

Following Christ’s commandment to do this in remembrance of Him, a number of different liturgies with almost entirely common features, but generally different orders, appeared.

The modern Anglican liturgy stems from two of these ancient liturgies. The earliest English Church liturgies were rooted in the liturgies of St John and St Paul associated with the Church at Ephesus. During the 6th century, St Augustine of Canterbury introduced some revisions using the Sacramentary of St Gregory the Great, which itself found its roots in the Liturgy of St Peter, associated with Rome.

The first thing to remember about the liturgy is thus that it is rooted in both Scripture, Christ’s commandment to us, and in the traditions of the Apostles and the Church Fathers.

It should further be noted, even from just this brief introduction, that there is more to liturgy than simply a formal and prescribed method of worshipping when Christians gather. The etymology of the word liturgy may reveal even more. The term stems from the ancient Greek leitourgia, which might be rendered as ‘work of the people’ or ‘public works’ and referred to the civic works undertaken by wealthy citizens on behalf of all the people. In that sense, the liturgy for Christians referred to the works they were instructed, by Christ, to undertake on behalf of all people. The term in its Christian origins can be traced to the Septuagint (the Greek language translation of the Hebrew Scriptures used by Jews during the time of the early Church) in which the word leitourgia was used to refer to public religious service at the Jewish Temple.

Christ’s instructions to Christians were not limited simply to the use of the sacraments. Early Christian understanding of liturgy involved their actions at all times, of which only part was frequent participation in the Lord’s Supper for spiritual nourishment.

It is why when the communion is finished, the Prayer Book ends the service with a final blessing based on St Paul’s words to the Philippians:

THE peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen. (Phil 4. 7)

In this blessing, we are commissioned to go forth to continue to do the liturgy throughout the week by keeping the knowledge and love of God in our hearts and minds at all times. We pray to God to bless us in this way, to keep that knowledge, in order that we as Christians may perform our own ‘work of the people’ throughout the week by practicing the love of God as Christ further instructed us.

In both the practical sense of an order of service, and the broader reminder that Christians are called to love all people, the liturgy stands as a necessary tool for Christian life, and an essential practice of the ancient Church.

On Anglicanism

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity

GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Anglicanism, in its modern form, did not appear as an identity immediately upon the independence of the English Church from Rome under Henry VIII. Henry VIII remained staunchly Catholic in doctrine, as evidenced by the Act of Six Articles which professed decidedly Roman Catholic views on a number of issues being addressed in the Reformation. While the monarch was decidedly Catholic in view, many of the clergy in the Church of England welcomed the reformation theologies, notably Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. It would take over a century of religious strife between different groups of Protestants and Roman Catholics before we would see the emergency of an identifiable Anglicanism by the latter half of the 17th century which could be associated with modern Anglicanism.

The Church of England remained officially Roman Catholic in doctrine until the death of Henry VIII in 1547. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI who took the throne at the age of nine and died at the age of fifteen. His entire reign was controlled by a regency, which allowed for church leaders like Thomas Cranmer to implement reformation theology in the Church of England. Though he was not of the age of majority, Edward VI had an interest in religion, and having been raised as a protestant (having been born after the Act of Supremacy and his father’s excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church) and largely supported Cranmer and the other reformers. It was during Edward VI’s reign that the first Book of Common Prayer was published in 1549.

Upon his death, Mary I took the throne. A staunch Roman Catholic, she initiated a persecution of Protestants in England, repealed protestant laws and initiated a reconciliation with Pope Julius III. Some 280 protestant reformers were executed under the Marian persecution, including Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Another 800 Protestants escaped the persecution by entering into exile on the continent in primarily protestant countries in the north.

After only four years on the throne, Mary I died of influenza and was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I. Elizabeth, like Edward VI, was a protestant reformer who established a religious settlement that managed to appease both Roman Catholics and puritan Protestants. The settlement lasted throughout Elizabeth’s reign, though it did not appease Rome itself. In 1570, Pope St Pius V issued a papal bull declaring Elizabeth a pretender to the throne (in favour of Mary Queen of Scots), a heretic and excommunicated any Britons who followed her. The bull provoked greater suspicion towards Catholics on the part of Protestants. It did not help that the bull called on Elizabeth to be overthrown, leading to plots to kill her and install Mary, Queen of Scots in her place. Elizabeth had previously allowed private Roman Catholic worship under the Settlement however the bull caused a crackdown on Catholics in England.

At the time of Queen Elizabeth’s death, the Church of England was the only official church in England. Roman Catholics were at different points allowed to worship in private, though there were no public Roman Catholic churches. Within the Church of England, however, there were numerous emerging identifications. A number of Protestants who had fled to the continent during the Marian persecutions adopted more radical continental Protestantism. Upon their return to England under the reign of Elizabeth, they became identified as Puritans, and advocated further reform within the Church of England, though their direct influence in the Church was legally limited. The middle way between those who either secretly or privately maintained allegiance to Rome and the Puritans had come to identify themselves as Anglicans by the time of Elizabeth’s death. They maintained some Catholic practices along-side the reformed theology embodied in the 1559 Book of Common Prayer.

The remainder of the 17th century would largely be characterised by a theological conflict between the Anglicans, who were satisfied with the Elizabethan Settlement, and the Puritans who sought to enforce further reforms. This tension would be one of the leading causes of the English Civil War which led to the establishment of the English Commonwealth during the Interregnum and the Restoration, which saw the publication of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the Glorious Revolution of Parliament. While these events would see continued struggles between the three groups, but the end of the 17th century, a form of religious toleration was put in place whereby Catholics were banned from numerous public positions, but otherwise allowed to continue the private practice of their religion. Anglicans gained completely control of the Church of England and their ‘middle way’ values became the established doctrine of the Church to the exclusion of the Puritans and other protestant groups. While Anglicans controlled the Church of England, it came at the expense of a religious plurality in England. Presbyterians, Anabaptists and other protestant groups continued to exist outside of the Church of England.

For the 17th and 18th centuries, there remained a strong Protestant and anti-Roman Catholic influence on the Church of England, in particular in relation to its practices and forms of worship, but the formularies and doctrines of the Church had been established. The Book of Common Prayer and Ordinal of 1662 and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion bear witness to the Anglican interpretation of Christian truth, alongside the ecumenical creeds, revealed through Holy Scripture.

These formularies would be exported abroad, for instance to the Church of England in Canada which was renamed the Anglican Church of Canada in 1955, and would thus form the core doctrine of the entire worldwide Anglican Communion.

Today, Anglicanism encompasses a wide variety of theological and liturgical perspectives, of which Anglo-Catholicism is one. Commonly, the Church is divided along three lines: High Churchmanship, Low Churchmanship and Broad Churchmanship. These perspectives, and the theological perspectives held by significant numbers of Anglicans can often trace their roots to influences from the time of Elizabeth through to the restoration. Anglicanism sits aside a broad religious plurality that includes all forms for Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, while the Church of England itself remains the established church of England.

On the Church of England

The Eighth Sunday after Trinity

O GOD, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Whereas last week’s entry spoke to the origins of the Ecclesia Anglicana, the English Church, this week’s entry takes place in the 16th century, discussing the ending of communion between the English Church and Rome and the origin of the modern Church of England.

While the history of the English Church is relatively unknown in popular terms, particularly among non-Anglicans who focus purely on the idea of King Henry VIII replacing the pope as the head of the church in order to grant himself a divorce, it is at least relatively straight forward. The same cannot be said for the true history behind the English Church’s break with Rome and subsequent development into the modern Church of England and Anglican Communion. One of the reasons for this is that this portion of the Church of England’s history mixes together influences of both theology and politics.

The history of Christianity is replete with politics interfering with the governance of the Church, dating back to the early 4th century when the legalization of Christianity allowed early Christians, and their leaders, to focus on more than merely their own survival. Emperor Constantine the Great himself called the Council of Nicaea as a way of hopefully resolving some of the debates which had sprung up among the bishops throughout the Empire, and in doing so established the beginning of a precedent of civil interference in religious matters, a precedent which was not lost on many of the bishops who attended the council. In following years, the pro-Arian Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia used his influence with Emperor Constantine to attack various anti-Arian bishops including Saint Athanasius and have them exiled. He further exerted influence with the Emperor to appoint Arian clergy and promote Arian doctrines in the Church in opposition to the Nicene Creed and Trinitarian formula that had been adopted by the Council of Nicaea.

The political influence of the Pope has a long history that dates back to the 4th century when the Roman Empire began to be split. Rome, Antioch and Alexandria were among the foremost cities in the Empire (to which was later added Constantinople). While Rome was originally the capital, under Constantine and subsequent Emperors, the capital was moved and the Empire often split between the leadership of a number of co-leaders. For many years, then, the Bishop of Rome was the senior most authority in Rome, and the Roman people looked to him not simply for spiritual leadership, but civic leadership as well. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Bishop’s authority grew even greater as civic authority was disbanded. The powerful Roman Bishop easily moved into the vacuum created by the fall of the Western Empire, and over the centuries the religious and civic authority of the Pope was solidified to the point where in the 16th century the Pope was not just the leader of Western Christianity, but his own state and quite often a well-heeded advisor of numerous European monarchs.

Other examples are found of political influence in every era of the church. By the 16th century, however, perhaps the best example of this confluence of religion and politics was the Pope himself, who was not merely the head of the Catholic Church, but also the Head of State of the Papal States and an important political player in European statecraft. Pope Leo X had allied himself with King Henry and his allies a number of times over the years. Notably, perhaps, in exchange for a sum of money to support Leo’s ambitions of obtaining political authority for his relatives in the tumultuous Italian peninsula, Leo joined the Papal forces in an alliance with Spain and England against France. Ultimately, with Henry’s financial support for a military campaign, Leo’s nephew was confirmed as the Duke of Urbino.

It was under Pope Leo X that Martin Luther initiated what would become the Protestant Reformation. While the Reformation is perhaps best remembered today for opening the way to major theological expansion, Luther’s original goals were more limited to the reform of abuses being perpetrated by the Roman Church and by various clerics under Roman authority, most notably concerning the practice of indulgences. Indulgences were a form of remission of temporal punishment associated with an already forgiven sin. It was associated with alms during the early church, but as the practice grew in popularity during the medieval period, it became little more than a tax used to support various projects including the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica by Pope Leo X, which ultimately prompted Luther’s opposition.

Luther published his famous Ninety-Five Theses protesting various abuses of the Roman Church, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Pope Leo X’s response was to reject Luther’s demands for reform, and in this he was supported by his political ally King Henry VIII who, for his support of the Pope, was awarded the title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) by Pope Leo X just prior to his death in December 1521.

It was under Pope Clement VII that communion between Rome and England ended. By 1527 Henry was becoming so concerned with the failure of his wife, Catherine of Aragon, to bear him a male heir that he took the matter to Pope Clement VII asking for an annulment on the basis of Leviticus 20. 21. At the time, however, Rome was besieged by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and nephew of Catherine of Aragon. Faced with the political pressure of Charles’ sacking of Rome in May 1527, Clement VII refused Henry’s request and a number of subsequent requests for an annulment. Over the course of the next three years it became clear to Henry and his advisors that no annulment would be forthcoming.

The politics of Pope Clement VII were making him an unreliable ally to the still staunchly Catholic Henry VIII. Papal supremacy was looking less like the spiritual primacy of the Bishop of Rome, and more like the political supremacy of a foreign and not necessarily friendly or reliable European state leader. In 1532, with the political support of King Francis I of France, Henry married Anne Boleyn and by the next year had his marriage and annulment of his marriage Catherine of Aragon recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. When news of the marriage reached Pope Clement VII, he excommunicated both Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer from the Roman Catholic Church. Over the next few years and with Henry’s support, the English Parliament passed a number of laws that redefined the relationship between the Pope and the English crown and state, curbing the Pope’s political authority in England.

The 1534 Act of Supremacy marks the full break of the English Church with Rome, declaring the King to be the supreme head of the Church of England. Supremacists argued that the Pope’s actions were being dictated by civil and political considerations rather than religion, and thus if the Church of England was to have a civil authority over it, it should rightly be an English, and not foreign, one. It should be noted that while there had been a political divorce from Roman authority, Henry VIII remained dogmatically inclined to Rome and following a visit by a number of Lutheran theologians in 1538, Henry had Parliament pass the Act of Six Articles, a precursor to the current Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, which maintained complete orthodoxy with Roman Catholic belief.

The Church of England’s independence from Rome stemmed from Reformation issues, but rather than being based in theology, it dealt primarily with abuses of political authority rather than religious authority. The Roman Catholic Church, in its counter-reformation Council of Trent in the mid-16th century, recognized these issues explicitly with respect to indulgences, defending the theological value of indulgences while condemning the temporal abuses through the sale of indulgences. The Act of Supremacy is often cited as the start of the English Reformation, a period of significant instability in England. Not everyone accepted the King’s actions, and not everyone supported Henry’s retention of Roman Catholic doctrine. To this day, Henry VIII is not commemorated in the Anglican Communion. It would take until the Restoration in the 1660s before the issues of doctrine had been finally settled to the point where they would be able to remain intact to the present day and the current formulation of the Church of England would become recognizable with the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion published therein.

On the English Church

The Seventh Sunday after Trinity

LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Where should a blog like this begin? There are so many issues in Anglicanism that are in the news, either in the Anglican Journal or even in secular newspapers, that it's difficult to know what to comment on first. The reality is that this blog is not simply a mouthpiece for commentary on topical controversies. Any opinion that could be expressed here has probably been expressed elsewhere, and in a more eloquent and theologically grounded way to boot.

Rather, this blog will seek to express something of a journey of understanding of the Anglican tradition from the perspective of a Calgarian of the Anglo-Catholic persuasion. In that sense, the best place to start is not with what is in the news, but rather with the beginning. What is the English Church?

To many an outsider, the Church of England was formed by Henry VIII who wanted to make himself an English Pope so he could divorce and remarry (a few times). The reality of the English Church is much more complex, and far older. The entire history of the Church of England cannot be detailed in one post, so in this first part, the history of the English Church from the 3rd century through to the start of the 16th century will be detailed. The 16th century and the formation of the modern Church of England will be dealt with next week.

The origin of the English Church dates much further back than the early 16th century, and is fact noted to have existed in the 3rd and 4th centuries. St Alban's martyrdom in the 3rd century is recorded in St Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Records of the Council of Arles in 314 held in France list the names of the Bishop of York, the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Cærleon-on-Usk all in attendance from the British Province. Three more British bishops were also noted to have attended the Council of Ariminum in 360, and although they didn't attend the Council of Nicaea, the Nicene Creed's anti-Arian position was accepted by the British bishops, speaking to reasonably strong organization and contact with the rest of Western Christianity. A number of Celtic missionaries, notably St Patrick in Ireland and St Ninian in Scotland, were also active in the 4th and 5th centuries, establishing what would become the Celtic Christian tradition in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which itself would have a significant influence on the English Church. It wasn't until 597 that a missionary arrived from Rome under the authority of the Pope.

As a Roman province, Britain was not exempt from the political turmoil unfolding on the continent. The Roman armies were withdrawn from Britain in the late 4th and early 5th centuries in order to defend the Empire on the continent from increasing barbarian activity. This had the effect of leaving the Roman province defenceless to barbarians arriving from northern Germany. Britain faced attacks from the Germanic Angles, Saxons and Jutes who largely destroyed the organization of the early Roman-English church in England as these three tribes carved out their own kingdoms in England. Contact between Britain and the continental church was largely lost during this period of strife and was not re-established until the arrival of St Augustine of Canterbury in 597.

As a result of the invasions, generally in south-eastern and central England, Roman Britons fled west to Wales and the Celtic lands where a distinctive brand of Christianity formed as British Christian traditions were fused with pagan Welsh practices, creating its own distinctive Welsh Christianity. While there was initially no effort to evangelize the Germanic invaders, that would change under evangelical monastic influence. Born to British parents, St Patrick eventually studied the monastic life in France before coming to Ireland where he evangelized the Irish people, establishing a number of monasteries and bishoprics throughout Ireland. Because of St Patrick's own monastic origins and due to the lack of previous contact with the continent where civil organization was strongly related to ecclesiastical organization of bishoprics, monasteries and abbots where the fundamental units of Celtic Christianity in Ireland. The evangelical nature of the monasteries led eventually to waves of missions to the mainland. St Columba arrived in Scotland in 563, and began a wave of conversions starting in the north of Britain and working south, such that when St Augustine arrived in 597 and began a second wave of conversions, there existed already many Christians in Britain.

St Augustine had been sent by the Pope, St Gregory the Great, to re-establish contact with Britain and convert the locals, particularly the Jute King of Kent, to Christianity. When St Augustine met with King Æthelbert, he found that the Queen was already Christian, and the King welcomed and supported St Augustine after his own conversion. In addition to his missional work, St Gregory is remembered for his liturgical revisions and standardizations. In acknowledgement of the existing status of Christianity in Britain, however, St Augustine was allowed to simply maintain a modified local liturgy, which was based primarily on the liturgy of St John, rather than of St Peter which was used in Rome. St Augustine founded a monastery at Canterbury which would become the eventual seat of British Christianity. Over the next century the waves of Christianizing influence would largely cover all of Britain to the point that conflicts between Christians and pagans soon began to be supplanted by conflicts between the northern Celtic Christians and the southern Roman Christians.

In 664 the Synod of Whitby was held in Northumbria to resolve some of the local differences between the Celtic and Roman traditions. A major consequence of the Synod was the establishment of the secondary seat of power of the Archbishop of York. While the Roman tradition had essentially won out at the Synod, the Celtic monastic tradition was allowed to continue.

The three streams of Christian history in England (the early Romano-British Church, preserved to a degree in Welsh Christianity, the Celtic monastic tradition and the later Roman tradition) had been fused to create what became termed the Ecclesia Anglicana, the English Church.

While the Church remained in full communion with the Pope and recognized his authority up until the 16th century, the English Church never lost its unique identity. Following the Great Schism in 1054, it would be common for English Christians to identify, as did other Western Christians, as being Catholic or Roman as opposed to Eastern Orthodox, but at no point did this change the reality of a distinctive English Church in communion with Rome, as opposed to what one might today think of as the Roman Catholic Church in England.