On the Articles: Article XXXIII

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XXXIII. Of excommunicate Persons, how they are to be avoided
That person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church, and excommunicated, ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful, as an Heathen and Publican, until he be openly reconciled by penance, and received into the Church by a judge that hath authority thereunto.

Excommunication is a process largely alien to the modern Church, and so this Article is somewhat difficult to understand in a modern context, however in the time it was written it served as an important and necessary clarification for Christians.

Excommunication was for some time in the medieval period used as a tool of political power by the Bishop of Rome over various foreign princes. In England, it was partly responsible for forcing the King to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 that, among other liberties, also guaranteed the freedom of the Church. This practice of using excommunication as a political tool was never adopted in England after the reformation, however it did have a much more common application through the judicial system.

In England, Ecclesiastical Courts would routinely apply excommunication as a penalty for those who were summoned before the court but did not appear. The Ecclesiastical Courts in England dealt with a number of matter which at the time were considered religious in nature but which today are generally viewed as secular matters. For instance, they handled most matters of family law such as inheritances and matrimonial disputes. Other matters now considered civil matters were in the past considered religious in nature and fell under the purview of the ecclesiastical courts, such as defamation which was viewed as an assault on the soul rather than on the person. The use of excommunication by the ecclesiastical court remains common until reforms in the early 19th century.

Excommunication was thus being used in an effort to encourage sinners to repent of their ways. In order to make it effective, the sanction had to carry a material component to it rather than just the spiritual component of sanction. While the first thought is often to see being cut off from the Eucharist as a punishment inherent in excommunication, rather being shut off from the Eucharist was done out of concern for the well-being of the excommunicated person who if they were to receive would do so to their condemnation for having failed to adequately examine their conscious before receiving (according to St Paul’s warnings in I Cor 11). By requiring all other Christians to avoid excommunicated persons—their social lives and even livelihoods would be impacted—it would more quickly compel them to amend their ways and seek repentance with the Church.

While the Biblical authority for the practice of excommunication has never been in question, for a number of reasons, including the fact that it was English Ecclesiastical courts that often imposed the sanction and that those courts did not always exist in the colonies outside of England where Anglicanism flourished, the practice of excommunication has largely died out in Anglicanism. It remains in various forms commonplace among other Christian traditions including to some degree Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as well as various Protestant traditions, though they often do not use the term excommunication specifically given the history of having it applied to them during the time of the Reformation.

The Article can remain instructive, however, in that it recognizes that the purpose was one of reconciliation through penitence. When we consider who and what we as Christians associate ourselves with, do we consider why we might avoid something or otherwise boycott it, and what the purpose is in doing so. Does it serve to promote reconciliation with the Church? Does it serve to preserve our own faithfulness to God? Are we excluding others for the wrong reason, such as a desire to feel superior?

In the final series of the Articles of Religion, like Article XXXIII, they find themselves rooted in English law and culture, and particularly at the time of the English Reformation, and several of the particularities of the Articles are no longer applicable, however the general principles of how they instruct Anglicans to comport themselves remain timeless and as applicable as ever.

Wisdom of Saints: St Basil the Great

The Feast of Basil the Great, Doctor, Bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia, 379

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Basil, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Third Sunday after Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may by thy mighty aid be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Basil the Great, one of the Cappadocian fathers and friend of St Gregory of Nazianzus, St Basil is one of the great Doctors of the Church and one of the foremost Christian theologians of the patristic age. St Basil came from a famous Christian family, the son of St Basil the Elder, he and two of his brothers (Peter and St Gregory of Nyssa) were raised to the episcopate alongside St Basil while in addition to St Gregory and St Basil, their sister St Macrina the Younger, was also honoured as a saint.

St Basil himself was born around 329 in Caesarea Cappadocia. He was raised in a well-known Christian household, and from a young age St Basil was instructed in the Christian faith and piety. Though his father died when he was young, the family continued and St Basil received a full education studying in Caesarea, Constantinople and Athens. It was during the course of his education that he first became acquainted with St Gregory of Nazianzus who would become his lifelong friend. After completing his education, he returned to Caesarea to teach.

Upon his return to Caesarea Cappadocia, he was baptised ordained a reader (readers were a minor ordained order in the early Church and remain so to this day in the Christian East) by the Bishop of Cappadocia, Dianius. Another influential figure in St Basil’s life at this time was his sister, St Macrina. While St Basil had travelled far and wide for his education. St Macrina had dedicated herself to founding a religious community among the family’s various holdings. Her witness helped open St Basil’s eyes to the Gospel and in particular to turn away from material concerns of wealth. To pursue Godly perfection, St Basil began exploring monasteries and monastic piety throughout the known world before returning to Pontus, where he had lived after the death of his father, and founded his own monastic community there. Due in large part to this, St Basil became known as the father of Oriental monasticism.

St Basil was convinced to be ordained a priest in 363 by the new Bishop of Caesarea, and was given a prominent position within the administration of the diocese. He was extremely well-regarded within the diocese, earning for himself a particular reputation as the saviour of the poor after supporting them during a famine. The 14th of June 370 he was consecrated Bishop of Caesarea. As Bishop of Caesarea, St Basil was Metropolitan of Cappadocia, a vast ecclesial territory, which ranked in importance behind only the five patriarchates and Ephesus.

St Basil was very active in his ministry, as the over three hundred existent letters profess plainly. His letters are a form of chronology that help illustrate the many challenges faced in his day. Along with St Athanasius the Great, St Basil was a great defender of Christian orthodoxy during a turbulent time in the Church when orthodoxy was under significant attack by Arians, and particular at times when Arian Emperors controlled the Empire.

One of his famous letters, XLVI, To a fallen virgin, helps to illustrate St Basil’s pastoral heart which was the foundation for all his ministry. It is not known exactly who the recipient of the letter was, as is the case with a number of his letters, but it seems she was a Christian who publicly professed virginity but later in some way admitted to St Basil that it was not true. St Basil quotes liberally from Scriptures, focusing largely on the Prophet Jeremiah and then from the New Testament, drawing upon comparisons of the bride of Christ and Israel as God’s bride. In quoting from these passages, St Basil begins his letter by stressing a case for the fallen virgin’s actions being of severe importance. Basil writes:

I used to describe the high dignity of virginity, and, addressing you as a temple of God, used as it were to give wings to your zeal as I strove to lift you to Jesus. Yet through fear of evil I helped you not to fall by the words “if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” So by my prayers I tried to make you more secure, if by any means “your body, soul, and spirit might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet all my toil on your behalf has been in vain.

Mirroring Jeremiah’s lament for Israel, St Basil concludes this section by noting his own disappointment, yet it also begins to hint at his pastoral heart as he reminds the recipient that he himself had prayed for her. He uses strong words to show how sincerely he cares for the recipient because of the harm she has done herself:

You have been deceived by the serpent more bitterly than Eve; and not only your mind but also your body has been defiled. Even that last horror has come to pass which I shrink from saying, and yet cannot leave unsaid, for it is as a burning and blazing fire in my bones, and I am undone and cannot endure.

This is again a hint at his pastoral heart. While his words are harsh, he is clearly aggrieved at the sinfulness of what has happened, and laments that he had not been able to do more to prevent it from happening, for the way in which the sin has defiled her soul. Immediately, however, in Chapter 5 of his letter, he turns to the divine remedy:

“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” You might indeed find many remedies for evil in Scripture, many medicines to save from destruction and lead to health; the mysteries of death and resurrection, the sentences of terrible judgment and everlasting punishment; the doctrines of repentance and of remission of sins; all the countless illustrations of conversion, the piece of money, the sheep, the son who wasted his substance with harlots, who was lost and was found, who was dead and alive again. Let us not use these remedies for ill; by these means let us heal our soul.

St Basil had previously described how her sin was in effect worse than the sin of Eve, yet immediately he points to Holy Scripture, to God’s testimony of love and repentance and makes clear that there is a solution. He continues in Chapter 6, the conclusion of the letter, where he says:

While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall: let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. “O come, let us worship and fall down; let us weep before Him.” The Word Who invited us to repentance calls aloud, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is, then, a way of salvation, if we will. “Death in his might has swallowed up, but again the Lord hath wiped away tears from off all faces” of them that repent. The Lord is faithful in all His words. He does not lie when He says, “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.” The great Physician of souls, Who is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all who are enslaved by sin, is ready to heal your sickness.

St Basil concludes his letter with a call to repentance available even to one who had fallen farther than Eve as he described it earlier, and finally ends his letter on a note of assurance as he alludes to the parable of the two sons:

If any of those who think they stand find fault because of your quick reception, the good Father will Himself make answer for you in the words, “It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this” my daughter “was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.”

On the Articles: Article XII

Saint Philip and Saint James the Apostles

ALMIGHTY God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that, following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint James the Brother of the Lord, Martyr

O HEAVENLY Father, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning: We bless thy holy Name for the witness of James and Jude, the kinsmen of the Lord, and pray that we may be made true members of thy heavenly family; through him who willed to be the firstborn among many brethren, even the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Fifth Sunday after Easter commonly called Rogation Sunday

O LORD, from whom all good things do come: Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

XII. Of Good Works
Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s ludzement; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

If there is one topic sure to set a protestant on edge it is a discussion of works. The Epistle of St James famously discusses the importance of works, for which the greater reformer Martin Luther termed it the Epistle of Straw, and even went so far as to seek to remove it from the Canon of the New Testament. Article XII on good works relates to Article XI dealing with Justification, two key concepts during the time of the continental reformation and which required clarification in England when the Articles began to be compiled and promulgated.

In pre-reformation Medieval western theology, a good work was something used to earn merit, the favour of God. While this included morally good acts, significantly, others were merely acts of piety laid upon sinners by priests in order to confirm penitence. Saying the rosary, fasting and other such acts of contrition were considered good works. This practice was rejected by the continental reformers, and leading to that overall perception of anything relating to works as needing rejection. It seems as though in some places, particularly with uneducated laity and poorly educated clergy, misconceptions of the role of these acts of penitence could have been normative, and so the Anglican response in the Articles needed to clarify this matter, despite rejecting much of the broader premise of Martin Luther and other protestants.

The opening line of the Article makes clear that good works cannot earn one merit or put away sins. This is a line of argument acceptable to the protestants, however it is notable also in that it fits in line perfectly with the Roman Catholic doctrines, just not practice. The Article goes on, however, to say that good works are a necessary procession of a “true and lively Faith” which might otherwise be termed a saving faith. This distinction draws reference to the Epistle of James, which itself is often contrasted with Paul’s Epistles where he seems to suggest the opposite. It also distinguishes it far more from the Protestant position of the reformers.

Much like some of the disconnect between the Roman Catholics at Trent in the counter-reformation and Martin Luther and the reformers before them, terms were being used in a different sense, and each party did not entirely recognize that as they objected to eachother’s statements on the matter. To quote Fr Kenneth Ross:

It was a similar variation in the use of key words which made St. James and St. Paul appear to contradict one another in the New Testament. Each appealed to the story of Abraham, St. James to show that faith without works did not justify, and St. Paul to show that it did. It is clear, however, that St. James was using faith in the sense of intellectual assent: in his use of the word the devils had faith (S. Jas 2. 19), but they were certainly not justified. St. Paul, however, by faith means personal commitment to the Saviour. And by works St. Paul was thinking more particularly of works undertaken in order to win God’s favouir and rewards, whereas St. James meant the works which are the necessary consequence of a life surrendered to Christ.

It was this negative view of works among the continental reformers that lead many protestants to reject the sacraments, beginning to view them as works of man. This view is wholly rejected by the Articles, by which the Sacraments are wholly accepted as works of God, who transmits grace through them. This was a rejection of a position held by the Father’s of the Church and universally recognized. St Ambrose of Milan writes in his On the Myteries that, “Believe, then, that the presence of the Godhead is [in the waters of Baptism]. Do you believe the working, and not believe the presence? Whence should the working proceed unless the presence went before?” This position was integral to his entire explanation of all the Sacraments, and was not a novel or innovative position. It was purely an overreaction to the concerns over

In this way the Article agrees with both Biblical authors as it states both that we cannot by our own works earn our salvation forgiveness of sins, but at the same time they are the necessary fruits of saving faith. The final clause of the article states that as a tree can be known by its fruit, so can faith be known by its works. This emphasizes the Scriptural foundation of Anglican understanding of the faith, and also reinforces the English reformer’s rejection of many of the more extreme views of the continental reformers.

In dealing with Salvation, Articles XI and XII introduce justification and works, while Articles XII and XIII continue to expound on the role and limits of works for Christians, laying out clear boundaries on the purpose, limits and Christian understanding of works.

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.