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The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and is the mother branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. Christianity was planted in Britain in the first or second centuries and existed independent of the Church of Rome. Eventually the Church of England came under Papal authority during the Middle Ages, but has been separate from Rome since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII, though it briefly rejoined Rome during the reign of Queen Mary I in 1555.
The British monarch (at present, Elizabeth II), is the constitutional "Supreme Governor". In practice, however, the effective leader is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is also recognised as a kind of symbolic leader for the worldwide Anglican Communion of independent national or regional churches. The current Archbishop of Canterbury is Dr Rowan Douglas Williams.
Although Christians may have been present in England from the Apostolic Age, and British bishops are recorded as being present at the Council of Arles in the early fourth century, Augustine of Canterbury was sent from Rome on a mission to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent in the year 597. With the help of Christians already residing there, he established his church in Canterbury, the capital of Kent, and became the first in the series of archbishops of Canterbury. Over the next few centuries, the pre-existing celtic christian churches were gradually absorbed into the Roman system begun by Augustine.
The Church of England considers itself to be both a Reformed (but not Protestant) and Catholic (but bot Roman Catholic) church tradition: Reformed insofar as it has been influenced by many of the principles of the reformation and does not accept Papal authority; Catholic in that it views itself the unbroken continuation of the early apostolic and later mediæval Church rather than a new formation. In its practices, furthermore, the Church of England remains closer to Roman Catholicism than the Protestant Churches. Its theological beliefs are relatively conservative, its form of worship can be quite traditional and ceremonial, and its organisation retains the historical episcopal hierarchy of bishops and dioceses.
In many people's eyes, however, the primary distinguishing mark of the Church of England is its breadth and open-mindedness. In addition to the traditional mainstream, the church has long included "high church" and "low church" factions with their own particular preferences. Today, practices range from those of the Anglo-Catholics with their incense and holy water to the emotional and far less ceremonial services of Evangelicals and Charismatics. More contentious are various doctrinal questions raised by the development of modern society, such as conflicts over the ordination of women (finally accepted in 1992 and begun in 1994) and the status of homosexuals in the church (unsettled today).
The Church of England has a legislative body, the General Synod. However, fundamental legislation still has to pass through the UK Parliament. The church has its own judicial branch, known as the Ecclesiastical courts, which are likewise a part of the UK court system.
In addition to England proper, the jurisdiction of the Church of England extends to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. In recent years, expatriate congregations on the continent of Europe have become the Diocese in Europe.
History
Although Christianity arrived in the British Isles around 200 during the Roman Empire, developing roots in Wales and Ireland, and from Ireland to Scotland and the north of England, which survived the departure of the Romans, the Church of England usually marks its foundation with the mission of Augustine. Augustine was sent to Ethelbert of Kent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597. The Synod of Whitby in 664 was notable in that Oswiu of Northumbria decided to follow Roman rather than Celtic practices.
As with other parts of medieval Europe, there was tension between the English king and the Pope about civil judicial authority over clerics, taxes and the wealth of the Church, and appointments of bishops, notably during the reigns of Henry II and John.
Separation from Papal Authority
The English Church was in union with Rome until the reign of Henry VIII. The first break with Rome (subsequently reversed) came when Pope Clement VII refused, over a period of years, to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, not purely as a matter of principle, but also because he was living in fear of Catherine's nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as a result of events in the Italian Wars.
Henry first asked for an annulment in 1527. After various failed initiatives he stepped up the pressure on Rome, in the summer of 1529, by compiling a manuscript from ancient sources proving in law that spiritual supremacy rested with the monarch, and that Papal authority was illegal. In 1531 Henry first challenged the Pope when he demanded 100,000 pounds from the clergy in exchange for a royal pardon for their illegal jurisdiction, and that he should be recognised as their sole protector and supreme head. Henry VIII was recognised by the clergy as supreme head of the Church of England on February 11, 1531, however in 1532 he was still attempting to seek a compromise with the Pope.
In May 1532 the Church of England agreed to surrender their legislative independence and canon law to the authority of the monarch. In 1533 the Statute in Restraint of Appeals removed the right of the English clergy and laity to appeal to Rome on matters of matrimony, tithes and oblations, and gave authority over such matters to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. This finally allowed Thomas Cranmer, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, to issue Henry's annulment; and upon procuring it, Henry married Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII in 1533.
In 1534 the Act of Submission of the Clergy removed the right of all appeals to Rome, effectively ending the Pope's influence. Henry was confirmed by statute as Supreme Head of the Church of England by the first Act of Supremacy in 1536. (Due to clergy objections the contentious term 'Supreme Head' for the monarch was later changed to 'Supreme Governor' - hence it is incorrect to refer to the reigning monarch as being the so-called 'head' of the Church of England.)
Such consitutional changes made it not only possible for Henry to divorce but also gave him access to the considerable wealth that the Church had amassed, and Thomas Cromwell, as Vicar General, launched a commission of enquiry into the nature and value of all ecclesiastical property in 1535, which was followed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Protestant Influences
Despite separation from Rome, the Church of England under Henry VIII continued to be essentially Catholic rather than protestant in nature. Henry himself had earlier been awarded the title of fidei defensor (defender of the faith) by Pope Leo X partly for attacking Lutheranism. Some Protestant influenced changes under Henry included a limited iconoclasm, the abolition of pilgrimages, and pilgrimage shrines, and the extinction of many saints' days. However only minor changes in liturgy were made during Henry's reign, and he was responsible for the Six Articles of 1539 which reaffirmed the Catholic nature of the church.
This was, however, a time of major religious upheaval in Western Europe called the Reformation and once the schism had occurred, some reform was probably inevitable.
Only under Henry's son, Edward VI, were the first major changes to the church made, including translation and thorough revision of the liturgy along more Protestant lines. The resulting Book of Common Prayer was issued in 1549 and revised in 1552, and was issued by authority of Parliament.
Re-establishment of union with Rome
Following the death of Edward, the Roman Catholic Mary came to the throne. She renounced the Henrician and Edwardian changes, first by repealing her brother's reforms then by re-establishing unity with Rome. She is commonly known as "Bloody Mary" because of her widespread torture and execution of many of those opposed to Roman Catholicism. However, such behaviour was not unduly severe according to the standards of the time, and had she lived longer the return to Rome might well have been peaceably accepted by her people.
The second schism
The second schism, from which the present Church of England originates, came later. Upon Mary's death in 1558, her sister Elizabeth came to power. Elizabeth became a determined opponent of papal rule, but despite reintroducing separatist ideas, Elizabeth was not excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church until February 25, 1570, by Pope Pius V, after Charles V withdrew his protection. The Church of England officially broke with Rome again in 1559, when Parliament recognised Elizabeth as being supreme governor, with a new Act of Supremacy that also repealed the remaining anti-Protestant legislation. In the same year a new Book of Common Prayer was issued. Elizabeth presided over the "Elizabethan Settlement", an attempt to satisfy the Puritan and Catholic forces in England within a single national Church.
Under Oliver Cromwell
During the Commonwealth of England and The Protectorate, the ascendant Puritans replaced the Episcopalian government of the Church with a Presbyterian form, but retained the principle of ultimate state control of religious matters. When Charles II came to power, the Episcopalian government was re-established, and the Book of Common Prayer was issued in a new revision in 1662.
Recent history
On March 12, 1994 the Church of England ordained its first female priests.
Related churches
In Scotland, the established Church of Scotland is Presbyterian, but there is a smaller Anglican church known as the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and Wales is now an independent province of the Anglican communion.
The Church of Ireland was the estabished church in Ireland until 1871, although Ireland remained mostly Roman Catholic.
Other Churches outside the British Isles include the members of the Anglican Communion.
Appointment of Bishops
The election of new Archbishops and Bishops involves several stages. The first stage involves the diocesan Vacancy-in-See Committee, which is composed of:
- The Dean of the Cathedral
- Two Archdeacons
- The Diocese's representative members of the General Synod of the Church of England
- Members of the diocesan House of Bishops
- The Chairman and two other members of the Diocesan House of Clergy
- The Chairman and two other members of the Diocesan House of Laity
- Other Members approved by the Bishop's Council
The Committee produces a Statement of Needs assessing the needs of the diocese. This statement is then sent to a specially constituted Crown Nominations Commission, which consists of:
- The Archbishops of Canterbury and York (if either post is vacant, then another bishop is elected by the House of Bishops to take the Archbishop's place)
- Three members of the General Synod's House of Clergy
- Three members of the General Synod's House of Laity
- Six members of the Vacancy-in-See Committee
- An appointee of the Prime Minister (if the vacancy is in the see of Canterbury)
- An appointee of the Church of England Appointments Committee (if the vacancy is in the see of York)
The Commission then forwards two names to the Prime Minister, who chooses one of them. It is also possible for the Prime Minister to request additional names from the Commission. If the chosen individual accepts the office, the Prime Minister advises the Sovereign, who then formally nominates the Prime Minister's choice. Thereafter, the Diocese's College of Canons meets to elect the new Bishop.
Following the election, the new bishop must be confirmed. A provincial ceremony is held where the bishop-elect takes an oath. During the ceremony, one of the Archbishops confers the spiritualities of the see on the bishop-elect, who then takes office. At a later point, the Queen confers the temporalities of the see, which formerly included vast Church estates and the Bishop's residence, but are now more limited. If the Bishop has never previously been a bishop, he must be consecrated. (Seniority of consecration in the Bishops' Orders, not seniority of appointment, determines who may serve in the House of Lords. Even if a Bishop is translated to another see, he does not lose seniority.) Finally, the Bishop is enthroned in a symbolic ceremony.
See also
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