Anglican Communion and ecumenism
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Although they are not considered members, some non-Anglican bodies have entered into communion with the Communion as a whole or with its constituent member churches, despite having non-Anglican origins and traditions, such as the
Diplomatic ecumenism: quest for Christian unity
World Council of Churches
Ecumenical dialogue has been particularly fruitful in three realms. The first is the World Council of Churches and its predecessors, in which Anglicans have been involved from the first. Anglican representatives were particularly involved in the development of the seminal Faith and Order paper, Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, which sought to develop common ground concerning these issues, and have been at the centre of the process of developing recent work on the "Nature and Mission of the Church".
Roman Catholic Church
The second concerns dialogue with the
Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches
Another fruitful realm of dialogue has been with various
Historically, the
In the late 20th century, the
In addition, full communion agreements have been reached between various
Other Protestant denominations
Consultations with other
Those that did not join with the union agreements in South Asia retained the name Anglican Church of India, or adopted a similar name containing "Anglican". The total membership of these churches has been estimated at 800,000. Most have recently entered into communion with churches of the
Outside of Asia, direct consultations with other Protestant churches apart from Lutherans have, for the most part, been less fruitful. Movements toward full communion between the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada were derailed because of the issue of episcopacy and the mutual recognition of ordained ministry (specifically, apostolic succession). The same issue blocked the first attempt at a covenant between the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain, but such a covenant was eventually signed in 2003.[5] This issue also has held back the Churches Uniting in Christ initiative in the United States.
The issue of apostolic succession, as well as the willingness of some North American dioceses to offer partnership blessings and priestly ordination to people in same-sex sexual relationships, have hindered dialogue between Anglicans and evangelical Protestant denominations.
Orthodox churches
Dialogue has also been fruitful with the Orthodox churches.
In 1922 the Patriarch of Constantinople recognised Anglican orders as valid. He wrote: "That the orthodox theologians who have scientifically examined the question have almost unanimously come to the same conclusions and have declared themselves as accepting the validity of Anglican Orders."[6]
Historically, some Eastern Orthodox bishops have assisted in the ordination of Anglican bishops; for example, in 1870, Alexander Lycurgus, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Syra and Tinos, was one of the bishops who consecrated Henry MacKenzie as the Suffragan Bishop of Nottingham.[7][self-published source]
In 1910, Raphael of Brooklyn, an Eastern Orthodox bishop, "sanctioned an interchange of ministrations with the Episcopalians in places where members of one or the other communion are without clergy of their own."[8] Raphael stated that in places "where there is no resident Orthodox Priest", an Anglican priest could administer Marriage, Holy Baptism, and the Blessed Sacrament to an Orthodox layperson.[9] In 1912, however, Bishop Raphael ended the intercommunion after becoming uncomfortable with the fact that the Anglican Communion contained different churchmanships within Her, e.g. High Church, Evangelical, etc.[8]
The current International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue was established in 1999, building on the work of earlier commissions, which had published their work in the Dublin Statement, and the Anglican Oriental Orthodox International Commission was established in 2001. Thus far, most common ground has been established only concerning matters of the historic creeds.
In a move parallel to the parishes of the
Regarding mutual recognition of ministry, the Eastern Orthodox Churches are reluctant to even consider the question of the validity of holy orders in isolation from the rest of the Christian faith, so in practice they treat Anglican ordinations as invalid. Thus the favourable judgement expressed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1922 and communicated by him to other Eastern Patriarchs (some of whom, including the Russian Patriarch, signed a contrary declaration in 1948) is in practice without effect. The Eastern Orthodox Church classifies Anglican clergymen who join it as laypeople, and, if they are to function as clergy, administers ordination to them.[10]
Anglican churches outside the communion
A number of jurisdictions identify themselves as "Anglican" but are not in communion with Canterbury. They therefore are outside the Anglican Communion. Several, such as the
Later, during the 1960s and 1970s, disagreements with certain provincial bodies — chiefly in
There are also independent jurisdictions unrelated to the preceding schisms. The
Given the range of concerns and the grounds for schism, there is as much diversity in the theological and liturgical orientations of the free churches, the Continuing Anglican churches, and the independent Anglican bodies as there is among churches of the Anglican Communion. Some are Evangelical, others charismatic and Evangelical, and yet others are
Practical ecumenism: joint worship
Ecumenical joint worship from an Episcopalian–Anglican perspective in North American takes one of the following forms:
- An Anglican church rents space to another church.
- An Anglican church is part of an ecumenical centre. One type of centre is much like a shopping plaza where the various churches share one physical building but maintain separate spaces and, possibly, separate entrances. The other type of ecumenical centre consists of a common hall or space that various churches or faiths occupy on a schedule. For example, the first ecumenical church to be built in Canada in 1968 in Whistler, British Columbia.[11]
- An Anglican church shares a church building and worship space with another church on a fortnightly rotation. One Sunday, the service is Anglican. Next Sunday, the service is of the other church. The congregation can be almost identical on each Sunday so that it is the leaders and style that change. This usually occurs in small and remote communities but there are city examples. For example, St Mark's Anglican Church/Trinity United Church in Vancouver.[12]
- An Anglican church is home to a minister or priest of a different church who leads the occasional service. For example, there is a Lutheran street priest based out of the Anglican cathedral in Vancouver.[13]
- An Anglican and another church hold joint services every Sunday, led by a leader from both churches to a mixed congregation. However, the Roman Catholic Church still insists that the Catholic Mass is celebrated separately and there is no eucharistic sharing.
There is a diversity of models for joint worship.
See also
References
- ^ Weintraub, p. 21
- ^ "Members".
- ^ Anglican Church of Canada news release Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Episcopal Life Archives Archived August 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "An Anglican-Methodist Covenant". Anglican-methodist.org.uk. 2003-11-01. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- ^ "The Ecumenical Patriarch on Anglican Orders". Archived from the original on 2002-01-25. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
- ^ Redmile 2006, p. 239.
- ^ a b Smith 1912, p. 149.
- ^ Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Hampshire 1910, p. 411.
- ^ The Orthodox Web Site for information about the faith, life and worship of the Orthodox Church Archived November 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Whistler Village Church". Archived from the original on 2007-08-09. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
- ^ "St Mark's Anglican Church/Trinity United Church". Ship-of-fools.com. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
- ^ "A Profile of Brian Heinrich, Street Priest and new addition to Cathedral Staff" (PDF). Cathedral.vancouver.bc.ca. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
Bibliography
- Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Hampshire (1910). Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Ninth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Hampshire. Concord, New Hampshire: The Rumford Press.
- ]
- Smith, Sydney Fenn (1912). "Union of Christendom". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 132–154.
Further reading
- Baum, Henry Mason, ed. (1890). Church Reunion: Discussed on the Basis of the Lambeth Propositions of 1888. New York: Church Review Co. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- Bell, George K. A. (1948). Christian Unity: the Anglican Position: Olaus Petri Lectures at Upsala University, October 1946. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
- Borkowski, James D. (2007). Middle East Ecumenism from an Anglican Perspective. South Bend, Indiana: Cloverdale Books. ISBN 978-1-929569-27-4.
- Driver, Christopher (1962). A Future for the Free Churches?. London: SCM Press. N.B.: Discusses prospects for reunion of the dissenting denominations (free churches) in England with the Church of England.
- Fairweather, E. R.; Hettlinger, R. F. (1953) [1952]. Episcopacy and Reunion. London: A.R. Mowbray & Co.
- Huntington, William Reed (1870). The Church-Idea: An Essay towards Unity. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- Österlin, Lars (1995). Churches of Northern Europe in Profile: A Thousand Years of Anglo-Nordic Relations. Norwich, England: Canterbury Press. ISBN 978-1-85311-128-0.