Why is there a magnificent cult in the English church. Topic: Hierarchy of the Church of England

Originating in the 16th century; state church in Great Britain. The cult and organizational principles of the Church of England are closer to the Catholic Church than those of other Protestant churches. The dogma of the Church of England combines the provisions of Protestantism on salvation by personal faith and Catholicism on the saving power of the church. The ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Church of England is headed by the British monarch.

The Anglican Church arose as a result of the break of the English king Henry VIII with the papacy, the secularization of monasteries, as a state national church, headed by the king according to the “Act of Supremacy” (1534). Its doctrine and organizational forms remained Catholic at its core. The external impetus for the reform was the quarrel between Henry VIII and the Pope, caused by the latter’s refusal to recognize the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon as legal. Under Edward VI (1547-1553), T. Cranmer compiled the “Book of Public Worship” (Common Prayer Book, 1549), which combined Protestant and Catholic elements in dogma and cult. Under Elizabeth Tudor, in the Thirty-Nine Articles (1571), the doctrine was brought closer to Calvinism.
The basis of Elizabeth's church policy was the desire to strengthen government guardianship over the church: a Supreme Commission, the highest court in church affairs, was created to monitor the performance of rituals. But in parallel with the state church in England, secret sectarian groups (Puritanism) began to form, demanding self-government of church communities. In the fight against the Puritans under James I Stuart (1603-1625), the Anglican Church became closer to Catholicism. In the years English Revolution(1641-1660) the Anglican Church served as a support for absolutism and was abolished. Presbyterianism (moderate Puritanism) became the official religion.
After the Stuart Restoration (1660), the Anglican Church was restored. The reigns of Kings Charles II (1660-1685) and James II (1685-1688) were marked by the struggle against Puritanism: according to the royal decree of 1673. (Test Act) Puritans were allowed to hold public office only if they accepted the dogmas of the Church of England. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought the Protestant William III of Orange to the royal throne. The Act of Toleration, issued in 1689, although it proclaimed the Anglican Church dominant, significantly eased the position of Catholics and Puritans.
The Anglican Church is built on a hierarchical principle. The British monarch, as its head, appoints bishops. The highest clergy consists of two archbishops: Canterbury (Primate of the Church of England and first peer of the kingdom) and York. Accordingly, the territory of England is divided into two archbishoprics, which in turn are divided into bishoprics. A significant proportion of bishops are members of the House of Lords. Principal ecclesiastical statutes are subject to approval by the British Parliament. The costs of maintaining the Anglican Church are largely borne by the state. Traditionally, three directions have developed in the Anglican Church: the High Church, close to Catholicism; low church (Law Church), close to puritanism and pietism; Broad Church, which seeks to unite various Christian denominations and is the dominant movement in the Anglican Church.
In addition to the Anglican Church proper in England (The Church of England), there are independent Anglican churches in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the USA, Canada, and Australia. Formally, they are independent of each other, but The Church of England is considered the mother church for the rest of the Anglican churches. Since 1867, once a decade, Anglican bishops have gathered in London for the Lambeth Conference (named after Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury). The total number of followers of the Anglican Church in England is estimated at 25 million people. An important role in church life is played by the parish meeting of the laity, chaired by a priest, which elects officials the parish, and sometimes even the priest himself.

Anglicanism- one of the directions of Christianity that appeared during the English Reformation. Anglican churches either have a special historical connection with the Church of England, or are united with it by common theology, worship and ecclesiastical structure. The term “Anglicanism” goes back to the Latin phrase “ecclesia anglicana”, the first mention of which dates back to 1246 and literally means “English Church”. Followers of Anglicanism are called Anglicans and also Episcopalians. The vast majority of Anglicans belong to churches that are members of the Anglican Communion, which is international in nature.

The Anglican faith is based on the Scriptures, the traditions of the Apostolic Church and the teachings of the early Church Fathers. Anglicanism, a branch of Western Christianity, finally separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the Elizabethan religious reconciliation.

For some scholars it represents a form of Protestantism, but without a dominant leading figure such as Martin Luther, John Knox, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli or John Wesley. Some consider it an independent movement in Christianity. Within Anglicanism there are several schools of thought: evangelicalism, liberal Christians and Anglo-Catholicism.

Early Anglican dogmatics correlated with contemporary reformation Protestant dogmatics, but by the end of the 16th century, the preservation of many traditional liturgical forms and episcopacy in Anglicanism began to be considered absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of those who stood on more radical Protestant positions. Already in the first half of the 17th century, the Church of England and the associated Episcopal Churches in Ireland and the North American Colonies began to be considered by some Anglican theologians and theologians as a special, independent direction of Christianity, which was of a compromise nature - the “middle way” (lat. via media), between Protestantism and Catholicism. This view became particularly influential in all subsequent theories of Anglican identity. After the American Revolution, Anglican congregations in the United States and Canada were transformed into independent Churches with their own bishops and church structures, which became the prototypes for many newly created churches in Africa, Australia and the Pacific region as the British Empire expanded and increased missionary activity. In the 19th century, the term "Anglicanism" was coined to describe the common religious traditions of all these churches, as well as the Scottish Episcopal Church, which, although formed from the Church of Scotland, came to be seen as a church sharing the same identity.

The extent to which the Protestant and Roman Catholic tendencies differ within Anglicanism remains a matter of debate, both within individual Anglican churches and within the Anglican Communion as a whole. Distinctive feature Anglicanism is The Book of Common Prayer, which is a collection of prayers that have been the basis of worship for centuries (common prayer - liturgy). Although the Book of Public Worship has been revised several times, and some Anglican churches have created different books of worship, it is one of the core elements that holds the Anglican Communion together. There is no single “Church of England” that would have absolute jurisdiction over all Anglican churches, since each of them is autocephalous, that is, enjoys complete autonomy.

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Terminology

The word "Anglicanism" is a neologism that appeared in the 19th century. It is based on more old word"Anglican" This word describes the Christian Churches throughout the world that are in canonical unity with the See of Canterbury, their teachings and practices. Subsequently, this term began to be applied to those Churches that proclaimed the uniqueness of their religious and theological tradition, its difference from both Eastern Orthodoxy, and from Catholicism or other areas of Protestantism, regardless of their subordination to the British Crown.

The word "Anglican" comes from the Latin term "ecclesia anglicana", which dates back to 1246 and literally means "Church of England" in medieval Latin. Used as an adjective, the word "Anglican" is used to describe the people, institutions and Churches, as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the Church of England. As a noun, "Anglican" is a member of the Church within the Anglican Communion. The term is also used by schismatics who have left or emerged from the Communion, although the Anglican Communion itself considers such usage to be incorrect. However, most breakaways retain Anglican teaching in a more conservative form than some members of the Communion.

And although the first mentions of the term “Anglican” in relation to the Church of England date back to the 16th century, it only became widely used in the second half of the 19th century. In the legislative documents of the British Parliament concerning the English Established Church, it is described as the Protestant Episcopal Church, thereby distinct from the Protestant Presbyterian Church, which has state status in Scotland. . High Church followers who opposed the use of the term Protestant supported the use of the term Reformed Episcopal Church. Therefore, the word “Episcopal” is more commonly used in the name of the Episcopal Church of the USA (province of the Anglican Communion) and the Scottish Episcopal Church. Outside the British Isles, however, the term "Church of England" is preferred as it allows these Churches to be clearly distinguished from all other Churches which consider themselves to be episcopal, that is, whose form of government is an episcopal structure. At the same time, the Church of Ireland and the Church of Wales continue to use this term, but with restrictions.

Definition of Anglicanism

Anglicanism, its structures, theology and forms of worship, is usually classified as Protestantism, but officially the church calls itself Catholic. Some believe that Anglicanism belongs to a separate direction in Christianity, representing a via media (“middle way”) between Catholicism and Protestantism. The Anglican faith is based on the Holy Scriptures, the traditions of the Apostolic Church, the historical episcopate, the first four Ecumenical Councils and the teachings of the early Fathers of the Church. Anglicans believe that the Old and New Testaments “contain everything necessary for salvation” and that they represent the law and the highest standard of faith. Anglicans regard the Apostles' Creed as the symbol of baptism, and the Nicene Creed as a sufficient expression of the Christian Faith.

Anglicans believe that the Catholic and Apostolic faith is revealed in Holy Scripture and the Catholic Creeds and interprets it in the light of Christian tradition historical Church, science, reason and experience.

Anglicanism recognizes the traditional sacraments, but places special emphasis on the Holy Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper or Mass. Communion is central to Anglican worship, being a communal offering of prayer and praise in which the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are proclaimed through prayer, Bible reading, singing and the taking of Bread and Wine, as established at the Last Supper. While many Anglicans place as much importance on the Eucharist as the Western Catholic tradition, there is considerable freedom in liturgical practice, and the style of worship varies from the simple to the elaborate.

Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Public Worship, a collection of liturgies used by the faithful in most Anglican Churches for centuries. It received its name - the Book of Public Worship - due to the fact that it was originally conceived as a common liturgical book for all churches of the Church of England, which previously used local, and therefore different, liturgical forms. As the influence of the Church of England spread to other countries, the term was retained, as most Anglicans continued to use the Book of Public Worship throughout the world. In 1549, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer completed the first edition of the Book of Public Worship. Although the Book of Public Worship has been revised several times, and some Anglican Churches have created different books of worship, it is one of the core elements that holds the Anglican Communion together.

Story

The Reformation in England, unlike other countries, was carried out “from above”, at the behest of the monarch Henry VIII, who thus tried to break with the pope and the Vatican, as well as strengthen his absolute power. A turning point was the declaration by Parliament in 1534 of the independence of the English Church from the Roman Curia. Under Elizabeth I, the final edition of the Anglican Creed (the so-called “39 articles”) was compiled. The “39 Articles” also recognized Protestant dogmas about justification by faith, about Holy Scripture as the only source of faith, and the Catholic dogma about the only saving power of the church (with some reservations). The church became national and became an important support of absolutism, it was headed by the king, and the clergy was subordinate to him as part of the state apparatus of the absolutist monarchy. The service was held on English language. The teaching of the Catholic Church on indulgences, on the veneration of icons and relics was rejected, and the number of holidays was reduced. At the same time, the sacraments of baptism and communion were recognized, the church hierarchy was preserved, as well as the liturgy and magnificent cult characteristic of the Catholic Church. Tithes were still collected, which began to go to the king and the new owners of the monastery lands.

At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century, two directions took shape in Anglicanism: the “High Church,” which insisted on the importance of church vestments, traditions of church architecture and medieval music during services, and the “Low Church,” an evangelical movement that sought to minimize the role of the clergy and sacraments and the ritual part of the service. At the beginning of the 18th century, evangelical supporters of the preacher John Wesley broke with Anglicanism, founding the Methodist Church, but many followers of evangelical views remained within the mother church.

Creed

Basic principles

For High Church Anglicans, creed was not established from the teaching role of the church, not derived from the theology of the founder (like Lutheranism or Calvinism), and not summarized in some confession of faith (beyond the Creeds). For them, the earliest Anglican theological documents are the prayer books, which are seen as the results of deep theological reflection, compromise and synthesis. They give special meaning The Book of Common Prayer as the fundamental expression of Anglican doctrine. The principle that prayer books are considered as a guide to the fundamentals of faith and religious practice is called the Latin expression “lex orandi, lex credendi” (“the law of prayer is the law of faith”). The prayer books contain the basics of Anglican doctrine: Apostolic,. According to the Canons adopted in 1604, all clergy of the Church of England must accept 39 articles as the basis of their faith.

Book of Public Worship and 39 Articles of the Anglican Confession

The role that the Book of Public Worship and the 39 Articles of the Anglican Confession play as the doctrinal sources of the Church of England is established in Canon A5 and Canon C15. Canon A5 - “Of the Doctrine of the Church of England” states:

“The doctrine of the Church of England is based on the Holy Scriptures and on the teaching of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church, which corresponds to the Holy Scriptures.

This doctrine is found in the 39 Articles of the Anglican Confession (The Thiry-Nine Articles of Religion), the Book of Public Worship and the Ordinal."

Canon C15 (“Of the Declaration of Assent”) contains a declaration made by clergy and certain blessed lay ministers of the Church of England when they begin their ministry or accept a new appointment.

This Canon begins with the following Preface:

"The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church serving the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. She professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and established in the Catholic Creeds. The Church is called to proclaim this faith new in each generation (to proclaim afresh in each generation). Guided by the Holy Spirit, it bears witness to Christian truth through its historical documents, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. By this declaration which You are about to make, do You affirm Your commitment to this inheritance of faith as Your inspiration and guidance under God to bring the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and make Him famous topics, who is entrusted to You?

In response to this Preface, the person delivering the Declaration responds:

“I, A.B.,do so affirm, and accordingly declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the Catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness; and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, I will use only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by Canon."

Anglican theologians also take an authoritative position on doctrine. Historically, the most influential of these - besides Cranmer - was the cleric and theologian Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600), who after 1660 was portrayed as the founding father of Anglicanism.

Finally, the spread of Anglicanism among non-English peoples, the growing diversity of prayer books, and interest in ecumenical dialogue led to further reflection on the characteristics of Anglican identity. Many Anglicans view the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 as the “sine qua non” of the identity of the Anglican Communion.

ANGLICAN CHURCH (English Anglican Church, Latin Ecclesia Anglicana), the common name of the national Church of England (The Church of England), the official Protestant Church of Great Britain; in a general sense - all churches historically associated with the Church of England, sharing the Anglican faith (doctrine of the Church of England), allowing Eucharistic communion and recognizing the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Creed. The doctrine of the Church of England is a combination of provisions inherent in both Catholic and Protestant (Lutheran and Calvinist) faiths. Most important sources, setting out the main provisions of the Anglican faith, are the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles.

The main source of doctrine in the Church of England is the Holy Scripture (Article 6 AR). As such, the doctrine of Sacred Tradition is not contained in the Thirty-Nine Articles, but Article 34 AR speaks of the “traditions of the Church,” which means various liturgical customs, the main criterion for the correctness of which is “consistency with the Word of God.” A fundamental provision of the Anglican faith is the need to preach and celebrate the sacraments in the national language (Article 24 AR).

In accordance with Catholic tradition, the Anglican Church recognizes the procession of the Holy Spirit and “from the Son” (Filioque) (Article 5 AR). In general, the Anglican Church has no deviations from Catholic and Orthodox teachings in Christology. Jesus Christ is true God and true Man, suffered, crucified, died for the atonement of “all the actual sins of men” (v. 2 AR), descended into Hell and rose again. Anglican doctrine does not contain the concept of the church as the Body of Christ. The Church of England accepts only "the two sacraments instituted by Christ our Lord in the Gospel, namely, Baptism and the Lord's Supper" (i.e. the Eucharist) (Art. 25 AR). The remaining sacraments are said to have no confirmation or type in the Gospel. Formulated during the Reformation, Anglican doctrine in principle rejected the veneration of relics, icons and statues of saints as not being confirmed in Holy Scripture; The doctrine of the merits of saints who replenish the “treasury of grace” kept by the church was also denied. However, in the 19th century, under the influence of the Oxford movement, whose activities led to a rapprochement with Catholicism and the emergence of Anglo-Catholicism, the practice of the “High Church” began to allow the presence of icons of some saints in churches.

Story. The English Reformation was based on the national tradition of criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, set out at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries in the theological treatises and sermons of J. Wycliffe, in the works of J. Fisher, J. Colet and others. For the first time, the ideas of the Lutheran Reformation began to penetrate into England at the beginning 16th century. From 1529 to 1536, the Reformation Parliament, convened on the initiative of King Henry VIII, adopted a number of laws that limited the jurisdiction, financial rights and influence of the Pope in England: the acts “On the Limitation of Annatov” (1532), “On the Restriction of Appeals to Rome” (1533), “On the Subordination of the Clergy” (1534), “On Church Appointments” (1534), “On the Abolition of Papal Jurisdiction over the English Clergy” (1536). The Act of Supremacy adopted by the Reformation Parliament (1534) proclaimed the king the supreme head of the church and for the first time legalized a national Anglican Church independent from Rome, governed by a primate - the Archbishop of Canterbury. The land holdings of the church passed to the king as a result of the secularization of the church property carried out by him in 1535-39. As a result of the “royal reformation”, the Anglican Church became one of the institutions of the state. The right to approve its doctrine, rituals and internal structure was legally assigned to the king and the English Parliament. In 1536, the Reformation Committee, chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, the main ideologist of the English Reformation in the 1st half of the 16th century, formulated the main principles of the Anglican confession “Ten Articles”. At the end of the 1530s there appeared English translations Bible [in 1539 the 1st edition of the so-called Great Bible (Create Bible) was published]. The accession of King Edward VI (1547-53) marked the beginning of a new, more radical stage of the Reformation. Restrictions on reading the Bible for the laity (introduced in 1543) were lifted, and a commission was created to develop the Anglican Creed. The most important step in the English Reformation was the publication of the Book of Common Prayer (1549), as well as the “Acts of Uniformity,” which unified the liturgical practice of Anglicanism. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor (1558-1603), a new “Act of Supremacy” and the “Thirty-Nine Articles” were adopted, and at the same time the compromise nature of the dogma of the Anglican Church was finally determined - the middle path (via media) between Catholicism and Protestantism was chosen. However, this did not satisfy both English Catholics and Puritans - supporters of radical church reform. The Puritans at this time moved to criticize the official Church of England, its main objects being episcopacy, church hierarchy and the pomp of worship. In the Puritan movement, moderate Presbyterian (see Presbyterians) and radical Independent (see Independents) movements emerged. Under the first Stuarts, criticism of the episcopal structure of the Church of England from the Puritans intensified.

A new phenomenon in the Anglican Church in the 17th century was the spread of Arminianism. King Charles I appointed W. Laud, a prominent Arminian theorist who began to revive the traditions of Catholic worship, as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. These reforms were not accepted by both moderate Anglicans and Puritans. In 1640, Laud was impeached by the so-called Long Parliament. In 1642, Parliament adopted the “Bill of Exclusion of Bishops,” which prohibited not only bishops, but also any clergy from holding secular government positions. In 1643, the system of diocesan government in England and Wales was abolished and the property of all chapters, archbishops, bishops, deans and clergy who supported the king in his war with Parliament was sequestered. In June 1643, Parliament convened the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which was dominated by Presbyterians; The result of her work was the drafting of the Westminster Confession. In 1646, the process of destruction of the episcopal structure of the Anglican Church was completed by the decision (ordinance) on the destruction of archbishoprics and bishoprics.

During the period of the Republic and the protectorate of O. Cromwell, the Presbyterian Church was formed, but it was unable to displace the official Anglican Church throughout the country. During the restoration of the monarchy, King Charles II (1660-85) restored the Anglican Church to its former episcopal structure.

At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, the concepts of “High” and “Low” churches came into use. The term "High Church" is applied to the community of those members of the Church of England who tend to emphasize its commonality with the Catholic rather than with the Protestant tradition. At the beginning of the 18th century, the term “Low Church” arose - a movement in Anglicanism, ideologically close to radical Protestantism. Since the middle of the 19th century, evangelicals began to be included in this movement (see Evangelical churches). A notable phenomenon in the life of the Anglican Church was the emergence of Methodism in the 18th century. Its emergence was a reaction of broad layers of society to the spread of skepticism and atheism. In 1795, the Methodists, having created their own, well-organized church structure, separated from the Church of England.

The desire to strengthen the position of the Anglican Church, which, on the one hand, was threatened by the “offensive of the Catholics,” and on the other, by intellectual liberalism, gave rise to the Oxford Movement. One of the problems that arose before the Anglican Church in the 19th century was the need to determine its attitude to the latest achievements of natural sciences. The result of discussions and recognition of the need for new interpretations in assessing the picture of the world was the formation of liberal theology in England. In 1860, supporters of strengthening the rationalist principle in theology (B. Jowett, F. Temple, M. Pattison) presented their views in the collection “Essays and Reviews” (1860), which provoked criticism from representatives of all movements in the Anglican Church. churches. The definition of “Broad Church” began to be applied to liberal theologians who sought to interpret Anglican doctrine taking into account historical and cultural studies, psychology, and comparative linguistics and thus smooth out the contradictions of the “high” and “low” directions. Later it was extended to the ideological heirs of liberal theology - the modernists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The crisis in the constitutional relations between the secular state and the church at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was caused by the fact that the church practically did not have the opportunity to accept independent decisions on issues of doctrine, internal structure and liturgical practice. Attempts to change the situation led to the creation in 1919 of the National Assembly of the Church of England (The Church of England National Assembly), which received the power to prepare legislative proposals on matters of church life, but they still had to be approved by Parliament and the monarch. Activation of parish life, participation of laity in educational and charitable activities churches led to the emergence of a system of representation from the laity in the bodies church administration all levels. In 1921, a reform of church self-government was carried out: councils with the participation of the laity were created in parishes. In 1947-67, the National Assembly received the functions of the supreme court of appeal on issues of church doctrine, worship and church discipline, which previously belonged to the secular body - the Legal Committee of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to the Synodical Government Measure Act, 1965, approved by Parliament, the National Assembly in 1969 was transformed into the General Synod of the Church of England, which received the right of legislative initiative in church matters.

Church administrative structure. The Church of England has approximately 26 million members (2003). Its head is the ruling monarch, who has the exclusive right to appoint archbishops, bishops and rectors of cathedrals (this right is enshrined in the “Act of Appointment of Bishops”, 1533). In agreement with the Prime Minister, the ruling monarch appoints archbishops (2 people), bishops (108 people), and rectors of cathedrals (42 people). Geographically, the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church includes: England, Isle of Man; islands located within the English Channel; Isles of Scilly, part of Wales, a diocese including congregations in all European countries, as well as Morocco, Turkey and some territories of the former USSR. The Church of England is divided into 2 provinces: the southern is headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the northern by the Archbishop of York. The northern province includes 14 dioceses, the southern province has 40 dioceses. Dioceses consist of 13 thousand parishes in England and 260 European congregations.

Anglican bishops are the Lords Spiritual of the realm, with both archbishops and 24 bishops serving in the Upper House of Parliament. The influence of the state on the affairs of the church is expressed in the fact that the selection of candidates for vacant episcopal sees is carried out by the prime minister, regardless of whether he belongs to the Church of England, and his special secretary. With regard to the ordination of priests in England, the medieval tradition- in many cases, the priest is nominated by patrons, which may include the monarch (who controls several hundred parishes in this capacity), government ministers, authoritative representatives of the local aristocracy, as well as corporations - universities and cathedrals. The Anglican Church allows clergy to marry both before and after their ordination.

Since the late 20th century, the Church of England has also allowed female priesthood. Since 1977, women have been ordained deacons, and since 1990, women have been ordained elders. This decision caused controversy in the Church of England and the Anglican Commonwealth, and therefore the resolutions of the 13th Lambeth Conference (1998) made it clear that both those who approve of the ordination of women and those who do not accept it are true Anglicans.

In 1704, the revival of church property began with the so-called “Gift of Queen Anne” (1702-14), which granted the church a subsidy “for the maintenance of the poor clergy.” Since 1809, the Anglican Church began to receive permanent government subsidies, the expenditure of which was controlled by Parliament. Since 1936, church tithes have been abolished, and therefore the English Parliament paid the church a one-time compensation of 70 million pounds sterling. The bulk of the income of the Church of England comes from donations. In 1998, the Anglican Church owned 42 cathedrals and 16 thousand churches, of which 13 thousand are considered architectural and historical monuments. The church runs about 5 thousand schools.

Anglican Commonwealth(English Anglican Communion) unites churches professing the Anglican faith, adhering to the practice of worship determined by the Book of Common Prayer, allowing Eucharistic communion and recognizing, to varying degrees, a historical connection with the Diocese of Canterbury, as well as the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In the 2nd half of the 17th and 18th centuries, the influence of the Church of England extended beyond the British Isles. Dioceses of the Anglican Church were formed in the North American colonies of Great Britain and Canada, later in their place arose the independent Protestant Episcopal Church of America and the Anglican Church of Canada. As the British Empire expanded in the 19th century, new dioceses were established in Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand; Thanks to missionary activity, dioceses also appear in territories not included in the empire - in Japan, China, Egypt, Iran, on the islands of Polynesia, on the island of Madagascar, in Southern Europe, in Jerusalem, Gibraltar (territories with a special status), etc. The increase in the number of overseas dioceses and the increased status of church hierarchs in the colonies led to the creation in 1841 of the Colonial Bishoprics' Council. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, overseas provinces and dioceses gained increasing independence from both the British Empire and the See of Canterbury. This process became irreversible after the end of World War 2 and Britain's final abandonment of its colonial possessions in the 1960s.

The emergence of the Anglican Commonwealth dates back to 1867, when disagreements between supporters of the “high” and evangelical movements in the Anglican Church of Canada confronted the bishops of the colonial churches with the need to discuss a number of general theoretical and legal issues. To this end, in 1867, the 1st Lambeth Conference was convened at the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury - Lambeth Palace. Since then, the Lambeth Conferences of Anglican Bishops have been chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury every 10 years (except for the period 1930-48, when regular meetings were prevented by war). Conferences are an informal meeting of the hierarchy of the Anglican Churches, the resolutions of which are not considered legislative acts and are not binding on members of the Anglican Commonwealth. However, the resolutions of the Lambeth Conferences enjoy great authority. Resolutions and reports from the Lambeth Conferences are regularly published (“Lambeth Conference. Resolutions and Reports”). The official publication of the Anglican Commonwealth is also the Anglican World magazine.

Members of the Anglican Commonwealth include both individual dioceses and provinces, autonomous national churches, regional associations of churches and international church organizations. The honorary head is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, however, has no special powers outside the Church of England, the Diocese of Canterbury and a number of dioceses directly subordinate to him, scattered throughout the world.

Lit.: A collection of articles of the Church of England. L., 1661; The book of common prayer. L., 1662; Collectio Documentorum Historiae Reformationis Ecclesiae Anglicanae. L., 1680; Beveridge W. The Doctrine of the Church of England. Oxf., 1840; A history of the articles of religion. L., 1851; Mikhailovsky V. M. The Anglican Church in its relation to Orthodoxy. St. Petersburg, 1864; Phillimore R. The Ecclesiastical law of the Church of England: In 2 vol. L., 1873-1876; Sokolov V. A. Hierarchy of the Anglican Episcopal Church. M., 1906; Ollard S. L. A dictionary of English Church history. L., 1912; Major N. D. English modernisms, its origins, methods, aims. Oxf., 1927; Rupp E. The making of the English Protestant tradition. Camb., 1947; Great Britain. Laws and statutes. The public general acts and Church Assembly Measure. L., 1961 -; Herklots N. G. G. Frontiers of the Church: The making of the Anglican Communion. L., 1961; Martin J.A. The new dialogue between philosophy and theology. L., 1966; The canons of the Church of England. L., 1969; Fouyas M. Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism. L., 1972; Duffy E. The stripping of the altars: traditional religion in England, 1400-1580. L., 1992; Haigh S. English reformations: religion, politics and society under the Tudors. Oxf., 1993; Lambeth Conference, 1998; Resolutions and Reports. L., 1998.

O. V. Dmitrieva, A. V. Tretyakov, V. V. Chernov.

Anglicanism(from the Latin phrase "ecclesia anglicana", which translates as " English church") - one of the directions Christian Protestantism, which arose in England in the 16th century and subsequently became widespread in British colonies.

Anglicanism as religious movement takes intermediate position between Protestantism and Catholicism, combining the features of both. The reason for this is historical conditions the emergence of Anglicanism - this religion, like other Protestant movements, was the result fight against the Roman Catholic Church, But in contrast from Lutheranism, Calvinism and other European movements, it arose not “from below”, but implanted “from above” by the will of the monarchy. Anglicanism owes its origins to one of the most famous English kings - Henry VIII. By creating his own church in England, he set a goal gain independence from the Roman Curia. Formal occasion was the refusal of Pope Clement VII to recognize Henry’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon as illegal and, accordingly, to annul it so that was able to get married on Anne Boleyn. As a result of the confrontation in 1534 English Parliament proclaimed independence of the English church. Later Anglicanism became pillar of absolutism. Led by the King clergy actually became part state apparatus. Currently head of the Anglican churches in England stands parliament.

It was formed under Queen Elizabeth I Anglican Creed, called "39 articles". It included provisions characteristic of both Protestantism so for Catholicism. For example, along with other movements of Protestantism, Anglicanism recognized the dogma of justification by faith and the dogma of Bible as the only source faith, and rejected Catholic teachings about indulgences, veneration of icons and relics, about purgatory, the institution of monasticism, the vow of celibacy of priests, etc. What Anglicanism and Catholicism have in common became a dogma about the only saving power of the church, as well as many elements of the cult, characterized special pomp. Exterior decoration Anglican churches are not very different from Catholic ones; they also pay great attention decor- stained glass windows, images of saints, etc.

Unlike other churches, Anglicanism, recognizing all traditional sacraments, does special emphasis on the Holy Eucharist(Holy Communion).

Anglican services take place on English language(there are exceptions in countries where English is not the national language). The basis of worship was enshrined in "Book of Prayers", compiled in 1549.

Interestingly, in the 19th century Russian Orthodox Church and Anglicanism tied up enough close relationship. Until now, Anglicanism is perceived by Orthodoxy more favorably than Catholicism and Protestantism.

Organizational structure Anglicanism identical to Catholic- churches have Episcopalian device. The priesthood includes a number of degrees - deacons, priests and bishops. Much attention is paid to the issue apostolic succession of the priesthood.

Currently there are about 70 million Anglican adherents represented in the Anglican Commonwealth, which includes more than 30 churches And various associations in England (43.5% of the population profess Anglicanism), Wales, Scotland, India, South Africa, USA, Canada, etc. (in total there are more than 450 dioceses in 160 countries). Moreover, all these religious entities are independent and have quite significant differences. In this regard, it is customary to distinguish in Anglicanism High and Low Church. The first one is more close to Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and the second - to Protestantism. The progressive nature of Anglicanism was manifested in a number of innovations, for example, the establishment women's episcopacy.

In addition, Anglicanism is divided into a number of directions, such as evangelicalism, liberal Christians and Anglo-Catholicism.

Anglicanism from its inception has been inseparable from British statehood and was subsequently developed within the framework of colonial expansion British Empire. Anglicanism now plays a large role in preserving common cultural and religious space for English-speaking countries and former colonies of the British Crown.

Several centuries before protest movements in Europe, reformist sentiments were already stirring the minds of the inhabitants of the British Isles. The doctrine of the Roman Church in the Middle Ages was not only the implementation of spiritual dictate over the population of Europe. The Vatican actively interfered in the secular life of sovereign states: cardinals and bishops took part in the political games of monarchical dynasties, and excessive taxes in favor of the papal treasury caused discontent among the nobility and ordinary people. To implement the interests of Rome, foreign clergy were appointed to parishes, far from sympathetic to the moral needs of local believers.

The development of the feudal economy required a revision of the relations between secular power and the Church. Along with socio-political and economic preconditions, doctrinal problems arose. The cries grew louder and louder that Catholic faith deviated from apostolic traditions. All this led to the formation of a new spiritual community in the British Isles in the 16th century - the Anglican Church.

Henry VIII - leader of the dissenters

Christian theologians have such a term. Revolutionary sentiments in the church environment mature very often and for various reasons: the general ignorance of the believing masses, political conflicts... Seditious thoughts are called temptation. But here is one who decides to cross the Rubicon and express common aspirations in real affairs. In Britain, King Henry VIII did this. It was under this monarch that the history of the Anglican Church began.

The reason was Henry's desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn. Church divorce is a sensitive matter. But the hierarchs always met the nobles halfway. Catherine was a relative of Charles V. In order not to spoil relations with the German emperor, Pope Clement VII refused the English monarch.

Henry decides to break ties with the Vatican. He rejected the canonical supremacy of Rome over the Church of England, and Parliament wholeheartedly supported its monarch. In 1532, the king appointed Thomas Cranmer as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Previously, bishops were sent from Rome. By agreement, Cranmer releases the king from the marriage. The following year, Parliament passed the “Act of Supremacy,” which proclaimed Henry and his successors on the throne as the supreme head of the Church in England. This is how the separation of the English parishes from the Vatican took place. In the second half of the 16th century - during the reign of Mary Tudor, a devout Catholic - the Catholic and Anglican Churches formally united for a short time.

Basic Doctrine of the Anglican Church

Priesthood and clergy are not identical concepts. One of the most important issues of all Christian denominations is the dogma of church hierarchy. According to the canons, the shepherd is elevated to holy orders not by human whim, but by the Holy Spirit through the special sacrament of ordination. For thousands of years, the continuity of each clergyman has been preserved, dating back to the Day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Many Protestant denominations have rejected the need for their pastors to be priests.

The Anglican Church, unlike other reform movements, has maintained the continuity of the hierarchy. When elevated to sacred degrees through episcopal ordination, a sacrament is performed with the prayerful invocation of the Holy Spirit. At the Church Council in 1563, at the insistence of Queen Elizabeth I, a symbolic book of the Anglican faith was approved, consisting of 39 articles. It eloquently shows what the characteristics of the Anglican Church are. The doctrinal doctrine of Anglicanism is a syncretism of Catholicism and the Protestant views of Lutheranism and Calvinism. Thirty-nine theses are formulated quite broadly and vaguely, allowing for many interpretations.

Britain zealously preserves its reformist beginnings. The Canons require clerics to publicly profess their fidelity to these Articles. The British monarch, taking the oath at the coronation, focuses his oath precisely on Protestant dogmas. The text of the sacred oath contains a denial of the belief that during the liturgy the transformation of bread and wine into the true Body and Blood of Christ occurs. Thus, the very essence of Christianity is not accepted: the Savior’s sacrifice in the name of all who believed in Him. Worship of the Virgin Mary and saints is also rejected.

Anglican dogma

Anti-Roman movements in Christian society in the British Isles did not lead to such radical consequences as on the mainland. The basic canonical norms bear the stamp of the political and economic aspirations of the nobility of the 16th century. The most important achievement is that the Anglican Church is not subject to the Vatican. Its head is not a clergyman, but a king. Anglicanism does not recognize the institution of monasticism and allows for the salvation of the soul through personal faith, without the help of the Church. At one time, this greatly helped support the treasury of King Henry VIII. Parishes and monasteries were stripped of their property and abolished.

Sacraments

Anglicans recognize only three Sacraments: Baptism, Communion and Penance. Although the Anglican Communion is called Reformed and Protestant, the liturgical tradition allows for the veneration of icons and the magnificent vestments of the clergy. In churches, organ music is used during services.

Language of worship

In all corners of the world, Catholic worship is performed in Latin, regardless of the native language of the parishioners. This is the main difference between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church, where the Bible is translated into English and services are conducted in the native language.

Three churches

There are three kinds of internal currents in Anglicanism. The so-called "low church" zealously observes the gains of the Reformation. “High” tends to restore some attributes of Catholicism: veneration of the Virgin Mary and saints, the use of sacred images. Adherents of this movement are called Anglo-Catholics. Both of these formations are united within one community of the “broad church”.

The Act of Supremacy turned the Church into a state structure

All religions of the world sooner or later face the need to delineate powers with secular power. Ancient Israel was a theocratic state. Byzantium realized the synergy of the Church and the power of the emperor. And in Britain, the society of believers has actually turned into one of the bodies of the state system. This is despite the fact that England is a secular state.

The British monarch has the right to appoint the primate of the Church and bishops. Candidates for ordination are presented for approval by the Prime Minister. The Archbishop of Canterbury has no administrative power outside England. Most of the episcopacy are members of the House of Lords. Legally, the head of the Anglican Church is the reigning monarch, regardless of gender.

The Act of Supremacy gives the king full jurisdiction over the Church, giving him the right to control revenues and appoint clerics to church positions. In addition, the monarch has the right to decide dogmatic issues, inspect dioceses (dioceses), eradicate heretical teachings and even make changes to the liturgical rite. True, there have been no such precedents in the entire history of Anglicanism.

If the need arises for canonical changes, then the council of clergy does not have the right to do this on its own. Such events must undergo approval by government agencies. Thus, in 1927 and 1928, the British Parliament did not accept the new canonical collection proposed by the Council of Clergy to replace the Book of Public Prayer, which had lost its relevance, published in 1662.

Structure of the Anglican Church

The Anglican faith spread throughout the world in parallel with British economic and political expansion. The total number of professing this faith, as of 2014, reaches 92 million people. Outside the British Isles, the community calls itself the Episcopal Church.

Today, Anglicanism is a community of local Churches that recognize their spiritual leader as the Archbishop of Canterbury. In this aspect there is some analogy with the Roman Church. Each of the national communities is independent and self-governing, just like in the Orthodox canonical tradition. The Anglicans have 38 Local Churches, or Provinces, which include more than 400 dioceses on all continents.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is not superior (canonically or mystically) to the other primates of the community, but he is first in bestowing honors among his own kind. Difference Catholic Church from the Anglican one in that the Pope is the supreme head of all Catholics, both spiritually and administratively. The existence of local national communities is not accepted by the Vatican.

To discuss issues of church life, the Anglican clergy periodically meets at conferences at Lambert Palace in London.

Women's episcopate

The peculiarities of the Anglican Church are not limited to its legal status and doctrinal dogmas. The feminist movement began in the 60s of the last century. As decades passed, the struggle to end oppression in the social environment led not only to a change in the position of women in society, but also to deformations of the concept of God. Protestantism contributed a lot to this. In the religious views of the reformers, the shepherd is, first of all, social service. Gender differences cannot be a hindrance to this.

For the first time, the sacrament of ordaining a woman as a presbyter was performed in one of the Anglican communities of China in 1944. In the early 70s of the 20th century, the Episcopal Church in the USA officially approved the ordination of the fairer sex. Gradually, these trends reached the metropolis. Changes in such views of society objectively demonstrate what the features of the Anglican Church are in our time. In 1988, at a conference of bishops in London, a resolution was adopted on the possibility of introducing a female priesthood in the Anglican Church. This initiative was approved by Parliament.

After this, the number of priests and bishops in skirts began to grow by leaps and bounds. In a number of communities in the New World, there are more than 20 percent of women pastors. The first lady hierarch was ordained in Canada. Then Australia picked up the baton. And now the last bastion of British conservatism has collapsed. On November 20, 2013, the Synod of the Anglican Church overwhelmingly legalized the ordination of women as bishops. At the same time, the opinion of ordinary parishioners, who spoke out categorically against these innovations, was not taken into account.

Woman priest - this is nonsense

Since the creation of the world, religious rites have always been performed by men. All doctrines profess the immutability of the fact that a woman, according to the Creator's plan, must submit to a man. It was to men, and even then not to all, but only to a select few, that the secrets of the universe were communicated and the curtain of the future was lifted. The religions of the world do not know examples of a woman being a mediator between God and people. This provision is especially important for the Christian revealed religion. The priest represents Christ during the service. In many denominations, except Catholic, this must be consistent with appearance shepherd The Savior was a man. The transcendental image of God is the masculine principle.

There have been many women in history who have accomplished significant feats to preach Christianity. After the execution of the Savior, when even the most devoted apostles fled, women stood at the cross. Mary Magdalene was the first to know about the resurrection of Jesus. Righteous Nina alone preached the faith in the Caucasus. Women carried out educational missions or were involved in charity, but never performed divine services. A representative of the fairer sex cannot perform service due to her physiological characteristics.

Failed unification

Although, according to its dogmatic views, the Anglican Church is closer to Protestantism than to Orthodoxy, nevertheless, over the centuries, attempts have been made to unite both communities of believers. Anglicans profess dogmas that are in complete agreement with Orthodoxy: for example, about the One God in Three Persons, about the Son of God, and others. Anglican priests, like Orthodox ones, can be married, unlike Catholic ones.

IN XIX-XX centuries In the Russian Orthodox Church, the issue of recognizing the Anglican clergy on the basis of recognition of apostolic succession in the sacrament of ordination was discussed. In recent decades, Russian hierarchs have taken constant part in the Lambertian conferences. There was an active theological dialogue, the goal of which was unification with the Anglican Church.

However, the peculiarities of the Anglican Church, associated with the introduction of female presbytery and episcopacy, make further communication impossible.

Four and a half centuries of the English community in Moscow

In 1553, Richard Chancellor, after an unsuccessful attempt to reach India through the Arctic seas, ended up in Moscow. At an audience with Ivan the Terrible, he achieved an agreement on concessions to English merchants regarding trade in Muscovy. It was at his request that the first Anglican church was opened in Moscow.

Three years later, Chancellor visited Rus' again. The chambers of the English court were built on Varvarka. Despite the fact that he, along with Ambassador Osip Nepeya, died on the way back to England, the beginning of trade relations with Foggy Albion was laid.

Since the time of Ivan the Terrible, the Anglican Church in Moscow has been the center of British life in the capital. Almost no information has been preserved about how the spiritual life of the Anglicans was built in troubled times and throughout the 17th century. IN late XVIII V. immigrants from Britain used the Protestant church in the German settlement for worship. After the fire of 1812, the British rented part of Princess Prozorovskaya’s mansion on Tverskaya Street. And sixteen years later they purchased a house on Chernyshevsky Lane, where, after some alterations, a small chapel was built. At the end of the century, the Anglican Church of St. Andrey.

Everything changed with the beginning of the 20th century. After the October Revolution, the Anglican presbyter was expelled from the country, and the spiritual life of the community in Moscow came to an end. The revival began only in the late eighties. In 1992, the Anglican religious organization was officially registered in Russia. The chaplain of the Moscow parish provides spiritual care for communities in St. Petersburg, on Far East and in Transcaucasia. Canonically, the Anglican societies of Russia are part of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe.

St Andrew's Anglican ChurchFirst-Called

In the seventies of the 19th century, the Anglican community in Moscow grew significantly. The old chapel in Chernyshevsky Lane was not able to accommodate all the parishioners. In 1882, according to the design of architect Richard Freeman, construction of a new temple began. The architect created the architectural appearance of the red brick building in the English Gothic style of the Victorian era. In plan, the temple is a single-nave basilica with an altar apse on the eastern side. A high tower with four small archers at the corners was built above the vestibule.

Since most of the parishioners who donated for the construction were from Scotland, the temple was consecrated in honor of the patron saint of this part of Britain - St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Divine services began in 1885.

IN Soviet years Anglican Church of St. Andreya shared the fate of many churches in Russia. After the liquidation of the parish, the premises became a warehouse, then a dormitory. In 1960, the building was transferred to the famous Melodiya recording studio. Long years one of the technical services was located here.

In 1991, St. Andrew's Anglican Church reopened its doors to parishioners. A priest from Finland came to conduct services. Two years later, a rector was appointed, and in 1994 the building was transferred to the English community.