"I am dying! In the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith professed by the whole Church before the disunion of East and West; and, more particularly, in the Communion of the Church of England, as it stands distinguished from both Papal and Protestant innovation, and adheres to the Doctrine of the Cross."- Thomas Ken
Bishop Ken stated this most beautiful apology for the Anglican Church on his deathbed. I find it sums up our Church!
The Anglican Communion, the bastion for Celtic and Anglo-Catholic Worship. Legend says that Joseph of Arimathea may have brought Christ to England, St. Alban was the first English Saint to be Martyred, around the year 304. In the year 407 the last of the Roman Army left Britain but Christianity continued to flourish. The Celtic Church flourished and built monasteries during the 5th and 6th Centuries. In 597 A.D. St. Augustine of Canterbury became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the 14th Century we see John Wycliffe translating the Holy Writ into the language of the common people and opposing some of Roman See's additions to the faith. The Bishop of Rome's claim to oversee the Church of England came to an end in 1534 when Henry VIII issued the "Act of Supremacy". There was a movement in the late 1530's to join the Greek Church but nothing ever came of this. The Anglican Church dissolved some of the vain additions of Rome but did not go as far as did the Protestant Churches. The Oxford Movement, had many good points, and defended High Church Anglicanism or Anglo-Catholicism! One of their pamphlets that I hold in high regard is the branch theory of the Church. I believe there are 3 branches of the Holy Catholic Church. Latin... The Church under the Bishop of Rome; Anglican... the Church under the Archbishop of Canterbury; Eastern Orthodox... the Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople.
One of the defining elements of the Anglican Church is that we are much more tolerant of different Theological systems in our Church. We reject much of Rome's middle ages "dogma" but still celebrate the Real Presence in Mass, have a beautiful liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer, and Continue the Apostolic Succession. I thank God that I'm now apart of the beauty and Glory that surround Christ's Church. May the grace of God be with you...
"I pray that God may grant that we may endure to the end!"-Archbishop Cranmer
