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Anglican interest inecumenical dialogue can be traced back to the time of theReformation and dialogues with both Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of theOxford Movement, there arose greater concern for reunion of the churches of "Catholic confession". This desire to work towards fullcommunion with other denominations led to the development of theChicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral, approved by the ThirdLambeth Conference of 1888. The four points (the sufficiency of scripture, as the "ultimate standard of faith", the historic creeds, the two dominical sacraments, and the historic episcopate) were stipulated as the basis for church unity, "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion".
Although they are not considered members, some non-Anglican bodies have entered into communion with the Anglican Communion as a whole or with its constituent member churches, such as theOld Catholic Church, theLutheran Churches (including those within thePorvoo Communion, theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America, and theEvangelical Lutheran Church in Canada), as well as theMalankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.
Ecumenical dialogue has been particularly fruitful in three realms. The first is theWorld 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".
The second concerns dialogue with theRoman Catholic Church. Long-term hostility between the two Communions was engendered by resistance in England to the declaration ofroyal supremacy, the confiscation of Church properties, the dissolution of the monasteries, the execution of priests, forced attendance at Anglican worship, forced payment of tithes to the state church and the illegalization of the Catholic faith. There was a brief restoration of communion with Rome during the reign ofMary I. Her death marked the end of Catholic attempts to reconcile by law the English Church to Rome. Subsequently,Pope Pius V's excommunication ofElizabeth I in 1570 and authorization of rebellion against her contributed to official suspicion of the allegiances of English Catholics. This, combined with a desire to assert the claims of the established church, led initially to renewed persecution by the state, and to the continued enforcement of severe legal restrictions. Most of these restrictions endured for 250 years and were only relieved through several legislative reforms in the 19th century, cumulatively known asCatholic emancipation. The prohibition on Catholics succeeding to the British Crown (and by extension the otherCommonwealth realms) remains in effect.
Another fruitful realm of dialogue has been with variousLutheran churches. An ecumenical report titled "On Closer Acquaintance" noted that Anglicans and Lutherans are "the closest ecumenical cousins in Christendom."[1] On the doctrine of justification, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) "recognises that Anglicans and Lutherans share a common understanding of God’s justifying grace...that we are accounted righteous and are made righteous before God only by grace through faith because of the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and not on account of our works or merits."[2]
Historically, theChurch of England and the state churches of current (and former) mainland European monarchies whereLutheranProtestantism was the official doctrine, have had amicable relations. This has, in part, been nurtured by marriages between members of theRoyal Family of Great Britain and the royal (Protestant) houses of Europe, especially the descendants ofQueen Victoria (whose husband,Prince Albert, was a Lutheran).[3][4] Since the monarch ofEngland cannot (even today), by law, be aRoman Catholic, and forming familial royal bonds was historically deemed necessary at times to form alliances (and preventwar) between countries, there was a natural tendency for British princes/princesses to wed Lutheran or Reformed (and therefore, not Roman Catholic) royals from the houses ofGermany, theNetherlands andScandinavia. Also, a general agreement on doctrine between the Anglican and Lutheran traditions has helped relations, at least between the mainstream movements. Also, the fact that both still retain a strongliturgical tradition has helped immensely, since they are essentially the only Western churches outside of Roman Catholicism which have maintained official liturgies; indeed, the liturgies of both bodies are often nearly identical in wording to each other (as is the Roman CatholicMass) and, thus provide a familiar bond between members who visit between denominations.
In the late 20th century, thePorvoo Communion was formed, bringing the Anglican churches of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland and the Episcopal churches of Portugal and Spain into full communion with the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, the Lutheran churches of the Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), and the Lutheran churches of the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).[5] In 2001, theAnglican Church of Canada and theEvangelical Lutheran Church in Canada achieved full communion through theWaterloo Declaration,[6] as did theEpiscopal Church in the United States and theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America under the joint documentCalled to Common Mission.[7]
In addition, full communion agreements have been reached between variousecclesiastical provinces and smaller denominations such as theOld Catholic Church after theBonn Agreement of 1931.
Historical Anglicanism "followed the major continental Reformers in their doctrine of the true church, identifiable by the authentic ministry of word and sacrament, in their rejection of the jurisdiction of the pope, and in their alliance with the civil authority ('the magistrate')".[8] TheChurch of England historically considered itself "Protestant and Reformed" and recognized as true churches theContinental Reformed Churches, participating in theSynod of Dort in 1618–1619.[8]
Movements toward full communion between the Anglican Church of Canada and theUnited Church of Canada, as well as between the Church of England and theMethodist Church of Great Britain, were both derailed because of the issue of episcopacy, specifically,apostolic succession. The same problem applies to theChurches Uniting in Christ initiative in theUnited States. This, as well as Anglican stands on certain social issues such as the ordination of priests and bishops in public same-sex relationships and the practice of blessing gay unions, has likewise hindered dialogue between Anglicans and conservativeevangelical Protestant denominations. This has not prevented a range of reports by bilateral commissions producing descriptions of converging theology and practice however, such as Conversations around the World (2005), a report of conversations between the representatives of the Anglican Communion and the Baptist World Alliance.In theIndian subcontinent, most Anglican churches have entered into formal union with other Protestant denominations, with the resultingUnited Protestant churches being a part of multiple communions, including the Anglican Communion andWorld Communion of Reformed Churches for example. These agreements, which date from the 1940s and 1950s, led to the creation of theChurch of North India, theChurch of South India, theChurch of Pakistan and theChurch of Bangladesh. The united churches maintain an episcopal and synodical structure and consecrate bishops in apostolic succession while incorporating distinctives from other traditions such as that of theModerator, which comes from Presbyterianism. As a percentage of the total population in the region, these united churches are not significant, but aside fromBangladesh, they are numerically very substantial.
Those that did not join with the union agreements in theIndian subcontinent retained the nameAnglican 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 theContinuing Anglican Movement and have North American parishes.
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 theUnited 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 acovenant between the Church of England and theMethodist Church of Great Britain, but such a covenant was eventually signed in 2003.[9] This issue also has held back theChurches 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 otherevangelical Protestant denominations.
Dialogue has also been fruitful with the Orthodox churches.
In 1922 theEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople recognised Anglicanorders 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."[10] In 1923, the synod ofConstantinople affirmed the Patriarch's decision.[11] Following the decision of Constantinople, the autocephalous Orthodox churches ofAlexandria,Cyprus,Greece,Jerusalem, andRomania conditionally recognised that Anglican orders preserved apostolic succession.[11][12]
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 consecratedHenry MacKenzie as theSuffragan Bishop of Nottingham.[13][self-published source]
In 1910,Raphael of Brooklyn, an Eastern Orthodox bishop, "sanctioned an interchange of ministrations with theEpiscopalians in places where members of one or the other communion are without clergy of their own."[14] 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.[15] In 1912, however, Bishop Raphael ended the intercommunion after becoming uncomfortable with the fact that the Anglican Communion contained differentchurchmanships within Her, e.g. High Church, Evangelical, etc.[14]
The current International Commission of theAnglican-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 thepastoral provision in the Roman Catholic Church a small number of United States Anglicans have been received into certain jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church while retaining the use of a revision of the Prayer Book liturgy authorised for use in the Orthodox Church byPatriarchTikhon of Moscow in the early twentieth century.
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.[16]
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 theFree Church of England and theReformed Episcopal Church in the United States, left the Anglican Communion in the 1800s in reaction to the inroads of the Catholic Revival and the controversy it produced in the church overritualism.
Later, during the 1960s and 1970s, disagreements with certain provincial bodies – chiefly inNorth America and in theUnited Kingdom – over such issues as prayer book revision, the remarriage of divorced persons, theordination of women, and the acceptance by a few of the bishops ofhomosexual relationships led to another and quite differentschism. These Anglican churches are usually called "Continuing Anglican churches" because of their determination to preserve (or "continue") the episcopate inapostolic succession, as well as the faith, worship, and teaching of traditional Anglicanism and historical Christianity – which they believe the Anglican Communion has deviated from. The older Reformed Episcopal churches maintained the lineage of bishops without accepting the idea that sacraments are valid only if administered by clergy in such a lineage.
There are also independent jurisdictions unrelated to the preceding schisms. TheChurch of England in South Africa is conservative, long-established, and has a substantial membership. It is separate from theAnglican Church of Southern Africa, which is part of the Anglican Communion. Other churches, however, have adopted the Anglican name, the Book of Common Prayer, Anglican vestments, and – in some cases – theThirty-Nine Articles of Religion, but have no historic connection to the Anglican Communion. Unlike the socially conservative Continuing Anglican churches and the Church of England in South Africa, some of these tiny jurisdictions are openly oriented towards the gay and lesbian community and do ordain women clergy.
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 areAnglo-Catholic. What they have in common is a conviction that mainstream Anglicanism in North America, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere has departed from acceptable principles of belief or practice, or both.
Ecumenical joint worship from an Episcopalian–Anglican perspective in North America takes one of the following forms:
There is a diversity of models for joint worship.
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