An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer". It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages.
Peter Jasper Akinola is the former Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria. He is also the former bishop of Abuja and Archbishop of Province III, which covered the northern and central parts of the country. When the division into ecclesiastical provinces was adopted in 2002, he became the first Archbishop of Abuja Province, a position he held until 2010. He is married and a father of six.
The Continuing Anglican movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion.
Nashotah House is an Anglican seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin. The seminary opened in 1842 and received its official charter in 1847. The institution is independent and generally regarded as one of the more theologically conservative seminaries in the Episcopal Church. It is also officially recognized by the Anglican Church in North America. Its campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant Church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and the World Methodist Council.
Robert William Duncan is an American Anglican bishop. He was the first primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) from June 2009 to June 2014. In 1997, he was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. In 2008, a majority of the diocesan convention voted to leave the diocese and the Episcopal Church and, in October 2009, named their new church the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. Duncan served as bishop for the new Anglican diocese until 10 September 2016 upon the installation of his successor, Jim Hobby.
The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican church of evangelical Episcopalian heritage. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Michael Bruce Curry is an American bishop who is the 27th and current presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. Elected in 2015, he is the first African American to serve as presiding bishop in The Episcopal Church. He was previously bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina.
The Convergence Movement, also known as the Ancient-Future Faith, whose foundation is primarily attributed to Robert E. Webber in 1985, is an ecumenical movement. Developed as an effort among evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal, and liturgical Christians and denominations blending their forms of worship, the movement has been defined for its predominant use of the Anglican tradition's Book of Common Prayer; use from additional liturgical sources common to Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Catholicism have also been employed.
James Parker Dees was an American bishop. He was the founder and first bishop of the Orthodox Anglican Church and the Orthodox Anglican Communion.
John Anthony Hepworth was an Australian bishop. He was the ordinary of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the archbishop and primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, an international body of continuing Anglican churches, from 2003 to 2012.
The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC) is a Christian convergence communion established in 1995 within the United States of America. With a large international presence in six provinces and seven U.S. dioceses, most of its churches and missions are spread throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West regions, and South Carolina; Florida and California; and India. The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches is currently led by Bishop Quintin Moore as presiding bishop of the CEEC.
Saint Andrew's Theological College and Seminary (SATCS) is a church-affiliated educational institution of the Orthodox Anglican Church, the United States branch of the Orthodox Anglican Communion. Instruction began in Statesville, North Carolina in 1967 and the school was formally dedicated as Cranmer Seminary on September 19, 1971. Cranmer Seminary was officially incorporated in the state of North Carolina on September 3, 1975. A vocational school for the ministry, the seminary provided denominationally-specific theological training and education for traditional Anglican clergy. In 1996, a distance education program was initiated. From 1999 to 2003, the seminary actively assisted training clergy of the Anglican Rite Synod in the Americas, established an Internet presence and instituted open admission to the general public. The school was renamed Saint Andrew's Theological College and Seminary in 2002. Many of the bishops and leaders of the Continuing Anglican movement are past students and graduates of St. Andrew’s.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 977 congregations and 124,999 members in 2022. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.
The Orthodox Anglican Communion (OAC) is a communion of churches established in 1964 or 1967, by James Parker Dees. The Orthodox Anglican Communion was formed outside of the See of Canterbury; the OAC is not part of the Anglican Communion. The Orthodox Anglican Communion adheres to the doctrine, discipline and worship contained in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 1562 Articles of Religion.
Samuel Seamans was an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in North America's College of Bishops until he and his parish decided to join the Orthodox Church in November 2015. He is a priest in good standing in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA. He is the rector of St. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Seamans is a licensed pilot and Emergency Medical Technician.
Carl Christopher Epting is a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served the Diocese of Iowa as coadjutor bishop and diocesan bishop from 1988 to 2001, and as the Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations for the Episcopal Church from 2001 to 2009. He then served as the Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago from November 2011 through December 2015 before retiring. Since 2021, Bishop Epting and his wife, Susanne, have resided in Englewood, Colorado.
Santosh Kumar Marray is the eleventh and current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton. Before this, he served as assistant bishop for both the Diocese of Alabama (2012-2016) and the Diocese of East Carolina (2009-2012). Prior to that, he was Bishop of Seychelles. He was ordained as a priest in 1981, and served in this capacity in Florida, Guyana, and the Bahamas before being consecrated as bishop.
Mark Joseph Lawrence is an American bishop. He was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina from 2008 to 2012, and of the diocese now known as the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina from 2012 to 2022. In November 2012, under his leadership, a large portion of the old diocese withdrew from the national Episcopal Church to become an independent Anglican diocese. They continued to operate under the name "Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina", whose use was disputed by the national Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church did not recognize this diocesan withdrawal, instead considering Lawrence to have abandoned the church and his position as diocesan bishop. Lawrence's diocese affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America in 2017 and in 2019 began referring to itself as the "Anglican Diocese of South Carolina".
John Hewitt Rodgers Jr. (1930–2022) was an American Anglican theologian and bishop. The author of multiple commentaries on the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, he was a founding faculty member at Trinity School for Ministry and served as its dean and president from 1978 to 1990. In 2000, he played a role in the global Anglican realignment when he was consecrated as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda to oversee congregations in North America through the Anglican Mission in America.
