In terms of official membership, Episcopalians constitute well under 1 per cent of the population of Scotland, making them considerably smaller than the Church of Scotland or Catholic Church in Scotland. The membership of the church in 2023 was 23,503, of which 16,605 were communicant members. The attendance at Sunday worship, as counted on Sunday next before Advent was 8,815.[12] This compares with the figures from six years previously, in 2017, where church membership had been 30,909, of whom 22,073 were communicant members, and there was a Sunday worship attendance of 12,149.[2]
The Scottish Episcopal Church was previously called the Protestant Episcopal Church in Scotland, simplified at the General Synod of 1838 to Episcopal Church in Scotland.[13][14]
Although not incorporated until 1712, the Scottish Episcopal Church traces its origins including but extending beyond the Reformation and sees itself in continuity with the church established by Ninian, Columba, Kentigern, and other Celtic saints. The Church of Scotland claims the same continuity.
The church is sometimes pejoratively referred to in Scotland as the "English Kirk", but this can cause offence.[15][16] This is probably in part due to the fact that it is, nonetheless, a union of the non-juring Episcopalians with the "qualified congregations" who worshipped according to the liturgy of the Church of England. It is also sometimes known as the "Laird's Kirk" because of its historical associations with the landed aristocracy of Scotland whose membership of the church exceeded that of other denominations. In the mid 1800s it was recorded that three quarters of the "landed proprietors of Scotland" were Episcopalians.[17][18]
The fifth-century Saint Ninian conducted the first Christian mission to what is now southern Scotland.
In 563 AD, Saint Columba travelled to Scotland with twelve companions, where according to legend he first landed at the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land he moved further north along the west coast of Scotland. He was granted land on the island of Iona off the Isle of Mull which became the centre of his evangelising mission to the Picts. However, there is a sense in which he did not leave his native people, as the Irish Gaels had been colonising the west coast of Scotland for some time.[19]
The Scottish Catholic Church would continue to grow in the centuries that followed, and in the 11th century Saint Margaret of Scotland (Queen Consort of Malcolm III of Scotland) strengthened the church's ties with the Holy See, as did successive monarchs such as Margaret's son, David, who invited several religious orders to establish monasteries.
Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was formalised in 1560, when the Church of Scotland broke with the Church of Rome during a process of Protestant reform led, among others, by John Knox. It reformed its doctrines and government, drawing on the principles of John Calvin which Knox had been exposed to while living in Switzerland. In 1560, the Scottish Parliament abolished papal jurisdiction[20] and approved Calvin's Confession of Faith, but did not accept many of the principles laid out in Knox's First Book of Discipline, which argued, among other things, that all of the assets of the old church should pass to the new. The 1560 Reformation Settlement was not ratified by the crown for some years, and the question of church government also remained largely unresolved. In 1572 the acts of 1560 were finally approved by the young James VI, but under pressure from many of the nobles the Concordat of Leith also allowed the crown to appoint bishops with the church's approval.[21] John Knox himself had no clear views on the office of bishop, preferring to see them renamed as "superintendents"; but in response to the new Concordat a Presbyterian party emerged headed by Andrew Melville, the author of the Second Book of Discipline.
The Scottish Episcopal Church began as a distinct church in 1582, when the Church of Scotland rejected episcopal government (by bishops) and adopted a presbyterian government by elders as well as reformed theology. Scottish monarchs made repeated efforts to introduce bishops and two ecclesiastical traditions competed.
Episcopal government imposed by the Stuarts
Timeline of the development of Scottish churches since 1560.Portrait of James VI by John de Critz, c. 1606.
In 1584, James VI of Scotland had the Parliament of Scotland pass the Black Acts, appointing two bishops and administering the Church of Scotland under direct royal control. This met vigorous opposition and he was forced to concede that the General Assembly should continue to run the church. Calvinists who disliked the more ceremonious style of liturgy were opposed by an Episcopalian faction. After ascending to the English throne in 1603 James stopped the General Assembly from meeting, increased the number of Scottish bishops and in 1618 held a General Assembly in Perth; this gathering adopted Five Articles of Episcopalian practices. Many Scottish church leaders, and their congregations, responded to the Five Articles with boycotts and disdain.
James's son Charles I was crowned in Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, in 1633 with full Anglican rites. Subsequently, in 1637, Charles attempted to introduce a Scottish version of the Book of Common Prayer, written by a group of Scottish prelates, most notably the Archbishop of St Andrews, John Spottiswoode, and the Bishop of Ross, John Maxwell, and edited for printing by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud; it was a combination of Knox's Book of Common Order, which was in use before 1637, and English liturgy in hopes of further unifying the (Anglican) Church of England and the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland. When the revised Book of Common Prayer was used for the first time during worship on 23 July 1637 in St Giles' Edinburgh, it sparked a riot which was so representative of the strength of popular feeling in Scotland that it indirectly precipitated the Bishops' Wars and this successful challenge of royal authority helped encourage many unhappy Irish Catholics into partaking in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the already increasingly uncooperative English Parliament into likewise declaring war on the king in the English Civil War. As a result of the weakness of the king, Presbyterian Covenanters were able to become the de facto government in Scotland until disagreement between the Scottish and English Parliaments over how to run Britain in terms of both civil and religious governance after the king was defeated led to another war and Scotland's conquest by the Covenanters' erstwhile allies the English Parliament's New Model Army.
Following the Restoration of the monarch in 1660, the government of Charles II reimposed episcopacy, and required all clergymen to swear allegiance to the king and bishops and renounce the Covenants, or be prevented from preaching in church. Up to a third, at least 27%, of the ministry refused, mostly in the south-west of Scotland, and numerous ministers also took to preaching in the open fields in conventicles across the south of Scotland, often attracting thousands of worshippers. This was forcibly repressed by the government, in actions later dubbed The Killing Time. The conflict continued under King James VII of Scotland (also James II of England) until the Glorious Revolution led to his removal from power.
With the 1689 refusal of the Scottish bishops to swear allegiance to William of Orange whilst James VII lived and had not abdicated, the Presbyterian polity was finally re-established in the Church of Scotland. However, the Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1690 (April c. 7) allowed Episcopalian incumbents, upon taking the Oath of Allegiance, to retain their benefices, though excluding them from any share in the government of the Church of Scotland without a further declaration of Presbyterian principles. Many "non-jurors" also succeeded for a time in retaining the use of the parish churches.[22]
The excluded Scottish bishops were slow to organise the Episcopalian remnant under a jurisdiction independent of the state, regarding the then arrangements as provisional, and looking forward to a reconstituted national Episcopal Church under a sovereign they regarded as legitimate (see Jacobitism). A few prelates, known as college bishops, were consecrated without sees, to preserve the succession rather than to exercise a defined authority. At length the hopelessness of the Stuart cause and the growth of congregations outside the establishment forced the bishops to dissociate canonical jurisdiction from royal prerogative and to reconstitute for themselves a territorial episcopate.[22]
The Scottish Book of Common Prayer came into general use at start of the reign of William and Mary. The Scottish Communion Office, compiled by the non-jurors in accordance with primitive models, has had a varying co-ordinate authority, and the modifications of the English liturgy that would be adopted by the American Church were mainly determined by its influence.[22]
The death of Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’) led to better conditions for church growth.
In 1707 Scotland and England were merged into a single Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 protected the Episcopal Church, which marked its virtual incorporation as a distinct society. However, matters were still complicated by a considerable, though declining, number of Episcopalian incumbents holding parish churches. Moreover, the Jacobitism of the non-jurors provoked a state policy of repression in 1715 and 1745, and fostered the growth of new Hanoverian congregations, using the English Prayer Book (served by clergy who had been ordained by a bishop but amenable to none), who qualified themselves under the 1711 act. This act was further modified in 1746 and 1748 to exclude clergy ordained in Scotland.[22]
These causes reduced the Episcopalians, who in 1689 had been a large section of the population, to a minority, save in a few corners of the west and north-east of Scotland. Their official recognition of George III, on the death of Charles Edward Stuart in 1788, removed the chief bar to progress. In 1792 the penal laws were repealed, but clerical disabilities were only finally removed in 1864.[22] The Qualified Chapels were gradually absorbed in the early 19th century.
After the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, the Scottish Episcopal Church also took the step of consecrating Samuel Seabury at Aberdeen in 1784. He became the first bishop of the American Episcopal Church after being refused consecration by Church of England clergy. In this way, it can be said that the Episcopal Church in the United States owes as much of its origins to the Scottish Episcopal Church as to the Church of England.
The Theological College was founded in 1810, incorporated with Trinity College, Glenalmond, in 1848, and re-established at Edinburgh in 1876.[22] Theological training is now provided by the various dioceses and is supervised by Scottish Episcopal Institute (formerly, the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church).[23]
In 1900 the church had 356 congregations, with a total membership of 124,335 and 324 working clergy.[22] Membership did not grow in the following decades as it was believed it would.
In 1989 there were approximately 200 stipendiary and 80 non-stipendiary clergy. Membership was 65,000, with 31,000 communicants.[24]
In 1995, the Scottish Episcopal Church began working through a process known as Mission 21.[25] Canon Alice Mann of the Alban Institute was invited to begin developing a missionary emphasis within the congregations of the church throughout Scotland. This led to the development of the Making Your Church More Inviting programme which has now been completed by many congregations. In addition to working on making churches more inviting, Mission 21 emphasises reaching out to new populations which have previously not been contacted by the church. As Mission 21 has developed, changing patterns of ministry have become part of its remit.
In 1633 Charles I remodelled Holyrood Abbey as a Chapel Royal, and held his coronation there with full Episcopalian rites. In this year he also founded the See of Edinburgh and appointed William Forbes as first Bishop of Edinburgh in the following year. He also appointed John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray as the first, and last, Episcopalian Royal Almoner of Scotland. The Abbey was lost to its protestant congregation as part of the events of the Glorious Revolution and eventually ruined. The Lord Bishop of Edinburgh and Anglican congregation were also evicted from St Giles' Cathedral following the Prayer Book riots in 1637. The office of Royal Almoner was made largely honorific then effectively secular, and by 1835 had merged into the responsibilities of the King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer. The current headquarters (the Scottish Episcopal Church General Synod Office) of the Scottish Episcopal Church is Forbes House, number 21 Grosvenor Crescent in the West End of Edinburgh.[26][27][28]
The primus does not have any metropolitan jurisdiction. Metropolitan responsibilities are held by the diocesan bishops. The last head of the Scottish Episcopal Church to hold both primate and metropolitan titles was Arthur Rose, Archbishop of St Andrews, up to his death in 1704. The last bishop to exercise metropolitan authority was Alexander Rose, Bishop of Edinburgh, up to his death in 1720.
21st century
In terms of official membership, Episcopalians constitute well under 1 per cent of the population of Scotland, making them considerably smaller than the Church of Scotland. In 2012 the church had 310 parishes with an adult membership of 34,916 and communicant numbers some 10,000 fewer at 24,650.[1][29][30] As with other churches in Scotland, attendance has declined over recent years: the overall figures reflect rises in some dioceses and decline in others,[31] but amount to an overall fall in attendance of 15 per cent between 2007 and 2012.[30] The church's 2016 annual report noted a "continuing decline in overall numbers",[32] and in almost identical language it was reported in 2018 that the church faced "continuing decline in members and attendance".[33] By the end of 2020 numbers had fallen further to 27,600 (membership) and 19,800 (communicants). No meaningful attendance figures could be produced due to the legal restrictions on church attendance introduced in response to Covid-19.[34] By 2021 membership had fallen by a further 32% from 2012 levels, to just over 24000.[35]
At the close of 2022, the denomination had 278 congregations.[36] The statistics for the denomination, by their dioceses were as follows:
Statistics for Scottish Episcopal Church - Dec 2022[36]
Diocese
Number of Congregations
Membership
Communicant Numbers
Total Attendance
Aberdeen and Orkney
37
2,250
1,731
725
Argyll and The Isles
23
802
574
369
Brechin
24
1,500
1,106
530
Edinburgh
53
8,493
5,652
2,853
Glasgow and Galloway
54
4,188
3,255
1,726
Moray, Ross and Caithness
40
2,998
1,847
808
St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane
47
3,604
2,658
1,521
TOTAL
278
23,935
16,823
8,532
In recent decades, the Scottish Episcopal Church has taken a left-of-centre stand on various political issues including economic justice, the ordination of women and "inclusion". A church canon was altered to allow same-sex marriage after it was formally approved by the General Synod in June 2017, despite the protests of some, including the representatives of the conservative Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney.
Following the vote, a number of individual congregations have begun to leave the church, although they have been obliged to leave their buildings and funds behind them. In November 2017 a high-profile female supporter of same-sex marriage, Anne Dyer was appointed Bishop of the theologically traditionalist Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney by the other bishops, rather than elected as usual. This drew protests, which the primus attacked as "subversion",[37] and Dyer was consecrated in March 2018.[38] A number of clergy subsequently resigned, and in January 2019 the Westhill Community Church in Aberdeen voted to leave the SEC.[39]
The Scottish Episcopal Institute, a theological college for the whole of the Scottish Episcopal Church, was founded in 2015. It provides training for both lay ministers and ordained clergy.[40]
Map of the dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church
As an episcopal denomination, the church is governed by bishops, differentiating it from the national Church of Scotland which is presbyterian and governed by elders. However, unlike the Church of England, the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church are elected in a procedure involving clergy and laity of the vacant diocese voting at an electoral synod.
The church is composed of seven dioceses, each with its own bishop:
All sees except Edinburgh (founded by Charles I) stem from sees of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The bishops of the Episcopal Church are direct successors of the prelates consecrated to Scottish sees at the Restoration.[22] The bishops are addressed Right Reverend.
The College of Bishops constitutes the episcopal synod, the supreme court of appeal.[22]
This synod elects from among its own members a presiding Bishop who has the title of Primus (the title originates from the Latin phrase Primus inter pares–'First among equals').
to preside at all meetings of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church
to preside at all meetings of the Episcopal Synod
to declare and carry out the resolutions of the General Synod, the Episcopal Synod and the College of Bishops
to represent the Scottish Episcopal Church in its relation to all other Churches of the Anglican Communion and other Communions
to perform the functions and duties of Primus as specified in the Canons of the Scottish Episcopal Church
to correspond on behalf of the Scottish Episcopal Church with Primates, Metropolitans and the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council.
The incumbent is Mark Strange, who was elected on 27 June 2017.
The Primus does not have any metropolitan jurisdiction—the last to hold such jurisdiction was Archbishop Arthur Rose (of St Andrews) up to his death in 1704.[42] The Primus is addressed Most Reverend.
Representative bodies
The church is governed by the General Synod. This consists of the House of Bishops, the House of Clergy and the House of Laity. The General Synod makes canon law, administers finance and monitors the work of the boards and committees of the Church. Most decisions are arrived at by a simple majority of members of the General Synod voting together. More complex legislation, such as changes to the Code of Canons requires each of the Houses to agree and to vote in favour by a two-thirds majority.
Each diocese has its synod of the clergy and laity. Its dean (similar to an archdeacon in the Church of England) is appointed by the bishop, and, on the voidance of the see, summons the diocesan synod, at the instance of the primus, to choose a bishop.[22] Each diocese has one or more (in the case of some united dioceses) cathedrals. The senior priest of a Scottish Episcopal cathedral is styled as provost (as the title of "dean" is given to the senior priest of the diocese as a whole, see above). The only exception in Scotland is the Cathedral of the Isles on the island of Great Cumbrae which has been led by a member of the clergy styled as Precentor. Diocesan deans and cathedral provosts are both addressed as Very Reverend.
Worship and liturgy
The Scottish Liturgy 1982 and 2006 edition of the Scottish Ordinal 1984
It embraces three orders of ministry: deacon, priest (referred to in the Scottish Prayer Book as presbyter) and bishop. Increasingly, an emphasis is being placed on these orders to work collaboratively within the wider ministry of the whole people of God.[citation needed]
In addition to the Scottish Prayer Book of 1929, the church has a number of other liturgies available to it. In recent years, revised Funeral Rites have appeared, along with liturgies for Christian Initiation (e.g. Baptism and Affirmation) and Marriage. The modern Eucharistic rite (Scottish Liturgy 1982) includes Eucharistic prayers for the various seasons in the Liturgical Year and is commonly known as "The Blue Book", a reference to the colour of its covers. A further Eucharistic prayer is provided in the Marriage liturgy.
This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a sixteenth-century apologist. In Hooker's model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason.[44]
Social issues
The Scottish Episcopal Church has been involved in Scottish politics.
All orders of ministry are open to both male and female candidates. On 9 November 2017, the first woman, Anne Dyer, was elected bishop in the Episcopal Church in Scotland. She was consecrated as Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney in March 2018.[38]
In the area of human sexuality, a debate continued for many years as to the propriety of fully permitting the presence of non-celibate lesbian and gay church members (there never having been a prohibition on membership or ordination of celibate homosexuals). In 2000, a former primate called for the church to bless same-sex couples.[45] Clergy became able to enter into a same-sex civil partnership in 2005, and the church does not require sexual abstinence of such civil unions.[46] Since 2008, St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow has offered blessings for civil partnerships.[47] In 2015 the General Synod passed a vote which led to the first stage of approval formal blessings of same-sex marriage.[48] A number of congregations have hosted the blessings of same-sex couples including St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow and St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee.[49]
In 2016, the General Synod voted in favour of changing the canon of marriage to include same-sex couples.[50] The change was formally approved by the church in June 2017.[51] As a result, at the Anglican Communion primates' meeting in October 2017 the Scottish Episcopal Church was suspended for three years from communion "decision making on any issues of doctrine or polity", a mirror of the sanction applied to the U.S. Episcopal Church in 2016 for the same reason.[52]
In December 2009, there were reports that certain High Church traditionalists within the Scottish Episcopal Church were in favour of joining the Roman Catholic Church.[53]
Relation with the Anglican realignment
Conservative members have organised in the Scottish Anglican Network and are associated with the GAFCON. The Scottish Anglican Network announced on 8 June 2017, the same day that the SEC voted to approve same-sex marriage, that they would be in "impaired communion" with the denomination, due to this decision.[54] The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia passed a motion on 7 September 2017, condemning SEC's decision to approve same-sex marriage as "contrary to the doctrine of our church and the teaching of Christ", and declaring itself in "impaired communion" with the province. It also expressed their "support for those Anglicans who have left or will need to leave the Scottish Episcopal Church because of its redefinition of marriage and those who struggle and remain", and presented their prayers for the return of SEC "to the doctrine of Christ in this matter and that impaired relationships will be restored."[55] The Global South Primates expressed their support for the Scottish Anglican Network at their Communiqué from 9 September 2017.[56]
To date nine churches have left the SEC since 2011, largely over the issue of the approval of same-sex marriage within the denomination. 5 joined Presbyterian churches and 4 GAFCON, through ACNA (list below):
↑ With various theological and doctrinal identities, including Anglo-Catholic, Liberal and Evangelical
↑ Attested quite variedly in each word in writings and speech according to subdialect (from identical to Standard English to notable "corrupt[ed] forms"), such as Scottis Episcopawl(ian) Kirk, Episcopaulian Church, Esculopian, Episcopian, etc.[5]
The Church of England is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the origin of the Anglican tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the Thirty-nine Articles and The Books of Homilies. Its adherents are called Anglicans.
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, Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages. Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.
The Church of Ireland is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second-largest Christian church on the island after the Roman Catholic Church. Like other Anglican churches, it has retained elements of pre-Reformation practice, notably its episcopal polity, while rejecting the primacy of the pope.
Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." In 2017, clergy within the Church of England indicated their inclination towards supporting same-sex marriage by dismissing a bishops' report that explicitly asserted the exclusivity of church weddings to unions between a man and a woman. At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
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.
The Anglican Church of Australia, originally known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India.
The Anglican Church of Canada is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is l'Église anglicane du Canada. In 2022, the Anglican Church counted 294,931 members on parish rolls in 1,978 congregations, organized into 1,498 parishes. The 2021 Canadian census counted 1,134,315 self-identified Anglicans, making the Anglican Church the third-largest Canadian church after the Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada.
The blessing or wedding of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which leaders of Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that sexual practices between men and sexual practices between women are sinful and that holy matrimony can only exist between two persons of different sexes. These disagreements are primarily centred on the interpretation of various scripture passages related to homosexuality, sacred tradition, and in some churches on varying understandings of homosexuality in terms of psychology, genetics and other scientific data. While numerous church bodies have widely varying practices and teachings, individual Christians of every major tradition are involved in practical (orthopraxy) discussions about how to respond to the issue.
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand, is a province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992 the church has consisted of three tikanga or cultural streams: Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. The church's constitution says that, among other things, it is required to "maintain the right of every person to choose any particular cultural expression of the faith". As a result, the church's General Synod has agreed upon the development of the three-person primacy based on this three tikanga system; it has three primates, each representing a tikanga, who share authority.
David Robert Chillingworth is an Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane between 2004 and 2017, until his retirement. He was also the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 2009 to 2016.
The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh, is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh.
The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil is the 19th province of the Anglican Communion, covering the country of Brazil. It is composed of nine dioceses and one missionary district, each headed by a bishop, among whom one is elected as the Primate of Brazil. The current Primate is Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto. IEAB is the oldest non-Catholic church in Brazil, originating from the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed in 1810 between Portugal and the United Kingdom which allowed the Church of England to establish chapels in the former Portuguese colony. In 1890 American missionaries from the Episcopal Church established themselves in the country aiming to create a national church; unlike the English chapels, they celebrated services in Portuguese and converted Brazilians. The Anglican community of Brazil was a missionary district of the Episcopal Church until 1965, when it gained its ecclesiastical independence and became a separate province of the Anglican Communion. Twenty years later, IEAB began to ordain women. It preaches a social gospel, being known for its commitment to fight against problems that affect vast portions of the Brazilian society, such as social inequality, land concentration, domestic violence, racism, homophobia and xenophobia. Its stance as an Inclusive Church has caused both schisms and the arrival of former Catholics and Evangelicals in search of acceptance.
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. Ministry commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.
The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.
The history of the Scottish Episcopal Church is traced by the church to ancient times. The Church today is a Christian denomination in Scotland and a member of the Anglican Communion. It has enjoyed a distinct identity and is neither Roman nor English. It is therefore not a Daughter Church in the Anglican communion.
Anglican interest in ecumenical dialogue can be traced back to the time of the Reformation and dialogues with both Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of the Oxford Movement, there arose greater concern for reunion of the churches of "Catholic confession". This desire to work towards full communion with other denominations led to the development of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, approved by the Third Lambeth Conference of 1888. The four points were stipulated as the basis for church unity, "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion":
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 more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA. Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
The Episcopal Church (TEC), also officially the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Sean W. Rowe.
The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.
↑ Pittock, Murray (1994). Poetry and Jacobite politics in eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland. Cambridge studies in eighteenth-century English literature and thought. Vol.23. Cambridge University Press. p.237. ISBN978-0-521-41092-2.
John Dowden, Annotated Scottish Communion Office (1884).
Frederick Goldie, A Short History of the Episcopal Church in Scotland from the Restoration to the Present Time, London, S.P.C.K, 1951. Revised edition Edinburgh, Saint Andrew Press, 1976. ISBN: 0 7152 0315 0.
Edward Luscombe, The Scottish Episcopal Church in the Twentieth Century, Edinburgh, General Synod Office of the Scottish Episcopal Church, 1996. ISBN: 0 905573129.
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