The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion. Founded in 1867 in London, England, the communion currently has over 85 million members within the Church of England and other national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrines are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571). The Archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares, but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all member churches of the communion, are the historic national or regional Anglican churches.
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justin Welby, who was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. Welby is the 105th in a line which goes back more than 1400 years to Augustine of Canterbury, the "Apostle to the English", sent from Rome in the year 597. Welby succeeded Rowan Williams.
The Church of England is the established church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the third century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury.
Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales, Williams was the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within the Church of England.
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.
The formal history of the Church of England is traditionally dated by the Church to the Gregorian mission to England by Augustine of Canterbury in AD 597. As a result of Augustine's mission, and based on the tenets of Christianity, Christianity in England fell under control or authority of the Pope. This gave him the power to appoint bishops, preserve or change doctrine, and/or grant exceptions to standard doctrine.
The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion. The primate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the international Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Central Synod of the church is its deliberative and legislative organ.
The collect is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy.
The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Roman Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. For much of Australian history the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.
The Church of Uganda is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently there are 37 dioceses which make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop.
The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem is the Anglican presence in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon; it is a part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and based at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem. The diocese covers 7,000 Anglicans, with 35 service institutions, 29 parishes, 1500 employees, 200 hospital beds and 6,000 students. Today, Anglicans constitute a large portion of Jerusalem's Christians.
Roger Adrian Herft AM is a retired bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. He was the Archbishop of Perth from 2005 to 2017. He was previously the Bishop of Newcastle from 1993 to 2005 and the Bishop of Waikato in New Zealand from 1986.
The Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACoM), also known as the Church of the Province of Melanesia and the Church of Melanesia (COM), is a church of the Anglican Communion and includes nine dioceses in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The newly enthroned and installed primate and Archbishop of Melanesia is Leonard Dawea. He succeeds the retired archbishop George Takeli.
The Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, formerly known as Episcopal Church of Sudan, is a province of the Anglican Communion located in South Sudan. The province consists of eight Internal Provinces and 61 dioceses. The current archbishop and primate is the Most Rev. Justin Badi Arama. It received the current naming after the inception of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, on 30 July 2017.
Anglicans Online was an unofficial weekly news magazine of the Anglican Communion. Its editorial staff was private and unaffiliated. A project of the Society of Archbishop Justus founded in 1994, AO included more than 32,000 links and had more than 250,000 readers. Its editorial line was liberal theologically, but also honored Anglican traditions and history.
The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean is a province of the Anglican Communion. It covers the islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The current Archbishop and Primate is James Wong, Bishop of Seychelles.
The Order of Simon of Cyrene is the highest award given by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to laity for distinguished service. It was established in 1960, during the tenure of Archbishop Joost de Blank, following a proposal by Bishop Robert Selby Taylor. Membership of the order is limited to 120 persons. The order is named after Simon of Cyrene, the first African saint.
Project Canterbury is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999, and is hosted by the non-profit Society of Archbishop Justus. The episcopal patrons of the site are Geoffrey Rowell Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe and Terry Brown, retired bishop of Malaita in the Church of the Province of Melanesia. Volunteer transcribers prepare material for the site, which incorporates modern scholarly material, primary source texts, photographic images and engravings.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
