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The Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 259,200 members in 2023. While active membership in the church has declined significantly in recent decades, the government Scottish Household Survey found that 20% of the Scottish population, or over one million people, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity in 2019. The Church of Scotland's governing system is presbyterian in its approach, therefore, no one individual or group within the church has more or less influence over church matters. There is no one person who acts as the head of faith, as the church believes that role is the "Lord God's". As a proper noun, the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland used in the media and by the church itself.
The Honours of Scotland, informally known as the Scottish Crown Jewels, are the regalia that were worn by Scottish monarchs at their coronation. Kept in the Crown Room in Edinburgh Castle, they date from the 15th and 16th centuries, and are the oldest surviving set of crown jewels in the British Isles.
The Church of Scotland was one of the first national churches to accept the ordination of women. In Presbyterianism, ordination is understood to be an ordinance rather than a sacrament; ministers and elders are ordained; until recently deacons were "commissioned" but now they too are ordained to their office in the Church of Scotland.
Susan Marjory Brown is a Scottish Presbyterian minister. She is the minister at Dornoch Cathedral and Honorary Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland. She was the first woman to take charge of a cathedral in the United Kingdom.
Dornoch Cathedral is a Church of Scotland parish church serving the small Sutherland town of Dornoch, in the Scottish Highlands. As a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the church is not the seat of a bishop but retains the name due to being, historically, the seat of the Bishop of Caithness. The cathedral's churchyard is adjoined by Dornoch Castle, the somewhat reconstructed remains of the medieval palace of the Bishops of Caithness. It was formerly a Catholic Cathedral.
The High School of Glasgow is a private, co-educational day school in Glasgow, Scotland. The original High School of Glasgow was founded as the choir school of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1124, and is the oldest school in Scotland, and the twelfth oldest in the United Kingdom. On its closure as a selective grammar school by Glasgow City Corporation in 1976, it immediately continued as a co-educational independent school as a result of fundraising activity by its Former Pupil Club and via a merge by the Club with Drewsteignton School. The school maintains a relationship with the Cathedral, where it holds an annual service of commemoration and thanksgiving in September. It counts two British Prime Ministers, two Lords President and the founder of the University of Aberdeen among its alumni.
The Church and Society Council was a former agency of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which was tasked with facilitating the Church's engagement with, and comment upon, national, political and social issues. It was merged with the World Mission Council on 1 January 2020, as to create the Faith Impact Forum, as part of a wide ranging reform of General Assembly bodies agreed at the General Assembly of 2019.
Robert Bruce was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland which was called on 6 February 1588 to prepare defences against a possible invasion by the Spanish Armada. King James VI was so sensible of the valuable services of the church in preserving public tranquillity, during his absence in Norway on the occasion of his marriage, that in his letters to Bruce he declared that he was "worth the quarter of his kingdom." John Livingstone, the preacher at the Kirk of Shotts revival, said of Bruce "in my opinion never man spake with greater power since the apostles' dayes".
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Assembly, the Moderator then spends the following year representing the Church of Scotland at civic events, and visiting congregations and projects in Scotland and beyond.
James Leslie Weatherhead was a minister of the Church of Scotland and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 1993–1994.
John Marshall Lang was a Church of Scotland minister and author. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1893 and later became Principal of the University of Aberdeen in 1900.
Elizabeth Lorna Hood, is a minister of the Church of Scotland. From 1979 to 2016, she was the minister of North Parish Church, Renfrew. From 2013 to 2014, she also served as Moderator of its General Assembly. She is an Extra Chaplain to the King in Scotland, appointed in September 2023.
Angus Morrison, is a minister of the Church of Scotland who was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 2015–2016. He had been nominated for the role a year earlier but withdrew because of ill health. He is an Extra Chaplain to the King in Scotland, appointed in 2023.
Archibald Main, was a Scottish ecclesiastical historian, Church of Scotland minister, military chaplain, and academic. From 1915 to 1922, he was Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of St Andrews. From 1922 to 1942, he was Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Glasgow. He served as Chaplain to the King from 1925 and as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1939 to 1940.
John Rodger Gray, was a Scottish minister serving in Dunblane Cathedral who was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1977.
Charles William Gray Taylor was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1942/3.
Iain MacLeod Greenshields is a Church of Scotland minister, who served as Moderator of the General Assembly from 2022 to 2023. He undertook key roles as Moderator for the funeral of Elizabeth II and the Coronation of Charles III. He was ordained in 1984, and currently serves as minister of St Margaret's Community Church in Dunfermline, Fife where he has been a minister for 16 years. His wife Linda is a teacher of religious, moral and philosophical studies at Levenmouth Academy, Buckhaven.She has taught for 42 years.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
On 5 July 2023, the Honours of Scotland were presented to King Charles III in a ceremony held in St Giles' Cathedral. The ceremony was formally described as a National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication to mark the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
References
- 1 2 Sugden, Maureen (20 May 2023). "New moderator elected as King Charles says the church 'inspires'". Herald Scotland. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ↑ Buchanan, Jill (28 October 2022). "Former Camelon minister Reverence Sally Foster-Fulton named as next Church of Scotland Moderator". Falkirk Herald. National World Publishing. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ↑ Macauley, Joanne (20 May 2023). "Hundreds of churches will have to close, says Kirk". BBC News. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
- ↑ "Moderator gives homily at Honours of Scotland thanksgiving service". The Church of Scotland. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.