Continuing Anglicans

“Continuing” Anglican churches were typically formed by clergy and laity who left churches belonging to the Anglican community. These particular churches of the Anglican community are accused by the “ongoing” movement of having compromised themselves by adopting secular cultural standards and liberal approaches to theology ^[2] . Many “continuing” Anglicans believe that the faith of some churches in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury became either unorthodox or non-Christian at all, and therefore the “continuing” did not seek to be in communion with them ^{[3] [4]} . Although Anglican traditionally refers to churches in communion with the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury, many “ongoing” churches, especially in the United States, use the term Anglican to distinguish themselves from the Episcopal Church. Many continuing Anglicans believe that they remain faithful to historical Anglican tradition and biblical Christianity, and that this is the Episcopal Church in the United States, while other parts of the Anglican community have become unorthodox ^[5] .

It is worth noting that the jurisdictions that were part of the ongoing Anglican movement were not the first to separate from the Anglican community. The oldest independent Anglican churches are the Free Church of England, the first meetings of which were founded in 1844, and the Reformed Episcopal Church, founded in 1873. These churches are generally not considered continuing Anglican churches because they were created prior to the onset of the Continuing Anglican movement of the 1970s, however they are associated with ongoing churches at several levels and have similarities in beliefs and practices.

Other Anglican communities not affiliated with the Archbishop of Canterbury include the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa and the Orthodox Anglican Community, founded by the Anglican Orthodox Church in the 1960s.

Anglicanism as a whole has always strived for a balance between the emphasis of Catholicism and Protestantism, although it allowed a number of manifestations of evangelicalism and ceremonial. The clergy and laity of all Anglican church traditions actively participated in shaping the ongoing Anglican movement. Such traditions within Anglicanism were: “ high church ”, “ wide church ” and “ low church ”. Many of them are Anglo-Catholics with ceremonial liturgical practices of the “high church”. Others belong more to the evangelical or “low” church tradition, supporting Thirty-nine articles and often alternating Morning Prayer with Holy Communion .

The “ongoing” churches in the United States reject the 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer by the Episcopal Church and use the 1928 version or earlier official versions of the Book of Common Prayer. In addition, some Anglo-Catholic organizations also use the Anglican missal or the English missal , serving the Eucharist.

The liturgical use of an authorized version of Scripture in 1611, known in the United States as the version of King James, is also a common feature. This is done for many reasons, including aesthetics, and as opposed to liberal or progressive theology, which embodies English translations, such as the New Revised Standard Version ^[6] .

Appearance

An ongoing Anglican movement arose in the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Related churches in other countries, such as the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the Church of England (Continuing), were founded later.

In 1976, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States voted to approve the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate, and provisionally adopted a new and doctrically contradictory Book of General Prayers, which later became known as the 1979 version (1979 version). Over the next year, 1977, several thousand members of the clergy and laity who disagreed with these changes responded by meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, under the auspices of the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen ^[7] and accepted the theological statement “ St. Louis Declaration ”(Affirmation of St. Louis) ^[8] . The affirmation expressed the determination "to continue in the Catholic Faith, Apostolic Order, Orthodox Worship and Evangelical Witness of the traditional Anglican Church, doing all things necessary for the continuance of the same).

At this meeting, a new church with the provisional name “Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal)” appeared. The first bishop of the new church, Charles Doren, was appointed retired bishop of the episcopal church by Albert Chambers of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, in conjunction with Francisco Pagtahan of the Philippine Independent Church. Although a third bishop, Mark Pae of the Anglican Church of Korea, was expected to participate in this consecration, he limited himself to sending consent letter instead. This turn of events gave reason to accuse the traditionalists of violating the Anglican custom of apostolic succession, since three bishops usually participate in chirpotonia.

After consecration, Doren joined Chambers and Pagtakhan. He was later ordained bishop by James Orin Mote, Robert Morse, and Francis Watterson. Watterson soon left the movement and became a Roman Catholic priest.

Separations

In the process of ratifying the new church constitution, a sharp point of disagreement arose, as a result of which the movement was divided into two churches in the USA and a separate Canadian church: the Anglican Catholic Church led by Mote, the Diocese of Christ the King (now the Anglican Province of Christ the King) led by Morse and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. In 1981, Doren and his followers left the Anglican Catholic Church and founded the United Episcopal Church of North America, dissatisfied with the non-disposition of other jurisdictions to followers of the "low church."

Further Development

Initially, the ongoing Anglican parishes in North America were located mainly in large cities and their agglomerations . A number of small communities have emerged since the late 1990s, often as a result of divisions in existing episcopal parishes or missions. The 2007/08 Handbook of Traditional Anglican and Episcopal Parishes, published by The Concerned Believers Society ^[9] , contained more than 900 parishes related to ongoing Anglican churches or the Anglican realignment movement.

The principles set forth in the St. Louis Declaration and, to a lesser extent, in the Thirty-nine Articles on Religion provide some basis for unity in the movement, but its constituent jurisdictions are numerous, but small in number of arrivals, often split and reunited. Many of these jurisdictions of a later origin also called themselves "continuing Anglican", although they have nothing to do with the St. Louis Congress and do not adhere to all its principles. In some reports, the number of such jurisdictions amounted to more than forty, but in total, less than a dozen jurisdictions, popularly referred to as “Continuing Anglican Churches,” the story goes back to the meeting in St. Louis.

Reunification efforts

In 2007, various jurisdictions attempted to overcome divisions within the movement. The Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King, and the United Episcopal Church of North America entered into a discussion about possible organic unity. The Communion Agreement was concluded on May 17, 2007 ^[10] . In January 2009, one bishop from each jurisdiction participated in the consecration of the three suffragan bishops in St. Louis, intending to serve all three jurisdictions.

The Anglican Episcopal Church and the independent Diocese of Great Lakes formed the North American Anglican Conference for mutual assistance between the "biblical Anglican" churches. The suffragan bishop was consecrated for the Anglican Episcopal Church at the end of 2008 by the presiding bishop and three bishops of the Diocese of Great Lakes. The Diocese of Great Lakes and the Anglican Episcopal Church subsequently merged with the United Episcopal Church of North America.

Another regional association that promotes dialogue and communication is the Common Cause Appalachia, which includes some ongoing Anglican churches in Georgia , Kentucky , North Carolina, and Tennessee ^[11] .

In 2007, an ongoing Anglican church body, the Traditional Anglican Community (TAC), made an official proposal to the Roman Catholic Church for admission to “full corporate and sacramental union” with this church in a way that would preserve some of its Anglican heritage ^[12] . On July 5, 2008, the Vatican announced that it was seriously considering calls received from various Anglican groups seeking an alliance with itself, noting that “the situation within the Anglican community as a whole has become much more complicated” ^[13] . On October 29, 2009, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced the intention of Pope Benedict XVI to create a new type of church structure ^[14] called the “personal ordinate” for Anglican groups entering into full communion with Rome ^[15] . On November 4, 2009, Pope Benedict signed the apostolic constitution of Anglicanorum coetibus . The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America - the American province of the traditional Anglican community - responded on March 3, 2010 by unanimously voting for a request for admission in accordance with the personal otdinariat ^{[16] [17]} . Over the course of several months, however, most bishops of the Church of England in America reported their opposition to this movement ^[18] , and the church has since announced its intention to remain a continuing Anglican institution.

The following is a list of church bodies commonly called Continuing Anglican. The approximate number of their North American parishes is shown in parentheses.

• American Anglican Church (12)
• Anglican Catholic Church (100) - includes the traditional Anglican Church of Canada (9)
• Virginia Anglican Church (5)
• Anglican Orthodox Church (5)
• Anglican Orthodox Southern Episcopal Church
• Anglican Province of America (55)
• Anglican Province of Christ the King (45)
• Episcopal Christian Church of North America (4)
• Diocese of the Holy Cross (20)
• Episcopal Missionary Church (25)
• Holy Catholic Church - Western Rite (16)
• Orthodox Anglican Church (12)
• America's Traditional Anglican Church (8)
• Traditional Anglican Community:
  • Anglican Church in America (60)
  • Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (12)
• United Anglican Church (6)
• United Episcopal Church of North America (25)