About This Website
The best way of telling you what real Anglicanism is, and what this site is about, is to give you FIVE great quotations from our tradition.
1.
"One Canon of
Scripture which we refer to God, two Testaments, three Creeds,
the first four Councils, five centuries and the succession of the Fathers in these centuries,
three centuries before Constantine, two centuries after Constantine, draw the rule of our
religion."
Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, 1555-1626
2.
"The Preachers
chiefly shall take heed that they teach nothing in their preaching,
which they would have the people religiously to observe and believe, but that which is agreeable to
the Doctrine of the Old Testament and the New, and that which the Catholick Fathers and Ancient
Bishops have gathered out of that Doctrine."
The Elizabethan Canons, 1571
3.
"As for my religion,
I dye in the holy catholic and apostolic faith
professed by the whole Church before the disunion of East and West, more particularly in
the communion of the Church of England, as it stands distinguished from all Papal and Puritan
innovations, and as it adheres to the doctrine of the Cross."
Bishop Thomas Ken, 1637-1711
4.
"I BELIEVE
there is no LITURGY in the world, either in ancient or modern language,
which breathes more of a solid scriptural rational piety than the COMMON PRAYER of the CHURCH of
ENGLAND. And though the main of it was compiled considerably more than two hundred years ago, yet
is the language of it not only pure, but strong and elegant in the highest degree."
Revd Dr John Wesley, 1703-1791
5.
"[Politicians]
are employed in framing laws and statutes for preventing crimes,
and keeping the disorderly multitude within bounds; and at the same time, by personally
discountenancing public worship, they are weakening, they are even abolishing, among the
multitude, that moral restraint which is of more general influence upon manners than all
the laws they frame.
Revd Dr Hugh Blair, 1718-1800
What Do Anglicans Believe?
There are as many Anglicanisms as Anglicans today, which is very sad. However, I have collected on this website a wide range of original texts to help you understand what the Church of England was traditionally really all about.
1. Thirty-Nine Articles Of Belief
These were written in the 16th century, and are intended to mark out the boundaries of
Anglicanism. They are not on the same level as Scripture or the Church Fathers, but they were
originally intended to keep everyone singing (so to speak) from the same hymn sheet.
2. The Catechism
A simple summary of the main points, intended for children primarily but suitable for adults
too. Bishop Thomas Ken composed several prayers on the Catechism, which you can find on this page too.
3. The Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament
Contrary to what is often stated, traditionally Anglicans do believe that Christ is truly present
in the Holy Communion. They are just coy on exactly how it happens, and don't like it to sound too gruesome.
4. Confession
Confession is an important part of Anglican spirituality, a gentle spiritual counselling and
a confirmation for weary souls of God's unconditional forgiveness.
5. Traditional forms of worship
The 1662 Book Of Common Prayer is our Divine Liturgy, so that we believe what we pray, and pray what we believe - and not just what we
can put in legal documents or academic treatises.
6. Due honour to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Although the English Reformers strongly discouraged prayer directly to the Saints, they set great store by honouring their
memory and their example. Mary the mother of Jesus is still to us Our Lady, the Mother of God, and the supreme image of the faithful
praying Christian, above all in the Holy Communion where by the Spirit of God we too give birth to Jesus in our souls, as she bore Christ in the womb.
7. Justification By Faith Alone
Or as St Thomas Aquinas put it, "No man may merit the first grace". It was God who reconciled us to himself
through the Cross and Precious Blood of our Saviour. We cannot now deserve by our efforts something that
God has already freely offered to us.
8. Sanctification By The Holy Spirit
That we are not merely declared righteous, but by degrees, and through the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, made partakers in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), is one of the dictinctive teachings of traditional Anglicanism, and something which joins it with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
9. The Need For Good Works
Our fitful charity and cold piety, and above all our dreams of a Utopia created for us by
political ideologies, cannot please God - especially when he knows what we could achieve, guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ,
and relying on his all-embracing love and
the warmth of his free and unconditional grace.
10. Liberty and self-discipline, rather than government control
Traditional Anglicanism totally rejects the Nanny State, and all attempts to make us all nice by political correctness and
regulation. "We are not justified by the law, but by grace".
See also: The spirit of Anglicanism
A few short quotations illustrating what the "via media" or tolerance and moderation means, and how it
does NOT mean lack of principle or religious convictions.
The Prayer Book Society
The Prayer Book Society (England)
"The Prayer Book Society exists to promote and preserve the use of the Book of Common Prayer (1662). The 1662 Prayer
Book is the traditional service book of the Church of England, and it contains the Church's historic beliefs.
"In practice, however, the Book of Common Prayer is increasingly endangered by indifference and undermined by neglect.
In many churches, it is not used at all, whilst in others it is marginalised to "off-peak" times such as Evensong and
8.00 a.m. Holy Communion. Too often, new clergy emerge from ordination training with little or no knowledge of the Book
of Common Prayer, and most younger churchgoers and newcomers to the church have barely even heard of it.
"The Prayer Book Society works to ensure that the Book of Common Prayer will continue to be available to future generations."
NB This website and accompanying blog strongly support the Prayer Book Society, but they have no official connection with it. All the views expressed here are my own, and aren't necessarily shared by the society. The same goes, you won't be surprised to hear, for the Church of England.
See also: Anglicans For Life
About The Author
This website has been created by Nicholas Armitage MA (Oxon) PhD (Dunelm), sometime Visiting Lecturer in Religious Studies at Sunderland University, England.
Sadly,
I have for some years been confined to the house with chronic ill health.
I sincerely hope that this website, and the knowledge that at least one other person believes what you believe, will bring you comfort.
If you like this website, please tell me! You can .