The Church of England (in English , is the Church Christian officially established in England. Its erection as a church independent of the papacy in the sixteenth ^century is the origin of the Anglican branch of Christianity occupying an intermediate position between Catholicism and Protestantism. The Church of England is the "mother church" of the Anglican Communion.

His primacy is the archbishop of Canterbury , position held by Rowan Williams since 2003. The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is the ruler of the United Kingdom as a Sovereign of England , so it's Elizabeth II that title since 1952.

The land base of the Church of England, the Isle of Man ( Diocese of Sodor and Man ), the Channel Islands (part of the Diocese of Winchester ). Several Anglican communities in Europe, Russia , in Turkey and Morocco are the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. Until 1920 the dioceses of Wales were part of the Church of England, they have made since their independence, forming the Church in Wales.

The Church of England itself as both Catholic and Reformed .

• Reformed because the church follows several principles of doctrine and institutional reform of the sixteenth ^century. They appear in the reference texts of the Anglican faith established in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I : The Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-nine Articles .

Summary 1 History 1.1 The opening of the break with Rome 1.2 The Reformation 1.3 The break with the papacy 2 Doctrine and Liturgy 2.1 A wide range of liturgical and doctrinal positions 2.2 The issue of women priests or bishops 3 Mode of organization 4 Today 5 Current relationship with Catholicism 6 Notes and references 7 See also 7.1 Related articles External 7.2 Links

/ / History

The preliminaries of the break with Rome

In the late Middle Ages , the Church of England seemed hardly call upheavals as profound in Europe. However, especially since John Wyclif denounced the decadence of spiritual power, many critics were circulating on the Church , and more on the pope. Moreover, in this country as the humanism entertained the idea of reform based on the Bible. And William Tyndale , then disciple of Martin Luther , he had translated into English the New Testament. His translation will be used for the base sequence of the New Testament of the version known as " King's Jacques "or" authorized " .

The Reformation

Even before the Reformation , the king of England exercised a dominant influence on the English Church. This explains why in this country, the Reformation was the work not of a religious movement emerged from the base or a few individuals, but sovereign. The role of Henry VIII was here capital. This prince, originally intended for an ecclesiastical career, had been trained theologically. Early in his reign he showed himself obedient son of the Roman Church. He defended the seven sacraments against Martin Luther , which led the Pope to confer the title "Defender of the Faith." With his Lord Chancellor Thomas More , he also vigorously objected to the translation of the Bible of William Tyndale.

The break with the papacy

The ground breaking with the papacy was the desire of King Henry VIII of "divorce" from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope Clement VII refused to annul the first marriage of the king. In 1531 , King broke ties with the pope, which was the origin of the independence of the Anglican Church.

In 1534 , Henry VIII had prepared the Act of Supremacy making the King and his successors "the sole and supreme head of the Church of England."

In 1539 , the Bill or Act of Six Articles organizes the Anglican Church, and in 1562 , Elizabeth ^I did enact the confession of faith of the Church.

Where Anglicanism became the official religion, Catholics were severely persecuted in their rights. The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales recall these anti-Catholic persecution.

Doctrine and Liturgy

The churches of the Anglican Communion have very close positions on doctrinal, liturgical and sacramental is why we can speak of Anglicanism (a term coined in the ^nineteenth century ) to talk about the faith of these churches, including the Church of England.

The dioceses are headed by bishops , but the government of the church at all levels, is assigned to synods which also involved the laity elected. The church discipline is distinct from that of the Catholic Church since the secular clergy ( priests and bishops ) can marry and have children, whether before or after their ordination.

Sunday (and sometimes during the week), we celebrate the Eucharist , the same structure as in other traditional churches. According to the tradition of the Church primitive, the faithful receive Communion under both species.

A wide range of liturgical and doctrinal positions

It is within the Church of England were born the great spiritual currents that shape Anglicanism:

• the Anglo-Catholicism , succeeding in large part to the movement High Church history is marked by a sacramental doctrine and liturgy that are close to the Roman Catholicism;
• the evangelism (also called Low Church ) puts more emphasis on preaching;
• the current Liberal (Broad Church Broad Church ) criticizes the notion of tradition and which is relatively open.

Each of them always form an important component of this church, even if these currents overlap, and some come in a variety of individual attitudes in matters of doctrine and liturgy.

Thus there are differences in the number and nature of the sacraments , or as to the existence and terms of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The Anglican Communion has no uniform liturgy, however, the Book of Common Prayer has long served as common reference. Under the influence of the liturgical movement , the Church of England in 1980 introduced a competitor to the book of common prayer, the Alternative Service Book , whose use has spread rapidly in the parishes before him even replaced from 2000 by a series of books entitled Common Worship.

Meanwhile, some parishes Anglo-Catholics use translations of the Roman Missal suitably adapted: these are the English Missal and the Anglican Missal. Some Anglo-Catholic liturgies are very close to the Roman rite , or his old form ( Tridentine rite ), or the rite of Sarum prior to the Reformation.

The issue of women priests or bishops

Mode of organization

It is the Archbishop of Canterbury , who chairs the board of Bishops of the Anglican world, but it has no power over the sister churches of the Anglican Communion. All the bishops of the Anglican world meets regularly at conferences in Lambeth.

Note that all of continental Europe is only one diocese (known as Gibraltar ) Church of England, not of autonomous churches.