The Church of England

The structure of the Church of England is simple enough: the parishes are grouped into dioceses administrated by bishops; the bishops are addressed as “My Lord”, and 26 of them (in order of seniority) sit in the House of Lords; the heads of the Church under the Queen, defender of the faith, are the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

The ministers are allowed to marry, and many persons of distinction are of clerical descent. Ministers’ wives play an important part on social occasions, and proved efficient organizers of charities and entertainments.

The doctrine is more difficult to grasp, for “the toleration of incompatibles is the genius of Anglicanism.” Anglo-Catholics, though unwilling to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, are closely akin to Roman Catholics, and so fond of ceremonial that an old lady, so the story goes, was driven to regret the simple worship of the Church of Rome. Low Church followers, at the opposite pole, are up in arms against all “Romish” beliefs and observances: they ban confession, ritual and the un-Protestant practice of putting candles on the altar. In between, the Broad Church represents the via media, so English in its indifference to theology! Many Broad Churchmen are religious skeptics sentimentally bound to the traditional Church and ethnical ideal of Old England. They are pleased to think somewhat vaguely, with Dean Inge, that “God must be of greatest gentlemen.” Divergent in tendency, the three brands of Anglicanism are agreed on fundamentals. The Thirty-Nine Articles, agreed upon in 1562 and ratified in 1571, set out the doctrine; the Book of Common Prayer (1549)which fixes a uniform text, and the Authorized Version of the Bible (1616), both masterpieces of noble prose, have exerted an strong influence on religion, literature and everyday speech.

High Broad or Low, the Church of England is the spiritual home of the nation. It may be only “the Church that the majority of English people stay away from. But they want it to be there to stay away from.” For, whatever it is, it is a moderate, decent religion, which habours no fanatics and offers men of good will a noble code of behaviour.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
RELIGION IN BRITAIN	\|	Nonconformity

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.005 сек.