mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (11/07/84)
Please change the title if you feel the need to flame at this article. (This means you, Yiri. You too, Rich.) Where Episcopalians Come From The Episcopal Church is an anglican church; these churchs are a descended from the Church of England, which broke off from the Roman church during the Reformation. Contrary to popular opinion, it's not Henry VIII's fault; England has always had its own tradition of christianity, and the church as we know it did not take shape until Edward's brief reign. Being in some part descended from the Roman church, there is a continuity of liturgical practice; being a protestant church, it shares much theology with the other major protestant churches, particularly the Lutherans. God and Christ Episcopalians accept three sources of religious authority: scripture, church tradition, and reason. All three are necessary, and none is elevated to a position of primacy. In particular, we accept the Nicene Creed as authoritative; we believe in the Trinity. The church generally avoids statements on theology, although there is near universal opposition to fundamentalist theology. THe church encourages a diversity of theological opinion, and claims no infallible authority on any subject. Liturgical Practice The Episcopal liturgy is dictated by the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, although dissident groups in most dioceses have been allowed to continue to use the 1928 book. Services are organized around a three year cycle of readings for each of the Sundays of the church year; the Eucharist (Holy Communion for you other protestants) is the normative service for Sundays. The church year begins at the beginning of Advent, and progresses through the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost. (Some churches mark the period between Ascension Day and Pentecost as a seperate season.) There are a number of days appointed as Major Feasts and Fasts; the former include Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Independence Day [I'm not joking] and All Saints Day; the latter, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There are also lesser feasts and "days of optional observation" (e.g. St. Patricks Day). Episcopal services, unlike many protestant services, have lots of congregational response. Services like baptism, marriage, ordinations, and confirmations include vows on the part of the congregation to support the persons on whom the sacrament is being performed. While I'm on the subject of sacraments: We believe in the traditional seven, and unlike the presbyterians, we do not believe they are symbolic. Organization The Episcopal Church is organized into dioceses, each headed by a bishop. The church is nominally headed by the presiding bishop, but is actually governed by the church convention, organized into three houses: one of bishops, one of preists, and one of laypeople. Each diocese is comprised of parishes, headed by a rector and a vestry. Missions are also sponsored where a parish would not be appropriate; in the diocese of Washington [D.C.], for example, the Episcopal chaplancy is a mission, as well as one directed towards Spanish-speaking residents of the district. Since most nations have national anglican churches, the church in the USA generally does not engage in foreign missions, although we heavily support the african churches. The Episcopal Church has supported many ecumenical efforts, and recognizes the legitimacy of a large number of christian denominations. A group of Lutheran churches enjoys special status as co-equal churches; most parishes invite all baptized christians to share communion. A number of sects are, however, explicitly disputed, including the Mormons and the Johovah's Witnesses. For those who are interested, I recommend _Hunting the Divine Fox_ by Robert Farrar Capon as an amusing introduction to Episcopal theology; the Forward Movement publishes a series of pamphlets on Episcopal beliefs and practices; contact your local Episcopal parish. Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe