Anglican Church

Anglican practices and rituals are primarily found in the Book of Common Prayer, the prayer book of Anglicanism, which helps define Anglican beliefs and worship practices on every level. The book is almost as important as the Bible itself to Anglicans. The Book of Common Prayer, which defines the “common” or shared means for prayer, has changed several times through history and has different editions from nation to nation.

The roots of the Anglican Communion began after the English Parliament recognized Henry VIII as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” The Church of England broke with Rome, largely because Pope Clement VII refused to grant Henry an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Anglican worship tends to be Protestant in doctrine and Catholic in appearance in the areas of rituals and readings, bishops and priests, vestments, and ornately decorated churches. Anglicans celebrate the traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Holy Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper or the Mass. The discipline of fasting before communion is practiced by some Anglicans. Some Anglican churches accept the ordination of women to the priesthood.

There is no single Anglican Church and there is no international juridical authority. Instead, the Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. The Anglican Communion is made up of 46 independent churches in over 165 countries, of which the US Episcopal Church is one.

The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion in the world with between 75 and 85 million members. There are also about 21.7 million “Latent Anglicans” and 7.6 Anglicans identified as outside the Communion.

Some churches whose name contains the word “Anglican” are part of the Anglican Communion and some are not. The churches outside of the Anglican Communion which also consider themselves to be in the Anglican tradition are referred to as Continuing Anglican churches. “The Episcopal Church” is the official name for the Anglican Church in the United States.