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Anglican religious order

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at Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 2006.]]

Anglican religious orders are organizations of laity and/or clergy in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule. They are to be distinguished from Holy Orders, the sacrament which bishops, priests, and deacons receive.

What distinguishes members of religious orders from the rest of the laity and the clergy is that they try to imitate Jesus Christ by taking vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They may additionally profess to obey certain guidelines for living. The structure and function of religious orders in Anglicanism roughly parallels that which exists in Roman Catholicism. Religious communities are divided into orders proper, in which members take solemn vows and congregations, whose members take simple vows.

Religious communities were dissolved by King Henry VIII when he separated the Church of England from papal primacy. With the rise of the Catholic Revival and the Oxford Movement in Anglicanism in the early 1800s came interest in the revival of "religious life" in England. Between 1841 and 1855, several religious orders for women were begun, among them the Community of St. Mary at Wantage and the Community of St. Margaret at East Grinstead. Religious orders for men appeared later, beginning in 1866 with the Society of St. John the Evangelist (Cowley Fathers).

In the United States and Canada, the founding of Anglican religious orders began in 1842 with the Nashotah Community (men) in Wisconsin, followed in 1845 by the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion (now defunct) in New York. At present, there are approximately 168 Anglican religious orders for men and/or women throughout the world. Of these, approximately 38 are in the USA and about 7 in Canada.

In the Episcopal Church in the United States, there are two recognized types of religious communities, called Religious Orders and Christian Communities. The differences are as follows:

A Religious Order of this Church is a society of Christians (in communion with the See of Canterbury) who voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, to holding their possessions in common or in trust; to a celibate life in community; and obedience to their Rule and Constitution. (Title III, Canon 24, section 1)

A Christian Community of this Church is a society of Christians (in communion with the See of Canterbury) who voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, in obedience to their Rule and Constitution. (Title III, Canon 24, section 2)

List of active Anglican religious orders

The following is a partial list of the religious orders in the Anglican Communion and their initials:

  • Community of Saint Mary
    Community of Saint Mary
  •  
    Sisters of Bethany
  •  
    Community of Saint Francis
  •  
    Community of the Holy Name
  •  
    Community of the Transfiguration
  •  
    Order of Julian of Norwich
  •  
    Order of the Holy Paraclete
  •  
    Order of Saint Helena

References

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