Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established church of England and holds pride of place in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Although Christians were present in England since the fourth century or earlier, the Church of England traces its roots to Augustine of Canterbury, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, in the seventh century. See history of the Church of England. The English Church was in union with Rome until the reign of Henry VIII. The break with Rome came when Pope Clement VII refused to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry turned to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, for his annulment, and upon procuring it, married Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII in 1533.

Henry VIII was recognized as supreme head of the Church of England on February 11, 1531.

Becoming the head of the church not only made it possible for Henry to divorce but also gave him access to the considerable wealth that the Church had amassed. This was however at a time of major religious upheaval in Western Europe called the Reformation and some split was probably inevitable. As it is the Church of England retained a form of worship closer to the Roman Catholic form than other Protestant churches. For example, the church has a hierarchical organization. The head of the Church of England is officially the reigning monarch, but its effective chief cleric remains the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has its own court system known as the Ecclesiastical courts.

Only minor changes in liturgy were made during the Henry's reign. Significantly more changes occurred under his son, Edward VI, including thoroughgoing revision of the liturgy along Protestant lines. The resulting Book of Common Prayer was issued in 1549 and revised in 1552, and was issued by authority of Parliament. At the death of Edward, the Catholic Mary came to the throne. She renounced the Henrician and Edwardian changes, and re-established unity with Rome. Upon her death in 1558, her sister Elizabeth came to power. Elizabeth was a determined Protestant, and re-established the Royal Supremacy over the Church, and then in 1559 a new Book of Common Prayer was issued. Elizabeth presided over the "Elizabethan Settlement", an attempt to harmonize the Puritan and Catholic forces in England.

During the Interregnum, the ascendant Puritans replaced the Episcopalian government of the Church with a Presbyterian form, but retained the principle of ultimate state control of religious matters. When Charles II came to power, the Episcopalian government was re-established, and the Book of Common Prayer was issued in a new revision in 1662.

In Scotland, the established Church of Scotland is Presbyterian, but there is a smaller Anglican church known as the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and Wales is now an independent province of the Anglican communion.

someone should add here a suitable similar short comment about the Church of Ireland

In addition to England proper, the jurisdiction of the Church of England extends to the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and many congregrations on the continent of Europe known as the Diocese of Europe.

On March 12, 1994 the Church of England ordained its first female priests.

Supreme Governors of the Church of England