Apostolic Succession
An unbroken chain of bishops tracing back to the original Apostles.
The faith once delivered
Faith rooted in Scripture and the Creeds
Our beliefs are based on the Bible and the time-honored Creeds of the Church. We believe the Church is meant to change the world, not for the world to change the Church. We uphold orthodox belief and tradition in the historic Christian faith.
01 · Identity
Our identity
Catholic?
You may hear us refer to ourselves as Anglo-Catholic, Anglican Catholic, or simply Catholic. You may also hear us reject the label “Protestant,” although many Anglicans describe Anglicanism as a Protestant denomination. For Christians from a Protestant background, the word “Catholic” may seem closely tied to the Roman Catholic Church.
The word catholic means universal. While we regard our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters as true Christians and part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, we do not agree that submission to the Bishop of Rome is the defining mark of the true Church. We believe its primary marks are Apostolic Succession, adherence to the Creeds and Ecumenical Councils, and faithful teaching of what the Church has always believed.
Creeds & Councils
The Nicene, Apostles’, and Athanasian Creeds and the seven Ecumenical Councils.
Faithful Teaching
Holding fast to what has always been believed by the Church.
Apostolic Succession is the chain of bishops who govern the Church and trace their lineage to the original Apostles. It preserves orthodox doctrine and the valid administration of the sacraments. As the early Church believed, we hold that sacraments such as the Eucharist, Confirmation, and Confession require an ordained priest or bishop.
At key moments in history, the Church gathered in Ecumenical Councils to confess the faith and define doctrine. We adhere to the Nicene, Apostles’, and Athanasian Creeds and recognize the seven Ecumenical Councils. We receive them as authoritative witnesses because they express the agreement of the undivided Church.
Especially in the modern era, some churches have abandoned the faith by embracing teaching contrary to historic Christianity. We believe Christians must hold fast to what Christ and His Church have taught rather than changing with the world.
The Anglican Continuum possesses valid Apostolic Succession, adheres to the Creeds and Councils, and teaches orthodox doctrine. For these reasons, we understand ourselves to be Catholic: part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church alongside other historic traditions.
We do not identify as Protestant. Our tradition reaches back to the first century. The Reformation and other historical events changed Anglicanism, but they did not create or define it. As Anglo-Catholics, we believe the Reformation addressed real needs but went too far in some areas. We seek to recover sacred traditions that were rejected or forgotten and to stand in continuity with the faith and worship of the historic Church.
02 · Common prayer
Our liturgy
Worship in beauty and ordered dignity
We use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer as the basis for our worship, together with elements of the Anglican Missal.
With Jesus Christ and His sacrament of Holy Communion at our center, we worship God and preach the Gospel with beauty and ordered dignity.
03 · Sacramental life
The sacraments
Real grace through supernatural means
The mission of Christ’s Church is the worship of God, the preaching of the Gospel, and the administration of the sacraments. We believe the sacraments are more than symbols: they convey real grace through supernatural means.
- 01Baptism
- 02The Eucharist (Holy Communion)
- 03Reconciliation (Confession)
- 04Holy Matrimony
- 05Confirmation
- 06Ordination (Holy Orders)
- 07Anointing of the Sick (Unction)
Of these seven, Baptism and the Eucharist were uniquely instituted by Jesus Christ and are generally necessary for salvation.
Water & the Spirit
Baptism
In Holy Baptism, the outward and visible sign is water, in which candidates are baptized “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The inward and spiritual grace is death to sin and new birth to righteousness through union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:1–11).
Holy Baptism is appropriately administered within the Eucharist as the chief service on Sunday or another holy day. The congregation welcomes the newly baptized into Christ’s Church and remembers the benefits and profession of its own Baptism. The bishop, when present, is normally the celebrant. Each candidate is sponsored by one or more baptized Christians committed to supporting the newly baptized through prayer and encouragement.
We believe Baptism is more than symbolic, that it is ordinarily necessary for salvation, and that infants may rightly receive it. Although an infant cannot make a personal profession of faith, the historic Church has taught from the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Church Fathers that children are received into Christ’s Church through Baptism by the faith of the Church, expressed through their parents and sponsors. At an age of understanding, that personal profession is made in Confirmation.
Bread & wine
The Eucharist
The Eucharist is normally the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day and on appointed Feasts and Holy Days. It is also called Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper. The Eucharistic rite was instituted by the words and actions of our Lord Jesus Christ as He celebrated the Passover with His twelve disciples.
Through this meal, Christ revealed the meaning of His coming, His suffering on the Cross, His death, and His resurrection. The sacrificial worship of the Old Covenant—its Temple and Law—was fulfilled in the worship of the New Covenant.
In word and action, Christ instituted a sacred rite forever joined to true worship: worship centered not in earthly temples, but in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Holy Communion is a means of grace given for the remission of sins, covenant renewal, and the strengthening of Christian life.
We affirm the historic faith of the early Church that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. This is witnessed by the Apostles, the Church Fathers, and the words of Jesus Himself. We do not attempt to explain this miracle in merely scientific terms; we receive it through faith.
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.”
Jeremiah 31:31
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
John 6:53
“Take, eat; this is My body… Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Matthew 26:26–28
04 · The tradition
What is Anglicanism?
A historic, liturgical, sacramental faith
The historic Christian faith confessed by English-speaking people throughout the world—rooted in Scripture, ordered by liturgy, and nourished by the Sacraments.
Anglicanism is an expression of the historic Christian faith that developed in England and has been practiced by English-speaking people throughout the world for centuries. Today, the Anglican tradition is shared by people of many languages and cultures.
Anglicans receive the Holy Bible as the written Word of God and the record of His revelation to humanity. This revelation is perfected and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, who became human to bring us back to God. His redeeming work continues through His Church, the visible society He founded through the Apostles and animated by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Salvation is not simply a private decision, but a life lived in fellowship within the blessed company of all faithful people.
In and through His Church, the Lord pours out His grace most clearly through the Holy Sacraments, those outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace. Holy Communion is the weekly center of Anglican worship and of the Christian life. We take seriously the words of Jesus, “This is My Body; this is My Blood,” and believe He is especially present among His people in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Supper.
Anglicans are liturgical: our worship follows ordered forms used since the earliest centuries of the Church. This joins us to Christians worshiping throughout the world and to the saints who worship God in heaven. We seek not to conform Christ to our image, but to be conformed to His image through Word and Sacrament in His Holy Church.
Scriptural
The Holy Bible is the written Word of God and the record of His revelation to humanity.
Liturgical
Our worship follows ancient forms that have shaped the Church since its earliest days.
Global
A tradition born in England and now shared by Christians of many languages and cultures.
05 · History
Anglican history
37–663
The Church in Britain
Christianity came to Britain in the first century, probably through merchants from Jerusalem. The historian Gildas wrote that the light of Christ entered the island in the final year of Emperor Tiberius, AD 37. Tertullian, writing shortly after AD 200, spoke of British lands beyond Roman reach that were nevertheless subject to Christ. Tradition also associates the arrival of the Gospel with Joseph of Arimathea.
The early Church named Aristobulus, mentioned by St. Paul in Romans 16:10 and traditionally counted among the Seventy sent by Christ, as the first bishop to the Britons. British bishops attended early councils including Arles in 314 and Nicaea in 325. When St. Gregory the Great sent Augustine to establish a Roman mission at Canterbury in 597, Augustine encountered an established British Church with its own bishops, customs, and saints. Roman and British traditions existed side by side until the Synod of Whitby in 663 adopted Roman customs for the sake of unity.
1530s–1570
The English Church
Relations with Rome were interrupted in the 1530s when King Henry VIII sought an annulment that Pope Clement VII denied under political pressure. Henry then renounced the jurisdiction of the pope and other foreign bishops within England. Communion with Rome was restored briefly under Queen Mary I in 1553, but after her death relations were again severed. In 1570, following the excommunication of Elizabeth I by Pope Pius V and repeated calls for rebellion, the Church of England once more stood as an independent Church.
1607 onward
Anglicanism in the United States
The Anglican Church came to the American colonies with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607. After the Revolutionary War and the birth of the United States, the Anglican Church in America became a distinct Church while remaining closely tied to the Church of England. Anglicans increasingly used the name Episcopalian, while declaring that the new Episcopal Church did not intend to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship beyond what local circumstances required.
The word episcopal comes from the Greek episcope, meaning overseer, the New Testament term associated with the office of bishop. The word church comes from the Greek ekklesia, meaning assembly. An episcopal church is therefore a Church overseen by bishops according to the New Testament pattern.