St. Luke Anglican Catholic Church,   Augusta, Georgia

An Ancient Church

There appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. — Acts 2:3

The word "Anglican" means English. THE ANGLICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH is so called because it adheres to the Catholic Faith as it was received by and from the CHURCH OF ENGLAND in the days of its orthodoxy.

To understand this, it is necessary to recall the origins of Christianity itself. Founded within Judaism by Jesus, the Christ (or "Messiah"), the Christian Church quickly came to embrace Gentiles into its fold. Endowed by Christ with the Apostolic Ministry, it survived the destruction of the Jewish Temple in AD 70, when the Jewish priesthood came to an end.

During its very first century, the Church came to describe itself as Catholic. In the ordinary sense this word means "universal." In Church usage, however, it means "orthodox." This meaning is clarified in what is known as the Canon of St. Vincent of Lerins, who defined the Catholic Faith as "That which has been believed everywhere, always and by all," (i.e. universally) within the undivided Christian Church.

The Catholic Faith is, therefore, that Faith foretold by the ancient prophets, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, proclaimed by his Apostles, recorded in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, taught by the early "Fathers" of the Church (many of whose splendid writings still exist), defended by the seven great Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church and expressed in the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Creed of St. Athanasius.