St. Luke Anglican Catholic Church,   Augusta, Georgia

The Church in England

As the ANGLICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH is derived from the CHURCH OF ENGLAND, it is necessary to look briefly at the origins and development of English Christianity.

In its infancy, the early Church spread from Jerusalem around the Mediterranean regions, and then to other parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. Britain was, at that time, a part of the Roman Empire, and Christianity probably arrived with merchants and seafarers. By early in the 4th century the British (Celtic) Church was sufficiently strong to have a number of bishoprics: in the year 314 three British bishops participated in the Council of Arles, summoned by the Emperor Constantine.

Upon the departure of the Roman Legions in the 5th century, the southern parts of Britain were invaded by page Angles and Saxons, who drove the Britons and their Church into the safety of the western hills (Wales) and Cornwall. Although actually seven different kingdoms, from this time the southeast sector occupied by the Anglo-Saxons began to be called "Angle-land" (later contracted to "England").

In 597 a new Church mission headed by St. Augustine arrived from Rome. Augustine's claims to jurisdiction were rejected by the British bishops, but he succeeded in reestablishing Christianity in parts of the south of Britain. Meanwhile, Christianity was being spread in the north by Celtic missionaries — notably St. Columba of Iona and St. Aidan of Lindisfarne.

Representatives of the Celtic missions in the north and the Latin missions in the south of England met at the Synod of Whitby in 664, and amalgamated to form a single Church — the CHURCH OF ENGLAND, with dual primacies at Canterbury and York. The unity achieved was particularly due to St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, a remarkable scholar at whose monastery the synod was held.

For the next 400 years the CHURCH OF ENGLAND (like the Eastern Orthodox Churches) remained in communion with, but not under the formal jurisdiction of, the See of Rome. Although imposed by military force in 1066, papal jurisdiction brought certain benefits and so for a time was accepted. These benefits included a revival of scholarship, efficient administration and international support for the bishops when they found themselves in conflict with the state.