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Is a self-governing
independent anglican episcopal
community worldwide
The Anglican Free Communion - The Episcopal Free Church (Old name: Free
Protestant Episcopal Church) is a large group of Anglicans of all varieties
of churchmanship from Anglo-Catholic (High Church), Evangelical (Low Church),
Latitudinarian (Broad Church), Charismatic and Liberal. All of the Provinces
of the Communion are autonomous, comprising self-governing churches and
families of churches around the world This Communion was established in England on 02 November 1897 by a
union of several small British episcopates established in the 1870s,
independent of the Church of England: The
Ancient British Church, founded in 1866, by The Most Rev’d Charles Isaac
Stevens; The
Nazarene Episcopal Ecclesia, founded in 1873, by The Most Rev’d James Martin; The
Free Protestant Church of England, founded in 1889, by The Most Rev’d Leon
Checkemian The Most Rev'd Leon Checkemian (1848 - 1920), an Armenian Uniate
bishop had moved to Britain and became an Anglican and served as the first
primate of the new Church The mission of the Anglican Free Communion was to act as a reunion
church among the various Protestant bodies, possessing valid Catholic
sacraments and thus avoiding the objections raised by the Holy See to the
Holy Orders of the Church of England. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer was the
normative liturgy, while the 1878 Constitution and Canons of the Reformed
Episcopal Church in Great Britain were adopted. Checkemian was elected the
first Primus as Mar Leon, and the Pro-Cathedral of the church was St Stephen’s
Church, East Ham. In 1900, Checkemian retired from the Primacy in favour of
Stevens, also passing to him the headship of the United Armenian Catholic
Church of the British Isles, a body for Armenian expatriates that he had
founded in 1889. In 1917 the Anglican Free Communion was legally recognized
by the English courts when one of its clergymen was declared exempt from
military service by virtue of his ordination Currently The Anglican Free Communion is a communion of free anglican
churches around the world, living an anglican reconciliation and unity The
following Mission statement was approved, in General Synod 2012, in
Bolivia, with an initial theme statement “No matter who
you are or where you are on your spiritual journey you are welcome to
our table. The Gifts of God are
free!” Mission The spirituality of our ecclesiastical communion is inclusive,
equitable and ecumenical. We are Christians on pilgrimage to and in Jesus
Christ. We believe that the Word of
God in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures contains all necessary for
Salvation. We live the Apostolic and
Sacramental Traditions expressed in the first four councils of the
church. We accept as symbols of the
faith the Apostolic, Nicene and Athanasius Creeds. We rejoice in our freedom
in Christ. We respect all primates and leaders of the Christian world but we
live and minister without being subject to any primate beyond our
jurisdiction and/or any primates elected by other persons or in secret. We
are not subject to any European monarch “Anglican Ethos” Anglican
Liturgy: Use of the Book of Common Prayer Apostolic
succession: Ecclesiastical structure with Historic Episcopacy Infant baptism
without re-baptism Ecumenism Equity and
inclusiveness Episcopal manifesto of Nov.3, 2012 As a Communion we declare ourselves to be in solidarity for a just
society. We reject all forms of Imperialism and violence whether physical,
economic, psychological or other. We promote actions in favour of the
Universal Human Rights Declaration with the purpose of making the Kingdom of
God present here and now Apostolic Succession This Church holds valid Apostolic Succession derived from the Armenian Catholic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Church of England (through the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United States of America). These lines were in the jurisdictions that united in 1897 to found the Free Protestant Episcopal Church |
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