Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion.

History

Main article: History of the Church of England

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Church of England traces its formal corporate history from the 597 Augustinian mission, stresses its continuity and identity with the primitive universal Western church, and notes the consolidation of its particular independent and national character in the post-Reformation events of Tudor England.

Related Topics:
Augustinian - Reformation - Tudor

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Christianity arrived in Britain in the first or second centuries and existed independently of the Church of Rome, as did many other Christian communities of that era. Records note British bishops as attending the Council of Arles in 314. The Pope sent Saint Augustine from Rome in the 6th century to evangelise the Angles (597). With the help of Christians already residing in Kent, he established his church in Canterbury, the capital of Kent, and became the first in the series of archbishops of Canterbury.

Related Topics:
Arles - 314 - Pope - Saint Augustine - 6th century - Angles - 597 - Kent - Canterbury

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simultaneously, the Celtic Church of St.Columba continued to evangelise Scotland. The Celtic Church of North Britain submitted in some sense to the authority of Rome at the Council of Whitby in 644. Over the next few centuries, the Roman system introduced by Augustine gradually absorbed the pre-existing Celtic Christian churches.

Related Topics:
Celtic Church - St.Columba - Scotland - Council of Whitby - Celtic Christian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England remained a Catholic country for a thousand years, but then separated itself from Rome in 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII, though it briefly rejoined Rome during the reign of Queen Mary I in 1555.

Related Topics:
1534 - Henry VIII - Mary I - 1555

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~