05/08/2018
ANGLICAN AND ANGLICANISM.
1. The Book of Common Prayer is the foundational prayer book of Anglicanism. In 1549, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, created the book by translating Latin Catholic liturgy into English , and infused the prayers with Protestant reform theology.
The book became one of the great works of literature and influenced both the English language and the liturgies of other Christian traditions, particularly marriage and burial rites (e.g., “Dearly beloved: We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony. . .”)
2. There are numerous terms that are unique to or have distinctive meanings when referring to Anglicanism, such as: bishop (a successor to one of the Twelve Apostles, who has been consecrated by other bishops), archbishop (a bishop who has additional responsibilities), communion (refers to both the Lord's Supper and the Anglican Communion), curate (an assistant to the person in charge of a parish), deacon (the initial level of being ordained in the Anglican Church), diocese (fundamental unit of structure of the Anglican church, which contains many parishes and churches).
Episcopal Church (The U.S. province of the Anglican Communion calls itself “The Episcopal Church”), parish (smallest unit of administration, usually consisting of only one church), province (administrative division of the church that is bigger than a diocese and smaller than the whole world), rector (a priest who is the leader of a self-supporting parish), and vicar (the priest in charge of a parish.