Anglicans, do you see yourselves as more Protestant, or more Catholic?

When we use such terms as Catholic or Protestant, we should really define them according to the subject we are discussing. In 1791, in a letter to the House of Lords, the Romanists described themselves as Dissenting Catholic Protestants. [Cal. S,P.{

Protestant in classic religious terms is Lutheran after the break with Rome. Today it has spread to all the evangelical denominations. Anglicans only used the word to emphasise their objections to political interference in British politice by the Bishop of Rome.

Catholics are those people who accept the Revelation of Christ once delivered to the Saints, recorded in scripture and interpreted , explained and completed by the Bishops in Council! Tis is, or was when I was taught the basis of the Church in England.

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All profess that there are seven Holy and Ecumenical Councils and these are the seven pillars of the Faith of the Divine Word on which He erected His Holy Mansion, the Catholic and Ecumenical Church!
[John 2nd, Russian Metropolitan. 1080.]

This was a political ploy to maintain the Lutheran House of Guelph, against the Roman Catholic , House of Stuart, the descendants of the Royal Martyr, S. Charles. In short it imposed by the House of Commons.It is not a doctrinal statement.

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All profess that there are seven Holy and Ecumenical Councils and these are the seven pillars of the Faith of the Divine Word on which He erected His Holy Mansion, the Catholic and Ecumenical Church!
[John 2nd, Russian Metropolitan. 1080.]

I would say catholic, since I believe in apostolic succession and its importance. However, I do reject the Roman Catholic "add-ons" (like purgatory) and the abuses.

Catholic but not Roman.

This is not, nor ever has been, as far as I can tell a doctrine or belief of any kind in the Anglican Church. It is a parliamentary statement in favour of the Lutheran Guelph family and against the Stuart , King James.
In about 1695, (?) William of Orange, at the head of a 10 000, strong army of occupation, asked the Convocation to use the term protestant more in their pronouncements so as to facilitate easier relations with the Dutch Calvinist Church, his own Church. Convocation refused pointing out that protestant was not a word used theologically in any official document of the Church in England. (Rough Trans.)

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All profess that there are seven Holy and Ecumenical Councils and these are the seven pillars of the Faith of the Divine Word on which He erected His Holy Mansion, the Catholic and Ecumenical Church!
[John 2nd, Russian Metropolitan. 1080.]

I see myself as more Anglican than either catholic or protestant.
I firmly believe in the via media established by Elizabeth I and I don't belive in crossing the boundaries into Anglo-Catholicism nor into the Evangelical Protestant side.

a good old fashioned, said or sung Eucharist, said or sung Evening prayer (evensong) is all one needs.
if someone want to be evangelical or anglo-catholic they can do it in the privacy of their own homes or in prayer groups with likeminded churchmen but publicly their should be no devotions nor theology taught that isn't consistent with the BCP or the approved prayer books of various national churches (i.e. I hate the use of the Anglican Missal)

I view myself as Anglican, which is a Catholic church.

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"...to the reading of the scripture none can be enemy, but that either be so sick that they love not to hear of any medicine, or else that be so ignorant that they know not scripture to be the most healthful medicine.


~ Thomas Cranmer

[quote=Gloriana The Faerie Queen;60005885]I see myself as more Anglican than either catholic or protestant.

Interesting! However to be an Anglican, is to be a Catholic within the Body of Christ, which is the Catholic CHurch.
S

I firmly believe in the via media established by Elizabeth I and I don't belive in crossing the boundaries into Anglo-Catholicism nor into the Evangelical Protestant side.[quote]

Elizabeth didn't establish a via media, that's a myth, she preserved the Catholic Church in this country from slipping in to a Sect, as Rome turned herself in to, at or Via, Trent!


a good old fashioned, said or sung Eucharist, said or sung Evening prayer (evensong) is all one needs.
if someone want to be evangelical or anglo-catholic they can do it in the privacy of their own homes or in prayer groups with likeminded churchmen but publicly their should be no devotions nor theology taught that isn't consistent with the BCP or the approved prayer books of various national churches (i.e. I hate the use of the Anglican Missal.


The basis of the Anglican faith is apostolic order and faith.

Individualism was not a part of it. Anglicanism is the distillation of two thousand years practice and whatever one thinks, Anglicans look back to antiquity!

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All profess that there are seven Holy and Ecumenical Councils and these are the seven pillars of the Faith of the Divine Word on which He erected His Holy Mansion, the Catholic and Ecumenical Church!
[John 2nd, Russian Metropolitan. 1080.]

[quote=luckyfredsdad;60006604]

Originally Posted by Gloriana The Faerie Queen

I see myself as more Anglican than either catholic or protestant.

Interesting! However to be an Anglican, is to be a Catholic within the Body of Christ, which is the Catholic CHurch.

In the sense that we affirm the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church of course that's true.

Normally however, when someone says what Gloriana did, they mean that the comparison between us and the RCC--with all the doctrinal innovations and modifications it has made since antiquity--is not all that strong.

Where we differ from the Romans is that the Anglican Church holds to the teaching of the First thousand years, the years before the break within the Church. Rome doesn't. The reason is that Rome has gone against the Pauline Injunctions that nothing could be added to the Revealed Faith. She has claimed that the Bishop of Rome is Infallible & has Universal jurisdiction! Further more a basic plank in the Roman arsenal is that she is the One,Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church , the Body of Christ. This is incorrect and strikes at the traditional teachings of the Church.It is a well known teaching from such early fathers as S.Cyprian, and others, that there is no salvation outside the Church!This also is Orthodox teaching, see Timothy Wares book. These are what separate us from our Roman Bretheren, all the rest is pants, as it were!

To my mind for anyone to use the terminology of ,"Catholic or Protestant, " as our friend has done is to seriously denigrate the Church in England and to severely mislead others within our Communion. Further, as an Anglican Priest, should I not politely point this out? Isn't that what this thread, or even this board is for? If Gloriana is offended in any way, I apologise, but never the less I feel it is a necessity to eradicate this misleading myth and this is my small contribution.

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All profess that there are seven Holy and Ecumenical Councils and these are the seven pillars of the Faith of the Divine Word on which He erected His Holy Mansion, the Catholic and Ecumenical Church!
[John 2nd, Russian Metropolitan. 1080.]