Before learning about the ideas of Anglicanism and the history of this religious movement, it is necessary to understand the conditions under which it was formed and with what other Christian currents it competed.
Protestantism
The emergence of Protestantism contributed toReformation of the 16th-17th centuries. This spiritual and political ideology was one of the determining factors both in the life of European states and in the life of countries of other continents. For centuries, various Protestant currents have offered their views on the solution of religious issues and the spiritual needs of Christians.
The emergence of new offshoots of Protestantismcontinues to this day. The most massive Protestant currents are Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism. Zwinglianism also played a significant role in the formation of Protestantism, but you will learn more about it below.
a brief description of
Initially, the concept of "Lutheranism" was synonymous withProtestantism (on the territory of the countries of the former Russian Empire, this formulation was relevant almost before the outbreak of the revolution). The Lutherans themselves called themselves "evangelical Christians."
The ideas of Calvinism were widespread inthe whole world and influenced the history of all mankind. The Calvinists made a great contribution to the formation of the United States of America, and also became one of the ideologists of the tendency to combat the tyranny of the 17th-19th centuries.
Unlike Calvinism and LutheranismAnglicanism appeared by the will of the ruling elite of England. It is King Henry VIII who can be called the founding father of this movement. After its creation, the church institute became the national stronghold of the royal monarchy, in which the rule of Anglicanism became the king's, and the clergy obeyed him as an important part of the apparatus of monarchical absolutism.
Zwinglianism is a bit different from the othersProtestant movements. If Calvinism and Anglicanism were at least indirectly associated with Lutheranism, then Zwinglianism was formed apart from this movement. It was widespread in southern Germany and Switzerland in the 16th century. By the beginning of the 17th century it had merged with Calvinism.
Protestantism today
At the moment Protestant currentsare distributed in the United States of America, the countries of Scandinavia, England, Canada, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. The main center of Protestantism can deservedly be called North America, since there is the largest number of headquarters of various Protestant movements. Protestantism of today's type is characterized by the desire of universal unification, which was manifested in the creation of the World Council of Churches of 1948.
Lutheranism
Данное движение зародилось в Германии, having formed the basic foundations of Protestantism as such. At its sources stood Philip Melanchthon, Martin Luther, as well as their like-minded people who shared the ideas of the Reformation. Over time, Lutheranism began to spread in France, Hungary, Austria, Scandinavian countries and in North America. At present, there are approximately 75,000,000 Lutherans on our planet, 50,000,000 of which are members of the World Lutheran Union, formed in 1947.
Lutherans have several spiritual books, butmost thoroughly the essence of their creed is set forth in the "Book of Concord". Adherents of this movement consider themselves to be theists, who support the idea of the triune God and profess the divine-human essence of Jesus Christ. Of particular importance in their worldview is the concept of Adam's sin, which can be overcome only through God's grace. For the Lutherans, the most accurate criterion for the correctness of faith is the Holy Scripture. Special authority is enjoyed by other sacred sources, which fully correspond to the Bible and not the other way around (for example, the Holy Tradition of the Fathers). Critical assessment is also given to the judgments of churchmen who are directly related to the sources of confession. They include the work of Martin Luther himself, to whom members of this movement are treated with respect, but without fanaticism.
Lutherans recognize only two types of sacrament:baptism and communion. Through baptism, a person accepts Christ. Through the sacrament, his faith is strengthened. Against the background of other denominations, Lutheranism stands out because not only the holders of the holy dignity, but also ordinary Christians can take communion with the chalice. According to the Lutherans, the priest is just the same person who is no different from ordinary laymen and is simply a more experienced participant in the religious community.
Calvinism
From the holy Protestant trinity "Lutheranism,Calvinism, Anglicanism, "a second movement played a very important role in the reform processes.Having arisen in Germany, the flame of the Reformation soon swallowed up Switzerland, giving the world a new Protestant movement called Calvinism.It arose almost at the same time as Lutheranism, but developed in many respects Without the influence of the latter, because of the large number of differences between these two reforming branches, in 1859 their official division took place, which fixed the independent existence of Protestant movements.
Calvinism differed from Lutheranism moreradical ideas. If Lutherans demand to remove from the church that which does not correspond to the biblical teaching, then Calvinists want to get rid of what is not required in this teaching itself. The basic foundations of this trend were set forth in the works of Gene's wife Calvin, the main of which is the work “The Instruction in the Christian Faith”.
The most important doctrines of Calvinism, distinguishing it from other Christian currents:
- Recognition of the sanctity of biblical texts only.
- The ban on monasticism. According to the adherents of Calvinism, the main goal of men and women is the creation of a strong family.
- The lack of church rites, the denial of the fact that a person can be saved only through the clergy.
- The statement of the doctrine of predestination, the essence of which lies in the fact that the pre-installation of human life and the planet occurs according to the will of God.
According to Calvinistic teachings, only faith in Christ is necessary for eternal life, and works of faith are not needed for this. Good deeds of faith are necessary only to show the sincerity of their faith.
Zwinglianism
When it comes to Christian movements,Many people recall Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism, but at the same time they forget about another quite important trend called Zwinglianism. The founding father of this branch of Protestantism was Ulrich Zwingli. Despite the almost complete independence from the ideas of Martin Luther, Zwinglianism in many aspects is similar to Lutheranism. What Zwingli, that Luther were adherents of the idea of determinism.
If we talk about checking the church rules on theirtruth, then Zwingli considered correct only that which is directly confirmed by the Bible. All the elements that distract a person from deepening into himself and causing vivid emotions in him, it was necessary to completely remove from the church. Zwingli advocated the cessation of church sacraments, and in the churches of his like-minded people visual arts, music, and the Catholic Mass were canceled, which was replaced by sermons dedicated to Holy Scripture. The buildings of the former monasteries became hospitals and educational institutions, and the monastic things were given to charity and for education. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Zwinglianism became part of Calvinism.
Anglicanism is what?
You already know what Protestantism is andWhat are its main directions. Now we can go directly to the topic of the article, and more specifically to the peculiarities of Anglicanism and the history of this movement. Below you can find all the detailed information.
Origin
As mentioned earlier, Anglicanism isThe Protestant Current, which is a purely English treasure. In Britain, King Henry VIII Tudor was the founder of the Reformation. The history of Anglicanism is very different from the history of other Protestant movements. If Luther, Calvin and Zwingli wanted to radically change the Catholic church system, which at that time was in a state of crisis, then Heinrich went for it because of more personal motives. The English king wanted Pope Clement VII to divorce him with his wife Catherine of Aragon, but he did not want to do this, because he was afraid of wrath by the German emperor Charles V. In order to achieve his desired goal, Henry VIII issued an order in 1533 about the independence of the church institute England from the papal protectorate, and in 1534 he became the sole head of the new church. After some time, the king issued the basic tenets of Anglicanism, the contents of which in many respects resembled Catholic, but with an admixture of the ideas of Protestantism.
Church reform
Although Anglicanism is an ideaHenry VIII, the real church reforms took his successor Edward VI. When he first began to rule, Anglican dogmas were described in 42 articles bearing the characteristics of both Catholicism and Protestantism. During the reign of Elizabeth, some rules of the English religion were reworked, and as a result only 39 articles remained, which are still valid today. The new religion set forth in these articles is a mixture of Catholicism, Calvinism, and Lutheranism.
Peculiarities of the teachings of Anglicanism
Now consider the basic tenets and rules of the Anglican Church, drawn from a Christian movement.
From Lutheranism, Anglicanism took the following:
- Acceptance of the Bible as the main and only true source of faith.
- The statement is only two necessary ordinances: baptism and the sacrament.
- The abolition of the veneration of saints, the worship of icons and relics, as well as the teachings of purgatory.
From Calvinism:
- The idea of predestination.
- The idea of reaching the kingdom of heaven through faith in Christ without doing godly deeds.
From Catholics, the Anglicans retained the classicchurch hierarchy, but at its head was not the pope, and the king of England. Like the main Christian denominations, Anglicanism holds to the idea of a triune God.
Features of worship in Anglicanism
It has already been mentioned that this religiouscurrent has its own rules and laws. Features of worship and the role of the priest in Anglicanism are described in the "Book of Common Prayer." This work was based on the Roman Catholic liturgical rank, which operated in the territory of Britain before the birth of Protestant movements. In addition to the English-language translation of old ideas, religious reform in England was manifested in the reduction of an already existing rank (for example, in the abolition of most rites, traditions and services) and in changing prayers according to new rules. The creators of the Book of Common Prayer wanted to significantly increase the role of Holy Scripture in Anglican worship. The Old Testament texts were divided in such a way that each year their part was read once. The Gospel, with the exception of the Revelation of John the Theologian, from which only some of the points were taken, is divided so that it is read three times during the year (with the holiday and Sunday readings of the Apostle and the New Testament not considered). If we talk about the book of psalms, then it was necessary to read it out every month.
Anglican liturgical order is rathera copy of the Protestant system, rather than the Roman Catholic or Orthodox. But despite this, this branch of Christianity retained some elements that were unacceptable in Protestantism. These include church priests' clothes, which they wore during worship, rejection of the devil and blessing of water during baptism, the use of a wedding ring in marriage, etc.
The English Church Administration is divided into twoparts: Canterbury and York. Each of them is ruled by archbishops, but the head of the Canterbury branch is the main church hierarch of the Anglican church, whose influence extends beyond England.
Among the Anglicans have long been created threeparties that exist to this day: Low, Wide and High Church. The first party represents the radical views of Protestantism and wants the Anglican Church to rely more on Protestantism in its teaching. The second party is not even a party as such: it includes ordinary people, whom, in fact, the existing rituals are indifferent, and Anglicanism in the form in which it exists now fully satisfies them. The high church, in contrast to the Low Church, on the contrary, tries as far as possible to move away from the ideas of the Reformation and preserve the characteristic features of the classical church, which appeared before the birth of Protestantism. In addition, the representatives of this movement want to revive those rules and traditions that were lost many centuries ago, and also bring Anglicanism closer to the common universal church as much as possible. In the mid-19th century, among the high church leaders, the “highest” church appeared. The founder of this game was Oxford teacher Pusey, and its members called themselves Pueseans. Because of their desire to revive the old church rites, they also received the name "ritualists". By all means, this party wanted to prove the significance of the Anglican religion and even to unite it with the Eastern Church. Their views are very similar to the ideas of Orthodoxy:
- In contrast to the same Lutheranism, Anglicanism of the highest church sample recognizes not only the Bible, but also Holy Tradition as an authority.
- In their opinion, in order to gain eternal life, a person needs not only to believe, but also to perform godly deeds.
- "Ritualists" advocate the veneration of icons and holy relics, and also do not reject the worship of saints and prayers for the departed.
- Do not recognize predestination in the Calvinistic sense.
- They look at the sacrament from the point of view of Orthodoxy.
Now you know the definition of Anglicanism, the history of this Christian movement, as well as its characteristics and characteristics. We hope this article has been helpful to you!
