We begin our series on the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer with an overview of the history of Christian Liturgy, some of the divisions of the Church, and an overview of the 1928 BCP itself.
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Great study! Glad I found it. 2 questions: 1) Who was the Bishop whom the altar is dedicated to at All Saints Church whose remains are buried under it? 2) Among Anglican leadership of GAFCON & ACNA is it fair to say that the Orthodox view of the Eucharist is the dominant view?; the view of the Real Presence of Fr Lancelot Andrewes which was the dominant view of the English Church at least until the Low Church became very dominant and was a difference between the High Church of the Carolina Divines and Low Church!
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I’ll have to do some research on your first question and get back to you on that one.
As for the second one, you won’t find any memorialists (that I know of) among the leadership of GAFCON and ACNA. Most would probably describe their view as “real presence,” but what they mean by that may vary from place to place. In ACNA, a more classically “high church” understanding of the term is probably the norm, as that’s been the dominant approach to the Eucharist in this country for 100 years or so. Nigeria, on the other hand, was founded by English Evangelicals and was much lower in Churchmanship within living memory. That may have affected the understanding of Christ’s Presence in the Sacrament. But, again, things have changed in the last couple of decades in Nigeria as well. GAFCON as a whole is a pretty big tent. The Jerusalem Declaration is the baseline agreement. You’ll notice that it points to the 39 Articles, the 1662 BCP, etc. as the starting point, but that it has wiggle room as well.
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Nice seeing you today! I’m ecstatic for the 13th Principle of the Declaration and just wish it had specifically honored the early Church Fathers and that when Christ said “This is my Body and Blood it was both a Sacrifice sealed by the Crucifixion and a Memorial for all time! The 5th Ecumenical Council was at both Chalcedon and Ephesus and it comes down to semantics which I’m not willing or wishing to fight over! As Metropolitan Jonah said 7 is a great number with actually holy and metaphysical significance!
Bishop Lancelot Andrewes and I would have gotten along fine! I love the way the Anglicans do a Group Confessional and mention the 10 Commandments as that is what Christian ethics is all about! Evangelism as far as missionary work is fine but the role of sacred ritual is important as it symbolizes both the Sacrifice of the Old Testament and that of Christ in the New. Without Mystery it is all just a Bible Study which folks can just do online! The Sacrament must be greater than the temporal to get us all out of bed and show up when we have to wear a mask to be in Church when we all know we are well or wouldn’t show up in the first place! If by Pentecostal we mean Pentacost and the Holy Spirit, I’m all for that but the Original Creed of the Fathers does say it flows from the Father and in England it stayed so until the Latins changed it when they deposed Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury who supported the baby heir named Edgar! Greek is very specific about Father and Son being separate while Latin not so much so it offends less in Latin than in Greek! At least that is what a knowledgeable Orthodox Priest told me who is a Monk now!
Last but not least, are we affiliated with the Secker Society at all? They list traditionalist Anglican Churches! Blessings to everybody!-
Often times theological statements happen in response to some local crisis. E.g. all of the 7 Ecumenical Councils were a response to some issue of heresy that came up. Part of what happens in the Latin West that leads to the Filioque was a resurgence of Arianism in Spain leads to a desire to state the equality of the Son in no uncertain terms. And, as you said, there’s some difference in Greek and Latin that affect some of the implied nuances. The Latin doesn’t imply some of the issues that the East has with it. I think most scholars, both East and West, generally agree that it could have been expressed more precisely as “through the Son” or something to that effect without the offense. But there’s also the fact that there’s a lot of historical baggage and controversy that leads to folks sill talking past each other, regardless of what scholars and theologians agree on.
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So the bishop in question is Thomas Beckwith, who was consecrated in 1991, based out of New Braunfels, and served as the main pastor for several congregations in this part of Texas. My understanding is that All Saints didn’t have a resident priest yet, so the main service was usually Morning Prayer with a homily by the head lay leader (probably a Warden), unless Bp. Beckwith was present. Then he’d celebrate Communion. We were at that time part of the Anglican Church in America (ACA) which had formed from the ashes of the American Episcopal Church (AEC). Bishop Beckwith apparently died at Synod one year. The parish was considering a columbarium project, and Bp. Beckwith’s ashes were supposed to be interred there, but were put under the Altar until the project was completed. It never was, though we’ve recently started it up again. His portrait is in our Education building.
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