WE ARE TRULY ANGLICAN!
By: Father Larry Winslow
In the current crisis within
the Anglican Church of Canada along with similar profane directions in the
Episcopal (Anglican) Church of the USA (ECUSA), it is often asked why those who
area appalled by the heretical directions of the leadership of these two bodies
do not simply “cut bait” and run (move on) to another denomination that truly
upholds the Holy Scriptures and their simple understanding of the faith once
delivered to be the veritable Divinely Inspired Holy Word of God.
The response is very simply
that WE TRULY BELIEVE The Fundamental Faith of the Anglican Communion to be a
true and powerful expression of the continuing Church Catholic since Apostolic
Times. We believe Reformation Anglicanism to be a powerful vehicle through
which the Will of God and the Power of God are truly transmitted via Word and
Sacrament to His people who have accepted the Salvation He offers in His Son
Jesus Christ! And, it is in this faith that we stand! Further, we truly believe
that Almighty God has planted us in the Anglican Church of Canada at this time
to stand for the Truth of His Gospel in this arm of His Church!
This whole issue that
surrounds the question of the place the Divinely Inspired Word of God has in
The Anglican Church is one that was also key to the entire Reformation process.
At that time the Roman Catholic Church had deviated from that Holy Word by
“following the guidance of a spirit” through the “Vicar of Christ” and other
leadership in the fund raising means of Indulgences, and the “doctrines” of
Purgatory, Salvation by Works, and the determination of other doctrine outside
of Holy Scripture. This is not to mention the corruption that existed at the
top leadership level. It was in bringing forth the primacy of the Holy
Scriptures and having them made available in the language of the peoples that
the Reformation was successful. God’s Word won out over corrupt rulers, rules
and doctrines not supportable by that Divinely Inspired Word.
The English Reformation was very heavily concentrated upon the
centrality of the Holy Word of God. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer once said, "If there
were any word of God beside the Scripture, we could never be certain of God's
Word; and if we be uncertain of God's Word, the devil might bring in among us a
new word, a new doctrine, a new faith, a new church, a new god, yea himself to
be a god. If the Church and the Christian faith did not stay itself upon the
Word of God certain, as upon a sure and strong foundation, no man could know
whether he had a right faith, and whether he were in the true Church of Christ,
or in the synagogue of Satan." And, of course, the Thirty-Nine Articles
are emphatic in their presentation of such primacy of Holy Scripture as BEING
the Word of God and CONTAINING all things necessary for
Salvation. Further, the articles forbid the Church to use one portion of
Scripture to override another portion of Scripture. Richard Hooker made it
clear in his “Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity” that Holy Scripture always stands
in judgment over Reason and Tradition (even Apostolic Tradition) while upholding
the valid role the latter two hold in the understanding of God’s intended
meaning in that Holy Word. The Canadian Anglican Ordinal requires those being
ordained to vow and sign adherence to The Solemn Declaration of 1893 including
the Thirty-nine Articles of Faith thus declaring adherence to the Holy
Scriptures as BEING the Word of God, the Traditional Creeds (as
they were intended to be understood by their authors) and the Thirty-nine
Articles (as they were intended to be understood by their authors) as being
sound interpretation of the Word of God and with the desire and intention that
this Church be a functioning part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
To be truly Anglican, especially in the sense that has been posited by the
Lambeth Conference and by the results of the meetings of the Worldwide
Primates, requires adherence to these instruments of faith – all of which are
founded upon the clear and simple understanding of the Divinely Inspired Holy
Word of God. Any breaking away from such faith once delivered through the
Living Lord Jesus Christ is separating from that for which the Anglican
Communion stands. Any segment of the communion that would wish to deny any
aspect of this Reformation Faith would be removing itself from that Worldwide
Anglican Communion!
Thus, when the current
debate within the Anglican Church of Canada is examined in the light of the
Reformed Anglican Faith, it becomes clearly obvious that those who hold to that
Faith ARE the True Anglican Church of Canada. It is those who
remain within the Worldwide Communion through adherence to the truly Catholic
Faith of the Anglican Communion, as understood in the parameters of the English
Reformation, who comprise the True Anglican Church of Canada.
And, for this reason, it is most important for the truly faithful Orthodox Christian members of the Anglican Church of Canada to remain firm and resolute within the Federation of the Orthodox Conservative members of that Church. For it is in this Church (the community of those faithful to Jesus Christ in the faith He once delivered through His Life and through the Holy Scriptures) that the True Anglican Church will remain in Canada. And those who are faithful to Jesus and are willing to stand in His Faith must see themselves as being compelled by that faith to stand firm as far as possible within the Church to work for her renewed reformation by the elimination of those forces that would try to remove her from the Worldwide Anglican Communion!
Of course, there will be
exceptions to this goal. There will be those who are so persecuted by the
current revisionist liberal leadership that departing the formal organisation
is seen to be the only route. But such departure should be to a Church
organisation that is embraced by the Worldwide Anglican Communion and stands
firm for the parameters of the Faith founded upon Jesus Christ and affirmed by
the criteria of the English Reformation. And, the ultimate goal should be the
eventual reunification with those who stand firm from within the current
Anglican Church of Canada in ultimately maintaining her involvement in the pure
faith upheld by the Worldwide Anglican Communion. How all this will actually
play out is known only to Almighty God at this time.
In either case, the goal is
the continuation of true Anglicanism by those who remain faithful to the
parameters of the Worldwide Communion. It is in this determination that
Anglicanism will continue in Canada in all its truth and faithfulness to the
Lord Jesus Christ under the guidance of the True Holy Spirit of Almighty God.
It is the goal of those of us who are truly Anglican.
In short, we are Truly
Anglican, and will remain faithful and determined to effect the continuation of
Reformation Anglicanism in Canada.