Gereja Episkopal Amerika Serikat: Perbedaan antara revisi

==History==

===Colonies and Revolution: 1607–1789===

Although the first [[congregation (worship)|congregation]] of what would become the Episcopal Church in the United States was founded in [[Jamestown, Virginia]], in 1607 as part of the [[Church of England]], the first service read from the [[Book of Common Prayer]] on North American soil occurred in 1579 near [[San Francisco]], when the crew of [[Sir Francis Drake]]'s ship landed in [[California]] (which Drake named [[Nova Albion]] and claimed for [[Queen Elizabeth I]]). English colonists brought the church to all the American colonies.

 

The Church of England became the established church in [[Virginia]] in [[1609]], [[Massachussetts]] in 1620 (until jointly established with the breakaway [[Congregational Church]] in 1660)[http://www.theannunciation.org/episcopalhistory.html], in New Jersey before 1660[http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:9OkVx3zzLpcJ:www.dominiopublico.gov.br/download/texto/gu003043.pdf+%22established+church%22+anglican+%22north+jersey%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6], in the lower part of [[New York]] in 1693, in [[Maryland]] in 1702, in [[South Carolina]] in 1706, in [[North Carolina]] in [[1730]][http://www.dinsdoc.com/weeks-1-3.htm], and in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in 1758. This was a matter of local taxes being given to the [[vestry]] for use in the churches and schools. Virginia attempted to make requirements about attendance, but with a severe shortage of clergy, they were not enforced. These vestries were part of the Church of England, whose clergy reported to the Bishop of London (from 1635) through appointed "commissaries", especially [[James Blair (clergyman)|James Blair]], who served from 1685 to 1743. After 1702 the "[[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts]]" (SPG) began missionary activity throughout the colonies. The ministers were few, the [[glebe]]s small, the salaries inadequate, and the people quite uninterested in religion, as the vestry became in effect a kind of local government. One historian has explained the workings of the [[parish]] (Olmstead, 45):

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The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, with the support of the Bishop of London, wanted a bishop for the colonies. Strong opposition arose in the South, where a bishop would threaten the privileges of the lay vestry. Opponents conjured up visions of "episcopal palaces, or pontifical revenues, of spiritual courts, and all the pomp, grandeur, luxury and regalia of an American Lambeth" (''New York Gazette'' or ''Weekly Post Boy'', [[March 14]], [[1768]]). John Adams later explained, "the apprehension of Episcopacy" contributed to the American Revolution, capturing the attention "not only of the inquiring mind, but of the common people. . . . The objection was not merely to the office of a bishop, though even that was dreaded, but to the authority of parliament, on which it must be founded" (Bonomi 1998, 200). On the eve of Revolution, a large fraction of prominent merchants and royal appointees were Anglicans—and were [[Loyalists]]. About 27 percent of Anglican priests nationwide supported independence, especially in Virginia. Almost 40 percent—approaching 90 percent in New York and New England—were loyalists. Out of 55 Anglican clergy in New York and New England, only three were Patriots, two of those being from Massachusetts. In Maryland, of the 54 clergy in 1775, only 16 remained to take oaths of allegiance to the new government (McConnell 2003). William Smith made the connection explicit in a 1762 report to the Bishop of London. "The Church is the firmest Basis of Monarchy and the English Constitution," he declared. But if dissenters of "more Republican . . . Principles [with] little affinity to the established Religion and manners" of England ever gained the upper hand, the colonists might begin to think of "Independency and separate Government". Thus "in a Political as well as religious view," Smith stated emphatically, the church should be strengthened by an American bishop and the appointment of "prudent Governors who are friends of our Establishment" (Bonomi 1998, 201).

 

By 1775 about 400 independent congregations were reported throughout the colonies. The church was disestablished in all the states during the [[American Revolution]]. The Episcopal Church was formally separated from the Church of England in 1789 so that clergy would not be required to accept the supremacy of the [[British monarch]]. When the clergy of [[Connecticut]] elected [[Samuel Seabury]] as their [[bishop]], he sought consecration in [[England]]. The [[Oath of Supremacy]] proved too difficult a problem, so he went to [[Scotland]]; the [[Nonjuring schism|non-juring]] Scottish bishops there consecrated him in [[Aberdeen]] on [[November 14]], [[1784]], making him the first Episcopal bishop outside the [[British Isles]].

 

Three years later, in 1787, two priests [[William White (Bishop of Pennsylvania)|William White]] of [[Pennsylvania]] and [[Samuel Provoost]] of [[New York]] were consecrated as bishops by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], the [[Archbishop of York]], and the [[Bishop of Bath and Wells|Bishop of Wells]]. Thus there are two branches of [[historic episcopate|Apostolic succession]] for the American bishops: 1. through the non-juring bishops of Scotland, (the nine crosses which symbolize TEC's [[List of Original Dioceses of ECUSA|nine original dioceses]] in its arms form a [[Saint Andrew's Cross]], commemorating the Scottish link) and 2. through the English church. In addition all bishops in the American Church were ordained by at least three bishops so that one can trace the succession back to Seabury, White and Provoost (See [[Succession of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States|Succession of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC)]])

 

===The Church in the American Republic (1789–present)===

 

As the United States grew, new dioceses were established, as well as the [[Convocation of American Churches in Europe]]. After the initial [[Book of Common Prayer]] written for the new church in 1789, new revisions appeared in 1892, 1928, and 1979. In 1976, the first women were legally ordained to the priesthood. Some of the first women priests were "illegally" ordained at the Church of the Advocate in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] during the [[rector]]ate of the Rev. Paul Washington, a strong advocate of the [[ordination of women]]. In 1873, the [[Reformed Episcopal Church]] broke away from the Episcopal Church over what its members saw as the loss of [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and [[evangelicalism|evangelical witness]] in Episcopalianism. During the [[American Civil War]], an ''Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America'' was temporarily formed from the dioceses within the seceded states, but this was viewed as a "separation and not a division", concerning no questions of dogma or practice (other than the prayers for Congress and the President).

 

 

===Provinces===

The Episcopal Church in the United States has nine ecclesiastical provinces, numbered as follows (divided by state, not diocese).

 

 

===Congregations===

 

Each diocese is composed of [[congregation (worship)|congregations]] of various kinds: [[cathedral]]s, [[parish|parishes]], [[Mission (Christian)|mission]]s and [[chapel]]s.

==Beliefs and Practices==

===Overview===

 

Many consider the Episcopal Church to follow the ''via media'' or "middle way" between [[Protestant]] and strictly [[Catholic]] practices. On the one hand, Episcopal liturgy, or the practice of the people in worship, closely resembles that of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and explicitly affirms as one of the bedrocks of the Faith belief, through the [[Nicene Creed]], the "one holy catholic and apostolic" church. Thus, many Episcopalians will argue that Roman Catholics are not the only "Catholics", but rather represent one of three branches of Catholicism — the [[Eastern Orthodox]], the Roman Catholic, and the Anglican — or perhaps, since intercommunion with the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India, four, including the Oriental Orthodox.

The Episcopal Church adheres to the [[Nicene Creed]] as the main statement of faith; however, the Church finds the [[Apostle's Creed]] sufficient in ecumenical matters.

 

 

====Saints====

 

====The Book of Common Prayer====

The Episcopal Church publishes its own [[Book of Common Prayer]] (BCP), containing most of the worship services (or "liturgies") used in the Episcopal Church. Because of its widespread use in the church, the BCP is both a reflection of and a source of theology for Episcopalians. The current edition dates from 1979 and represents more than just a revision of earlier books. It is marked by an attempt to return to full lay participation in all services and the recovery of the [[Eucharist]] as the principal service of the church. . The 1979 BCP also marked a reduction in the emphasis placed upon the atoning nature of the Crucifixion and also reduces the emphasis of personal sin. Such changes have further separated the modern church with the beliefs and the theology of the original BCP author, [[Thomas Cranmer]].