Editing Anglican Communion (section)

==Historic episcopate==
The churches of the Anglican Communion have traditionally held that ordination in the [[historic episcopate]] is a core element in the validity of clerical ordinations.{{sfn|Whipple|Gilbert|Nichols|Wright|1896|p=}} The Roman Catholic Church, however, does not recognise Anglican orders (see ''[[Apostolicae curae]]'').{{sfn|O'Riordan|1907}} Some [[Eastern Orthodox]] churches have issued statements to the effect that Anglican orders could be accepted, yet have still reordained former Anglican clergy; other Eastern Orthodox churches have rejected Anglican orders altogether. Orthodox bishop [[Kallistos Ware]] explains this apparent discrepancy as follows:

{{blockquote|Anglican clergy who join the Orthodox Church are reordained; but [some Orthodox churches hold that] if Anglicanism and Orthodoxy were to reach full unity in the faith, perhaps such reordination might not be found necessary. It should be added, however, that a number of individual Orthodox theologians hold that under no circumstances would it be possible to recognise the validity of Anglican Orders.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/history_timothy_ware_2.htm |title=Excerpts from the Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos Ware |publisher=Fatheralexander.org |access-date=20 July 2012 |archive-date=17 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717012001/http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/history_timothy_ware_2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}