Editing Episcopal polity (section)

==Anglican Communion==
{{Anglicanism}}
[[Anglicanism]] is a [[English Reformation|Reformation]] tradition that lays claim to the historic episcopate through [[apostolic succession]] in terms comparable to the various Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and certain Lutheran Communions. Anglicans assert unbroken episcopal succession in and through the [[Church of England]] back to [[Augustine of Canterbury|St. Augustine of Canterbury]] and to the first century [[Roman province]] of [[Roman province of Britannia|Britannia]]. While some Celtic Christian practices were changed at the [[Synod of Whitby]], the church in the British Isles was under papal authority from earliest times.<ref>Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent, The Catholic Gift to Civilisation (London: CTS), pp. 13ff</ref>

The legislation of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] effectively establishing the independence of the Church of England from Rome did not alter its constitutional or pastoral structures. [[Royal supremacy]] was exercised through the extant legal structures of the church, whose leaders were bishops. Episcopacy was thus seen as a given of the Reformed ''Ecclesia Anglicana'', and a foundation in the institution's appeal to ancient and apostolic legitimacy. What did change was that bishops were now seen to be ministers of the Crown for the spiritual government of its subjects. The influence of [[Richard Hooker (theologian)|Richard Hooker]] was crucial to an evolution in this understanding in which bishops came to be seen in their more traditional role as ones who delegate to the [[presbyterate]] inherited powers, act as pastors to presbyters, and holding a particular teaching office with respect to the wider church.

[[File:The Most Reverend Paul Kwong.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Paul Kwong]], Anglican Archbishop and Primate of Hong Kong]]
Anglican opinion has differed as to the way in which episcopal government is ''de jure divino'' (by the [[Divine Right of Kings]]). On the one hand, the seventeenth century divine, [[John Cosin]], held that episcopal authority is ''jure divino'', but that it stemmed from "apostolic practice and the customs of the Church ... [not] absolute precept that either Christ or His Apostles gave about it" (a view maintained also by Hooker).<ref>Cosin, ''Works'', Vol. IV (Oxford, 1855), p. 402</ref> In contrast, [[Lancelot Andrewes]] and others held that episcopal government is derived from Christ via the apostles. Regardless, both parties viewed the episcopacy as bearing the apostolic function of oversight which both includes, and derives from, the power of ordination, and is normative for the governance of the church. The practice of apostolic succession both ensures the legitimacy of the church's mission and establishes the unity, communion, and continuity of the local church with the universal church. This formulation, in turn, laid the groundwork for an independent view of the church as a "sacred society" distinct from civil society, which was so crucial for the development of local churches as non-established entities outside England, and gave direct rise to the [[Catholic Revival]] and [[disestablishmentarianism]] within England.

Functionally, Anglican episcopal authority is expressed [[synod]]ically, although individual provinces may accord their [[primate (bishop)|primate]] with more or less authority to act independently. Called variously "synods", "councils", or "conventions", they meet under episcopal chairmanship. In many jurisdictions, conciliar resolutions that have been passed require episcopal assent or consent to take force. Seen in this way, Anglicans often speak of "the bishop-in-synod" as the force and authority of episcopal governance. Such conciliar authority extends to the standard areas of doctrine, [[church discipline|discipline]], and worship, but in these regards is limited by Anglicanism's tradition of the limits of authority. Those limits are expressed in Article XXI of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] of Religion, ratified in 1571 (significantly, just as the [[Council of Trent]] was drawing to a close), which held that "General Councils ... may err, and sometimes have erred ... wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of holy Scripture." Hence, Anglican jurisdictions have traditionally been conservative in their approach to either innovative doctrinal development or in encompassing actions of the church as doctrinal (see ''[[lex orandi, lex credendi]]'').

Anglican synodical government, though varied in expression, is characteristically representative. Provinces of the [[Anglican Communion]], their [[ecclesiastical province]]s and [[diocese]]s are governed by councils consisting not only of bishops, but also representatives of the [[presbyterate]] and [[laity]].

There is no international juridical authority in Anglicanism, although the tradition's common experience of episcopacy, symbolised by the historical link with the [[episcopal see|See]] of [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]], along with a common and complex liturgical tradition, has provided a measure of unity. This has been reinforced by the [[Lambeth Conference]]s of Anglican Communion bishops, which first met in 1867. These conferences, though they propose and pass resolutions, are strictly consultative, and the intent of the resolutions is to provide guideposts for Anglican jurisdictions—not direction. The Conferences also express the function of the episcopate to demonstrate the ecumenical and catholic nature of the church.

The [[Scottish Episcopal Church]] traces [[History of the Scottish Episcopal Church|its history]] back to the origins of Christianity in Scotland. Following the 1560 [[Scottish Reformation]] the [[Church of Scotland]] was initially run by Superintendents, episcopal governance was restored in 1572, but episcopalianism alternated with periods when the Kirk was under [[presbyterian]] control until the [[Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711|1711 Act]] allowed formation of the independent non-established Scottish Episcopal Church. The [[Nonjuring schism]] led to the British Government imposing penal laws against the church. In 1784 the Scottish church appointed [[Samuel Seabury (bishop)|Samuel Seabury]] as first bishop of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|American Episcopal Church]], beginning the worldwide Anglican Communion of churches, and in 1792 the penal laws were abolished. The church accepted the articles of the Church of England in 1804.<ref name="Scottish Episcopal Church hist 2013">{{cite web | title=History | website=The Scottish Episcopal Church | date=5 November 2013 | url=https://www.scotland.anglican.org/who-we-are/about-us/history-timeline/ | access-date=21 May 2019}}, [https://www.scotland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/a-church-for-scotland.pdf detailed history]</ref> 
The spread of increasingly [[democracy|democratic]] forms of representative governance has its origin in the formation of the first General Conventions of the American Episcopal Church in the 1780s, which established a "House of Bishops" and a "House of Deputies". In many jurisdictions, there is also a third, clerical House. Resolutions may be voted on jointly or by each House, in the latter case requiring passage in all Houses to be adopted by the particular council.

Churches that are members of the Anglican Communion are episcopal churches in polity, and some are named "Episcopal". However, some churches that self-identify as Anglican do not belong to the Anglican Communion, and not all episcopally-governed churches are Anglican. The [[Roman Catholic Church]], the [[Old Catholic Church]]es (in full communion with, but not members of, the Anglican Communion), and the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox churches]] are recognized, and also their bishops, by [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]].