The Church of God exists through space and time; it is one, holy, catholic and apostolic; it is militant here on earth, expectant in the intermediate state and triumphant in Christ in heaven.
Further, the Church of God as based on the new covenant established by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, began with his Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The primitive period of the history and existence of the Church is therefore unique for it was the period when not only foundations were laid but the gospel message first went out from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and on to the Gentile world.
Looking back from the 21st century to the Church in its first period of existence, its first three centuries or until the time that Constantine become Emperor of Rome, we may ask, To what extent are we bound by the Faith of the early Church? And also, To what extent should we imitate the practices of the early Church?
There has been for a long time, and there still is, a general agreement within the Anglican Way that the Anglican province of the twenty-first century is committed to:
1. The Canon of Scripture, especially the New Testament Canon, the books which were tested, collected and approved by the early Church and became the standard, that which the Church calls “The New Testament.”
2.The Creeds of that Church, the careful summaries of the basics of the Faith, in particular what we now call The Apostles’ and the Nicene Creeds.
3. The Threefold Ministry of Bishop, Presbyter and Deacon, with the Church divided into provinces and dioceses.
4. The Lord’s Day as the primary day of Christian worship in celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, together with the observing of the Christian Year.
5. The use of the two dominical Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the preaching and teaching of the Word of God written.
6. The gathering of the Church leaders together in local, national, provincial and universal synods or councils.
7. The general principle of liturgical, structured worship and the general principle of canon law to preserve order and discipline.
This list could perhaps be shortened or lengthened but as it stands it indicates a general agreement.
Imitating the Early Church
Pressure groups from time to time seek to add to this list out of a desire and determination to cause the modern church to imitate what is presented as a fixed rule of the Early Church. In recent times, the liturgists (organized in provincial liturgical commissions) have been the ones to add to this list and then to insist that what they have added is as binding as those items listed above.
What have they added? The need for a specific shape to the Liturgy, specific posture & gestures in participating in the Liturgy, and a specific interpretation of the Church/Christian Year.
(a)Rejecting the shape, structure and content of the Order for Holy Communion found in The Book of Common Prayer as not being authentic and not hallowed by use through four centuries of time, they insisted that the modern Eucharist must have the same basic shape and content as the known liturgies from the third century. In this enterprise Gregory Dix’s book, The Shape of the Liturgy, was very influential. The new shape made space for “the passing of the peace” wherein everyone present is encouraged to show some outward sign of peace to others near to or around him. (It is conveniently forgotten that in the third century congregations were divided into women on one side and men on the other and the kiss of peace did not cross from male to female or vice versa and so the modern form is very different from the ancient.)
(b)Rejecting the long established practice in the Western Church of kneeling to pray and especially kneeling during the Prayer of Consecration in the Eucharist, they insisted that the proper stance was to stand, symbolizing the redeemed people of God standing at the Banquet of the Lamb. And they further insisted that since the Early Church called for standing in worship during the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost, that custom should apply without exception today. They even wrote Eucharistic Prayers that included a commitment to be standing – “we thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you” (Common Worship, C of E)!
(c)Rejecting the very long-standing division of the period from Easter Sunday to Pentecost as a period of 40 plus 10 days (that is 40 days to the Ascension and ten days from the Ascension to Pentecost) they insisted that the Church of today imitate that of the third century and speak of “the fifty-day Easter” and “the great fifty days” and include no change of emphasis and piety from Ascension Day to Pentecost. The Easter Candle must therefore remain lit through Ascension Day (when it used to be extinguished as Christ is lifted up into heaven) to Pentecost.
(d)And together with these innovations (“restorations” they would say) within the Anglican jurisdiction and its long established rites, the same liturgists insisted at the same time on two other things – that the long established English language of prayer be also discarded in favor of their attempt to create “a contemporary language of prayer”, and that the words of the liturgy be printed as if it were poetry not prose (which is actually is!). Thus their revolution has been a mighty one – new shape and content to the Liturgy and a new language in which it is celebrated. No wonder the Anglican Way has been unstable since the 1960s!
One cannot turn back the clock and do the whole process of revision over again. However, one can plead in 2004 for greater space and much more positive commendation and toleration within the Anglican Way of the use of the classic, historic Anglican Liturgy with its own shape and content and with its own special language of prayer and worship.
(see further Common Worship Considered, 2003, by Peter Toon [Edgeways Books of Great Britain ISBN 0-907839-78-9, www.edgewaysbooks.com)
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.),
Christ Church, Biddulph Moor & St Anne's, Brown Edge
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