Historic episcopate (Anglican views)

The historic episcopate is the understanding that the Christian ministry has descended from the Apostles by a continuous transmission through the episcopates. While other churches have relatively rigid interpretations for the requirements of this transmission, the Anglican Communion accepts a number of beliefs for what constitutes the episcopate.

In the sixteenth century, a solid body of Anglican opinion emerged which saw the theological importance of the historic episcopate but refused to 'unchurch' those churches which did not retain it.^[1] This was questioned during the earlier part of the seventeenth century and the 1662 Act of Uniformity excluded from pastoral office in England any who lacked episcopal ordination. This was a reaction against the abolition of episcopacy during the Commonwealth period.^[2] The refusal of the Non-Jurors to swear allegiance to William III raised the question as to the nature of the Church and its relationship with the state and some theologians such as George Hickes and William Law appealed to an apostolic episcopate as its basis.^[3] This concept became part of the thought of the High Church but only came into real prominence with Newman and the Tractarians after 1833 when the possibility of Church reform and possibly disestablishment by parliamentary action became a reality. The tensions were increased by the "romanizing tendencies" of the Tractarians and later the Ritualists and Anglo-Catholics.

The historic episcopate has been among the major issues in schemes for church reunion such as the Church of South India and the Anglican-Methodist Conversations of the 1960s which failed and were renewed informally in 1995 and led to a Covenant in 2003 (JIC).