"If the Church of Rome would rest where they do": Bramhall on the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox

Another extract from Bramhall's Discourse III: A Reply to the Bishop of Chalcedon (1656), a response to a work by the Roman titular Bishop of Chalcedon, in which he responds to the accusation that at the Reformation the ecclesia Anglicana broke communion with the "Eastern Churches". Here Bramhall praises the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches and states how the reformed ecclesia Anglicana is aligned to them in essential matters of Faith, sacraments, and discipline, and urges the See of Rome to follow the example of the Orthodox. (It is also worth noting that his inclusion of the Oriental Orthodox anticipates contemporary ecumenical dialogue with that noble tradition and communion.)

1. But for these Grecian, Russian, Armenian, and Abyssinian Churches, I find gross superstitions objected to some of them, but not proved. I find some inusitate [i.e. unfamiliar] expressions about some mysteries which are scarcely intelligible or explicable, as the Procession of the Holy Ghost, and the union of the Two Natures in Christ, which are not frequently used among us, but I believe their sense to be the same with ours. The Grecians do acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be the Spirit of the Son. And all the other Churches are ready to accurse the errors both of Nestorius and Eutyches. But that which satisfies me is this, that they exact of no man, nor obtrude upon him, any other creed, or new articles of Faith, than the Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, with the explications of the general Councils of Ephesus, Constantinople, and Chalcedon, all which we readily admit and use daily in our liturgy. If the Church of Rome would rest where they do, we might well have disputable questions between us, but no breach of unity in point of faith.

2. Likewise in point of discipline, all these Churches ascribe no more to the Pope than a primacy of order, no supremacy of power or universal jurisdiction. They make a general Council, with or without the Pope's suffrage, to be the highest ecclesiastical tribunal. Let the Romanists rest where they do rest, and all our controversies concerning ecclesiastical discipline will fall to the ground.

3. Thirdly, they have their liturgy in a language understood. They administer the Sacrament in both kinds to all Christians. They do not themselves adore, much less compel others to adore, the species of Bread and Wine (howsoever they have a kind of elevation)*. They have no new matter and form, no tradition of the Paten and Chalice in Presbyterian [i.e. presbyteral] Ordination, but only imposition of hands. They know no new Sacrifice, but the commemoration, representation, and application, of the Sacrifice of the Cross: just as we believe. Let the Romanists but imitate their moderation, and we shall straight come to join in communion, in Sacraments, and Sacramentals also. Yet these are the three essentials of Christian religion, Faith, Sacraments, and discipline.

*It is interesting to note how Bramhall rightly distinguishes the "kind of elevation" in the Orthodox Divine Liturgy from its role and function in the Tridentine rite, and the absence of 'eucharistic adoration' as understood by Tridentine theology and practice.

From The Works of The Most Reverend Father in God, John Bramhall, Volume II.

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

'Whether the Lutheran Churches have right Ordinations and perfect succession of Bishops': Jeremy Taylor, 'Episcopacy Asserted', and Lutheran orders

Amidst the bitter controversies over episcopacy in the Three Kingdoms during the early 1640s, controversies which had become war in Scotland in 1637 and then in England in 1642, Jeremy Taylor wrote his Laudian defence of episcopal order, The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy Asserted and Maintained . He proposed in this work that the non-episcopal Reformed churches could have had episcopally-ordered clergy: Those good people might have had order from the bishops of England or the Lutheran churches, if at least they thought our churches catholic and Christian. Leaving aside the reality that, for example, French Protestants would have been placed in an invidious political position if they had done as Taylor proposed, it is the reference to "the Lutheran churches" which is significant. To begin with, a large portion of the Lutheran churches - those in the German lands - were governed by a system of superintendency. It is almost inconceivable that Taylor was not aware of th...

laudable Practice

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