Back to Church of England,Protestant Episcopal Lines Anglican Apostolic Succession
THROUGH the CHURCH OF ENGLAND to the NONJURORS and the Scottish Episcopal Church into the PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN AMERICA to
+Robert Samuel Loiselle
Archbishop Sancroft was one of the clergy of the Church of England who after 1688 would not take an oath of allegiance to William and Mary because he had already taken an oath to James II. Along with 9 bishops and about 400 priests, Abp. Sancroft, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury, became "Nonjurors" and were deprived by their livings by an act of Parliament in 1689.
Some scholars therefore observe that the lines of Apostolic Succession from +Sancroft and +George Hickes which come down to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States through +Seabury are not a "valid line of Apostolic succession" because a "historic episcopate" must be maintained and a "schismatic" group hence does not retain that status.
However, the Scottish Episcopal Church was a historic episcopate and also a jurisdiction independent from the Church of England. Their liturgy and the Scottish Prayerbook of 1637 with its Epiklesis stand as proof of their independence and also their theological debt to + Laud and to the Usagers.
Three of the most important Scottish Episcopal bishops of the early 18th century +Falconer, +Gadderar, and +Campbell defended the Usages as essential to their faith and understanding of their Eucharistic doctrine which was Trinitarian. The doctrine of the Scottish Episcopal Church was often more Eastern in its outlook than Roman but because their politics most often were Jacobite... it has been too quickly assumed by many that they were also Roman in their theology.
We of the Anglican Independent Communion consider our Apostolic links to the Nonjurors and the theology of the Usagers and the Scottish Episcopal Church to be central in our own understanding of our liturgy and theology. PECUSA has drifted too far from these Divines. We aim by grace, practice and faith to be more faithful to them.
+Seabury the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States was consecrated on November 14, 1784 by +Kilgore, +Petrie and +Skinner all of the Scottish Episcopal Church which also had Nonjuror lines from +James Gadderar. This is why the American Prayerbooks up to 1978 have always retained a distinctive Scottish theology.
A historic irony... the present Episcopal Church in America (they have now dropped the Protestant reference) often attack the Orders of the "continuing" Anglican and Traditional Episcopal priests and bishops on the basis of a charge, that we have departed from their "historical episcopate" and are hence schismatic and lack a historical jurisdiction. However, we still use the 1928 BCP which contains almost all of their 1737 Liturgy and maintain the same Orthodox-Catholic faith, morality, practice and Orders as were given to us by them. Who has departed?
PECUSA seeking to resolve, what they later perceived as a potential problem of invalid Apostolic Succession from +Seabury via the Scottish Episcopal Church had +William White in 1787 consecrated by Archbishop John Moore of Canterbury, William Markham Abp of York and Charles Moss Bp. of Bath and Wells. The third PECUSA bishop was +Samuel Provoost also by +Moore, +Markum, +Moss.
An interesting side issue of history. The Nonjurors were given "conge d'elivre" "permission to elect" by King James II/IV. This was a right which had long been retained by the Crown and if properly passed to these bishops, then they had the right to establish their own lawful jurisdictions under the original authority of that king. The death of the last Non-juror descendent+Booth in 1805 may have taken that right to the grave. Or, did that right also lawfully pass from the Scottish Episcopal Church into PECUSA and now due to their heresy out of ECUSA and back into the Continuing Anglican/Episcopal movement world wide?
However, Pope Leo 13 in his bull in 1896 proclaimed all the Orders of the Church of England to be invalid. This caused problems for all Anglican successions in both the UK and the USA. Some Episcopal and Church of England priests looked to the Utrecht Union, Old Catholic and later to the Order of Corporate Reunion to give them Orders which were still considered "valid" by the Bishop of Rome.
It could also be argued that some Non-juror lines were excluded from the bull because they were already recognized as "Catholic" by Rome. When JamesII/IV arrived in France with Bishop John Gordon of the Scottish Episcopal Church he was then received without re-consecration into the Roman Church by the Bishop of Meaux at the request of Clemens PPXI.
Other "Old Catholics" looked towards the Orthodox Churches of the East. This option had been previously explored by the Usagers and their bishop +Brett with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria in the 1700's.
The NONJUROR lines in PECUSA came through the 5 th PECUSA bishop who was +Thomas Claggett the first bishop of Maryland consecrated in 1792 by +White, +Provoost, and +Seabury. The main consecrator in this consecration was +White.
This brings up a long running controversy, is it only the line of the main consecrator which is used to trace the Apostolic succession, or are the other two, as required by Anglican Tradition, equally as valid? On that point, one might argue that the Non-juror lines in PECUSA, were quickly done away with in the American Church.
One of the rare introductions of lines from outside the PECUSA after this point came from their bishops who were serving outside of the USA.
+Henry St. George Tucker in 1912 was assigned to Japan and he was consecrated by the PECUSA bishop +John Hines and +Rollestone Fuffe from a C of E line to the Abp of Calcutta and +Arthur Lea from a direct line to an Abp of Canterbury.
The Bishops of PECUSA are given numbers in the order of their consecrations. +Seabury was #1
+WILLIAM MONTGOMERY BROWN
WILLIAM MONTGOMERY BROWN was ordained a priest in PECUSA May 22, 1884 . He was consecrated a bishop by William Edward McLaren (114) on June 24, 1898.
At his consecration were the assisting consecrators Vincent Boyd (148). William Leonard (151), Edward Atwill (155), Charles Hale (161).
+Brown on January 2, 1927 sub conditione consecrated +Wallace de Ortega Maxey along with William Henry Francis Brothers, and +Albert Jehan and +Jozef Zielonka of the Old Catholic Church in America. The departures of +Cummings and +Brown were two of the most important Episcopal movements from PECUSA into independent Anglican and Catholic movements.
the Polish National Catholic Church
It is interesting to note that Edmond Browning #632 ECUSA was consecrated by a bishop in the +John Hines line who was also consecrated by +Henry St. George Tucker who was consecrated by +John McKim by Abram Littlejohn #91 to John Johns # 39 to J.H. Hobart #11 and Hobart was consecrated by +White, +Provoost, and +Jarvis.
In this Browning line, there is one other non ECUSA line of succession which is in the Browning consecration in 1968... a Bishop Rowinski is listed of the PNC (Polish National Church?). This is possible because the PNCC was in intercommunion with the Episcopal Church until 1978 when they separated over the Episcopal ordination of women. Today, no PNCC bishop would consecrate an Episcopal bishop or priest.
The Polish National Catholic Church has a line from the Utrecht Union which means Browning has Old Catholic and +Gul lines which are considered "valid" by Rome although his Episcopal lines are not under the Bull of 1896 of Leo 13. Pope Leo 13 in his bull proclaimed all the Orders of the Church of England to be invalid. If that is the case, then the United States Episcopal lines are also invalid with the exception of any Utrecht lines from the PNCC.
+Chambers and +Pagtakhan
Many segments of the continuing episcopal church which came about after 1977, in the United States, trace most of their PECUSA lines to +Chambers or +Pagtakhan.
+Albert Chambers consecrated +Dale Doren, the first Continuing Episcopal Bishop of the present period. He was assisted by+Pagtakhan, and a letter from +Pae. +Chambers stated he never "left" the Protestant Episcopal Church of North America. It was the position of +Doren that ECUSA left PECUSA, when they changed the theology of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer to reflect their new ethics, morality and religious practices. Hence, the name "Continuing" was attached to the traditional and classical Anglican and Episcopal faithful. Here are the +Albert Chamber PECUSA lines back to +William White.
William White, Philander Chase, Henry Whitehouse. George Seymour, Edward Osborne, Granville Sherwood, John White, Richard Loring, Charles Clough to +Albert Chambers
There is a wonderful historical discussion of the +Chambers consecration at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/5081/interview.html
+Francisco de Jesus Pagtakhan was from the P.I.C.C. (Iglesia Filipina Independiente ) but, in a PECUSA line, which came from the PECUSA bishop +Norman Spencer Binsted who was consecrated December 3. 1928 by PECUSA bishops +John Gardner Murry, +Henry St George Tucker, +John McKim, +James Freeman, and +S.H. Nichols.
+Pagtakhan was consecrated by +Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr. on September 22. 1957. +Binsted had consecrated him on April 7, 1948.
Recent developments
Other Episcopal bishops from the US Episcopal line have also consecrated bishops for the Continuing Protestant Episcopal Church. +Davies of the Episcopal Missionary Church was once the Episcopal Bishop of Dallas/Ft. Worth for example.
The recent Singapore consecrations of +Murphy and +Rogers may yet prove to be very important for the possible reunion between the Old Episcopal Churches and the Anglican Communion.
+Robert Samuel Loiselle is Anglican Use by theology and practice, however, his lines of Apostolic Succession to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church do not rest exclusively on the shoulders of +Sancroft , +Seabury or +White, as is the case, with most of the priests and bishops of the present Episcopal Church in America.
Many of the Apostolic Lines for the Continuing Anglican/Episcopal Church in America are often now mixed with other Orthodox and Old Catholic Lines. Some regard this as a strength... others a weakness.
From our perspective, in the Anglican Independent Communion, we consider that our continuing Anglican jurisdiction is strengthened by all these Apostolic Blessings, yet we remain a historic continuation of the historic Anglican Use, not as a "branch", but as a faithful member of the One Holy Body. Our people, our historic churches, thriving missions, Sacraments and Priests all announce that Truth.
R.H.T.+
Check out the AIC Orthodox and Petrine lines above.
A very interesting and well researched discussion of the history of the continuing episcopal church by Eric Badertscher is found here at
Religion & Philosophy--Christianity--Anglicanism
"Everyone Is Somebody's Schismatic":
The Episcopal "Continuing Church" Movement and American
Christianity, Part I
© 2000 Eric Badertscher
http://216.169.120.34/Webtools/VWbot4.2/shownews.cgi?in_id=970198983&cat=2