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Welcome Center | What We Believe | Our Worship |
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Our History
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REC Sites |
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Christianity in Britain was already established and
ancient by the time of the Council of Arles (314, A.D.), to which the
Church of Britain sent bishops. Tertullian (185 A.D.) writes that
the cross had conquered in areas of Britain where the eagle (Rome) had
not. And St. Augustine of Canterbury writes to Pope Gregory,
after landing on British soil (597 A.D.), that the British Church
already had its own ancient order, government and liturgy.
Evidently, Christianity had come to Britain very early - most likely
during the first
century already. This is the beginning of our history. This ancient and catholic Church gradually came under the government of the Roman see during the Middle Ages but then regained the responsibility of regulating her own affairs during the necessary corrections at the time of the English Reformation. This reformed and catholic Church throve under the pastoral hand of the English episcopacy, and under the authority of Holy Scripture she simplified the complicated worship of the later middle ages and corrected accrued abuses. The result was the eminently biblical and pastoral Book of Common Prayer, by which the English speaking people of the world were able to pray and worship truly in common as one corporate body. This Church came to these American soils in the earliest British settlements of the 16th century, and after the Revolutionary War, was organized as the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America. During the latter 19th century, higher biblical criticism began to worm its way into American seminaries and universities, undermining confidence in the authority of God’s Word, and making it increasingly difficult for simple biblical Episcopalians to worship in “the old paths.” Due to the forceful and
unfortunate imposition of the revisionism of the 1970’s the Chapel of
the Cross organized in 1986 as an independent Episcopal Parish until
the realignment of the orthodox within Anglicanism should allow a
return to the regular episcopal government and worship assumed by the
Ordinal and Offices of the Book of Common Prayer. During those
early years, the Chapel cultivated local ministries and developed
friendships with various continuing Churches and bishops, and since
then has found a home in the Reformed
Episcopal Church and is nearing the completion of its full
membership. The REC suffered a similar history in its
own formation 135 years ago, and is blessed with the distinction of
maintaining an undivided denomination since it was organized in 1873
under the leadership of George David Cummins, a bishop in the
Protestant Episcopal Church.
The Reformed Episcopal Church has more than 13,400 members in 137 local parishes and missions, and has been privileged to serve during the current realignment of Anglicanism worldwide. The Chapel of the Cross is
happy and eager to maintain and minister this ancient and sublimely
modern and relevant Gospel of God’s salvation and sovereignty in Jesus
Christ.
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Reformed Episcopal Church in Germany The REC Board of Foreign Missions Anglican Way Institute Conference Seminaries: Reformed Episcopal Seminary (Philadelphia, PA) Cranmer Theological House (Houston, TX) Cummins Theological Seminary External Studies |
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All material on this site © 2008 The Chapel of the Cross unless otherwise noted |
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