education and organists. Sometimes within a parish there may be dependent congregations known as chapels or missions and presided over by vicars. Parishes are grouped together into dioceses presided over by bishops; dioceses into provinces presided over by archbishops; these in turn are joined together into patriarchates presided over by patriarchs. In the Episcopal Church there are no archbishops at the head of provinces and no patriarchates; but instead there is an elected administrative head of the Church, known as the Presiding Bishop, who is also President of the Executive Council, a body formed to supervise and stimulate the work of the Church. It also acts as the Board of Directors of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, whose constitution dates back to 1821. It is the legal body which holds the endowment funds of the Church.
A large professional staff is maintained at the Church's headquarters (815 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10017) to assist the clergy and laity in carrying on the work of Christ in the five fields of service: the parish, the community, the diocese, the nation, and the world. In addition there is a bishop specially charged with the Church's work with the American armed forces at home and abroad.
Some dioceses are subdivided into archdeaconries for missionary purposes, and these are in charge of archdeacons. Others are divided, or further subdivided, into rural deaneries or convocations in charge of a rural dean. In the Church a dean is the head of a cathedral, the principal church in a diocese located in the see city, in which the bishop has his throne or seat. The title “dean” is also given to the heads of theological seminaries.
Parochial clergy, whether deacons or priests, are addressed in writing as “The Reverend John Doe”; archdeacons as “The Venerable John Doe”; deans of cathedrals as “The Very Reverend John Doe”; bishops as “The Right Reverend John Doe”; and archbishops as “The Most Reverend John Doe.” In conversation, male parochial clergy are called Mr. Doe, Father Doe, or Dr. Doe, and female Miss Doe, Mrs. Doe, or Dr. Doe, depending on their preference and whether or not they possess a doctor's degree from some institution of learning. Archdeacons, deans, bishops, and archbishops are usually referred to in this country by those titles and their own names, as “Dean Doe,” but in other countries by the title of their office, as “the Dean of X.” Lay members of male religious communities are addressed as “Brother John” and ordained members as “Father Doe.” Members of female religious communities are addressed as “Sister Jane” and their heads generally as “Mother Jane.”
The Preamble to the Church's Constitution begins: “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, otherwise known as The Episcopal Church (which name is hereby recognized as also designating the Church), is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, a Fellowship within the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted Dioceses, Provinces, and regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer”.
The Episcopal Church is an independent part of this larger whole, which includes: the Church of England (2 provinces), the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland (2 provinces), the Episcopal Church in Scotland, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (9 provinces), the Anglican Church of Canada (4 provinces), the Anglican Church of Australia (5 provinces), the Church of the Province of New Zealand, the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, Nigeria Tegarideria the Church in the Province of the West Indies, Nippon Seikokai (Japan), Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui (China), the Church of the Province of West Africa, the Church of the Province of Central Africa, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Church of Burundi, Rwanda, and Zaire, Igreja Episcopal do Brasil, the Church of the Province of Burma, the Church of the Province in Tanzania, the Church of the Province of Kenya, the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the Church of the Province of Melanesia, the Church in the Province of The Indian Ocean, the Church of the Province of Papua New Guinea, the Church of the Province of West Africa, the Iglesia Anglicana Del Cono Sud de Las Americas, and a number of extra-provincial dioceses scattered throughout the world. Approximately every ten years the bishops of these Churches consult together at the Lambeth Conference in England.
In addition, there is a body of Churches known as the Wider Episcopal Fellowship possessing the historic episcopate, with which the Episcopal Church is in either full communion or a relationship of intercommunion. Among these are the Old Catholic Churches, the Philippine Independent Church, united churches containing former Anglican dioceses, such as those of South India, Pakistan, and North India, Bangladesh and a number of other national Churches.
BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING
Constitution and Canons for the Government of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, (revised every three years).
The Episcopal Church Annual. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, (revised annually).
HOLMES, U. T. III, What is Anglicanism? Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1982.
MCADOO, H. R., The Unity of Anglicanism: Catholic and Reformed Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1983.
Chapter III
The Church's Bible
All religions of civilized peoples possess collections of sacred writings which they regard as an authoritative revelation of the nature of their deity and of his will, In every case these writings were written by religiously-minded men to meet the needs and situation of their own day. Tradition soon endowed them with a divine origin and a sacrosanct authority. Consequently, in later times it became necessary either to revise them or make interpolations in the text; or else to resort to an allegorical exegesis in order to fit them to the religious needs of succeeding generations. What is true of the sacred books of other religions, is also true of the Bible, the sacred book of Christianity.
The Bible means books. It is a collection of writings ranging in date from about the year 900 B.C. to A.D. 150, written by men of religious insight for the needs of their own generation, and in many cases revised by others in succeeding years for their own times. The Bible is divided into two parts: the Old Testament, comprising 39 books, and the New Testament, containing 27; although a better translation of the Greek titles would be the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
The Old Testament contains a record of God's relation to humanity and humanity's relation to God under the covenant which He made with them under Abraham, and which was renewed under Moses at Mount Sinai: namely, that if they would be circumcised and keep His covenant He would be their God and give to them the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. Similarly, the New Testament contains the record of God's relation to humanity and humanity's relation to God under the covenant which He made with them in Jesus Christ; namely, that those who believe in Him and are baptized into His Name and keep His commandments will obtain everlasting salvation.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, except for a few short passages in Aramaic. In the Hebrew Bible it is divided into three parts: the Law, comprising the first five books of the Bible, supposed to have been written by Moses; the Prophets, divided into the Former Prophets (our historical books) and the Latter Prophets, comprising the three major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets; and the Writings. The earliest and the most sacred of these was the Law which in its present form dates from the time of Ezra about 444 B.C. The prophetical canon, that is, the books forming the Prophets, was formed about 250 B.C., but the final decision as to just what books comprised the Writings was not made until a council held in Jamnia in Palestine toward the end of the first century A.D.
In the course of time Hebrew became a dead language, and it was necessary to translate these writings into other languages in order that the people might understand them. The two principal
