The Roman Church as seen by the Anglican Church

By Archbishop Methodios Fouyas, 1972.

Much of the Anglican writing concerning the Roman Church can be found in the works of the seventeenth-century Anglican divines. John Cosin (1594-1672), speaking of the agreements and disagreements between Anglicans and Romans, says that the Bishop of Rome could be acknowledged to be the Patriarch of the West, but not by divine right.1

William Laud (1573-1645), says: 'The Roman patriarch, by ecclesiastical constitutions, might perhaps have a primacy of order'; but he is equal to the other patriarchs.2 Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), on the other hand, says that there is not one Canon of the Catholic Church directly declaring the authority of the Pope; nor any mention made of him, except thrice [twice] accidentally; once upon occasion of declaring the authority of the Alexandrine Bishop, the other upon occasion of assigning to the Bishop of Constantinople the second place of honour, and equal privileges with him.'3 Elsewhere Barrow says that the order fixed among the great Sees of the Christian Church followed the greatness, splendour and opulency of the cities. Amongst the other Anglican Divines, John Bramhall (1594-1663), Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715) and George Hickes (1642-1715) plainly deny any universal authority of the Pope.4 James Ussher is reputed to have called the Pope 'Antichrist',6 and, although he denied the authorship of this remark, it remains as an indication of Anglican feelings towards Rome during the seventeenth century. Marco Antonio de Dominis (the former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Spalato who from 1617 to 1622 was in the Church of England) calls the Pope 'Pharaoh' and 'Antichrist'.6

The Roman Church did a great deal towards establishing Christianity firmly in England. It sent St. Augustine, who with his missionaries converted the south-east of England. The Church of England was united with Rome until the Reformation. St. Gregory, Pope of Rome, has always been regarded as the Apostle and founder of the Church of England. The Anglican Church, says Puller,7 recognizes that 'the Local Roman Church, over which St. Gregory presided as being its Bishop, is our Mother Church, for which we should naturally wish to feel a filial reverence and gratitude'. But in later times the Popes became tyrannical, so that this filial feeling has in fact almost disappeared. However, when Anglicans speak about the foundation of their Church they like to acknowledge that the Roman Church in the time of Pope Gregory was a loving Mother.

Amongst the Tractarians the Church of Rome was recognized as a true Church. Some of them were attracted by the great Church of the West, others and especially William Palmer (of Worcester College, Oxford) said that Rome is 'an unsound and corrupt Branch of the Christian Church' or that 'the Church of Rome is a corrupt Church, but still a part of the Church of Christ in spite of its glaring imperfections'.8

In favour of Rome were W. G. Ward,9 Froude,10 Pusey, and Newman. Keble maintained neutrality towards Rome.11 More recently, Archbishop Garbett wrote that the Church of England, in accepting the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, acknowledged advantages in the existence of a higher spiritual power. But since the Reformation, the promulgation of the decree of Papal infallibility has further widened the breach with Rome.12 Like Villain, Garbett 13 thinks that the Church of England is inspired
more often and more directly by Platonic philosophy, and especially the Eastern Fathers of the Church.

The new doctrinal definitions of the Roman Church 14 are thought by Anglicans to be innovations, which are not grounded on Scripture nor on the tradition of the Early Church. On this point E. L. Mascall insists that modern Christianity must go back to its origins. The claim, characteristic of his book,15 is that both Byzantium and Rome, as well as the Reformation, have been unfaithful to the ancient Tradition. The dialogue between the Churches should be based on Patristic thought. On Roman Catholic ecclesiology, Mascall says 'Rome must abandon juridical ecclesiology and make it sacramental'.

It is indisputable, as Anglicans admit, that the Roman Church represents half of Christendom and that for long it was characterized by strong discipline and uniformity. It still has great boldness in proclaiming what it considers to be the Gospel and is unwilling to compromise on what seem to it to be essential truths. The zeal and sacrifice which it consecrates to the service of the one Lord in every corner of the world are well-known. Anglicans believe, however, that they must raise their positive protest against the methods of the Roman Church in interpreting truth.


1 P. E. More-F. L. Cross, Anglicanism (London, 1957), p. 55.
2 op. cit., p. 57.
3 op. cit., pp. 61, cf. p. 65.
4 op. cit., pp. 65-9.
5 op. cit., p. 69.
6 op. cit., p. 74.
7 Puller, op. cit., pp. 3-4, cf. also Cyril Garbett, The Claims of the Church of England, p. 23. A different view has been expressed, however, for example: 'Great Britain owes much more than most are willing to acknowledge to the Eastern Church. Rome may have been the stepmother of the Church of England, but assuredly the Orthodox East was her mother.' A. Lowndes, Vindication of Anglican Orders, Vol. ii, p. 545.
8 Cf. William Palmer, Treatise on the Church of Christ, 3rd. ed., vol. I, Part I, chapter xi; H. P. Liddon, Life of Pusey, ii, 295; see also F. Oakeley, Historical Notes on the Tractarian Movement (1865), p. 36 ff.
9 Wilfrid Ward, W. G. Ward and the Oxford Movement.
10 Froude's Remains, Part I, vol. i (1838), pp. 306-8.
11 John Keble, Letters of Spiritual Counsel, ed. by R. F. Wilson (1870), pp. 78-9.
12 Garbett, op. cit., pp. 18-19. The Tractarians generally rejected the supreme authority of the Pope. They accepted a primacy, but not his authority over his brethren.
13 Op. cit., p. 34. See Villain, Unity, pp. 137-8: 'The Platonic characteristic of the Caroline Divines (Lancelot Andrewes, Jeremy Taylor, William Laud, Simon Wilson [sic], John Donne, to mention only the most important) comes from the fact that they draw largely on the Greek Fathers'.
14 'The Immaculate Conception of Mary', wrote Gore in The Anglo-Catholic Movement Today (1925), p. 31, 'is a (supposed) fact of history which has no basis in historical evidence at all'. Similarly, the dogma of the Papal supremacy and infallibility is plainly contrary to the facts of history. It was never part of the Eastern tradition of the Church.
15 The Recovery of Unity, p. 232.