More than a cathedral

The south face of Canterbury Cathedral

We who claim affinity with an Anglican way of life deeply revere Canterbury as a symbolic center of faith and tradition. But as Episcopalians, we sometimes have a tough time describing this relationship. Some described it as a sort of parallel “Vatican” for Anglicans (as Rome is for Roman Catholics). Some even see the Archbishop of Canterbury as a kind of “pope” – a chief or prime bishop for all who claim an Anglican heritage. 

None of this is the case in our church, which is fully independent from every other part of what we have come to call the “Anglican Communion” (AC), except in those things that we, as an independent church, decide to associate and align ourselves. (The basis for our relationship with the Church of England is set out in the Book of Common Prayer in the section called Historical Documents. It’s worth a read.)

The whole notion of the AC is an historically recent phenomenon that appeared, in part, from the break-up of the British Empire. Others see it, along with the British Commonwealth, as among the vestiges of Great Britain’s once worldwide political and military dominance. As it turns out, most of the churches that claim the title “Anglican” (or align themselves with Anglican tradition as part of the AC) are in the same circumstance. Canterbury holds a place of first honor and has no jurisdiction or legal authority over any of the members of the AC. In that, the AC is a genuine “communion” – an invisible union with God among believers that is made manifest – visible – in membership in the Church. This idea of communion is lived out at the most basic level (in the parish) and at the highest level (among the many independent churches). It emerges not from the work of humans but from the work of the Holy Spirit.

The entrance to St. Martin's
Priory - ca. 597 A.D.

Take away the grandeur of medieval architecture and the pomp and circumstance of high church ceremonials, and one is left with that basic reality.

This came home to me in a visceral way in Canterbury – not in the shadow of the great cathedral but on an overcast afternoon on a trek eastward, out of the city walls. Tucked away in a modest residential zone is St. Martin’s Priory, itself having origins not in the Middle Ages but in what historians mark as the Dark Ages. Established in 597 A.D. by St. Augustine of Canterbury – a Benedictine monk sent by Pope Gregory to Kent to convert Britain to Christianity and who became its first bishop and archbishop – St. Martin’s is oldest church in the English-speaking world. It is surrounded by a massive churchyard. 

A small portion of the churchyard
at St. Martin's Priory

This pilgrim pauses before
entering where so many
entered before.

All this gives witness to this idea of communion – that holy union of souls among believers: a tiny chapel-size church that has consistently housed worship for over fourteen centuries, the burial stones of believers of every rank and strata of society, the posters in the narthex calling parishioners to participate in the newest outreach project – none constructed as part of a museum artifice but manifesting a living, active, working parish community that extends back longer than one can imagine. This is the real heritage of the Anglican Communion: a union of holy souls that trekked the way of Jesus in their own and unique manner, employing their language and customs to proclaim that the kingdom of God has no boundaries and is subject to no earthly ruler – only to Christ, the King of Kings.