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The general deviation from a standard does not justify ignoring a standard. Unfortunately, this is precisely what we find in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as laity and clergy alike wholly ignore or are ignorant of the Anglican formularies codified within the Constitution and Canons of the Province. Canon law is the fundamental source of authority for our formularies and statements of our faith. Failure to abide by these formularies and statements of doctrine and worship leads to deviations from the standard. Widespread ignorance of the governing documents of the Province does not render the formularies nonauthoritative. Instead, ignoring the authorities embedded in canon law renders one out of line with the canons and subject to potential disciplinary action. Contemporary Anglicanism has avoided the third mark of the church – “the right use of discipline”[1] and adopted a libertine “live and let live” ethos, resulting in unnecessary doctrinal confusion and ecclesial doublespeak.
As my seventh-grade science teacher emphasized, “Words have meaning.” Words govern multiple matters within our lives, such as interpreting contracts, Scripture, and doctrine. Redefining or ignoring the written word causes confusion and imperils the faith and the faithful. One letter (“i”) in a single word (“homoiousios”) made the difference to St. Athanasius and the orthodox fathers of the First Council of Nicaea, the difference between the catholic faith and Arian heresy. The decisions of the universally accepted ecumenical councils maintained the boundaries of orthodoxy through carefully formulated words. Since “words have meaning” and our Lord commands us to let our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” be “no,”[2] then it is crucial that our Province and the orthodox global Anglican movement be centered on the “literal and grammatical sense”[3] of our formularies.
This article’s purpose is to demonstrate why canon law is fundamental to defining orthodox Anglicanism and requires enforcement if Anglicanism is to have an identity. We will begin by exploring the meaning of canon law and how it defines the rule of faith. Next, we will explore a brief history of canon law and early church orders before the Reformation. This exploration will bring us to contemporary canon law at the provincial and diocesan level, using ACNA and the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (JAFC)[4] as examples. This article will explore the organization of the Anglican Communion and its ability, or inability, to enforce doctrinal statements within the GAFCON movement. Finally, we will acknowledge the role of canon law in defining ACNA’s formularies and thereby articulating North American Anglicanism.
DEFINING AUTHORITY
“Canon” comes from the Greek word for yardstick or measuring rod.[5] Therefore the Church uses the term “canon” to refer to Holy Scripture, for it is the ultimate and true measuring rod of our faith. Additionally, the Church refers to its own law as “canon.” Before we review the Church’s canon law, however, this fact leads us to another question: What is the Church? Where does authority derive from? Let us turn to the second part of the Homily of Whitsunday from the Second Book of Homilies:
The true Church is an universal congregation or fellowship of God’s faithful and elect people built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner stone. And it hath always three notes or marks, whereby it is known; pure and sounds doctrine, the Sacraments ministered according to Christ’s holy institution, and the right use of ecclesiastical discipline. This description of the church is agreeable to both the scriptures and God and to the doctrine of the ancient fathers so none may find justly fault therewith.[6]
Anglicans concur that the Church is “one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic” as we confess in the Nicene Creed. During the Reformation, the Church of England further pinpointed that the means by which the church maintains its catholicity is preaching of the Word and delivering of the sacraments. But far too often Anglicanism has forgotten the third mark of the Church: ecclesiastical discipline. When a church neglects to apply the measuring rod, heterodoxy or heresy is preached; the sacraments are abused and not delivered; unlawful ministers are wrongly appointed or go without reprimand; scandals arise; and thus the standards are abandoned. The marks of the Church are lost, and it becomes questionable at best whether a particular church remains part of the one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic body of Jesus Christ.
Because the Church is tasked with maintaining the “faith once delivered,”[7] it must lay forth guardrails protecting and passing on Christ’s doctrines. When disputes arose in the early church, measuring rods as to orthodoxy and orthopraxy were made after bishops gathered in council, and we call these statements, canons. Canons are necessary to define doctrine, defend doctrine, and discipline deviants therefrom. Simply put, canons keep us within the bounds of orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Originally, canons flowed forth from the decisions of councils. For example, ecumenical councils and lesser synods would publish canons after convening.
Presently, we use the term “canon” for instruments more akin to bylaws, but nevertheless they reflect the doctrine and the discipline of the church. Arguably, some rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer are canons, since they prescribe doctrinal teaching and impose restrictions upon clergy and laity alike. Such are the “Black Rubric” within the 1662 Book of Common Prayer[8] and the requirements regarding excommunication.[9] Currently, when the bishops gather as the College of Bishops at the Provincial (ACNA) level – or at GAFCON when they have a gathering (typically every five years) – they issue “statements” instead of canons.[10] Although the church has at times changed its terminology or the manner in which it issues canons, canons and canonical statements reflect the doctrine and discipline of the church. When rightly crafted, canons are rooted in the Holy Scripture and catholic tradition. Therefore, they truly are a measuring rod, a yard stick, and a guide to each of us.
We see through a mirror darkly 