Anglicans

Anglicanism is a religion within Christianity. Despite this fact, Anglicans are separated from the Roman church and are closely linked with Protestantism. The world “Anglicans” first appeared in the 13th Century as “ecclesia anglicana” which literarily means Church of England in latin. It all begun when Pope Gregory sent St. Augustine to Britain to bring a more disciplined Apostolic succession to the Celtic Christians. As a consequence, the Anglican Church evolved as part of the Roman church with influences from the Celtic culture. However, the Anglican Church became gradually independent from the Roman pontiff.

The Symbol of the Anglican Church 

In the sixteenth century there was significant discontent with the Roman church. News of Martin Luther's 95 Theses in 1517 encouraged the Anglican church to formally challenge the authority of Rome when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and abbeys in 1536 and officially created the Anglican Church. Many people think Henry VIII did this in anger over the Pope's refusal to grant his divorce but in reality there is evidence that Henry had tried to challenge the Roman pontiffs many times before and that the divorce was just one of the issues that made him unhappy with the Roman church. The King of England became the supreme leader of the church and the Bishop of Canterbury became the primate.

Henry VIII

Nowadays Anglican churches are split into "high" and "low" churches. The former have many traditions in common with Catholicism, the latter instead have more evangelic tendencies in the sense that they are more about what the bible says literally. 
Overall, Anglicans believe in one God which is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. They believe that God created the world and that he is the only source of life. The idea of Trinity is also a very important concept for Anglicans. This defines God as three different distinct beings: the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit, yet made of one substance. 

Being Christians, they believe Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he is the Lord. They believe he came to earth and sacrificed himself to pay for all the sins of Humanity then he was resurrected. Life after death is another essential concept. If a person is faithful and practices his faith correctly, his soul  will be awarded with access to heaven where he will be able to contemplate God for eternity. On the other hand, if a person commits sin and is not faithful, his soul will be punished and suffer for eternity in hell. In addition, there is also a middle ground which is named Purgatory in which you have to climb your way up to heaven for a certain time depending on how bad you sins were. Your souls goes to Purgatory if you committed sin but you feel regretful and ask for forgiveness.

A representation of the structure of the Afterlife lands 

Most Anglican rituals and practices are found in the Book of Common Prayer which is a compilation of different texts containing the basic concepts behind Anglicanism. 
Such as, Anglicans are usually baptised at birth by being immersed in Holy water which cleans away sins, and publicly expresses one's faith. The study of the Bible is also very important and one should go to church every sunday to hear its teachings and to attend mass. Marriage is highly regarded and procreation is thought of its main purpose.


Nowadays, more than four people out of ten in the UK see themselves as part of the Anglican Church which makes it the church with the most followers in the country. In addition, the church is spread all over the commonwealth such as America, New Zealand and Canada.