The Protest of Religious Feeling Against Church Fragmentation (Revivals). – Consciousness of the Insufficiency of Protestant Principles and the Search for Firmer Foundations of Church-Religious Life. – The Striving for Church Unification and the Renewal of This Movement at the Present Time. – The Maturation of the Catholic Element in the Theology and Practice of the Episcopal Church. – The ‘Congress of Churches’ and Its Significance. – Conclusion (Cont.)

The Protestant Episcopal Church of America is the natural daughter of the Anglican Church, and therefore in it there is preserved more Catholic self-consciousness and sound church nature than in all other Protestant communities of the country. Consequently it is naturally more responsive to the deep religious-church movements of the country and in it precisely, more than in any other, the great idea of church unification can find living resonance. And indeed, when this idea arose, this very church with special zeal undertook its realization, and it more boldly than others came forward as that very church which is destined to unify all the American people under itself. The task is obviously colossal and requires of the church that would undertake its realization fully firm, historically established principles capable of bearing all the weight of the task. And it is understandable that at the first attempt to undertake this great work, the Episcopal Church had to acknowledge its complete incapacity for its accomplishment. In its confessional essence this church represents an unsuccessful compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, so unsuccessful that these opposing elements could never achieve harmonious combination in it, and therefore with any more or less strong movement in it a pernicious and fatal division makes itself felt. Such division was not slow to manifest itself now, and therefore the first General Convention, which was charged with considering and deciding this extraordinarily important question, came to the sad realization that the Protestant Episcopal Church, left to its own forces, was unable to take upon itself the great task of church-religious unification of the American people. A sad realization, but it necessarily had to compel the best thinkers of this church to seek a way out of this sad condition. If the Episcopal Church cannot take upon itself the great mission with its present principles, it undoubtedly must seek support in firmer church principles, namely in the principles of the Catholic church. A theologian-thinker like Whittingham[1] saw salvation precisely in the Catholic church, but his Catholic church was too abstract to have significance for the pressing, vital needs of the time. And then the Episcopal Church took a new step in the search for truly Catholic principles, came to the great thought that the best embodiment of Catholic principles must be sought in the Orthodox East, in those very churches in which to this day lives universal Orthodoxy in its unchanged, classical purity. And it was precisely this process of thought that led to that notable movement of the American Episcopal Church toward rapprochement with the Orthodox East, which actively continued throughout the ‘60s and the beginning of the ‘70s. A special committee was formed, whose duty it was to study the Orthodox East and correspond with its chief representatives through written and personal relations. Many members of the Episcopal Church personally traveled in Russia and the East, entered into personal relations with patriarchs, synods and metropolitans, among whom our famous Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow held the most prominent place; and some members, for example (now deceased) Bishop of Florida Freeman Young and Dean Hale decided even to study the Russian language in order to gain direct acquaintance with Russian theological and liturgical literature, and the determination was so unswerving that the latter finally overcame what seemed for an American almost insurmountable difficulties of our language and now reads Russian books with sufficient facility. This movement had as its aim the establishment, so to speak, of such a union between churches as would enable the Episcopal Church to strengthen itself in its foundations and thus obtain the possibility of proceeding to the great task of church unification of the American people, and it is in all its details comprehensively described in our books, as well as in journal articles, to which we refer those interested in this movement. It, as is known, did not lead to its direct goal, and the whole matter was limited to a simple exchange of friendly sympathy between churches. But even this was a great result. Thanks to this movement, the Episcopal Church became convinced that it could always count on full sympathy of the Orthodox East in all its good undertakings, and the Orthodox East had the opportunity to convince itself that in the West, even on such a distant West as America, there still lives the consciousness of its church truth, which compels one to turn to it precisely in cases of great demands of church-religious life, and at the same time for both sides the movement was beneficial in that it gave the opportunity to become better acquainted with each other, and thus smooth the path for further relations.

After a certain period of tension, this movement weakened and seemed even to stop altogether. But it stopped only outwardly, while the inner work of religious-theological thought continued with undiminished force. And in this process a most remarkable phenomenon was revealed. The rapprochement with the Orthodox East and acquaintance with its confessional principle and church-liturgical practice produced an irresistible impression on the representatives of the religious-theological thought of the Episcopal Church. From this contact with the source of age-old church truth the consciousness of Catholicity was more vividly awakened in the conceptions of the Episcopal Church, and from that time we see how this Catholic principle strengthens constantly and grows in this American church. To be convinced of this, it suffices to follow carefully the spiritual periodical press and theological literature of this church. The best and chief exponent of its theological thought is the journal entitled ‘Review of American Church’[2], and this journal in recent years has given very rich material to judge from the actual state and direction of theological thought in the Episcopal Church. Here we see a whole series of articles which deeply engage the confessional essence of the church, subject it to careful critical examination, evaluate it from the point of view of the highest principles, and in doing so are constantly expressing opinions aimed at the transformation of essential points of doctrine in order to bring it into greater agreement with the doctrine of the ancient undivided or Catholic church. Thus it is known that Protestantism, rising up against the crudely sensual Roman Catholic teaching on purgatory, which as is known gave occasion for numerous abuses, rejected together with it even the ancient church teaching on prayers for the dead. Now in the Episcopal Church voices are raised for the restoration of this teaching, and its truth is proved on the basis of historical and dogmatic data in a very thorough article[3] on this subject in the named journal. Voices are also raised for the restoration of the ancient custom of fasting before communion, and several articles are devoted to this subject, and this is all the more remarkable because the named custom is based more on universal tradition and, as is known, rejected by Protestantism, than on the letter of Holy Scripture.[4] At the same time voices are even raised in favor of recognizing fasting in general as an important aid in religious-moral life, and though the argumentation in this regard visibly loses itself and does not have proper support in consciousness, yet the very fact of raising this question is not without important significance[5]. Finally theological thought does not limit itself to these separate points of doctrine. It subjects the very confessional symbol of the Episcopal Church to critical examination, from which logically flow all particulars of doctrine. This fundamental symbol for the Episcopal Church is the so-called ‘Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion,’ which have the significance of the fundamental symbolic book of Anglicanism and Episcopalism. And credit must be given to the high self-denial of American theologians when, finding some contradiction of this symbol with the reviving idea of Catholicity, they do not resort to dialectical contortions of thought in order to reconcile the irreconcilable, but courageously pose the frank question: is it not time to subject this symbolic document to revision?[6] This question, as is natural, provoked objections and led to theological polemic, but the fateful word has been spoken, and it constitutes an important sign of the times, in the sense precisely in which we are considering it.

But this transformative movement in the direction of the restoration of the Catholic principle in the Episcopal Church is not limited only to the realm of theoretical theological thought. No, alongside this work of thought, life itself and the general consciousness of the church move in the same direction, insofar as it is expressed in the highest representatives of it – bishops and the periodic assemblies called ‘General Conventions.’ In the year before last in the depths of this church was accomplished a fact which constitutes an important step toward the restoration of the customs of the ancient church rejected by Protestantism. Doctor Whittingham[7] already pointed out that Protestantism sins against those elevated natures which burn with love for solitude far from the vain world – alone with God, namely in that it denies monasticism. This idea has now found practical realization. A young man from the Episcopal clergy a couple of years ago decided to overcome by his own experience this Protestant barrier on the path to monasticism and took monastic vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience. And remarkable thing – this anti-Protestant step met complete sympathy from the highly respected Bishop of New York Potter, who personally with proper solemnity performed the tonsure ceremony and with dignity answered all objections to this innovation. To objections from those who saw in this act the hateful tendency of Roman Catholicism, he answered by pointing out that monasticism is not an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, but is a universal institution and flows from the deep needs of the human spirit. But incomparably still more profound significance in this regard has the chief question which now occupies the American Episcopal Church, namely the question of the transformation of its liturgy. This question now occupies all the best minds of the church and is devoted to numerous articles and compositions. It must be noted that the liturgy represents the factual testimony of church doctrine, in it the inner meaning of the confessional system is displayed more clearly and fully than anywhere else. This is proved with striking clarity by the fate of the Anglican liturgy, wholly transferred to America. Borrowed from the Roman Church, the Anglican liturgy since the Reformation underwent a gradual process of modification; with the penetration into the Anglican church of extreme Protestant principles, it became increasingly Protestantized and finally reached its present form, which both in England and especially in America represents some wretched fragments of the ancient liturgy, deprived of the vital nerve of liturgical worship. And now with the revival of Catholic self-consciousness, in America a strong movement has begun toward the transformation of the liturgy with a view to restoring it to its ancient original form. At the head of this movement stood Bishop of Florida Young, known for his famous conversation with Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow on the question of church union, and he as chairman of the committee formed for this purpose placed in the named journal above two

extensive articles in which he expressed very many remarkable thoughts striking in depth and strength of Catholic self-consciousness.[8] In his demonstration of the necessity of transforming the Episcopal liturgy on broader Catholic principles, the reverend bishop proceeds from the profound thought that religion and church must stand in close correspondence with the inner spirit of the people. Pointing out that the Anglican liturgy bears the mark of the Anglo-Saxon spirit, he says in America new conditions are appearing, requiring special adaptations. ‘As Americans,’ he says, ‘we must take into account a considerable modification of our Anglican civilization, which has already begun and will continue further as a result of the tremendous and ever-increasing influx of settlers to our shores from almost all nationalities of the world. When these foreign elements are incorporated into the general political organism and become so assimilated with our national life as to constitute with us a homogeneous people, the result will be a full, many-sided nationality not resembling its predecessor, and will require for both its civil and religious life much that is entirely different from what could satisfy the pure English type of civilization’[9]. From this point of view the bishop examines in detail the chief liturgical book of the Anglican Church, the well-known Book of Common Prayer, points out its defects, compares the Anglican liturgy with the great liturgies of the ancient church, and above all with the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and comes to the conviction that the Anglican liturgy must be transformed precisely in the spirit of the great liturgical examples of antiquity.

Such an authoritative voice naturally could not pass without effect. And indeed the question of the transformation of the liturgy became a vital question of the times, and when it was proposed for consideration to the General Convention of 1883, many of the bishop’s thoughts found general recognition. The Prayer Book underwent careful revision, precisely in the spirit of the principles indicated by Bishop Young, and a very broad plan of transformation was drawn up, which should undergo final consideration at subsequent General Conventions. The question is obviously of extraordinary importance, and in view of this one cannot sincerely not grieve that the very leader of this notable movement was not destined to live to see the final resolution of the matter: he died suddenly at the end of 1885. But he died with the conviction that his thoughts had found living resonance in all the best representatives of the Episcopal Church and in general in the General Convention, which in the same spirit of restoring Catholicity in the church restored among other things the ‘Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord,’ and decreed to celebrate it precisely on August 6, following the example of the ancient universal church. Finally, and outwardly as well the ripening spirit of Catholic self-consciousness of the Episcopal Church found eloquent expression in the fact that at the same convention the question was raised whether it was not time to change the very name ‘Protestant Episcopal Church,’ and namely whether it was not time to strike out the word ‘Protestant,’ as it no longer corresponds to the inner spirit of the American church. This question also has not yet received its final resolution, but all signs show that the time of its positive resolution is not far off.

Footnotes

[9] Cited article in separate publication 1883, p. 2. We cannot conceal our natural satisfaction that here an authoritative theologian expresses the very same thoughts which were stated by you with almost literal exactness a year and a half earlier in our work on “Roman Catholicism in America.” There we said the following: “In the consciousness of the American people there dimly moves the idea of religious unity, and it seeks such a church which, free from one-sidedness, could by its catholic comprehensiveness satisfy its many-sided needs. The American people is many-sided by its very composition. It has been formed and continues to be formed from the multitude of all possible nationalities which yearly flow into its organism through the stream of immigration. Into it enter not only all possible peoples of the European continent, but also native, primitive American tribes, African Negroes, and Asian Mongolians. All this varied mass is gradually transformed into one people, forming one body and one spirit. From the fusion of such diverse elements in the American character, clearly there cannot be one-sidedness. Such a nature can only be many-sided, with a balance of forces both in the physical and in the spiritual nature. Hence in religious respects there can satisfy it only such a church which is as many-sided in its catholicity as the people itself is many-sided.”—Since this very thought lies at the foundation of our view on the ecclesiastical-religious life of the American people, the repetition of it by such a connoisseur of this life as the late Bishop Freeman Young serves for us as an honorable warrant of the correctness of our view on the subject. See “Roman Catholicism in America,” pp. 17 and 18; also “Religion in America,” p. 19.