Post by aeneas on Feb 14, 2012 15:24:15 GMT
We've heard a lot about the Magisterium over the last few years, I'd heard the word previously but had only a faint idea of what it meant! Anyhow when a friend of mine accused the Anglican Catholic Church of not having one, I thought it was about time I went further in to the matter. The word, 'magisterium,' refers to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church of which we are a a Communion of Catholic Believers.! I breathed a sigh of relief, we definitely have one!
The word "magisterium" is derived from Latin magistra, which originally meant the office of a president, chief, director, superintendent, etc. (in particular, though rarely, the office of tutor or instructor of youth, tutorship, guardianship) or teaching, instruction, advice.
It is held by the bench of Bishops collectively and is expressed at its most solemn through the pronouncements of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and further more for Catholics, which we Anglicans are probably the oldest group outside Palestine... the Bishops are guided by the guidance and intervention of the Holy Ghost! ( Acts 15.) There remains one or two questions and one of these, indeed the sharpest is are we really Catholic?
One of the astounding things about Anglicans is our lack of knowledge of our own history! It was common currency at my state school, circa 1937, that the Church was founded in Britain,in the days of the Romans, there can be no doubt about the matter, who brought it here is irrelevant. Very few people doubt that S.Peter was at Rome, there's no proof! It is however in the Traditions of the One,Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, Tertullian , who Father Nicholson described as ,”The Church's first genius after the Apostles”, wrote
1.“The extremities of Spain,the various parts of Gaul, the regions of Britain, which have never been penetrated by Roman arms have received the religion of Christ!
(Tertullian, 155 AD, / 222. Def, Fidei,p.179.)
2. Eusebius, whose book can be got by any book seller and is the Historian of the Early Church had no doubts, “The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles called the Brittannic Isles .”
(Eusibius, The Early Church. De Demonstatione Evangeli.)
3.S. Dorotheus of Tyre, Bishop and Martyr, 303 AD. Tells us firmly Simon Zelotes, preached Christ all through Mauretania and Afric the less. At length he was crucified at Brittannia slain and buried. ( Synopsis de Apostol.)
4.S. Athanasius the outstanding leader of the Early Church 353 AD, describes the Churches of Britain as adhering to the Faith of Nicaea! (Ussher De Brit, ECC. Primord.)
5.Gildas, AD 425 the Early British Historian, also known as Albanicus the Wise wrote, “ Christ the True Son, afforded His Light, the knowledge of His precepts to our Island in the last year, as we know, of Tiberius Caesar.” When we think that the approximate time of Tiberius,' death was 37 AD, just about the time of the Crucifixion of our Blessed Lord.
(De Excidio Brittannia, Sec. 8 p.25.)
What has all this to do with the Magisterium? The Catholic religion is the Revelation of Christ, recorded in Scripture and we believe that the,” Holy Scriptures are completed, explained and interpreted by Holy Tradition and that this is found in the Seven Ecumenical Councils!” This is the Faith of the Anglican Catholic Church and of the Anglican Fathers of the first six centuries , before Whitby 644 AD and of the Reformation Fathers as well. S. Thomas More subscribed to the Supremacy of the Councils, over the papacy, as did Archbishop Cranmer and Ridley. This is our Faith and Tradition It is what makes us Anglican Catholic! In 1536, Convocation, or the English Church in Council, re-affirmed the English position by asserting the supremacy of the first four and
such other council as necessary, which meant in the language of the Convocation Synod, Seven Ecumenical Councils. In 1542, this was reaffirmed and in the first year of Eliza, 1559, Under Elizabeth, Parliament passed an act stating that heresy must be judged in relation to the aforsaid councils only! Again in 1571 at the height of the English Reformation, when the Church was attacked by both Roman Dissenters as well as protestant ones
Bishop Field author of the classic book, Of the Church, a 17 th, Cent, Anglican Classic, described the General Councils as the ,”highest level of jurisdiction in the Church,” going on to say,” They have supreme power, that is the bishops assembled in a general Council may interpret scripture and by their authority suppress all them that shall disobey!” Cardinal Bellarmine, a Roman (16th, Cent,) scholar claimed only the pope had the authority to convene legitimate councils, to which Bishop Andrews the Anglican genius riposted with the question, if that was so, why were the Ecumenical Councils all called by the Roman Emperors? This is why the Non Juring Bishop Thomas Ken, claimed that he died in the faith of the First Thousand years. In effect the faith of the Ecumenical Councils and the Undivided Church.
The word "magisterium" is derived from Latin magistra, which originally meant the office of a president, chief, director, superintendent, etc. (in particular, though rarely, the office of tutor or instructor of youth, tutorship, guardianship) or teaching, instruction, advice.
It is held by the bench of Bishops collectively and is expressed at its most solemn through the pronouncements of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and further more for Catholics, which we Anglicans are probably the oldest group outside Palestine... the Bishops are guided by the guidance and intervention of the Holy Ghost! ( Acts 15.) There remains one or two questions and one of these, indeed the sharpest is are we really Catholic?
One of the astounding things about Anglicans is our lack of knowledge of our own history! It was common currency at my state school, circa 1937, that the Church was founded in Britain,in the days of the Romans, there can be no doubt about the matter, who brought it here is irrelevant. Very few people doubt that S.Peter was at Rome, there's no proof! It is however in the Traditions of the One,Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, Tertullian , who Father Nicholson described as ,”The Church's first genius after the Apostles”, wrote
1.“The extremities of Spain,the various parts of Gaul, the regions of Britain, which have never been penetrated by Roman arms have received the religion of Christ!
(Tertullian, 155 AD, / 222. Def, Fidei,p.179.)
2. Eusebius, whose book can be got by any book seller and is the Historian of the Early Church had no doubts, “The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles called the Brittannic Isles .”
(Eusibius, The Early Church. De Demonstatione Evangeli.)
3.S. Dorotheus of Tyre, Bishop and Martyr, 303 AD. Tells us firmly Simon Zelotes, preached Christ all through Mauretania and Afric the less. At length he was crucified at Brittannia slain and buried. ( Synopsis de Apostol.)
4.S. Athanasius the outstanding leader of the Early Church 353 AD, describes the Churches of Britain as adhering to the Faith of Nicaea! (Ussher De Brit, ECC. Primord.)
5.Gildas, AD 425 the Early British Historian, also known as Albanicus the Wise wrote, “ Christ the True Son, afforded His Light, the knowledge of His precepts to our Island in the last year, as we know, of Tiberius Caesar.” When we think that the approximate time of Tiberius,' death was 37 AD, just about the time of the Crucifixion of our Blessed Lord.
(De Excidio Brittannia, Sec. 8 p.25.)
What has all this to do with the Magisterium? The Catholic religion is the Revelation of Christ, recorded in Scripture and we believe that the,” Holy Scriptures are completed, explained and interpreted by Holy Tradition and that this is found in the Seven Ecumenical Councils!” This is the Faith of the Anglican Catholic Church and of the Anglican Fathers of the first six centuries , before Whitby 644 AD and of the Reformation Fathers as well. S. Thomas More subscribed to the Supremacy of the Councils, over the papacy, as did Archbishop Cranmer and Ridley. This is our Faith and Tradition It is what makes us Anglican Catholic! In 1536, Convocation, or the English Church in Council, re-affirmed the English position by asserting the supremacy of the first four and
such other council as necessary, which meant in the language of the Convocation Synod, Seven Ecumenical Councils. In 1542, this was reaffirmed and in the first year of Eliza, 1559, Under Elizabeth, Parliament passed an act stating that heresy must be judged in relation to the aforsaid councils only! Again in 1571 at the height of the English Reformation, when the Church was attacked by both Roman Dissenters as well as protestant ones
Bishop Field author of the classic book, Of the Church, a 17 th, Cent, Anglican Classic, described the General Councils as the ,”highest level of jurisdiction in the Church,” going on to say,” They have supreme power, that is the bishops assembled in a general Council may interpret scripture and by their authority suppress all them that shall disobey!” Cardinal Bellarmine, a Roman (16th, Cent,) scholar claimed only the pope had the authority to convene legitimate councils, to which Bishop Andrews the Anglican genius riposted with the question, if that was so, why were the Ecumenical Councils all called by the Roman Emperors? This is why the Non Juring Bishop Thomas Ken, claimed that he died in the faith of the First Thousand years. In effect the faith of the Ecumenical Councils and the Undivided Church.