A Change in Mission

Apologia Anglicana has been committed to the English expression of the catholic faith. However, as I have realised myself over time, this cannot be truly faithful unless in communion with the Orthodox Churches.

V. What do you ask of the Church of God?
R. Faith.

Catechumen Prayers

Over the past year, I have been blessed to continue the mission and work of Apologia Anglicana. At the same time, through my well-enjoyed time at the Davenant Institute, I have been able to spend time in prayer and study. I have written much about the catholic faith. The most foundational of my articles was on communion, and the consummation of all my studies has been on the faith.

I am convinced, from studying the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the Reformers that obedience to Jesus Christ requires Christians to be in visible communion with each other. To do this, as I've worked out in Faith: Reception vs. Reconstruction, we all must seek or maintain visible communion with (and receive the faith from) those catholic churches which have not lost it and have not fallen away.

As St. Augustine teaches, to be catholic requires visible communion with the other catholic churches. Many bodies, such as the Continuum, embarking on their own reconstruction projects, are isolated; they all—even the Romanists—fall into the Problem of Protestantism. But the Body of Christ is neither divided nor invisible, neither as a whole nor in the connexion between its members.

Christ is both head and body. The head is the only begotten son of God and the body is his Church, bridegroom and bride, two in one flesh. Whoever dissents from Holy Scripture concerning the head is not in the Church, even if he is found in all places in which the Church is designated. And, in return, whoever is in agreement with Holy Scripture concerning the head and is not in communion with the unity of the Church is not in the Church, since he separates himself from the witnessing of Christ himself concerning Christ’s body, which is the Church. … whoever indeed believes that Christ Jesus came in the flesh, as has been said, and that he rose in the same flesh in which he was born and suffered and that he is the son of God, God from God, one with the Father, the unchangeable Word of the Father, through whom all things were made, but nevertheless so separates himself from the body, which is the Church, that his communion is not with the entirety wherever it is extended but is found in some separate part; it is clear that he is not in the Catholic Church.

On the Unity of the Church, par. 7

The West fell away in its exaggerated papal claims and accretions. The faith was maintained and continued to be taught by the eastern churches. They truly are, and always have been, catholic; they don't need to reconstruct. And I am blessed to have the opportunity to enter into communion with them through Antioch’s Western Rite.

Impact on Apologia Anglicana

Apologia Anglicana has always been committed to explaining and defending the English expression of authentic catholicism. However, the mission has always been defective, since it has depended upon reconstructing the catholic faith instead of receiving it from orthodox catholic churches. This defect will finally be fixed and made whole by a change in mission: a commitment to explaining and defending the orthodox catholic faith in its uniquely English expression, which is found authentically in communion with the canonical Orthodox Churches. This will involve discussions and explanations, for example, of Western Orthodoxy.

We will be adding contributors who are excited about and committed to this mission. I myself, as a catechumen, will remain editor but will not be writing to give myself the silence and time needed to process this change. We will be unlisting or recategorising heterodox content.

Please pray for Apologia Anglicana during this time.