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In the United States, the history of the Episcopal Church has its origins in the Church of England, a church which stresses its continuity with the ancient Western church and claims to maintain apostolic succession. [1] Its close links to the Crown led to its reorganization on an independent basis in the 1780s.
The Episcopal Church (TEC), officially the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), [5] is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Sean W. Rowe. [6]
The Episcopal Church is any of various churches in the Anglican, Methodist and Open Episcopal traditions. An episcopal church has bishops in its organisational structure (see episcopal polity ). Episcopalian is a synonym for Anglican in Scotland, the United States and several other locations.
In the churches that have well-documented ties to the history of Christianity as a whole, it is held that only a person in apostolic succession, a line of succession of bishops dating back to the Apostles, can be a valid bishop; can validly ordain priests (presbyters), deacons and bishops; and can validly celebrate the sacraments of the church. [1]
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. [4]
The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons, it is the ultimate authority in the Episcopal Church, being the bureaucratic facility through which the collegial function of the episcopate is exercised.
The Episcopal Church in the United States of America currently has 111 dioceses. When the church was founded in 1785, it only had nine. [citation needed] These were: Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts [citation needed] Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut [citation needed] Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania [citation needed] Episcopal Diocese of ...
The number references the sequence of consecration. Two capital letters before their number identify bishops consecrated for missionary work outside of the United States. "Diocese" refers to the diocese for which the individual was ordained. Note, this does not mean it was the only diocese that bishop presided over.