History of the Scottish Episcopal Church facts for kids
The Scottish Episcopal Church (also called Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a Christian church in Scotland. It is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. This church has its own unique history and is not directly controlled by the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England. It has always had its own special identity.
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Early Christianity in Scotland
The first Christian missions to what is now southern Scotland were led by Saint Ninian.
In 563, St Columba traveled to Scotland with twelve friends. Legend says he first landed at the tip of the Kintyre peninsula. But he moved further north because he could still see his homeland. He was given land on the island of Iona. This island became the main place for his work to teach Christianity to the Picts. The Irish Gaels had already been settling on Scotland's west coast for a few hundred years. So, in a way, he was not leaving his own people.
Columba was known as a holy man. He became a diplomat among different tribes. Many stories tell of miracles he performed while converting the Picts. He visited the pagan king Bridei in Inverness. He earned the king's respect. Columba also played a big part in the country's politics. He worked hard to spread Christianity. He founded several churches in the Hebrides. He also made his monastery at Iona a school for missionaries. He was a great writer. He wrote several hymns and was said to have copied 300 books himself. He died on Iona and was buried in the abbey he built.
The Scottish church continued to grow over the next centuries. In the 11th century, St Margaret, who was Queen of Malcolm III of Scotland, made the church's ties with the Roman Catholic Church stronger. She brought Scottish Christians into full connection with that church.
The Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation began in 1560. At this time, the church in Scotland broke away from Rome. This was part of a Protestant reform movement. John Knox was one of its leaders. The church changed its beliefs and how it was run. It used ideas from John Calvin, which Knox had learned in Switzerland.
In 1560, the Scottish Parliament ended the Pope's power. It also approved Calvin's Confession of Faith. However, it did not accept all of Knox's ideas from his First Book of Discipline. This book said that all the old church's wealth should go to the new church. The changes made in 1560 were not fully approved by the king for some years. The question of how the church should be governed also remained unclear.
In 1572, the young King James VI finally approved the acts of 1560. But a deal called the Concordat of Leith allowed the king to appoint bishops with the church's approval. John Knox himself did not have strong views on bishops. He preferred to call them 'superintendents'. But because of this new deal, a group called the Presbyterian party formed. It was led by Andrew Melville, who wrote the Second Book of Discipline.
The Scottish Episcopal Church began in 1582. This was when the Church of Scotland decided against having bishops (episcopal government). Instead, it chose to be governed by elders (presbyterian government). It also adopted reformed theology. Scottish kings tried many times to bring bishops back. This led to two different church traditions developing.
Keeping Bishops in the Church
In 1584, James VI of Scotland passed laws called the Black Acts. These laws put the church under the king's control and brought in two bishops. This caused strong opposition. The king had to agree that the General Assembly should still run the church. But Presbyterians, who disliked formal church services, were opposed by a group who supported bishops (Episcopalians).
After becoming King of England in 1603, James stopped the General Assembly from meeting. He then increased the number of Scottish Bishops. In 1618, he held a General Assembly and forced through Five Articles. These were Episcopalian practices that many people refused to follow.
His son, Charles I, was crowned in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, in 1633. He used full Anglican church services. Later, in 1637, Charles tried to introduce a version of the Book of Common Prayer. This book was written by Archbishop Laud. It was based on earlier English prayer books, so it was likely to upset the Scottish Calvinists. When it was used in the king's presence in St. Giles, Edinburgh, it caused a revolt. This revolt grew so large that it led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. These wars began with the Bishops Wars and became the English Civil War.
When James VII left the country in 1688, his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange were offered the crown. The Scottish bishops felt they could not swear loyalty to William and Mary. This was because James VII had not officially given up his throne. As a result, the national Church of Scotland became Presbyterian. The bishops who did not swear loyalty, and those who followed them, became a group that was often treated badly. They were even seen as possible traitors.
However, the Comprehension Act of 1690 allowed Episcopalian ministers to keep their church positions if they swore loyalty. But it stopped them from being part of the Church of Scotland's government unless they also agreed with Presbyterian ideas. Many 'non-jurors' (those who didn't swear loyalty) also managed to keep using the parish churches for a while.
The bishops who were left out were slow to organize the Episcopalian group. They saw the situation as temporary. They hoped for a national church with bishops again under a 'rightful' king (see Jacobitism). A few bishops were made bishops without specific areas to lead. This was to keep the line of bishops going, not to give them power. But eventually, the hope for the Stuart kings faded. More churches formed outside the main church. This forced the bishops to separate their church power from the king's power. They then created their own system of bishops for different areas.
After the Union of 1707
In 1707, Scotland and England joined to form one country, the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scottish Episcopalians Act of 1711 protected the Episcopal Communion. This act basically made it a separate church group. But things were still complicated. Many Episcopalian ministers still held positions in the parish churches.
Also, the 'non-jurors' supported the Jacobite cause (the return of the Stuart kings). This led the government to try to stop them in 1715 and 1745. This also led to new churches called "qualified" congregations. These were served by clergy who had been made bishops but were not under any bishop. They followed the Act of 1712. This act was changed again in 1746 and 1748 to exclude clergy who had been made bishops in Scotland.
These problems caused the Episcopalians to become a small group. At the time of the Revolution, they were a large part of the population. But by August 2015, they were a small minority, except in a few parts of western and north-eastern Scotland. When Charles Edward Stuart died in 1788, the church officially recognized George III. This removed the main barrier to its growth. But the Episcopal Church had shrunk to only four bishops and about forty priests. The "qualified" congregations slowly joined the main church. In 1792, the laws against them were removed. But clergy could only fully take part in public life in 1864.
The Book of Common Prayer became widely used after the Revolution. The Scottish Communion Office, created by the non-jurors, was also used. It was based on older church models. The changes made to the English church service by the American Church were mostly influenced by this Scottish office.
Some important clergy from after the Revolution include John Sage, a famous scholar. Bishop Rattray was an expert on church services. John Skinner of Longside wrote Tullochgorum. Bishop Gleig edited the Encyclopædia Britannica. Dean Ramsay wrote Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character. Others include Bishop AP Forbes, GH Forbes, and Bishop Charles Wordsworth.
The Scottish Episcopal Church helped create the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In 1784, they made Samuel Seabury the first American bishop in Aberdeen. He had been refused this by the clergy in England.
In 1900, there were 356 churches, with 124,335 members, and 324 working clergy. No current church can claim a direct, unbroken link to the very old church leaders of Scotland. However, the bishops of the Episcopal Church are direct successors of the bishops made in Scotland during the Restoration period.
