How do Anglicans differ from Catholics, and what home devotionals might they have at home?

Discussion in 'Theology and Doctrine' started by Dmitry, Sep 18, 2015.

  1. Dmitry

    Dmitry New Member

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    Hi everyone! Thank you for your attention!
    My name is Dmitry, I am from Ukraine. I am taking movies about people's life in London in 19th century.
    During my work I faced a few questions to which I didn't manage to have strick answer. I will be very grateful if you can help me and enlighten this issues.

    What is the main differents between Anglicans and Catholics?
    What attributes has Anglican at their homes (like icons, crucifix etc)? Especialy in England (if it's possible 19 century). Is it true that Anglicans don't have any icons? Are Anglicans cross oneself? If yes, do they do it like Catholic? What special attributes have Anglicans? What type of crucifix have Anglicans? If it's possible, can you answear me also with some pictures.
    I will be very thankful for your answers, because for me it's really interesting and important.

    Thank you.
     
  2. Joshua119

    Joshua119 Member

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    hello Dmitry.

    Unfortunately there is no perfect answer to your questions.

    The first and biggest difference between us and Catholics is recognition of the Pope. Most Anglicans view the Pope as a leader of Christians, while Catholics see him as the leader of Christians. They use a bible with 73 books, while we have a choice between 73 or 66 book bibles. Many Anglican churches allow women to be priests, while no Catholic churches do. Otherwise our worship services are quite similar.

    Anglicans do typically keep crosses in their homes, usually of an English or Celtic style, but there is no requirement to do so. The same goes for Holy Water fonts in the home. The issue of Icons is less straightforward. Many Anglicans keep some, Many don't have any. I personally have icons of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, but none of the other saints. For the most part we do make the sign of the cross, much like Catholics do.

    this is a pretty typical Anglican/Celtic style cross

    [​IMG]

    Also, simply for your information, in the English language Catholic can be used to mean universal. So when you say Catholic, we all know that you mean the Church of Rome, and so it's fine to simply call them Catholic. But almost all of us will also say that we belong to the "Universal Catholic" church that includes all believers in Christ. So you have used the word Catholic correctly, but as you read posts around here just keep in mind that the posters could be talking about the Church in Rome, or about the Universal Church, depending on how they use it.

    ласкаво просимо

    Hope all of this is helpful,
    God Bless,
    -Josh
     
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  3. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Hello there. I'll endeavor to answer to the extent if my ability.

    1) the main differences are that Catholicism represents the Western church from the Middle Ages, with icons, indulgences, purgatory, the "Treasury of Merit" and a lot of other beliefs which appeared over time, and altered the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Anglican tradition, on the other hand, represents the Western church that seeks to put Christian doctrine on the solid footing of our Lord's revelation, and so (in principle at least) our doctrine is unchanging, because it is not up to us, but up to our Lord. We honor the insights in the Reformation, while acknowledging errors among continental Reformers, and therefore it's mainly the English Reformation we look up to, primarily Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Oxford Martyrs, and the others who struggled against the Puritans some time later.

    2) as far as physical items, you will find a cross more often than a crucifix, which used to be associated with Roman Catholicism (but not much, any longer). You will rarely find icons, because none of the Fathers or Apostles or the Hebrews prayed to icons (or saints), but directly to Our Father Who is In Heaven, so we seek to follow that example. Often you may find religious images in Anglican homes, however, but not as used for prayer. We acknowledge men like St. John and St. Luke as our Saints, name our churches after them, and we also seek to follow their example of praying only to Our Father. We have no prayers to the saints in our liturgical books, and in the Book of Common Prayer. Consult the Book of Common Prayer, 1662 version which would've been used in the 19th century, for what our prayers look like.
    http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1662/baskerville.htm
    Eg. The Order for Morning Prayer: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1662/mp.pdf

    3) Anglicans do cross themselves, but it is left up to the spiritual state of the believer. All adults and infants when baptized by the priest, are crossed on their forehead. All crossing is done in the Western manner, left to right.

    4) another visual thing you may often find in a devout Anglican home apart from a cross is a kneeler for prayers like so

    image.jpg
    image.jpg


    Oh and Joshua is right, you may find the regular crosses, like

    image.jpg

    Or a 'celtic' one like this from a movie:
    image.jpg
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2015
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  4. Dmitry

    Dmitry New Member

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    Joshua and Anglican74, thank you for your answear. It's really helpful for me.
    Can I ask you to attach some screens with examples of religious images from Anglican homes?

    Thank you so much!
     
  5. Dmitry

    Dmitry New Member

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    Thank you for your help. You said that often is possible to find religious images in Anglican homes. Can you attach some example please?
     
  6. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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    My expression was less than clear, in that I meant it is possible to find those homes themselves. I don't have actual photos of people's personal homes like this. Try to imagine a wooden cross like in the above pictures on the wall, and the wooden kneeler like in the above pictures.
     
  7. Dmitry

    Dmitry New Member

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    I found some examples of religious images. Do they feet the imagination of Anglican's homes? Maybe some of them is not good for Anglican's?

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
  8. anglican74

    anglican74 Well-Known Member Anglican

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    As a general rule, images of a heart with the crown of thorns are emblematic of a Roman Catholic cult of the sacred heart, making them not Anglican.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart


    Images of Mary are likewise very rare, like in your last two images.

    The basic rule is that anything that is Jesus centered, with images of sheep, a cross, or fields, or with a shepherd's staff, or leading men;- those could be Anglican. Images of a heart with thorns, heavy depictions of Mary, or the 'baby' Jesus are likely to be non-anglican, and more from the other traditions.

    For this reason, the first 2 images could very well be anglican.
     
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  9. Dmitry

    Dmitry New Member

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    Thank you very much for your kind help and all the explanation. They were very useful and now I can continue my work with all this new information.

    God Bless,
    Dmitry
     
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