ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL DECAPITATION OF THE HISTORIC SEE OF CANTERBURY

A STATEMENT FROM THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF THE WEST

Beloved in Christ,

With grief of heart and sorrow for the ancient patrimony of the English Church, we have learned of the appointment of Dame Sarah Mullally to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. We regard this act as an ecclesiastical and canonical nullity, for no woman can receive the sacramental grace of the priesthood or the episcopate according to the Holy Scriptures, the ancient Canons, and the unbroken witness of the Church from the Apostolic age until the late innovations of our day. Her apostate and heretical views on the issue of gender identity, sodomy, blasphemous and anti-sacramental same-sex unions aside, which are equally concerning to her invalidity. 

The holy Apostle Paul declared, “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:12), and again, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak…for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:34–35). These precepts, interpreted unanimously by the Fathers, among them St John Chrysostom, St Ambrose of Milan, St Epiphanius of Salamis, and St Gregory the Great, were confirmed by the Apostolic Canons (Canon 19) and the ancient Councils, which reserve the grace of the altar and of the pastoral staff to men, not for reasons of worthiness, but because Christ our Lord, the true High Priest, took human flesh as man and called only men to the apostolic ministry as a sacramental sign of His own Headship of the Church, His Bride.

The Church has ever exalted holy women. We revere them as our teachers in humility, steadfastness, and love: the Blessed Virgin Mary, Theotokos and Mother of our Lord; St Mary Magdalene, equal to the Apostles in her witness; St Macrina, who guided the Cappadocian Fathers; St Hilda of Whitby and St Brigid of Kildare, mothers of our Western patrimony. Woman, in her vocation as life-bearer, peacemaker, and pillar of the domestic Church, reflects the image of the Most Holy Mother of God and nurtures the saints. We confess our love, respect, and veneration for women as essential to the health and holiness of the Church. Yet this does not imply their ordination, for to confound these distinct vocations is to obscure the mystery of Christ and His Bride.

Holy Scripture warns that when a people turn from God’s covenant, “I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them… As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:4, 12). The elevation of a woman to rule the historic See of Canterbury is not a blessing but a sign of judgment, and a declaration that the English Church has forsaken the order of creation, the apostolic tradition, and the obedience due to the Word of God.

By this appointment the Anglican establishment manifests that its doctrine of Holy Orders no longer derives from the Apostles, and that it understands the Church as a department of the secular state, shaped by the transient ideals of “niceness” and private opinion rather than by the unchanging Faith once delivered to the saints. Thus the See of Canterbury, once a lighthouse of the Gospel to the English nation and to all the isles of the North, now stands vacant in the eyes of the Catholic and Apostolic Church. No sacramental authority remains there; its mitre has become a civil ornament.

As fully valid and Orthodox heirs of the ancient undivided Church of England; of St Augustine of Canterbury, St Cuthbert, St Aidan, St Anselm, the Caroline Divines, and the Nonjuring Fathers; we, the Ancient Church of the West, though small, despised, and persecuted, will not abandon the Apostolic Faith, the ancient liturgies, the holy orders of our fathers, nor the true sacramental life of Christ’s Body. We grieve for our beloved English people, pray for their repentance, and long for the day when England shall return to the obedience of the Gospel and to the communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Church.

Until the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will continue steadfast, upholding the holy patrimony of the English Church in the orthodox Faith of the undivided One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We call upon all who cherish the true Anglican patrimony to pray and labour for the conversion of Canterbury from its apostasy, that it may again be a beacon of truth and a mother in the Faith.

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

Given this sixth day of October, in the Year of Our Lord two thousand twenty-five, under the Seal of the Ancient Church of the West.

The Holy Synod of Bishops: 

Bp. Joseph, Bp. Gregory, Bp. Jamil, Bp. Philip, Bp. Paul, Bp. Aries, Archbishop and Presiding Metropolitan, ++Rogelio of Manila and Luzon