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The Moravian Church Enters Full Communion With the Episcopal Church

Moravian Church

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Origin from 2011

On 10 February 2011, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church's Northern and Southern Provinces gathered at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to formally inaugurate a full communion relationship between the two denominations. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Moravian Provincial Elders Conference presidents, the Reverend Dr. Elizabeth D. Miller of the Northern Province and the Reverend David Guthrie of the Southern Province, officiated a service blending Moravian and Anglican liturgical traditions, including a newly written Liturgy for Christian Unity and bishops of both churches laying hands on one another in recognition of each other's ordained ministry. The relationship followed the 76th Episcopal General Convention's 2009 approval of the proposal Finding Our Delight in the Lord, and its ratification by the Moravian Northern Province Synod in June 2010 and the Southern Province Synod, by a vote of 121 to 74, in September 2010. It was the fifth full communion relationship the Episcopal Church had entered.

Facts
Dates
Start Year
from 2011 1
Status
Established 1
Established marks the two denominations' own agreement and the service that inaugurated it. It is not a claim that every point of doctrine between Anglican and Moravian tradition is resolved, and it does not address the Moravian Church's earlier, separate full communion agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
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How the Moravian Church Entered Full Communion with the Episcopal Church

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

On 10 February 2011, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church's Northern and Southern Provinces gathered at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to formally inaugurate a full communion relationship between the two denominations.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Moravian Provincial Elders Conference presidents, the Reverend Dr. Elizabeth D. Miller of the Northern Province and the Reverend David Guthrie of the Southern Province, officiated a service blending Moravian and Anglican liturgical traditions. The service included a newly written Liturgy for Christian Unity, and bishops of both churches laid hands on one another in recognition of each other's ordained ministry.

The relationship followed the Episcopal Church's 76th General Convention approving the proposal Finding Our Delight in the Lord in 2009, and its ratification by the Moravian Northern Province Synod in June 2010 and by the Southern Province Synod, on a vote of 121 to 74, in September 2010.

It was the fifth full communion relationship the Episcopal Church had entered.

What the February 2011 service changed for the Moravian Church's standing was completing a two year approval process, from the 2009 Episcopal vote through both Moravian provincial synods in 2010, into a fifth full communion relationship for the Episcopal Church, formalized with a jointly written liturgy and a mutual laying on of hands.

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Associated With

Bethlehem, Cities

This source names Bethlehem directly: "gathered at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to formally inaugurate a full communion relationship between the two denominations."

This source names Pennsylvania directly: "Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to formally inaugurate a full communion relationship between the two denominations."

This source names The Episcopal Church directly: "On 10 February 2011, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church's Northern and Southern Provinces gathered at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to formally..."

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Closes a 27-year gap since 1999's The ELCA Votes for Full Communion With the Moravian Church, the most recent event already on the Moravian Church's map, with a second full communion partner entering formal relationship with the tradition.

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