| Scottish Episcopal Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Anglican |
| Scripture | Bible |
| Theology | Anglican doctrine[nb 1] |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Primus | Mark Strange |
| Associations | |
| Region | Scotland |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Origin | Concordat of Leith 1572, Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 |
| Branched from | Institutionally: Catholic Church and Church of Scotland Theologically: Church of England |
| Congregations | 350[1] |
| Members | |
| Active clergy | 370 (2010)[1] |
| Official website | scotland |
| Slogan | "Evangelical Truth and Apostolic Order" |
The Scottish Episcopal Church (Scots: Scots Episcopal Kirk;[nb 2] Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church,[6] the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations.[7] It is also an ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion.
A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by James VI, and as it was from the Restoration of Charles II to the re-establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland following the Glorious Revolution,[8] it recognises the archbishop of Canterbury of the Church of England as president of the Anglican Instruments of Communion, but without jurisdiction in Scotland per se. Additionally, while the British monarch holds the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England, in Scotland the monarch maintains private links to both the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church.[9][10] The church is led by a Primus, who is elected from the seven Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church from among their number to serve as a ‘primus inter pares’ or ‘first among equals’ as the Senior Bishop. The current primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church is Mark Strange, elected in 2017.[11]
In terms of official membership, Episcopalians constitute well under 1 per cent of the population of Scotland, making them considerably smaller than the Church of Scotland or Catholic Church in Scotland. The membership of the church in 2023 was 23,503, of which 16,605 were communicant members. The attendance at Sunday worship, as counted on Sunday next before Advent was 8,815.[12] This compares with the figures from six years previously, in 2017, where church membership had been 30,909, of whom 22,073 were communicant members, and there was a Sunday worship attendance of 12,149.[2]
Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
cofewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "35th Annual Report and Accounts SEC" (PDF). The Scottish Episcopal Church. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ^ "36th Annual Report page 63" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ "Scottish Episcopal Church 37th Annual Report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ > ""Episcopaulian n."". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
- ^ "Scottish Episcopal Church could be first in UK to conduct same-sex weddings". Scottish Legal News. 20 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ^ "Scottish Church Census" (PDF). Brierley Consultancy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ^ Pittock, Murray (1994). Poetry and Jacobite politics in eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland. Cambridge studies in eighteenth-century English literature and thought. Vol. 23. Cambridge University Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-521-41092-2.
- ^ "Established Church of Scotland".
- ^ "The Queen Remembered, Part 2: Rosslyn Chapel hosts a Royal Visit". 17 September 2022.
- ^ "Bishops and their Dioceses".
- ^ https://www.scotland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/41st-Annual-Report.pdf>