Anglican and Episcopal churches are closely related and as such they have more similarities than differences. Episcopal can be termed as a division of Anglican.
The Episcopal Church is part of Anglican Communion as its roots have been traced to the English Reformation and the Church of England.
The Anglican Church is mainly centred in the U K and and has the Archbishop of Canterbury as its head. The Episcopal Church is based in the US. Though some of the Episcopal churches in the U.S have taken several names like Anglican Catholic Church and the Anglican Church in America.
The Episcopal Church was established by Samuel Seabury, who is considered its first bishop. On the other hand, the Anglican Church was formed in the 16th century. It was formed at the insistence of King Henry the 8th.
Anglicanism was always considered as a symbol of the British rule and its monarchy. The term Anglican originated from Medieval Latin ecclesia Anglican, which meant The English Church. The Anglican Church has two factions ‘“ High Church (Anglo Catholics) and Low Church (protestant Anglicans). The Episcopalian Church is considered to be somewhat liberal Protestant.
In both the Anglican and Episcopal churches, there is no governing body or central figure, which controls the thousands of diocese.
When comparing the two, Episcopal are more liberal than the Anglican in the sense that they are even termed as a gay friendly church. On the other hand, the Anglican Church is known to be more conservative. But the fact is that there are believers in both Anglican and Episcopal churches who are against wide spread liberal trends.
Summary
- The Anglican Church is mainly centred in the U K and has the Archbishop of Canterbury as its centre.
- The Episcopal Church, based in the US, is part of Anglican Communion as its roots can be traced to the English Reformation and the Church of England.
- The Episcopal Church was established by Samuel Seabury, who is considered its first bishop. On the other hand, the Anglican Church was formed in the 16th century. It was formed at the insistence of King Henry the 8th.
- Anglicanism was always considered as a symbol of the British rule and its monarchy.
- When comparing the two, the Episcopalians are more liberal than the Anglicans in the sense that they are even termed a gay friendly church.