The Archbishop of York

One of the preoccupations of Bishop George Carey when he was Archbishop of Canterbury was the reform of the administration of the Church of England.  The jewel in the crown was the creation of the Archbishops’ Council, which, as it were, holds the ring of all the activity of General Synod and some other aspects of the Church’s life.

During the preparations for this initiative, there were protracted discussions about where the apostrophe should go.  This was not because the participants struggled with basic grammatical principles, but owing to an ongoing debate as to whether this Council would be for both archbishops (Canterbury and York) joint presiding, or, alternatively, install the Archbishop of Canterbury as sole president of the Church of England, with the northern primate as his deputy.

In a curious way, the debate saw the re-emergence of an issue that has reared its head from time to time.  To the untrained eye, it might seem odd that the Archbishop of York is styled “Primate of England” and the other one “Primate of all England”.  This is a remnant of the struggle for precedence that continued between the two primates for a number of centuries.

This was not just a matter of who was more important.  Bishops were powerful people in the land, archbishops more so.  The prelate who commanded the allegiance of the other bishops wielded a mighty weapon - hence the continuing manoeuvring.

Although the Church of England Year Book dates the foundation of the See of York as AD 627, comfortably thirty years after the inception of the Diocese of Canterbury when S Augustine landed in AD 597, in fact the presence of a Bishop of York is recorded at the Council of Arles in AD 314.  Although York could lay claim to the older see, which had kept the flame of faith alive during the years of Norse intrusion (though the administration of the diocese shifted to Lindisfarne during the most difficult years), Canterbury was the see of the continental Augustine and papal emissary.  Only in the fourteenth century, and after much ecclesiastical argee-bargee was it finally settled that Canterbury had won – though the deal included the detail that either archbishop was entitled to the primatial trappings all over the country.

The archbishop is also sometimes called the metropolitan, which hints at the origins of the office.  The Church formed its organisation on the foundations of the Roman civil government of provinces, each one centred on a city or metropolis.  The bishop of the metropolis came to exercise some degree of authority over the bishops of the suburban dioceses dependent on the city.  Arche in Greek means first or beginning; and the custom arose that the archbishop of a province would be the principal consecrator of the other bishops in that province.  To this day, when a diocese falls vacant, the jurisdiction reverts to the archbishop.

In this country, both archbishops are also primates (pronounced primats to distinguish them from monkeys).  This means that they are the highest spiritual authority in their province.  However, in Australia, for example the office of primate is elected independently of a diocesan connexion and any of the archbishops (but only one) is the primate of the whole country.  In other countries, like Wales, no diocesan bishop is automatically an archbishop: any of the bishops can be elected Archbishop of Wales and then, also, primate.  In the USA, there are no archbishops and only one primate for the whole country (elected from amongst all the bishops).  Scotland has a similar arrangement as in Wales, but they call their archbishop the “Primus” (as in primus inter pares).

England is, as we have seen, divided into two provinces: a smaller one in the North, around the Archbishop of York with fourteen dioceses and a larger one in the South with thirty dioceses in England (including the Diocese of Europe, which stretches into Russia and around the Mediterranean Coast), as well as a few independent Anglican dioceses scattered around the world.  Overarching the provincial structure is the General Synod, which legislates for both North and South and of which the two archbishops are joint presidents.

Increasingly, the two posts are seen as complementing each other, rather than York being a stepping stone to the South.  Indeed, the last three Archbishops of Canterbury have not been from York, the last three Archbishops of York did not translate to the South and surprisingly few Archbishops of York have, in fact, moved to Canterbury over the centuries: Bishop Donald Coggan was only the tenth to make the move.

When Bishop John Sentamu is enthroned at York (or actually when he has kissed the Sovereign’s hands, which, for bishops, marks the inception of their tenure of office), he will take on a huge task.  First, he will be the bishop of a large diocese; secondly, he will have the responsibility of overseeing the bishops of his province as well as a number of legal responsibilities in their dioceses, which are reserved to the archbishop; thirdly, he will have a large part in the national life of the Church; and, fourthly, he will have a role within the affairs of the worldwide Anglican Communion.  It is a hugely demanding job and one often wonders how it can be done at all.  His illustrious and somewhat maligned predecessor, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, managed to be Lord Chancellor as well: though until his fall, he did not spend a lot of time in the diocese!

For most of us, the Archbishop of York is a remote figure, who seems to have little significance for the day to day life of our parish.  However, the outfall of his ministry will make its impact on us in one way and another.  Pray, therefore, for Bishop John as he prepares for his new task, as well as for Archbishop Rowan, our other primate!

Home page: http://stmatthewsnewcastle.org.uk/