I have a question which may be stupid - about the Athanasian Creed and its historical reference to English History in 1680s (post monmouth rebellion). It was used at feasts as you have said, but would it have also been used in the c17th in mattins or mass as a "stamp of authority" to be used against non conformist prisoners prior to execution as a final "statement" that the Catholick faith and "popery" being the one true religion?
I ask as im writing a book about an ancestor who was executed in 1685 for harbouring a non conformist preacher after the collapse of the Duke of Monmouths army's. As my ancestor was leaning towards non conformism herself would the creed have been enforced against her beliefs at the time of execution?
The Athanasian Creed is prescribed at Mattins only for certain Sundays and feast days of the year. Its invocation of the "Catholick faith" is consistent with the other two creeds in the BCP. There were nonconformists who rejected the creeds, though not all of them have done so (Presbyterians, for example). But it was equally considered a riposte to Rome, in that the Church of England always maintained that we held the Catholic faith with greater fidelity than they. Whether one believes this claim was or remains true is obviously a matter for debate! But "Catholic" in the Prayer Book does not equal "Roman." The Reformers saw Papal claims of total jurisdiction as being incompatible with the proper Catholic order of the Episcopate.
Back to the drawing board on that chapter. So its likely the condemned might have been pressed to affirm the Apostles’ Creed or simply acknowledge the supremacy of the king in ecclesiastical matters I guess?
I have a question which may be stupid - about the Athanasian Creed and its historical reference to English History in 1680s (post monmouth rebellion). It was used at feasts as you have said, but would it have also been used in the c17th in mattins or mass as a "stamp of authority" to be used against non conformist prisoners prior to execution as a final "statement" that the Catholick faith and "popery" being the one true religion?
I ask as im writing a book about an ancestor who was executed in 1685 for harbouring a non conformist preacher after the collapse of the Duke of Monmouths army's. As my ancestor was leaning towards non conformism herself would the creed have been enforced against her beliefs at the time of execution?
Dear Sam
The Athanasian Creed is prescribed at Mattins only for certain Sundays and feast days of the year. Its invocation of the "Catholick faith" is consistent with the other two creeds in the BCP. There were nonconformists who rejected the creeds, though not all of them have done so (Presbyterians, for example). But it was equally considered a riposte to Rome, in that the Church of England always maintained that we held the Catholic faith with greater fidelity than they. Whether one believes this claim was or remains true is obviously a matter for debate! But "Catholic" in the Prayer Book does not equal "Roman." The Reformers saw Papal claims of total jurisdiction as being incompatible with the proper Catholic order of the Episcopate.
Thanks. That helps tremendously in my understanding and how I can weave this in to the narrative.
Back to the drawing board on that chapter. So its likely the condemned might have been pressed to affirm the Apostles’ Creed or simply acknowledge the supremacy of the king in ecclesiastical matters I guess?