THIS PAGE LISTS CHURCHES that are 'In full communion' with the See of Canterbury, as defined by the 1958 Lambeth Conference, but which are not culturally or denominationally Anglican. Churches that are not in communion with the See of Canterbury are listed on the Not In Communion page.

There are two ways that a church can be listed here. It can be a 'United Church' formed from the union of an Anglican church with Christians of other traditions. Or it can be an Old Catholic church, with which the Anglican Church entered into full communion by ratifying the Bonn Agreement of 1931.

Note that a member church of the Anglican Communion can be in full communion with a non-Anglican church, without having the entire Anglican Communion share that relationship. While from a mathematical standpoint this means that "in communion with" is not an equivalence relation (non-mathematicians will please forgive us), it is an important category of ecumenical relations. The most important relationship that includes some member churches but not others is the Porvoo agreement, to which the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, the Church in Wales, and the Scottish Episcopal Church are signatories, but to which the other member churches of the Anglican Communion are not. We do not list Porvoo communion links here because they do not (yet) incorporate the entire Anglican Communion.

The listing of resources for 'In Full Communion' churches is on our Not in the Communion page.

Churches in Full Communion with the Anglican Church

Die Alt-Katholiken in Deutschland
Most of the Old Catholic churches that are in full communion with Canterbury are in non-English-speaking countries. Anglicans Online is an English-language web site. But the Union of Utrecht is so important to the global picture of "in communion" that we feel it appropriate to list this web site even though very little of it is in English. There is a British flag on the upper left of the first page that will take you to the English portions of this site.

Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente
The indigenous national church of the Philippines. It traces its formal organization to 1902 when Roman Catholic clergy and laypeople separated from Rome during that country's struggle for independence. It is a church both catholic and reformed--maintaining many traditional doctrinal teachings while repudiating control from Rome or by any other foreign bishops. Because no bishops separated with them, it lost the historic episcopate, but maintained a presbyteral transmission of the three-fold ordained ministry, until 1948, when the Episcopal Church in the United States approved the request from the PIC to transmit the historic episcopate by the consecration of three PIC bishops, who then ordained every other person holding the office of bishop, priest, and deacon. From 1961, full intercommunion was agreed upon by a joint document approved by both churches. The PIC is also fully in communion with all other churches in communion with the see of Canterbury. Additionally, PIC bishops attend the decennial Lambeth Conferences. Today it is a church of between 1.5 and 2.5 million members in the Philippines with outreach dioceses and ministries world-wide, including the United States and Canada. (Another figure estimates PIC worldwide membership at more than five milllion.)

Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India
The Mar Thoma Church 'forms part of the ancient Syrian Church of Malabar. Being a Church resorted to the fundamental principles of the Reformation Movement for its reformatory efforts it has been widely acknowledged that it is a reformed Church. Here we recognize an amicable blending of two characteristic tracts, namely, the eastern Church features and reformation ideals. This nature of the Church points to its uniqueness when compared to other Churches. Thus the Church finds its place among that family of the Lesser Eastern Churches. But this position and status of the Church never hinder the Church from entering into friendly contest with the Protestant Churches and other Christian denominations. The autonomous nature of the Church has been well guarded by its democratic constitution.'