Primates in the Anglican Communion

The primates in the Anglican Communion are each the most senior bishop or archbishop of one of the 38 churches (also known as provinces) of the Anglican Communion.^[1]

Variations

Some of these provinces are stand-alone ecclesiastical provinces (such as the Church of the Province of West Africa), while others are national churches comprising several ecclesiastical provinces (such as the Church of England). Since 1978, the Anglican primates have met annually for an Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is regarded as the symbolic leader (though primus-inter-pares) of the Anglican primates. While the gathering has no legal jurisdiction, it acts as one of the informal instruments of unity among the autonomous provinces of the communion.

In stand-alone ecclesiastical provinces, the primate is the metropolitan archbishop of the province. In national churches composed of several ecclesiastical provinces, the primate will be senior to the metropolitan archbishops of the various provinces, and may also be a metropolitan archbishop. In those churches which do not have a tradition of archiepiscopacy, the primate is a bishop styled "primus" (in the case of the Scottish Episcopal Church), "presiding bishop", "president bishop", "prime bishop" or simply "primate". In the case of the Episcopal Church in the United States, which is composed of several ecclesiastical provinces, there is a presiding bishop who is its primate, but the individual provinces are not led by metropolitans.

The moderators of the United Churches of Bangladesh, of North India, of Pakistan and of South India, which are united with other originally non-Anglican churches, and which are part of the Anglican Communion, while not primates, participate in the Primates' Meetings.

Anglican primates may be attached to a fixed see (e.g., the Archbishop of Canterbury is invariably the Primate of All England), who may be chosen from among sitting metropolitans or diocesan bishops and retain the see (as with, for example, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia), or who may have no see (as in the Anglican Church of Canada). Primates are generally chosen by election (either by a synod consisting of laity, clergy and bishops, or by a House of Bishops). In some instances, the primacy is awarded on the basis of seniority among the episcopal college. In the Church of England, the primate, like all bishops, is appointed by the British sovereign, in the capacity of Supreme Governor of the established church, on the advice of the Crown Appointments Commission.

Dual primates

In the Church of England and the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the second province has since medieval times also been accorded the title of primate. In England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is known as the "Primate of All England" ^[2] while the Archbishop of York as "Primate of England"^[3] (see also Primacy of Canterbury). In Ireland both the Anglican and Catholic Archbishops of Armagh are titled "Primate of All Ireland";^[4][5] while both the Anglican and Catholic Archbishops of Dublin are titled "Primate of Ireland".^[5] As both of these positions pre-date the 1921 partition, they relate to the whole island of Ireland. The junior primates of these churches do not normally participate in the Primates' Meeting.

List of current primates

Key
	Active primate		Male primate
	Inactive primate		Female primate
	Position vacant and/or acting primate

This is a list of the 38 current primates (including four moderators of united churches) in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The list is given according to the Anglican order of precedence, with the Archbishop of Canterbury as primus inter pares first and the others in order of seniority by their installation to their primacy.

#	Province	Primate	Person	Date of birth & age	Consecration[lower-roman 1]	Took office[lower-roman 2]
1	Church of England	The Archbishop of Canterbury (Primate of All England)	Justin Welby	6 January 1956	28 October 2011	4 February 2013 (confirmed)[6]
1a[lower-roman 3]	Church of Pakistan	The Bishop of Raiwind (Moderator of the Church of Pakistan)	Sammy Azariah	31 August 1949	19 July 1987	1997–2002 & 2009–present
2	Church in Wales	The Archbishop of Wales & Bishop of Llandaff	Barry Morgan	31 January 1947	9 January 1993	May 2003 (confirmed)[7]
3	Anglican Church of Burundi	The Archbishop of Burundi & Bishop of Matana	Bernard Ntahoturi	1948 (age 67–68)[8]	1997[8]	2005[8]
4	Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean	The Archbishop of the Indian Ocean & Bishop of Mauritius	Ian Ernest	30 August 1954	July 2001	19 February 2006 (installed)[9]
5	Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia	The Bishop of Aotearoa (Archbishop of New Zealand and Bishop of Tairawhiti)	Brown Turei	1924 (age 91–92)	1992	11 May 2006 (installed)
6	Anglican Church in Japan	The Primate of Japan & Bishop of Hokkaido	Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu	1952 (age 63–64)[10]	1997[10]	23 May 2006 (elected)[11]
7	Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East	The President Bishop of the Church in Jerusalem & Bishop of Egypt	Mouneer Anis	10 August 1950	15 May 2000	18 April 2007
8	Anglican Church of Canada	The Primate of Canada	Fred Hiltz	1953 (age 62–63)[12]	1995[12]	25 June 2007
9	Hong Kong Anglican Church (Episcopal)	The Archbishop of Hong Kong & Bishop of Hong Kong Island	Paul Kwong	1952 (age 63–64)	25 March 2006	28 September 2007
10	Anglican Church of Southern Africa	The Archbishop of Cape Town (Primate of Southern Africa)	Thabo Makgoba	15 December 1960	25 May 2002	31 December 2007
11	Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan	The Archbishop of Juba (Primate of Sudan)	Daniel Deng Bul	2 January 1950	1988	20 April 2008
12	Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)	The Archbishop of Myanmar & Bishop of Yangon	Stephen Than Myint Oo	1958 (age 57–58)	2005	17 February 2009
13	Anglican Church of Kenya	The Archbishop of Kenya (Bishop of All Saints' Cathedral)	Eliud Wabukala	1951 (age 64–65)	October 1996	24 April 2009
14	Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo	The Archbishop of the Congo & Bishop of Kinshasa	Henri Isingoma	24 November 1958	1997	August 2009
15	Scottish Episcopal Church	The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane	David Chillingworth	1951 (age 64–65)	5 March 2005	13 June 2009
15a[lower-roman 3]	Church of Bangladesh	The Bishop of Kushtia (Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh)	Paul Sarkar	Unknown	January 2003[13]	October 2009
16	Church in the Province of the West Indies	The Archbishop of the West Indies & Bishop of Barbados	John Holder	1948 (age 67–68)	2000	10 December 2009
17	Anglican Church of Korea	The Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Korea & Bishop of Seoul	Paul Kim	Unknown	22 May 2008	2010
18	Church of Nigeria	The Archbishop of Abuja (Primate of All Nigeria & Bishop of Abuja)	Nicholas Okoh	10 November 1952	March 2001	March 2010
18a[lower-roman 4]	Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia	The Bishop of Polynesia (Co-Archbishop of New Zealand)	Winston Halapua	1945 (age 70–71)	April 2005[14]	1 August 2010
19	Anglican Church of South America	The Presiding Bishop of South America & Bishop of Chile	Tito Zavala	16 October 1954	1998	5 November 2010
20	Church of the Province of Rwanda	The Archbishop of Rwanda & Bishop of Gasabo	Onesphore Rwaje	6 June 1953	1991	23 January 2011
21	Church of the Province of Central Africa	The Archbishop of Central Africa & Bishop of Northern Zambia	Albert Chama	Unknown	2002	20 March 2011
22	Church of the Province of South East Asia	The Archbishop of South East Asia & Bishop of Kuching	Datuk Bolly anak Lapok	8 October 1952	14 May 2007	12 February 2012[15]
23	Church of Ireland	The Archbishop of Armagh (Primate of All Ireland)	Richard Clarke	25 June 1949	14 September 1996[16]	15 December 2012
24	Church of Uganda	The Archbishop of Uganda & Bishop of Kampala	Stanley Ntagali	1955 (age 60–61)	19 November 2004	16 December 2012
24a[lower-roman 4]	Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia	The Bishop of Taranaki (Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses & Co-Archbishop of New Zealand)	Philip Richardson	1958 (age 57–58)[17]	1999[17]	1 May 2013[17]
25	Anglican Church of Tanzania	The Archbishop of Tanzania & Bishop of Mpwapwa	Jacob Chimeledya[lower-roman 5]	28 August 1957[19]	2005[19]	19 May 2013[19]
26	Anglican Church of Mexico	The Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Mexico & Bishop of Northern Mexico	Francisco Moreno	13 August 1950	5 March 2010[20]	16 June 2013[21]
27	Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea	The Archbishop of Papua New Guinea	Clyde Igara	1951 (age 64–65)	20 June 2010[22]	20 October 2013[23]
28	Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil	The Bishop of Brasilia (Primate of Brazil)	Francisco de Assis da Silva	Unknown	2010	November 2013 (elected)
28a[lower-roman 3]	Church of South India	The Moderator of the Church of South India & Bishop of Krishna-Godavari	Govada Dyvasirvadam	28 March 1951	24 November 2002	January 2014
29	Church of the Province of West Africa	The Primate of West Africa Archbishop of Ghana & Bishop of Kumasi	Daniel Sarfo	Unknown	14 March 1999[24]	21 January 2014[25]
30	Anglican Church of Australia	The Primate of Australia & Archbishop of Melbourne	Philip Freier	February 1955 (age 60–61)	1999	4 July 2014
30a[lower-roman 3]	Church of North India	The Bishop of Amritsar (Moderator of the Church of North India)	Pradeep Samantaroy[26]	1 March 1951[26]	15 September 1996[27]	9 October 2014[26]
31	Episcopal Church in the Philippines	The Prime Bishop of the Philippines	Renato Abibico	2 February 1951	11 April 1997	20 November 2014
32	Anglican Church in Central America	The Bishop of Nicaragua & Primate of IARCA	Sturdie Downs	1947 (age 68–69)	9 February 1985[28]	21 February 2015[29]
33	The Episcopal Church in the USA	The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church	Michael Curry	13 March 1953	June 17, 2000	1 November 2015 (term began)[30]
34	Church of the Province of Melanesia	Senior Bishop and Acting Primate & Bishop of Guadalcanal	Nathan Tome		24 May 2001[31]	6 September 2015 (Acting)[32]

Notes

1. The date the person was consecrated as an Anglican (or United Church) bishop.
2. The date the person became primate (usually the confirmation of their election or their installation, enthronement or investiture).
3. The moderators of the Churches of Bangladesh, of North India, of Pakistan and of South India are not, strictly speaking, primates, but they nonetheless rank with and participate alongside the Communion's primates.
4. The senior bishops of each of the three tikanga technically share the Primacy and the style of "Archbishop of New Zealand", but Turei is the de facto head of the church.
5. The validity of Chimeledya's election (and therefore his installation) is disputed by Valentino Mokiwa, Bishop of Dar es Salaam (the previous archbishop, installed 25 May 2008.)^[18]

See also

• Anglican Communion
• List of current patriarchs

References

1. Anglican Communion – Primates' Meetings (Accessed 6 July 2013)
2.  "Canterbury". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
3.  "Ancient See of York". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
4.  "Armagh". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
5. James Murray, Enforcing the English Reformation in Ireland (Cambridge University Press 2011 ISBN 978-0-52136994-7), pp. 41-43; MacGeoghegan, James, The History of Ireland, Ancient and Modern (1844), James Duffy, Dublin, p. 337
6. "Justin Welby becomes Archbishop of Canterbury". Retrieved 5 February 2013.
7. The Telegraph – Archbishop of Wales is inaugurated (Accessed 24 September 2014)
8. Primates of the Anglican Communion – Bernard Ntahoturi (Accessed 6 July 2013)
9. Anglican Communion News Service – Archbishop Ian Ernest Installed New Primate for the Indian Ocean (Accessed 24 September 2014)
10. Primates of the Anglican Communion – Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu (Accessed 6 July 2013)
11. Anglicans Online News Centre – Archived News Headlines for Apr/May/Jun 2006 (Accessed 24 September 2014)
12. Primates of the Anglican Communion – Fred Hiltz (Accessed 6 July 2013)
13. The Oxford Mission – News of our work India & Bangladesh May–October 2008 (Accessed 6 July 2013)
14. 2008 — Halapua Appointed Chaplain
15. Diocese of Singapore – Press Statement: Election of the Fourth Archbishop of the Province (Accessed 5 July 2013)
16. Anglican News – Clarke Elected as Archbishop of Armagh (Accessed 6 July 2013)
17. Anglican Taonga – New Archbishop 'a community visionary' (Accessed 6 July 2013)
18. Anglican Ink – Additional Complaints Filed in Tanzania (Accessed 6 July 2013)
19. Anglican Communion News Service – Tanzania bishops welcome Archbishop-elect Chimeledya (Accessed 6 July 2013)
20. Diocese of West Texas – Journal of Proceedings of the Annual Council 2010 (Accessed 5 July 2013)
21. Diocese of West Texas – Francisco Moreno, Presiding Bishop of Mexico (Accessed 5 July 2013)
22. The Anuki Country Press – Dogura re-visited (Accessed 28 February 2014)
23. Facebook – Pacific Islands Society of the UK & Ireland (Accessed 28 February 2014)
24. GhanaWeb – Tenth anniversary of consecration of Bishop Yinkah-Sarfo celebrated (Accessed 28 February 2014)
25. ACNS – West Africa: Metropolitan Archbishop becomes Primate (Accessed 28 February 2014)
26. Hindustan Times – Samantaroy installed 13th Moderator of CNI (Accessed 3 November 2015)
27. Church of North India Synod – Samantaroy is CNI Deputy Moderator (Accessed 3 November 2015)
28. The Episcopal Church — Sturdie Downs (Accessed 3 November 2015)
29. Anglican Ink — New primate for Central America (Accessed 3 November 2015)
30. https://www.cathedral.org/staff/PE-7CHH8-380004.shtml
31. Anglican Ink — Primates of the Anglican Communion — Archbishop of Melanesia (Accessed 31 January 2016)
32. Anglican News — Melanesian Primate retires (Accessed 31 January 2016)

External links

• Anglican Communion - Primates
• Anglican Online