The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches in Europe

   Welcome to the CEEC UK & Europe

                         Our Basis of Faith

As a basis of faith, we believe in The Apostle's Creed, The Nicene Creed, and more recently the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, which calls all Bible believing Christians to join as one body once again. 

A Communion reflects the unanimity and singularity of the Apostolic and Patristic Church, while encompassing both protestant and catholic traditions as well as embracing a multiplicity of expressions of worship and practice. In contrast to a denomination, a communion expresses the organic unity Jesus Christ originally established in His Body, the Church. Rather than emerging from divisions created by historic differences over doctrine and practice, a communion represents return to unity based on the recovery of the essential oneness of the ancient, medieval, and contemporary church.

Standing within the Celtic and Anglican traditions, the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches was created by a convergence of the great historical expressions of faith and practice: the Evangelical, Charismatic, liturgical, and sacramental traditions. The fundamental principles defining inclusion in the Communion are detailed in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886.

The four basic statements are:

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all the things necessary for salvation" and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.

The Apostle's Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of faith.

The two Sacraments ordained by the Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and the elements ordained by Him.

The Historic Episcopate, locallay adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God in the Unity of His Church.

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated on the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,

the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the only-begotten Son of God,

begotten of His Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,

very God of very God,

Begotten, not made,

being of one substance with the Father;

by whom all things were made;

who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;

He suffered and was buried;

and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures,

and ascended into heaven,

and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;

and He shall come again, with glory,

to judge both the quick and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, and Giver of Life,

who proceedeth from the Father;

who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;

who spake by the Prophets.

And I believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church;

I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins;

and I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral 1886,1888

Adopted by the House of Bishops Chicago, 1886

We, Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Council assembled as Bishops in the Church of God, do hereby solemnly declare to all whom it may concern, and especially to our fellow-Christians of the different Communions in this land, who, in their several spheres, have contended for the religion of Christ:

1.Our earnest desire that the Savior's prayer, "That we all may be one, " may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled;

2.That we believe that all who have been duly baptized with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are members of the Holy Catholic Church;

3.That in all things of human ordering or human choice, relating to modes of worship and discipline, or to traditional customs, this Church is ready in the spirit of love and humility to forego all preferences of her own;

4.That this Church does not seek to absorb other Communions, but rather, co-operating with them on the basis of a common Faith and Order, to discountenance schism, to heal the wounds of the Body of Christ, and to promote the charity which is the chief of Christian graces and the visible manifestation of Christ to the world;

But furthermore, we do hereby affirm that the Christian unity... can be restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence, which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men.

As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the restoration of unity among the divided branches of Christendom, we account the following, to wit:

1.The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the revealed Word of God.

2.The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian Faith.

3.The two Sacraments,--Baptism and the Supper of the Lord,--ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.

4.The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.

Furthermore, Deeply grieved by the sad divisions which affect the Christian Church in our own land, we hereby declare our desire and readiness, so soon as there shall be any authorized response to this Declaration, to enter into brotherly conference with all or any Christian Bodies seeking the restoration of the organic unity of the Church, with a view to the earnest study of the conditions under which so priceless a blessing might happily be brought to pass.

Note: While the above form of the Quadrilateral was adopted by the House of Bishops, it was not enacted by the House of Deputies, but rather incorporated in a general plan referred for study and action to a newly created Joint Commission on Christian Reunion.