Anglican Communion
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The Anglican Communion (AC) is a Christian communion consisting of the autocephalous national and regional churches historically in full communion with the archbishop of Canterbury in England, who has acted as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares ("first among equals"), but without formal authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches. With approximately 85–110 million members in 2025, among its 47 member churches, it is the third or fourth largest Christian communion of churches globally, after the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and, possibly, World Communion of Reformed Churches. The Anglican Communion considers baptism to be "the traditional gauge" or definition for membership. The Anglican Communion was officially and formally organised and recognised as such at the Lambeth Conference in 1867 in London under the leadership of Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury. The churches of the Anglican Communion consider themselves to be part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, with their liturgy based on the Book of Common Prayer. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarized in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571) and The Books of Homilies. As in the Church of England itself, the Anglican Communion includes the broad spectrum of beliefs and liturgical practises found in the Evangelical, Central and Anglo-Catholic traditions of Anglicanism; both the larger Reformed Anglican and the smaller Arminian Anglican theological perspectives have been represented. Each national or regional church is fully independent, retaining its own legislative process and episcopal polity under the leadership of a local primate. For many adherents, Anglicanism represents a distinct form of Reformed Protestantism that emerged under the influence of the Reformer Thomas Cranmer; for others, it is a via media between two branches of Protestantism—Lutheranism and Calvinism; or for yet others, it is a denomination that is both Catholic and Reformed. Full participation in the sacramental life of each church is available to all communicant members. Most members of the churches of the Anglican Communion live in the Anglosphere: a group of dozens of countries and regions that are predominantly English-speaking, often former British colonies or territories, many of which still voluntarily associate as members of the Commonwealth. Because of their historical link to England (ecclesia anglicana means "English church"), some of the member churches are known as "Anglican", such as the Anglican Church of Canada. Others, for example the Church of Ireland and the Scottish Episcopal and American Episcopal churches, have official names that do not include "Anglican". Conversely, some churches that do use the name "Anglican" are not part of the Communion. These have generally disaffiliated over disagreement with the progress and direction of the broader Communion.