Primates in the Anglican Communion

Primates in the Anglican Communion are the most senior bishop or archbishop of one of the 42^[1] churches of the Anglican Communion.^[2] The Church of England, however, has two primates, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York.

Variations

Some of these churches 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.

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.

The United Churches of South India, of North India, of Pakistan and of Bangladesh have neither metropolitan (arch)bishops nor national primates. Instead, each has a Moderator of the Synod (and a Vice-Moderator), elected from among the bishops for a fixed term, who is ranked among the Anglican primates.^[3]

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" ^[4] while the Archbishop of York as "Primate of England"^[5] (see also Primacy of Canterbury). In Ireland both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh are titled "Primate of All Ireland";^[6][7] while both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Dublin are titled "Primate of Ireland".^[7] As both of these positions pre-date the 1921 partition, they relate to the whole 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 or acting primate

This is a list of the 42 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 first installation to a primacy.

Province	Primate	Person	Date of birth & age	Consecration[lower-roman 1]	Took office[lower-roman 2]
Church of England	The Archbishop of Canterbury  & Primate of All England	Justin Welby	(1956-01-06) 6 January 1956 (age 68)	28 October 2011	4 February 2013
Anglican Church of Southern Africa	The Archbishop of Cape Town  & Primate of Southern Africa	Thabo Makgoba	(1960-12-15) 15 December 1960 (age 63)	25 May 2002	31 December 2007
Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)	The Archbishop of Myanmar  & Bishop of Yangon	Stephen Than Myint Oo	1958 (age 65–66)	2005	17 February 2008
Anglican Church of Chile	The Primate of Chile,  Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Chile & Bishop of Santiago	Tito Zavala	(1954-10-16) 16 October 1954 (age 69)	1998	2010–2016 (South America) 4 November 2018 – present (Chile)
Church of the Province of Central Africa	The Archbishop of Central Africa  & Bishop of Northern Zambia	Albert Chama	unknown	2003	20 March 2011
The Episcopal Church in the USA	The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church	Michael Curry	(1953-03-13) 13 March 1953 (age 71)	17 June 2000	1 November 2015
Anglican Church of Kenya	The Primate and Archbishop of All Kenya  & Bishop of All Saints' Cathedral	Jackson Ole Sapit	(1964-06-12) 12 June 1964 (age 60)	2005	3 July 2016
Scottish Episcopal Church	The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church  & Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness	Mark Strange	(1961-11-02) 2 November 1961 (age 62)	23 October 2007	27 June 2017
Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan	The Archbishop of Khartoum  & Primate of Sudan	Ezekiel Kondo	1957 (age 66–67)	2003	30 July 2017
Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean	The Archbishop of the Indian Ocean  & Bishop of Seychelles	James Wong	1960 (age 63–64)	19 April 2009	27 August 2017
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia[lower-roman 3]	Te Pīhopa o Aotearoa,  Primate of New Zealand  & Te Pīhopa o Te Tairāwhiti	Don Tamihere	1972 (age 51–52)	11 March 2017	8 April 2018
Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan	The Archbishop of Juba  & Primate of South Sudan	Justin Badi Arama	1964 (age 59–60)	2001	22 April 2018
Anglican Church of Tanzania	The Archbishop of Tanzania  & Bishop of Tanga	Maimbo Mndolwa	1968 (age 55–56)	4 September 2012	20 May 2018
Church of the Province of Rwanda	The Archbishop of Rwanda  & Bishop of Gasabo	Laurent Mbanda	1954 (age 69–70)	May 2010	10 June 2018
Church of Bangladesh[lower-roman 4]	The Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh  & Bishop of Dhaka	Samuel Sunil Mankhin	unknown	8 November 2009	5 December 2018
Church in the Province of the West Indies	The Archbishop of the West Indies  & Bishop of Jamaica	Howard Gregory	1950 or 1951 (age 73–74)	17 May 2017	28 May 2019
Anglican Church of Canada	The Primate of Canada	Linda Nicholls	(1954-10-25) 25 October 1954 (age 69)	2 February 2008	16 July 2019
Church of the Province of Melanesia	The Archbishop of Melanesia  & Bishop of Central Melanesia	Leonard Dawea	1971 or 1972 (age 51–52)	August 2016	15 September 2019
Church of Uganda	The Archbishop of Uganda  & Bishop of Kampala	Stephen Kaziimba	(1962-08-15) 15 August 1962 (age 62)	26 October 2008	1 March 2020
Church of Nigeria	The Archbishop of Abuja  & Primate of All Nigeria	Henry Ndukuba	(1961-07-18) 18 July 1961 (age 63)	September 1999	25 March 2020[8]
Anglican Church of Australia	The Primate of Australia  & Archbishop of Adelaide	Geoffrey Smith	1958 or 1959 (age 64–65)[9]	25 July 2007	7 April 2020[10]
Church of Ireland	The Archbishop of Armagh  & Primate of All Ireland	John McDowell	1956 (age 67–68)	23 September 2011[11]	28 April 2020[12]
Anglican Church of Korea	The Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Korea  & Bishop of Seoul	Peter Kyongho Lee	unknown	2017	2020[13]
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui	The Archbishop of Hong Kong  & Bishop of Western Kowloon	Andrew Chan	1962 (age 61–62)	25 March 2012[14]	3 January 2021[14]
Church of Pakistan[lower-roman 4]	The Moderator of the Church of Pakistan  & Bishop in Raiwind	Azad Marshall	unknown	1994	14 May 2021
Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria	The Archbishop of Alexandria  & Bishop of Egypt	Samy Fawzy	1963 (age 60–61)	27 February 2017	8 June 2021
Episcopal Church in the Philippines	The Prime Bishop of the Philippines	Brent Alawas	(1957-03-27) March 27, 1957 (age 67)	28 October 2009	6 August 2021
Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi	The Archbishop of Burundi  & Bishop of Buye	Sixbert Macumi	1968 (age 55–56)	2005	21 August 2021
Church in Wales	The Archbishop of Wales  & Bishop of Bangor	Andy John	(1964-01-09) 9 January 1964 (age 60)	29 November 2008	6 December 2021
Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo	The Archbishop of the Congo  & Bishop of Aru	Georges Titre Ande	unknown	unknown	23 January 2022[15]
Church of the Province of West Africa	The Primate of West Africa,  Metropolitan Archbishop of Ghana  & Bishop of Asante Mampong	Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith	(1964-02-21) 21 February 1964 (age 60)	May 2011	3 June 2022[16]
Anglican Church of Mexico[lower-roman 5]	Archbishop of Mexico  & Bishop of Cuernavaca	Enrique Treviño Cruz	1959 (age 64–65)	23 February 2013	11 June 2022[17]
Anglican Church in Central America	The Primate of Central America  & Bishop of El Salvador	Juan David Alvarado	1961 or 1962 (age 62–63)	24 January 2015	24 August 2022[18]
Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil	The Primate of Brazil  & Bishop of Amazon	Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto	1971 or 1972 (age 52–53)	2018	23 November 2022
Church of North India[lower-roman 4]	The Moderator of the Church of North India  & Bishop of Agra	Bijay Kumar Nayak	unknown	8 May 2005	9 December 2022
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia[lower-roman 3]	The Bishop of Polynesia  & Primate of New Zealand	Sione Uluʻilakepa	1965 (age 58–59)	11 March 2023	11 March 2023[19]
Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East	The President Bishop and Primate of the Church in Jerusalem  & Archbishop in Jerusalem	Hosam Naoum	1974 (age 49–50)	14 June 2020	12 May 2023
Church of the Province of South East Asia	The Archbishop of South East Asia  & Bishop of Singapore	Titus Chung	1964 or 1965 (age 58–59)	18 October 2020[20]	23 January 2024[21]
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia[lower-roman 3]	The Senior Bishop of the New Zealand Dioceses,  Primate of New Zealand  & Bishop of Wellington	Justin Duckworth	1968 (age 55–56)	30 June 2012	22 May 2024[22]
Anglican Church in Japan	The Primate of Japan  & Bishop of Okinawa	David Eisho Uehara	unknown	7 September 2013[23]	30 May 2024[24]
Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea	Senior Bishop of Papua New Guinea  & Bishop of Aipo Rongo	Nathan Ingen	unknown	unknown	11 May 2020 (Acting)
Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola	Acting Presiding Bishop of IAMA  & Bishop of Lebombo	Carlos Matsinhe	(1954-10-07) October 7, 1954 (age 69)	20 September 2014	24 September 2021 (Acting)
Anglican Church of South America	The Acting Presiding Bishop of South America  & Bishop of Argentina	Brian Williams	unknown	unknown	7 May 2023
Church of South India[lower-roman 4]	The Deputy Moderator of the Church of South India  & Bishop of Karimnagar	K. Reuben Mark	(1961-03-29) 29 March 1961 (age 63)	4 May 2015	5 September 2023[25]

See also

• Anglican Communion
• List of current patriarchs

Notes

1. The date the person was consecrated as an Anglican (or United Church) bishop.
2. The date the person first became a primate (usually by the confirmation of their election or by their installation, enthronement or investiture in office).
3. Three bishops representing each of the three tikanga share the Primacy and the style of Archbishop.
4. 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.
5. Treviño's status as archbishop of Mexico was disputed by the late Francisco Manuel Moreno and other bishops within the church, but he recognized as primate and archbishop by the Anglican Communion Office.

References

1. (Accessed 24 June 2023)
2. Anglican Communion – Primates' Meetings (Accessed 6 July 2013)
3. Anglican Communion Office. "What is a Primate?". Anglicancommunion.org. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
4. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Canterbury" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
5. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ancient See of York" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
6. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Armagh" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
7. 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
8. "Archbishop Henry Ndukuba installed as new Primate of the Church of Nigeria". Anglican Communion News Service. Anglican Communion Office. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
9. Gailberger, Jade (4 December 2016). "Our new Anglican Archbishop Geoffrey Smith lines up vision for future". The Advertiser. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
10. "Archbishop Geoffrey Smith elected Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia". Anglican Communion News Service. Anglican Communion Office. 7 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
11. "Church of Ireland - A Member of the Anglican Communion". www.ireland.anglican.org. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
12. "Welcome Archbishop John - Church of Ireland - A Member of the Anglican Communion". Ireland.anglican.org. 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
13. "New Primates for Japan and Korea". Livingchurch.org. 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
14. The Most Revd Andrew Chan installed as Archbishop and Primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, ECHO, 3 January 2021
15. "Archbishop Titre Ande Georges installed as primate of L'Eglise Anglicane du Congo". Anglican Communion News Service. Jan 25, 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
16. "Cyril Ben-Smith elected primate of West Africa". Anglican Ink. May 10, 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
17. Smith, Emilie Teresa (March 12, 2024). "Tempest in the Anglican Church of Mexico". The Living Church. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
18. Michael, Mark (May 2, 2022). "Juan David Alvarado Elected Central American Primate". The Living Church. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
19. Mateboto, Pauliasi (13 March 2023). "Ulu'ilakepa ordained as Bishop of Polynesia". Fiji Times. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
20. Wenxuan, Alex (18 October 2020). "Titus Chung formally succeeds Rennis Ponniah as 10th Bishop of Singapore". Salt & Light. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
21. Lee, Gracia (23 January 2024). "Bishop Titus Chung installed as the 7th Archbishop of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia". Salt & Light. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
22. "Synod welcomes Archbishop Justin". Anglican Taonga. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
23. "Japan's newest bishop consecrated". Anglican Communion News Service. 2013-09-17. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
24. "A new primate for the NSKK". Anglican Communion News Service. 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
25. Chandran, Cynthia (9 September 2023). "Council demands invalidation of Rasalam's fellow office-bearers". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 February 2024.

External links

• Anglican Communion - Primates
• Anglican Online