The state of the Anglican church in colonial Virginia

This article presents the main features of the state of the Anglican Church in colonial Virginia (1607-1776). Virginia was the first permanent English colony in North America, and it atempted to transfer many English traditional institutions to the New World. However, at the same time, the Church of England acquired special features that distinguished it from the church in the metropolis: with formal submission to the London bishop, the parishes were administered by secular persons - members of the parish council (“vestries”) - who also held positions in political and judicial bodies of the colony. By the end of the 18th century, the post of church commissioner, reporting to the Bishop of London, had appeared, and he was also a member of the assembly. The church organization, thus, was part of the establishment, played a prominent role in the political life of the colony, and supported the social hierarchy. Church buildings were usually far from rare setlements and did not have bell towers, and Sunday service days were also a time of revitalization of public life: near the church, colonists, who normally lacked communication, exchanged news and traded. This “profanation” of the Sunday could be perplexing for representatives of other Protestant Исторические науки 305 denominations coming from the northern colonies, but, nevertheless, the surviving evidence allows one to judge the sincere aspiration of many colonists for a pious life.