EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT GOD BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
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QUESTION:Please give information on the millenium as pertaining to the Episcopal doctrine
ANSWER:The Episcopal Church does not have a specific teaching regarding the millenium.
Generally speaking, the Episcopal Church does not have a body of doctrines but regards the Scriptures and the Prayer Book (some would include the Hymn Book) as the authoritative sources of its beliefs and practices. Since the Scriptures, the Prayer Book, and the Hymn Book all profess a belief in the Second Coming of Christ you could say this is a doctrine of the Church. For example, as part of a prayer to bless the wine and the bread of the Eucharist, celebrated each Sunday, we recite the Memorial Acclamation - Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. The readings from Scripture at the end of one liturgical year and the beginning of a new liturgical year (the liturgical year begins 4 Sundays before Christmas with the season of Advent), focus upon the return of Christ. The Hymn Book provides special hymns for this season which also focus upon the return of Jesus. But since the scriptures are not specific as to the time of the return, neither are our hymns or prayers. We take no position as to whether the time is near, perhaps at the turn of the millenium, or far. Nor do we go into the kind of detailed speculation concerning the events immediately prior to Christ's return that occupy many. A good example of our affirmation of Christ's return is the hymn appointed for Advent - "The King shall come." Verses 1 and 3 read, "The King shall come when morning dawns and light triumphant breaks; when beauty guilds the eastern hills and life to joy awakes. The King shall come when morning dawns and earth's dark night is past; O hast the rising of that morn, the day that e'er shall last."
Dan Kreller (February 2, 1999)
