Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey (1904-1988)

The 100th Archbishop of Canterbury was born in 1904, the son of Arthur Stanley Ramsey. Educated at Repton School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, he trained at Cuddesdon College Oxford and was ordained deacon in 1928 and priest a year later in 1929. He served in parish and academic appointments until 1952 when he was appointed

Bishop of Durham. Detail from the portrait of Ramsey at Lambeth Palace He then served as Archbishop of York from 1956 until 1961 when he became Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Geoffrey Fisher, his former headmaster at Repton.

(http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/887)

Ramsey had a deep affection for the Orthodox tradition and made a particular study of the Early Fathers and worked to strengthen relationships between Anglicans and the Eastern churches.

(http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/887)

Ramsey visited Pope Paul VIth in Rome in 1966 and was received in the Sistine chapel, the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times formally to visit the Vatican. The evening before leaving for London, the Pope took off his own Episcopal ring, presented to him by the people of Milan, and gave it to Ramsey, who wore it until the day he died. The ring is now kept at Lambeth Palace and is worn when Archbishops visit the Vatican.

(http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/887)

Ramsey had a deep affection for the Orthodox tradition and made a particular study of the Early Fathers and worked to strengthen relationships between Anglicans and the Eastern churches.

(http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/887)

On retirement, the Ramseys spent time in the USA and in Durham before making their home in Oxford. Michael Rasmey died in 1988 and his ashes are buried in Canterbury Cathedral. His memorial tablet reads:

"The Glory of God is the living man and the life of man is the vision of God."

(http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/887)

[Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey] was a very Anglo-Catholic, very conservative, traditional Anglican. He said that the mission of Anglicanism was to become Orthodoxy in the West and seek union with the Church of the East.

(http://creedalchristian.blogspot.com/2007/07/anglicanism-in-eastern-orthodox.html)

I just learned of this man. He found much within the east and saw the need for the Anglicans to join it and become the western orthodox but much of this has been lost within the Anglican Church because we focus too much on Rome. I believe we should work with Rome also but I think we need to renew the spark of the east and reach out to the Orthodox Church

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about this archbishop of Canterbury!

Written by:

Allen Bailey; aspirant of the Anglican province of America