We are all used to hearing about Henry VIII and his utterly selfish use of the Reformation to legitimize his many wives. It is easy enough to reproach Anglicans for this unashamed move, but there are a few very disturbing (and less well-known) changes which took place in English political life under Henry VIII and his son.
There has been an office, dating from the time of William the Bastard, known as “Keeper of the King’s Conscience,” a role intended to support the king in making judgments on moral and religious issues. Until Henry VIII, that position was always held by a bishop, when it was then transferred to the Lord Chancellor. I have been puzzling over this decision – the Anglicans still had bishops, after all. They never went as far as later Protestant groups in doing away with the Biblical office of bishop (episkopos).
A bishop of necessity represents the interests of the church. In his role as Keeper of the King’s Conscience, a bishop could act as a moral authority, a check on the king’s power and ambition. Christian kings were always to place themselves at the service of the church, for the salvation of themselves and their subjects. A formal position inside the inner circle of government involving a high-placed cleric is a symbol of symphonia, vestiges of which lasted in many Western kingdoms even after the Schism.
I believe (though some may think it a stretch) that Henry VIII’s decision marks a fundamental transformation in Western thought – our conscience seems to be political, not religious. Everything has become politicized, including our deepest moral calculations. The religiously motivated conscience is a breaking through of the transcendent into our everyday lives. There, we find the strength and courage to do what is right, regardless of the external (read political) cost. Politics is external to us; a hermit has no need of them. It is an important realm of human affairs, no doubt, but nevertheless it is for this world. Man’s psyche fractures when it becomes totally directed outwards, when the inner life, the still voice of our God-given conscience, is suppressed or forgotten.
People are much more likely to agree politically than religiously today. The political parties have taken on a religious identity since their inception, a sort of Freemasonry that “unites” men of various creeds (or none at all) to push for changes in the political realm. It is easy enough to see that men are far more opinionated on political topics than religious ones, that they speak and think politically – or least speak it more fluently than religious language.
The other change that I wish to bring to light is the venue of the English Parliament, which began to meet in the former chapel of St Stephen in the Westminster Palace. Under Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI, the Reformation was brought to this private chapel. The religious art was covered up, the stained glass was replaced with plain glass. The House of Commons, where the great iconoclast and regicide Cromwell would begin his career, met in this desecrated chapel. They perverted many rituals relating to the chapel (and still do to this day) and adopted them for their own use.
The tradition of bowing to the Speaker of the House of Commons is related to his seat, which is where the altar once stood (Orthodox Christians still bow to the altar when they enter a church, just as Catholics genuflect to their altars). Although perhaps lost on us today, the message being communicated is quite clear: Parliament, not the church, is now master and demands obedience. Perhaps if they had not chosen that exact spot, things would have been different, but that is not the way history has developed. The altar where God became flesh and blood for the eternal life of His people is now the throne of the chief of oligarchs; where once we met God, now we meet men who have set themselves in the place of God.
Oligarchy is not merely another political option, it is inherently iconoclastic. The laws it creates have increasingly run counter to the Law of God; they have usurped him and desolated sacred space.