The Archbishop Of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has made her first pastoral visit to Africa since she was installed earlier this year.
This visit is monumental and has a lot of significance in the Christendom tradition. But one may ask: who is she and what does she represent?
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and the spiritual leader of the Church of England. An important role that has stood the test of time.
The British Isles were first introduced to Christianity by the Romans right after the 3rd century and everything was going smoothly until the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons.
The connection between the British church and European Christianity was broken for centuries due to the region being overrun by Pagans and Germanic peoples.
This ongoing turmoil came to an end during the days of King Æthelberht of Kent under the influence of his wife Bertha of Kent.
Before marrying Æthelberht, who was previously a pagan, Bertha was assured that she would be allowed to continue with her religion.
A former Roman church was revamped for her to worship in just outside Canterbury, a city in Kent.
Everything changed for the British people in the late 500s when Pope Gregory I sent Augustine to them. Augustine arrived in 597 and later became the first Archbishop.
The tradition continued without any fuss until the 1500s when Martin Luther’s “Die 95 Thesen” kicked off a religious insurrection.
King Henry VIII created the Church of England after breaking with the Papacy in 1534 — a topic for another day.
After King Henry proclaimed himself the head of the Church of England, Thomas Cranmer, who was initially appointed with the approval of Rome, became the first Protestant Archbishop.
Sarah Mullally became the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, serving as the 106th. She arrived in Ghana last weekend and has been busy with her schedule.
She visited Manhyia on Wednesday and paid homage to Otumfuo and the Asantehemaa. This further strengthens the history between the Church of England and Asanteman.
