The Anglican break with the Roman Church occurred in 1534. Constantinople had fallen a mere eighty-one years before, in 1453. Communication with the Church of Constantinople must have been difficult, considering that parts of Christendom were always at war with the Ottoman Empire; it's a pity no one, particularly so powerful a monarch as Henry VIII, didn't make more efforts to come to an agreement with the Eastern or Oriental Orthodox Churches. (It's also hard not to assume that the Eastern Church had suffered a major loss of prestige after so many losses to Islam.) The Anglican Church was severed from the root of the One Church, though the effects did not start showing up until the 19th C.
Also, the Act of Supremacy brought Caesaropapism back from the dead. Allowing the Emperor into Church affairs was always a mistake, and the English Crown has hardly performed better.
The Anglican break with the Roman Church occurred in 1534. Constantinople had fallen a mere eighty-one years before, in 1453. Communication with the Church of Constantinople must have been difficult, considering that parts of Christendom were always at war with the Ottoman Empire; it's a pity no one, particularly so powerful a monarch as Henry VIII, didn't make more efforts to come to an agreement with the Eastern or Oriental Orthodox Churches. (It's also hard not to assume that the Eastern Church had suffered a major loss of prestige after so many losses to Islam.) The Anglican Church was severed from the root of the One Church, though the effects did not start showing up until the 19th C.
Also, the Act of Supremacy brought Caesaropapism back from the dead. Allowing the Emperor into Church affairs was always a mistake, and the English Crown has hardly performed better.
Henry VIII was too busy trying to get into his wife’s secretary’s pants.