Corollary To The Valentine Appeal 

[This Publication is a Current DRAFT Open to Community Suggestions. Please contact us via NAAR@AnglicanReform.org or on X via @AnglicanReform for suggestions]

 To the Right Reverend Bishops and Episcopal Leaders of the Anglican Church in North America, With Good Will and Peace in Christ our Savior.

Corollary To The Valentine Appeal

A Call To Repentance and Standing of Orthodoxy

February 15th, AD 2026

“The wisdom of what a person says is in direct proportion to his progress in learning the holy scriptures--and I am not speaking of intensive reading or memorization, but real understanding and careful investigation of their meaning. Some people read them but neglect them; by their reading they profit in knowledge, by their neglect they forfeit understanding.” - St. Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Doctrine

On Saturday, February 14th 2026, there was made public a “Petition in Support of Orthodox Anglican Teaching on Holy Orders: Approval for Representation”, now known under “The Valentine Appeal”. This petitionary statement is meant to be representative of those who have signed for their thoughts and concerns regarding the ACNA’s “Imago Dei in The Church” meeting which showcases Andrew Bauman's book “Safe Church: How to Guard Against Sexism and Abuse in Christian Communities” (Baker Books, 2025). The signed statement is framed in the forms of the following questions for the panel: “How will ACNA leadership ensure that resources and events do not marginalize or deem abusive those who uphold the historic male-only priesthood, and that genuine accountability applies across the Church to preserve the orthodox Anglican teaching against women’s ordination as defended by our historic formularies and martyrs?”. Calls to protest have been active near immediately after it was discovered that Bauman’s book, chosen by ACNA leadership for the Imago Dei event stands to harshly and perversely critique traditional complementarian views on male-only priesthood. As of February 18th, 2026, The "Imago Dei" event was formally cancelled by ACNA leadership under pressure of The Valentine Appeal.

In light of the recent rise in what can only be thought of as theological liberalism, it is therefore deemed meet and right by we, this assembly of laypeople, lay leaders, clergy, and faithful allies, solemnly affirm, that the ordination of women to Holy Orders, and other such revisionist ideals, are novel and contrarian doctrines opposed to the truth of God. Such doctrines lacks clear warrant in Sacred Scripture, stand contrary to the apostolic tradition received from the Holy Apostles and preserved in the Historic Anglican Faith by our Anglican forefathers, and are inconsistent with the unbroken practice of orthodox Holy Orders as practiced by the Holy Fathers and the blessed Reformers. In particular, the innovation of women's ordination to the Priesthood runs counter to the ecclesial order presupposed by the First Council of Nicaea and the patristic consensus on the threefold ministry.

The controversial issue of the ordination of women to the episcopate has met its climax in light of the twenty-first century. For The Episcopal Church, it has seen a great rise in practice and doctrinal over-reach. For the Anglican Church in America (A.C.N.A.), it has taken the spotlight for discourse and debate. The controversy met great attention in May, 2024, under The Augustine Appeal which was signed by over 300 ACNA Clergy and written by Rev. Jay Thomas,. Rev. Blake Johnson, and Rev. Ben Jefferies. The Augustine Appeal affirmed the 2017 Vancouver Statement, which recognized the ordination of women as a "recent innovation" to Apostolic Tradition, and calls for bishops to act in their stewardship of the Catholic Faith, even without a constitutional amendment.

The Corollary To The Valentine Appeal, addressed to the ecclesiastical body of the Anglican Church in North America, is issued with great care and love in Christ, for the preservation of scripture, tradition, and the pursuit of truth and orthodoxy. For the sake of brevity and fostering of good conversation and debate, we have formulated our concerns into a short list of Theses which we, the signing members of the body of this church do humbly and kindly share to the reader not as fully defined and well-detailed arguments, but starting points for discussion amongst our church’s leadership:

1. The ordination of women to the office of Deacon (to be understood as separate from Deaconess), Priest, Presbyter, Bishop, or Episcopos, is foreign to the clear, traditional reading of Sacred Scripture. The scripture reserves authoritative teaching and governance in the Church for men alone. The first letter to Timothy in chapter two, verses eleven through fourteen (1 Tim. 2:11-14), declare through the hand of Saint Paul that women are forbidden by God to teach or exercise authority over men, citing such prohibition in the created order of the world: Adam was created first, Eve second. Similarly, 1st Corinthians 14:34-35 commands women to remain silent in the churches and to be in submission to their husbands. Christ Himself, having chosen male Apostles, despite defying cultural expectations elsewhere in His ministry. The Old Testament Levitical priesthood was also exclusively male - which Christ Himself stands to fulfill as head of His church.

2. The ordination of women to such offices is contrary to the ancient teachings of both eastern and western saintly Fathers. The patristic consensus of the Fathers is unanimous in their rejection of the ordination of females to the Priesthood and Bishopric. Tertullian, declaring that women may not teach, baptize or offer the Eucharist, or claim any priestly function. Epiphanius, arguing that if women were intended for priesthood, the Virgin Mary would have been ordained as an Apostle herself, yet, Christ established a male-only priesthood instead. John Chrysostom also condemned women entering the sanctuary or performing priestly acts as a violation of the divine law itself. Lastly but not least, Augustine labeled groups that ordained women, such as the Pepuzians, as heretical. This consistent Eastern and Western testimony plays witness that such practices are entirely foreign to the early tradition passed down by the Apostles to our early Fathers.

3. The ordination of women to the Priesthood is, by all means, contrary to reformation-era Anglican teaching and thought. Classical Anglican doctrine, as especially expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Homilies, upheld a male-only ordination as required by Scripture, all oaths and vows being primarily and only masculine. Article 20 forbids the church to ordain anything that may be contrary to the word of God. The homily on the State of the Matrimony teaches male headship in both the home and in the church. The wisdom of the Anglican divines also denounce the practice, with theologians such as Richard Hooker calling women teaching in the church a “gross absurdity”, while Bishops such as John Hooper gladly insisted that preaching and administering the sacraments of God are not offices for women to hold. 

4. Deaconesses are only to be counted among the laity only and not clergy, as taught by the first Council of Nicaea, “Similarly, in regard to the deaconesses, as with all who are enrolled in the register, the same procedure is to be observed. We have made mention of the deaconesses, who have been enrolled in this position, although, not having been in any way ordained, they are certainly to be numbered among the laity” (Canon 19). The role of women in the church, if they were to have any leadership, was practical and auxiliary. Such duties can be faithfully found in the 1662 Ordinal stating: "It apperteineth to the Office of a Deacon, in the Church where he shall be appointed to serve, to assist the Priest in divine service. and specially when he ministreth the holy Communion, and to help him in the distribution thereof; and to read holy Scriptures, and Homilies in the church; and to instruct the youth...(while the ordinal says "the youth," this is in England where it is assumed that everyone is "churched" from their earliest days. In the current context, we have many adult confirmands/catechumens),  ...in the Catechism; in the absence of the Priest, to baptise Infants; and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the Bishop." 

 Such similar example in modern times may be found in The Reformed Episcopal Church's list of duties regarding a deaconess: "To care for the sick, the afflicted, and the poor. To give instruction in the Christian Faith. Under the Rector or the Minister in charge, to prepare candidates for Baptism and for Confirmation. To assist at the administration of Holy Baptism; and, in the absence of the Priest or Deacon, to baptize infants. Under the Rector or Minister in charge to organize, superintend, and carry out the Church’s work among women and children. With the approval of the Bishop and the incumbent, to read Morning and Evening Prayer (except such portions as are reserved for the Priest) and the Litany in Church or Chapel in the absence of the Minister; and when licensed by the Bishop to give instruction or deliver addresses at such services. To organize and carry on social work; and in colleges and schools to have a responsible part in the education of women and children, and to promote the welfare of women students."

5. The solemn union of marriage, as ordained by God and affirmed by the ancient Church, is reserved exclusively for one man and one woman; a truth upheld unanimously by the patristic consensus. Tertullian condemned homosexual acts as contrary to nature and divine order. Epiphanius rejected same-sex relations as a perversion of creation. John Chrysostom denounced them as an abomination inviting divine wrath. Augustine viewed them as grave sins rooted in disordered desire, far from the chaste marital bond given for procreation and sanctification. Jerome cites Romans Chapter 1, verses 26-26, preaching Paul's condemnation of that which is against nature. This consistent Eastern and Western testimony declares that gay marriage is entirely foreign to the apostolic tradition and the unchanging moral law of Christ

6. The denial of the historic creeds such as the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian, strikes at the foundation of orthodox Christianity and aligns one with the heresies condemned by the early councils. The Council of Nicaea anathematized those who rejected the divinity of Christ as professed in the Creed. Athanasius insisted that to deny the creedal truths of the Trinity and Incarnation is to forfeit salvation. This unbroken patristic witness proclaims that rejecting the historic creeds severs one from the catholic faith, embracing instead a subjective gospel alien to the deposit once delivered to the saints.

To the clergymen and leadership who find themselves reading this corollary to our appeal, please, with charity, do not hesitate to act on these matters. Please do not leave our concerns unaddressed. We ask for a response with the utmost transparency and honesty, as we wish to give back the same. Our concerns are not rooted in “sexism” and “misogyny”, in  but out of proper care for the scriptures and the teachings of those who have gone before us. Let us not walk into this dark path of progressive thought. We have witnessed the downfall of the Church of England and also The Episcopal Church. Save our church; save our faith.