ANGLO-CALVINISTS. - This name is sometimes given to Anglicans, to indicate the Calvinist tendency of their Church. Those who protest above all against such a designation are the Anglo-Catholics, who affirm that the Church of England does not accept Calvin's decree on predestination, nor is it governed according to the Presbyterian system, though they concede that the members of the Low Church, with their Calvinizing doctrines, have given some authors occasion to apply this name to the Church of England. The defenders of the name maintain instead that from Anglican history and doctrines good reasons are drawn for applying or using it.
First of all, there is no doubt that the Calvinists had great influence at the time of Edward VI (1547-53): moreover, until 1662 the Edwardian formula for the consecration of bishops was preserved, in which nothing is found that distinguishes them from simple priests, a doctrine that is fundamental among Calvinists. Then, the final redaction itself of the 39 articles was made in such a way that some of them can be interpreted in a Calvinist sense (cf. Calvinism, in Dictionary of English Church History), and the 9 Lambeth articles, approved in 1595 and for many years appended to the 39 articles, even in their modified form, retain a sense sufficiently favorable to the Calvinist decree. Finally, prelates of Calvinist tendencies and doctrines were without difficulty elected to the Anglican primatial see of Canterbury, e.g. Abbot (v.) and Tait.
All this has contributed to the fact that the Russian "Orthodox" Church itself considers that, with the exception of the adherents of the High Church, all other Anglicans are Calvinists, as is gathered from the reply given by the Russian Holy Synod (23 Feb. 1903) to the ecumenical patriarch, who had requested its opinion on union with the Anglicans.