View source for Flag of the Anglican Communion

{{more citations needed|date=July 2010}}
{{Infobox flag
|Name = Anglican Communion
|Image = Compassrose Flag.svg
|Nickname = 
|Use = 
|Symbol =
|Proportion = 2:3
|Adoption = 1954
|Design = On a blue field, a golden [[compass rose]], inlaid with a shield bearing [[Saint George's Cross]] surrounded by the inscription {{lang|grc-x-koine|Η ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΕΙ ΥΜΑΣ}} ([[Koine Greek]] for '[[the truth will set you free]]'), topped with a golden bishop's [[mitre]]
|Designer = Canon Edward N. West<br/>Father Andrew Notere
}}

The first use of the [[Compass rose]] emblem of the [[Anglican Communion]] was occasioned by the convening in 1954 of "The First World Congress of the Anglican Communion" at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as is memorialized in stone at the crossing of the cathedral. It was designed in that year for the Congress by [[Canon (priest)|Canon]] [[Edward Nason West|Edward N. West]] of the [[Cathedral of St. John the Divine|Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine]] in [[New York City|New York]].<ref name="springfield">{{cite web |url=http://www.episcopalspringfield.org/compass_rose.html |title=The Compass Rose |publisher=The Episcopal Diocese of Springfield |first=Charles Henry |last=Long |year=2009 |accessdate=December 21, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024}}</ref> The Compass rose was modernized in 1988 and the new design was laid into the floor of [[Canterbury Cathedral]] during the [[Lambeth Conferences|Twelfth Lambeth Conference]] of Anglican bishops.<ref name="springfield"/>

At the centre of the circular emblem is [[Saint George's Cross]], a reminder of the origins of the [[Anglican Communion]] and a link unifying the past to the Communion today. Encircling the cross is a band bearing the inscription "[[The truth will set you free|The Truth shall make you free]]" ([[John 8]]:32). It is written in the original [[Koine Greek|New Testament Greek]], the traditional language of scholarship within the Anglican Communion.<ref name="springfield"/> From the band radiate the points of the compass. The compass symbolizes the worldwide spread of the Anglican Faith. Surmounting the shield, at the North, is a [[mitre]], the symbol of apostolic order essential to all Churches and Provinces constituting the Anglican Communion.<ref name="springfield"/>

The design was adapted with the colors of blue and gold and made into a flag by Canadian-born priest Father Andrew Notere.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}} The [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] received the first flag at [[Lambeth Palace]] in December 1990, and the flag was officially inaugurated at the Meeting of the Primates of the Communion in [[Belfast]] in April 1991.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Religious flags]]
[[Category:Anglicanism]]
[[Category:Flags introduced in 1954|Anglican Communion]]
[[Category:Crosses in heraldry]]
[[Category:Flags with crosses|Anglican Communion]]
[[Category:Gospel of John]]