CYRIL FORSTER GARBETT, D.D., 1875 - 1955,

Archbishop of York and Primate of England, 1942 - 1955.

Cyril Forster Garbett was born the 6th February 1875, and was the eldest son of The Reverend Charles Garbett, the Vicar of Tongham, a small village on the border between Hampshire and Surrey. Cyril Garbett attended Portsmouth Grammar School from 1886 until 1894, when he went up to Oxford where he read and studied at Keble College. Having received the call to enter the ministry, Cyril Garbett read theology at Cuddesdon Theological College, and was made Deacon in 1899 by Randall Davidson, then Bishop of Winchester and later Archbishop of Canterbury, and was ordained Priest by him in 1901.

From 1899 until 1909, The Reverend Cyril Garbett was the Curate of Portsea, and from 1909 until 1919 was its Vicar. Then, in 1919, Father Garbett was appointed Bishop of Southwark and remained there until his translation to the See of Winchester in 1932. During the Second World War, Bishop Garbett became well-known for his orthodox, uncomplicated, and down-to-earth approach to theology, which gave him a great influence amongst both the churched and the un-churched alike and, in 1942, His Majesty The King appointed him Archbishop of York.

As Archbishop of York, Dr Garbett worked tirelessly as the chief pastor of Christ's flock in the north of England, and became famous as the "Walking Bishop" who, clad in his purple cassock and using his bishop's crosier as a walking stick, he traversed his Province from one end to the other, spending time with as many of his clergy and people as he could in the villages and towns that he visited. Archbishop Garbett was also much respected by, and had great influence with, Their Majesties The King and Queen, and also with the members of the House of Lords. Dr Garbett dutifully attended the House of Lords every day that Parliament was in session, taking very seriously his right as the Primate of England and a Bishop of the Established Church to sit in the House of Lords.

Archbishop Garbett had a vision for the Church of England: that the Church of England must assert its place as the great English Branch of the Catholic Church, and be faithful to its long History, its glorious Liturgy, and its unrivalled tradition of godly and scholarly Learning. Having this firm foundation upon which to build, Dr Garbett believed that the National Church could reach out to every man and woman in England and the English-speaking Commonwealth, to bring Jesus Christ to them, and to draw them into the full fellowship and participation in the life of the English Church.

Archbishop Garbett was a champion of the ścumenical movement, working to bring Anglican and Greek Christians closer together, and he was also a renowned evangelist and world-traveller. During the last years of the Second World War, from 1943 to 1945, Dr Garbett journeyed to such places as Russia, the United States, and Canada, Italy, Greece, and Malta. After the War ended, Dr Garbett travelled to Abyssinia in 1946, to Jugoslavia in 1947, to Australia and the British Pacific in 1951, then to the British West Indies in 1953, and finally to Palestine, Cyprus, and Greece, in 1955.

Finally, work and travel had exhausted him; and on his eightieth birthday in 1955, Dr Garbett resigned the Metropolitical and Primatial See of York, and retired from active ministry. Later that year, Dr Garbett underwent surgery, and spent the last remaining months of his life in a convalescent nursing home where he continued to write and to keep up his voluminous correspondence until his death.

On New Year's Eve, 1955, The Most Reverend Cyril Forster Garbett, D.D., now Lord Garbett of Tongham, and lately retired Archbishop of York and Primate of England, passed from this life to be with his Lord. The Funeral Service was held on Wednesday, the 4th January 1956, and that same evening the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, broadcast to the whole Nation on the B.B.C. Home Service a memorial tribute to the Late Archbishop of York, which he concluded by saying,

"[Dr Garbett] was, if I may put it like that, a glorious example at its very highest of the special grace and genius of the Church of England, to which he gave himself always with a passionate devotion…All the riches of Christ, all the truths of the Catholic tradition, strong, simple, and severe, he found in the doctrine and discipline and worship of the Church of England. This beloved Church fashioned his character, or rather Christ did so through it. So he exemplified at its best the English character when disciplined and ennobled, as it has been through the ages since the nation began, by the Christian Faith and by the Church of England."

The late Archbishop was also well-known for writing books, the most famous of which is, The Claims of the Church of England, which Dr Garbett wrote in 1947, two years after the Second World War ended. The following passages are extracts from that book.

 

The Character of the Church of England.

"The Church of England…is the historic Catholic Church of this land, rejecting the claims of the Pope and appealing to Scripture and the teaching of the ancient fathers for the justification of its faith: in doctrine and worship it is scriptural, catholic, and reasonable. It has toleration and comprehensiveness, a consistent appeal to sound learning, and a combination of authority and freedom which are not possessed to such a high degree by any other Church in Christendom. Its fruits are seen in the holiness of so many of its members, both living and departed, in its influence for good on the nation, in its expansion overseas, and in its work of Christian re-union. And, finally, the character and spirit of the Church, its parishes, ministers, and buildings, covering the whole land, give it unrivalled opportunities for the conversion of England."

 

High Church and Low Church.

"If, however, it is once admitted that strict uniformity in our Church is an impractical ideal, there is much to be said for the frank recognition within it of various types of worship. God has made His children very different from one another, [and] He has deliberately avoided the dull monotony of uniformity in their appearance, temperament, and disposition; is it, therefore, probable that He would wish them all to worship Him in exactly the same way? He accepted the simple adoration of the shepherds and the rich offerings of the Magi…Where there is true love of God combined with reverence and humility, it is a minor matter as to how this love shews itself in worship. God Who has made His children so different from one another will allow them to approach Him in prayer in the manner which they find most natural."

 

The Church in Relation to the Nation.

"But in the future, as in the past, the chief contribution which the Church can make to the people is spiritual. In century after century it has given to the men and women of this land its message about God and His purpose for man; it has ministered to them its sacraments; it has taught them the Word of God; it has brought to them the certain hope of another and better life than this; it has encouraged the dying and comforted the mourner. In the days of darkness, which may soon come, when the people find that their civilisation is built upon shifting sand, the need of God may once again be felt. It is then that the Church will be able to give to the people its special message and to offer them the spiritual help which it has at its disposal. It is not through its political or social witness, but through its Gospel and spiritual resources it will be able to give the best and truest service to the nation."

 

The Mission of the Church.

"In these days of crisis the Church must not be self-absorbed in its own life or its own concerns. It must not hide itself in the catacombs. It must proclaim the truth of God openly and aggressively. It must boldly challenge the World. It must go out into the everyday life of the nation, taking to it the revelation which has been committed to its keeping. Its Gospel is good tidings about God as Creator, Father and Redeemer. It has also good news about man, that he has been redeemed by Christ, that he is called to be a child of God, and is an inheritor of a Kingdom which is eternal."

 

The Need for Holiness.

"The Church will not be able to meet the great claims of tomorrow unless in its own life there is holiness. It is the holiness of a Church which proves the authenticity of its claims to be the Catholic and Apostolic Church. There is a great need for the deepening of the spiritual life of both clergy and laity. Soundness in theology, efficiency in organisation, the external splendour of worship, will count for little with the world if holiness is absent. But if shining through the life of our Church men see something of the holiness of God, shewn in justice, self-sacrifice, and love, they will be more ready to acknowledge that the Church of England is indeed the true and authentic representative in this land of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ."

 

From, The Claims of the Church of England, Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London, 1947.

(The foregoing article, with the exception of the extracts from The Claims of the Church of England, and the tribute of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Geoffrey Fisher, D.D., in memory of Archbishop Garbett and broadcast over the B.B.C. Home Service on the 4th January 1956, was written by the Ven. R. D. Redmile, and is copyrighted by the Christian Episcopal Church of Canada, 2000.)