This week in Christian history: ‘The Great Ejection,' LCMS founder dies, first Moravian missionaries  

The Great Ejection – Aug. 17, 1662

This week marks the anniversary of when as many as 2,000 pastors within the Church of England were removed from their pulpits due to adhering to nonconformist views.

Known as “The Great Ejection,” the mass removal of pastors came as a direct result of the Act of Uniformity of 1662, which was meant to standardize practices within the established church.

The ejection affected approximately 20% of all ordained clergy in England, according to the Center for Reformation Anglicanism, and took place on St. Bartholomew’s Day.

“St. Bartholomew’s was significant because it was the appointed day when clergy were to be paid all the salaries and rents owed them. To leave then meant leaving behind their pay and vicarages for a completely unknown future,” noted the center.

“For some, [The Great Ejection] was a happy dismissal of the pesky Puritans who anchored themselves in the authority of Holy Scripture and the Anglican’s formularies. For others, it was a great tragedy that the church they loved didn’t have a place for them.”