Some of these Anglican churches are stand-alone
ecclesiastical provinces—such as the
Church of the Province of West Africa—while others are national churches comprising several ecclesiastical provinces—such as the
Church of England. Since 1978, the Anglican primates have met annually for an
Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting at the invitation of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, who is regarded as the symbolic leader and of the Anglican primates. While the gathering has no legal jurisdiction, it acts as one of the informal instruments of unity among the autonomous provinces of the communion. In stand-alone ecclesiastical provinces, the primate is the
metropolitan archbishop of the province. In national churches composed of several ecclesiastical provinces, the primate is senior to the metropolitan archbishops of the various provinces, and may also be a metropolitan archbishop. In those churches which do not have a tradition of archiepiscopacy, the primate is a
bishop styled "primus" (in the case of the
Scottish Episcopal Church), "presiding bishop", "president bishop", "prime bishop" or "primate". In the case of the
Episcopal Church in the United States, which is composed of several ecclesiastical provinces, there is a
presiding bishop who is its primate, but the individual provinces are not led by metropolitans. Anglican primates may be attached to a fixed
see, e.g., the
Archbishop of Canterbury is invariably the Primate of All England, who may be chosen from among sitting metropolitans or diocesan bishops and retain the see—as with, for example, the Primate of the
Anglican Church of Australia, or who may have no see, as in the
Anglican Church of Canada. Primates are generally chosen by election either by a
synod consisting of laity, clergy, and bishops, or by a
House of Bishops. In some instances, the primacy is awarded based on seniority among the episcopal college. In the Church of England, the primate, like all bishops, is appointed by the British sovereign, in the capacity of
Supreme Governor of the
established church, on the advice of the
Crown Appointments Commission. The United Churches
of South India,
of North India,
of Pakistan and
of Bangladesh have neither metropolitan bishops or archbishops, nor national primates. Instead, each has a
Moderator of the Synod and a Vice-Moderator, elected from among the bishops for a fixed term, who is ranked among the Anglican primates. == Dual primates ==