History of the office

From its formal organization in the first decade of the eighteenth century, the Presbyterian Church in the American British colonies generally modeled its government on that of the Westminster Assembly of the Church of Scotland. For conducting the judicatories (governing bodies) decently and in order, the office of moderator was established early. Session, presbytery, synod, and finally in 1789, the General Assembly, all had moderators. Except for the session, moderators of the other judicatories were to be elected for a limited term. In 1760 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia decreed that:

Every year, after the Synod is met, and a new Moderator chosen, the former Moderator, before he leave[s] the Chair, shall remind his Successor, that agreeable to the Character he is now chosen to sustain he is not to leave his Chair, nor speak in any Affair debated, unless allowed by the Synod, but is only to be a public Person to whom all shall speak, and the common Mouth of the Synod; and is to see, that becoming Order be maintained by all the Members, according to the following common Rules, which they are all agreed to observe ... (Minutes, Presbyterian Church in America, 1706-1788, p. 362)

For two centuries the Moderator of the highest judicatory in the American church had a single, primary responsibility — to oversee and guide the annual meeting. The twentieth century has seen radical changes in the office of General Assembly Moderator. The Moderator's authority was expanded considerably with the establishment of the General Council in 1915. Especially after World War II, Moderators increasingly took advantage of relatively inexpensive air travel to visit distant parts of the church. A new responsibility was assumed — that of being a promoter of the church's mission. Beginning in 1970, candidates for the office of Moderator began to be queried on theological and social issues prior to election. How the questions are answered has had considerable impact on who is elected.

Over the last two centuries almost six hundred persons have been honored with election as Moderator of the General Assemblies of the nine denominations that are now part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). White male clergy dominated the office until 1884, when a layman was elected Moderator in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The first African American Moderator was elected in 1964, but women still had to wait until 1971 for their first (both in the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and Presbyterian Church in the U.S.).

Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly, presents the traditional silver Celtic cross to newly elected Moderator Joan S. Gray. Photo by Danny Bolin.

Symbols of Office

History of the Cross and Stole

The Moderator's Cross

The cross and stole presented at the installation of each new Moderator of the General Assembly have rich histories symbolizing the unity, reconciliation, mission, and servanthood of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

A small silver cross in the style of the decorated crosses typical of Celtic Christianity has become the most familiar symbol of office identifying those people who serve as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The crosses were made on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland, where St. Columba of Ireland established a monastery in 563 A.D. which served as a base for missionary efforts among the tribes then inhabiting Scotland. The stone crosses of that era are still familiar features of the abbey, which was restored as a part of the modern "Iona Movement" for renewal in the Church under the leadership of Scottish theologian George MacLeod.

In 1948 two separate silver crosses were purchased on Iona by the Reverend Dr. H. Ray Anderson, pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago and subsequently Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Later that same year as they stood in a pre-Reformation building in Geneva, Switzerland, known as the John Calvin Auditorium, Anderson presented one of the crosses to the Reverend Dr. Jesse H. Baird, then serving as Moderator of the 160th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The following year Dr. Anderson presented the second cross, during the meeting in Montreat, North Carolina, of the 89th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., to the Reverend Dr. W.E. Price following Price's election to the office of Moderator of that Assembly.

Soon afterwards, the Reverend Mr. Frederick W. Ingle, a young Presbyterian Church in the U.S. pastor from Birmingham, Alabama, purchased a similar cross while visiting Iona and sent it to Dr. Anderson to be presented it to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in North America (UPNA). Anderson presented the cross to newly elected UPNA Moderator Samuel C. Weir at the 1953 UPNA General Assembly.

In presenting the first two crosses, Anderson expressed the hope that they might someday be united. An active ecumenist, Anderson was particularly devoted to the goal of the reunion of two large Presbyterian Churches separated by the Civil War and the conflict over slavery — the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and the Presbyterian Church, U.S. Anderson's great grandfather, the Reverend Mr. William C. Anderson, was a member of a committee at the 1861 General Assembly which considered the resolutions drafted by the Reverend Mr. Gardner Spring calling for the assembly to approve a strong affirmation of loyalty to the federal government. The majority of the committee voted  for a much milder  resolution  in hopes  of  avoiding a split  in the church. That hope was probably doomed to failure in any event, but William Anderson stood firm as a majority of one person and presented the stronger original motion on the floor, where it was adopted by a vote of 156 to 66. H. Ray Anderson, the great grandson of William, dreamed of seeing the division of the Civil War era healed. He died in 1979, before that reconciliation took place. But he, along with millions of other Presbyterians, did see two of the crosses united in 1958 when the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and the United Presbyterian Church in North America came together in Pittsburgh to form The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The crosses, now a single cross, became a symbol of Presbyterian unity as well as a symbol of the missionary tradition and of Celtic Christianity.

The theme of reconciliation originated even earlier, and illustrates another side of the pastoral concern of H. Ray Anderson. The money used to purchase the first two crosses came from a Japanese-American congregation that worshiped within Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago during Anderson's ministry there. In March of 1942 the Reverend Mr. Ai Chi Tsai, a Taiwanese student at Chicago Theological Seminary, approached Anderson about the need for a place of worship for the Japanese-American congregation where the young student was serving as pastor. The Japanese-Americans were meeting for worship in a restaurant, and the Reverend Mr. Tsai had been referred to Dr. Anderson by Chicago Theological Seminary President Albert Palmer. Fourth Presbyterian did have three chapels which were not in use, and Dr. Anderson advised the young Taiwanese pastor that the proposal would have to be considered by the session of the church. War-time emotions were high, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor just a few months in the past and thousands of Japanese-Americans being confined in "internment camps." The session tabled the proposal at its March meeting, and again in April. But in May, the month of the final surrender to the Japanese of the last U.S. fortified position in the Philippines, the man serving as superintendent of Fourth Church's Sunday School addressed the session on the issue, saying:

I am serving as Superintendent of the Sunday School and teaching our children to love our neighbors. These people who are requesting the usage of our church are Christians and if we are unable to open our doors to them I have to resign as the Superintendent.

There was silence, then  following a prayer by Dr. Anderson the session voted unanimously to grant permission for the congregation of Japanese-Americans to use facilities at Fourth Presbyterian Church. The session refused to accept the rent offered for the use of the chapel. The Reverend Mr. Sumio Koga, then a McCormick Seminary student engaged in youth work within the Japanese-American congregation, remembers  Dr. Anderson standing outside the chapel on some Sunday afternoons to make sure the worshipers were undisturbed. An active ministry to Nisei (American-born children of Japanese parents) soldiers at Camp McCoy near Chicago was one of the World War II activities of the Japanese-American congregation. Organized as Church of Christ (Presbyterian) by Chicago Presbytery in 1947, the congregation expressed its gratitude to Fourth Presbyterian Church by presenting to Dr. Anderson a sum of money to be used  for "a good cause." The two Iona crosses purchased by Dr. Anderson were purchased with that gift.

The dream of H. Ray Anderson was realized in 1983 in Atlanta, Ga., when the cross formerly worn since 1949 by the Moderators of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. was riveted together with the crosses from the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterian Church in North America by Professor Richard Ma Fong, Professor of Jewelry Design at Georgia State University. Like the three Churches they represent and the Celtic crosses from which they were copied, the three crosses differ in size and in decorative detail. The audience of more than 5,000 people burst into cheers and applause as UPCUSA Moderator James H. Costen and PCUS Moderator John F. Anderson together placed the chain supporting the united crosses around the neck of the Reverend Dr. J. Randolph Taylor, newly elected to serve as the first Moderator of the reunited Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The Moderator's Stole

Joan Gray assumes her duties as the moderator of the 217th General Assembly (2006). Photo by Danny Bolin.

The second symbol associated with assembly moderators is a stole. The current moderatorial stole was made in 1980 by Ann Craven, living in St. Petersburg, Florida. The first Moderator to wear the stole was Al Winn. On the occasion of the reunification of the UPCUSA and PCUS in 1983, this stole became the official Moderator’s stole of the new church. In 1985, the new seal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was approved. That same year, Ann Craven (now living in Montreat, North Carolina) removed the cross on the left side and worked in the seal. In 1997, the edging stitch and lining needed to be replaced. Moderator Patricia G. Brown sent the stole to Ms. Craven in Montreat for necessary repairs. These were done and the stole was returned to the Moderator in October, 1997.

The clerical stole is an item of liturgical dress that has come into general use more recently than the more familiar Geneva gown, clerical collar and bands (sometimes called tabs) often worn by Presbyterian ministers in leading worship. While such an ancestral figure as John Knox is shown wearing a stole in at least one old print, it seems that the use of stoles by military chaplains in this century led to wider use. The stole has been called the most ancient and meaningful of all articles of clerical dress, symbolizing "the yoke of service." (See Macleod, Donald; "Presbyterian Worship," p. 130.)