With regards to saints, there are many similarities between Anglicans and Orthodox. We all have the same pre-schism saints and there has even been some adoption by the Anglicans of post-schism Catholic saints. However, Anglicans no longer canonize saints. They did “canonize” King Charles I, but that’s the only example.
However, non-saints have been added to national Anglican churches (such as the Episcopal church) calendars, such that there are feast days for people who are not saints. That’s where people like Martin Luther King, Jr. come in. When I was an Episcopalian, the book was called “Lesser Feasts and Fasts” and now there is a book called “Holy Women, Holy Men” that has hundreds of additions, some of them rather controversial (and even the idea of throwing in hundreds of new people without clear reasons riled up the few remaining conservatives).
With regards to prayer to saints, it really depends. Some Anglicans are much more Reformed in their practice and theology (called “Low Church”), others are much more Catholic (called “High Church” or “Anglo-Catholic”). I was on the Anglo-Catholic side.
So for example, these are both very similar:
(Episcopalian) Collect for the Feast of St. Dominic:
O God of the prophets, you opened the eyes of your servant Dominic to perceive a famine of hearing the word of the Lord, and moved him, and those he drew about him, to satisfy that hunger with sound preaching and fervent devotion: Make your church, dear Lord, in this and every age, attentive to the hungers of the world, and quick to respond in love to those who are perishing; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Catholic - 1962) Collect for the Feast of St. Dominic:
O God, Who hast vouchsafed to make Thy Church illustrious by the merits and teaching of blessed Dominic, Thy Confessor: grant that, through his intercession, she may not be deprived of temporal help, and may ever advance in spiritual increase. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
But notice how the Catholic prayer, even though it is directed to God, mentions the intercession of St. Dominic and his merits – this would not be done in an Anglican prayer. However, some Anglicans pray the Rosary (even including the Fatima Prayer) while others would detest it for Protestant reasons (and, like Catholics, most just kind of ignore it – it’s on the periphery of their spiritual life).
There are as many kinds of Anglicans pretty much as there are Anglicans. It is like a microcosm of the whole denominational battle and its shrinking all the time. There is talk of disestablishing the Church of England – that is, making it not part of the government anymore. Most of the Anglicans coming over to the Catholic Church with
Anglicanorum Coetibus are already broken off of the Anglican Communion, although there are even bishops of the CofE and other churches coming over.
Many people just got tired of the liberal nonsense going on with the bishops and such. We realized Anglicanism was a sinking ship and it couldn’t be saved, so we decided to just come back to Rome. The Catholic Church may also be in the midst of a crisis (ultimately the same crisis) but it’s founded on a Rock rather than on sand and that makes a big difference. It means that whereas Anglicanism is collapsing and will become even more irrelevant than it already is, the Catholic Church can never totally collapse and disappear. I am happy to be fully and plentifully Catholic now, rather than “Catholic-lite”. I have no doubts anymore about whether my priest is really ordained and thus if the Eucharist is really Jesus Christ or my sins are really forgiven. I don’t have to justify my existence anymore, I’m just Catholic – as Christ intended.
