Two large and influential Episcopal parishes in Virginia voted overwhelmingly today to leave the Episcopal Church and to affiliate with the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, a leader in a church-wide fight against homosexuality. Five smaller churches in Virginia also announced today that they had voted to secede, joining four others that already left and three more that are expected to announce their decisions soon. Some affiliated with archbishops in Uganda and other parts of Africa. The secessions could lead to battles over the churches’ property, although both sides say they wish to avoid legal fights. The move is also likely to escalate divisions in the worldwide Anglican Communion, a 77-million-member alliance in which the Episcopal Church is the American branch. The Rev. Martyn Minns, rector at one of the two large parishes, Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., said at a news conference: ‘A burden is being lifted. There are new possibilities breaking through.’ Clergy at some of these churches have criticized what they regarded as a leftward drift in the Episcopal Church for many years and saw the consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003 as the last straw. Episcopal Church […]