"Leaders who hold office in the Global Anglican Communion must not attend future Primates’ meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, nor attend the Lambeth Conference, nor attend ACC meetings or participate in Commissions of the ACC," the statement ⁠said.

It added that leaders "should not personally approve financial contributions to the ACC. It is also expected that they will not receive financial assistance from compromised sources."

It was not immediately clear how much money was at stake.

Founded some 500 years ago when the Church of England broke from Rome, the Anglican Communion has spread to many ⁠parts of the world, particularly former British colonies.

In recent decades, there have been some liberal shifts within part of the Church. GAFCON was set up in 2008, drawing on the resistance to these changes, especially in Africa and Asia, where the church is expanding ⁠fastest.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the Anglican Communion Office in London said GAFCON was ignoring years of dialogue aimed at reforming the church.

On whether the church had now split, Diarmaid MacCulloch, emeritus professor of church history at the ⁠University of Oxford, told Reuters: "Of course it’s a schism."

But MacCulloch said the rupture need not necessarily be permanent.

"Schisms do eventually get healed, when both sides see that the issues that caused the schism don’t seem that important any longer," he said.