History of the Prayer Book  (1)

 

The evolution of the Book of Common Prayer is as interesting as that of the Constitution of the United States and in importance is second only to the Bible.  The book is in fact a comprehensive library of devotional literature. Every part of it has a background; every line a history.  Many words in it have been the subject of centuries of discussion and controversy.  The book is essentially the product of English Christianity although the constituent elements are very old.

 

Ancient liturgies can be classed into four families attributed to the Apostles. These are:

                 o The Liturgy of Jerusalem ‑ St. James

                 o The Liturgy of Alexandria ‑ St. Mark

                 o The Liturgy of Rome - St. Peter           

                 o The Liturgy of Ephesus ‑ St. John

 

The Liturgy of Ephesus was planted in Lyons France by missionaries from Ephesus in the middle of the 2nd century. This same liturgy was introduced into Britain from Gaul about the middle of the 3rd century and probably modified slightly.  When St. Augustine came to England (ca 597 AD) he found both Gaulican and the British variety of the Ephesine liturgy.  Both of these were different from the Roman use.  Pope Gregory advised Augustine to choose from every Church those things that were good and edifying, and make one liturgy for the English Church.  Augustine's modifications gave the liturgy of the English a character of its own from this time until the Norman Conquest.

 

During the long period following St. Augustine's Liturgy, various service books gradually came into use.  These included the different forms of worship such as the Eucharist and the monastic daily offices.  There were generally five books.  The Missal contained the service of the Mass or Eucharist.  The Breviary contained the monastic services and the entire Psalter.  From the Breviary comes our services of Morning and Evening Prayer and some of the introductory matter. In addition to the Missal and the Breviary, there was the Manual, which included the services for special occasions such as Baptism, Confirmation, etc.. The Pontifical contained the services for consecrating or ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, and  the Processional or Book of Litanies, so‑ called because the litanies were usually chanted in procession.

 

Immediately after the Norman Conquest (ca 1095 AD) St. Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, again revised the English Liturgy (The Sarum Rite). It was this version of the original Ephesine Liturgy that was revised by the reformers for the use of the Reformed Church of  England.  Preceding the first prayer book was the publishing of the Litany in English by Cranmer in 1544; a royal injunction in 1547 ordering the Epistle and  Gospel to be read in English at high mass; and a royal proclamation issued in 1548 imposing the use of The Order for Holy Communion, a service in English for the communion of the people in both kinds.  Under Edward VI the commissioners, originally appointed by Henry VIII, did not set out to form a new mode of divine worship for the English branch of Christ's Church but to revise the existing mode.

 

St. Vincent of Lerins in his Commonitorium wrote, “In the Catholic Church itself all possible care must be taken that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.  For that is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally.  This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent.  The intent of the reformers was never to depart from Catholic teaching, but to reform the teaching of the Church to bring it into line with the teachings and practices of the primitive Church.  This involved rejecting articles added in later times by Rome and others.  The reformers tended to draw the line well before the concilar Epich, before the heresies errors, abuses, controversies arose.  The reformers were historians: they knew that many of the practices later deemed Catholic emanated originally from heretical sources, specially from Gnosticisms of many sorts.

 

      They were guided by the following principles:

           o to prune away what was objectionable,

           o to retain what was useful, and

           o to reduce it to the standard of primitive antiquity.

           o To involve both the clergy and the laity in corporate worship

           o to have the bible and the prayer book in the language of the common people,

           o to give communion in both kinds to the people

 

Largely the work of Bishop Cranmer, the existing liturgy was edited with some use of a revised Roman Breviary, published in 1535 AD by Cardinal Fernandez de Quinones, the Mozarabic Missal published under Cardinal Ximenes in 1500, certain Eastern Liturgies and the Lutheranly inclined tentative 'Consultation' of Hermann von Wied, Archbishop of Cologne, issued in 1543 AD. The superstitious accretions of the middle ages were removed, many symbolic ceremonies were omitted and the service simplified.  The substance of the primitive liturgy was retained, such as prayers for the dead, communion at burials, anointing and exorcism in baptism, and anointing of the sick.  In the Eucharist the words used in handing the elements to the communicant were the first clause of the present Anglican form.  ('The body of our Lord Jesus Christ'.... and 'The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ....') The eight Offices of the Breviary were condensed into two ‑ Matins and Evensong;  Matins being compiled out of Nocturnes, Lauds and Prime;  Evensong out of Vespers and Compline.  The occasional offices were added.  The Prayer Book was submitted to Parliament and the first Act of Uniformity passed in January 1549.  The new Prayer Book was to be used in all churches on Whitsun Day, June 9, 1549.

 

The Prayer Book of 1549 was not popular.  Conservatives disliked the changes.  Protestants felt it retained too much of Roman usage.  The first Prayer Book was  revised to satisfy the objections of the Puritans, supported by a number of foreign theologians driven from Germany by the Interim.  The most influential was Bucer (Butzer) of Strasbourg, Divinity Professor at Cambridge, and Peter Martyr in the same capacity at Oxford.  The hostility of this foreign group resulted in the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI, published in 1552.  It marked the extent to which the English Reformation was drawn to Calvinist and Zuinglian doctrine and ritual.  More of the ancient ceremonial was now done away.  Prayers for the dead were omitted, a communion table substituted for the altar with the Priest to stand on the north side, the invocation of the Holy Spirit on the bread and wine, which occurs in many ancient liturgies, was omitted; the mixing of water with the wine of the sacrament was struck out and common bread instead of the wafer used in the Supper; exorcism and anointing set aside and the priest's vestments restricted to the surplice.  The second clause of the Anglican form of the delivery of the elements was substituted. ('Take and eat this in remembrance...' and 'Drink this in remembrance....')

 

Edward VI's second Act of Uniformity was passed in April 1552.  The king died a year later and it is unlikely that the second Prayer Book was ever taken into general use.  On the death of the boy king in 1553, Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, succeeded to the throne.  Mary's first Parliament repealed all of the ecclesiastical legislation passed since 1558 in the reign of Edward VI and public worship was restored to the forms of the last year of Henry VIII.  Parliament also voted to restore papal authority.

 

Thus the newly reformed Prayer book was suppressed and the persecutions begun.  Archbishop Cranmer was excommunicated and Cardinal Pole, the Vatican legate, was made Archbishop of Canterbury in his place.  Bishops Latimer, Rogers, Hooper and Ridley were burned at the stake in 1555 and Archbishop Cranmer in 1556.  In all 277 people were burned at the stake during Mary's reign.  These martyrdoms did more for the spread of anti-Roman sentiment than all previous governmental efforts had accomplished. Queen Mary died on November 17,1558 and  Archbishop Pole died the next day. 

 

During the first year of Elizabeth's reign, a new Act of Uniformity was passed June 24, 1559 adopting the second Prayer Book with some modifications.  One of these was to prefix the words at the administration of the consecrated elements from the First Book of Edward to those of the Second Book.  This is an important part of the Elizabethan Synthesis.  Thus "the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee,...." was restored and the sentence "Take and eat this in remembrance ....." was left in.

 

In addition proper lessons for Sundays were introduced;  prayers for the Queen, clergy and people were introduced from the ancient offices.  The rubric retaining the ancient vestments was inserted.  The alter was substituted for the side table for celebrating communion.

 

In 1645 Parliament passed an ordinance for the Abolition of the Prayer Book and ordered the use of the Presbyterian Directory.  In 1646 an ordinance was passed for settling the Presbyterian form of government.  The Assembly of Divines published a Confession of Faith, and a Larger and Lessor Catechism founded upon it. In 1648 the independent party forcibly took over Parliament and seized the Government.  The usurped power of Parliament and the Presbyterian establishment of the Church came to a sudden and violent end.  In 1653 Cromwell became Lord Protector of England.

 

In 1660 Cromwell died and Charles II was restored to the throne.  The Church of England was restored at the same time.  The Book of Common Prayer went through various revisions in 1604 (which was the book first brought to America in the Jamestown, Virginia settlement), and 1662. As the revision of 1559 is styled the Revision of the Reformation, the next great revision was the Revision of Restoration. This was made in 1662 after the end of the Protectorate of Cromwell and the period of Puritan Supremacy. In 1661, the Convocation of Canterbury drew up a service for adult baptism and revised the Prayer Book.  The Epistles and Gospels were ordered to be read out of the Authorized Version of the Bible, but the Psalms were left in Coverdale's version.  The Sentences, Exhortation and Confession were prefixed to the Evening Prayer; and the Prayer for Parliament, for all sorts and conditions of men, the General Thanksgiving, and other occasional prayers and special collects were added.  A few alterations indicate a distinct reaction in the mind of the church from the standard of the second Prayer Book of Edward VI towards that of the first.  In the Office of Baptism, the words  "Sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin," were inserted; in the Prayer for the Church Militant mention was made of the departed, "We also bless thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear." These alterations, framed by a royal commission, were amended and adopted by the Convocation.

 

The Book of Common Prayer, so modified, was included in an Act of Uniformity to go into effect on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662.  The nonconforming ministers, installed during Cromwell's reign, consisting of Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists and sectarians of all kinds were given until then to receive episcopal ordination, subscribe to The 39 Articles , and accept the use of the Prayer Book.  It was the 1662 book that was in use during the American Revolutionary War and it became the basis of the first truly American Book of Common Prayer in 1789.  

 

In America, the name "Protestant Episcopal" was first suggested by a conference of laity and clergy in Maryland in 1780.  Two years later, William White, Rector of Christ's Church in Philadelphia, in a pamphlet, The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered,  sketched out an organization for the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.  The first General Convention was held in Philadelphia in 1785.  Meanwhile, the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut had elected Samuel Seabury as their bishop, and he went to England for ordination.  The English could not consecrate without action by Parliament.  Seabury went to Scotland and was consecrated at the hands of the Nonjuror  [(7)] Scottish bishops in Aberdeen in 1784.  The General Convention reconvened in 1786 and reported that the English bishops had obtained an enabling act from Parliament.  William White of Pennsylvania and Samuel Provost of New York were consecrated bishop in 1787 by the archbishop of Canterbury.  In the General Convention of 1789, Connecticut joined with the convention and with all parties united, the Prayer Book was revised and adapted to American needs.

 

The character of the Episcopal Church was influenced in its early years by the conflict between the low church, led by William White and the high church, led by Samuel Seabury.  The General Convention of 1785 adopted a constitution for the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, largely the work of William White.  Seeking to resolve the struggle, the Convention established a polity in which a democratic, lay dominated House of Deputies was set in opposition to an aristocratic, episcopally dominated House of Bishops.  This satisfied the demands of both clerical and lay emphases and paved the way for adjustment of difficulties.  In the General Convention of 1789, the Prayer Book was revised and adopted to American needs.  Unity has historically been maintained by commonly held traditions embodied in the constitution and canon law, the Book of Common Prayer and the three fold ministry of Bishops, Priests and Deacons.

 

In the interval between 1789 and the present there have been two revisions of the American Book, one in 1892 and the other in 1928.  The outstanding figure of the earlier of these two revisions was Dr. William R. Huntington, Rector of Grace Church, New York City.  It did not involve any fundamental change from the book of 1789, but it was enriched with some additional prayers and canticles, and made slightly more flexible.  The revision of 1928 made important constructive changes in the book.  The material was rearranged in a more logical and convenient    sequence. The book was enriched by the addition of many new prayers.  Dean Suter, of Washington Cathedral made notable contributions including the prayer "For Joy in God's Creation" and the prayer "For Quiet Confidence".  The two Offices of Instruction were added as were a service appropriate to the Burial of a Child, a provision for Extreme Unction, and a Litany for the Dying.  Revisions were made in the Baptismal Office, the Marriage Service, the Visitation of the Sick, and the Burial Office.  In the service of Holy Communion the position of the Lord's Prayer and the prayer of Humble Access were reversed.  One of our Lord's most significant declarations is that "no man cometh unto the Father except by me."  It is appropriate that after the Prayer of Consecration, the congregation is emboldened to address God Almighty as "Our Father".  Following this they recognize that such a approach is made possible not because of trust in their own righteousness but because of God's manifold and great mercies.

 

((insert in next to last paragraph a statement of the letters between white and seabury and the insertion of the scottish addition of the oblation and invocation to the communion service))

 

The revision of the marriage vow was a concession to the popular view that there is something undignified in the promise "to obey".  In the Burial Office the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians is no longer compulsory. In addition, versus 29 through 34 were removed from the reading of the fifteenth chapter.  This powerful passage begins with "Else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead" and ends "for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame".  One rather revolutionary change was made in the translation of Psalm 121.  An interrogation mark (?) was placed at the end of the first verse.  The verse now reads "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; From whence cometh my help?" An entire change in meaning results.  Now instead of looking to the hills for help, the psalmist looks away from the hills and answers his own question, "My help cometh even from the Lord". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                          Divisions of the Prayer Book  (2)

 

   a) The Preface ‑ Dated Philadelphia, October 1789, the preface declares the ecclesiastical independence of the Protestant Episcopal Church from the Church of England.  The Preface also recognizes the essential identity of the American Book of Common Prayer with the English book.

 

   b) Other Introductory Matters ‑ The Introductory Matter includes directions concerning the Services of the Church, Psalms and Lessons for the Christian Year, the church calendar and tables of Feast and Holy Days.

 

   c) The Book of Daily Offices or Services ‑ This book corresponds to the ancient Breviary.  This book contains Morning and Evening Prayer, the litany and a Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday. In addition there are certain Prayers and Thanksgiving for occasional use in these services.

 

   d) The Book of Holy Communion and The Propers ‑ Corresponds to the ancient Missal or Book of the Mass.  It contains The Order for The Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion; together with the Collects, Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holy Days of the year.

 

   e) The Book of Occasional Offices ‑ Corresponds to the Manual or Minister's Handbook. It contains the services for Baptism,  Confirmation, Matrimony, Churching of Women, Visitation and Communion of the Sick and Burial of the Dead.

 

   f) The Book of Psalms or The Psalter ‑ The translation is the Coverdale translation essentially as it appeared in the Great  Bible of 1539.

 

   g) The Ordinal ‑ The Form of Making, Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops,   Priests and Deacons together with forms for consecrating a Church and the Office of Institution of Ministers.

 

   h) Supplementary Matters ‑ A Catechism and forms of Family Prayers

 

   i) The 39 Articles of Religion ‑ Not strictly a part of a Prayer Book or book of devotions.  They represent an attempt at theological statement, first made in England under the influence of the reformation. The American form  was set at the General Convention in 1801.

 

 

     The Rubrics (2)

 

Throughout the book, printed in small type are directions with respect to its use and concerning ceremonial practices.  These directions were given the name Rubrics because originally they were printed in red ink.  They may be regarded as having an authority less than enforceable law and greater than mere advice.  In Canon Law violation of rubrics is specified as one of the offences for which a minister may be tried (Canon 55).  Practically, there are many rubrics to which such discipline is inapplicable.  Mr. G.W. Pepper, in his Analytical Index to the Book of Common Prayer, states that in his opinion "rubrics should be regarded as expressing the standard of practice and behavior which conforms most closely to the spirit of the book as a whole.  They are in general a challenge to the capacity of the clergy to subordinate personal preferences to collective judgement".  However scattered through the book are rubrics that are canonical in nature.  Violation of these could at least be considered a theoretical possibility for discipline.

 

 

 

 

 

Background of Morning and Evening Prayer  (3)

 

Both Morning and Evening Prayer come to us from the system of daily offices kept by the Monks in the middle ages.  These so called Canonical Hours, or services held at specific times during the day, were intended to offer up continual prayer and praise to Almighty God.  These practices grew out of the Jewish Temple services which offered prayers and sacrifices three times daily; first light, mid‑day and evening.  (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10; Acts 3:1, 10:3,9, Psalm 61:8, et al.)

 

By the middle of the sixth century, patterns for the daily offices of the Christian Church had been outlined in the Monastic Rule of Benedict.  Benedict of Nursia, born ca480 AD, founded the mother monastery of the Benedictine Order, on the hill of Monte Cassino, at some uncertain date believed to be 529.  To it he gave his "Rule" which exhibited his profound knowledge of human nature and Roman genius for organization.  It set such an example of monastic life as led to a reform of the monastic system throughout Europe. To  Benedict's thinking, worship was the prime duty of a monk.  Its daily observance occupied at least four hours, divided into eight distinct services, which were sung in monasteries and cathedrals and read in churches which did not have choirs.  These offices were required of the clergy and the laity were encouraged, but not required, to attend certain of these services.  The eight offices were:

 

        1.  Matins also called Nocturnes, was the vigil before dawn. It consisted  primarily of three sets of psalms and lessons.

 

        2.  Lauds also called Matins, followed immediately after Nocturnes at daybreak.  The majority of this service was Psalms 148‑150.

 

        3.  The "Little Hours" as they were called were Prime, Terce, Sext, and  Nones which marked off the first, third, sixth and ninth hours of the day. These were principally drawn from sections of Psalm 119.

 

        4.  At sundown the office of Vespers was sung, including  psalms, a short lesson, an anthem in response, a hymn, canticle and certain collects.

 

        5.  This was followed by Compline, or bed time prayers after supper.

 

For all of these, fixed Psalms were appointed for antiphonal singing or recitation, and at some of them lessons from Scripture and Canticles were in use.  By keeping the offices in this manner, the Psalter was recited every week and the entire bible was read through at least once each year.  The effect of this arrangement was to keep the scriptures constantly before the eyes of the clergy, and to sanctify time to the service to God.  The intention was not primarily to promote personal spiritual development, but rather was part of the Church's duty to continually offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Office of Morning Prayer  (4)

 

The Office of Morning Prayer is very ancient in origin with prayers from the 4th to the 17th century, the creed from the 2nd century,  all built upon the foundation of Holy Scripture.  It came about as part of the effort to recover the simplicity of the Apostolic Teaching.  The liturgy is truly Catholic, Apostolic and Reformed.  From the Canonical Offices of Matins (Nocturnes), Lauds and Prime, Morning Prayer emerges in the form we see it today.  As the service progresses, note the turning points and purposes of its parts.  At the time the Book of Common Prayer was written, prayer was the general term for worship.  Thus with Morning Prayer we enter into morning worship.  Prayer is the central focus of our liturgy and through prayer we worship God the Holy Trinity.  In our commitment to prayer, we commit to worship God.  This Daily Office calls us to renew our commitment and  faith in God;  and to praise him not only with our lips but in our lives;  to worship him in the beauty of  holiness.  Lex orandi: lex credendi - the law of praying, the law of believing.  "As we pray, so we believe."

 

1.  Preparation ‑ Mankind moving into the presence of God:

 

(a) The opening sentences first appeared in the 1552 book.  They serve as a anthem to set the tone of the service.  They are all taken from scripture.  Thus as the Office opens, it is God who takes the initiative, God who invites us to Worship, God who reaches out to make Himself known to us and invites us into his presence.  In the English Book, the sentences dwell on penitence.  The American Book added some general sentences, such as Hab. 2:20.  “The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

 

(b) The exhortation follows naturally from the sentences.  The sentences provide evidence of the "sundry places" in which the  Scriptures urge us to repent and confess our sins.  The reason for the call to confession is universal; there is no greater barrier to fellowship with God than sin. (I John 1:9) The exhortation begins as we recognize our unworthiness, our uncleanness, our need to confess our sins.  “That we should not dissemble nor cloak “ our sins from God (Prov 28:13).  Here is the one from whom no secrets are hid. (Prov 28:19)   We confess that we have not done what he has asked us to and we have done those things we should not have done and there is no health in us; (Eph 1:7)  there is no way we can remedy this situation except 'by His infinite goodness and mercy'.  (Luke 19:10;  I Tim 1:15 )  The balance of the Exhortation outlines what follows in the Daily Office; namely worship consisting of penitence, praise and thanks giving, revelation and instruction from God's word and prayers for what we need materially and spiritually.

 

(c) The General Confession is said while kneeling to indicate our humility as both offenders before Almighty God and as creatures in the presence of the Creator.  Notice that this confession is not only singular in number, that is not just that these things we as people individually do, but also plural in that we, the community, the body of the Church are also sinful and fallen short of the glory of God.  Drawing from language that is thoroughly biblical, notably Romans 8:, Isaiah 53: the reference to lost sheep;  Matt 18:11,14 and Luke 15:4 the parable of the lost sheep, I John 1:8,9,  Psalm 32:5,6 and Proverbs 28:13. 

 

(d) Notice that the Absolution begins with a statement that reveals God's disposition toward sinners.  God's grace and mercy are revealed in the statement from Ezekiel 33:11 that God does not desire the death of sinners, but rather that they turn from their wickedness, that they repent and live.  The Declaration of Absolution is not a prayer.  It is a declaration based on John 20:22‑23/Matthew 16:19 in which Jesus told the apostles whatever sins they forgave, or pronounced as forgiven, will already have been forgiven in  heaven.  It is said only by the Priest because only he has been given the authority by the Apostolic succession and the laying on of hands.  Then divine assistance is asked for so that we may have true repentance, and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit to incite us to our duty and to restrain us from our sins, so that hereafter our lives will be pleasing to God. 

 

(e) The Lord's Prayer.  (Matt 6:9‑13 and Luke 11:2‑4) Having heard God call us to his presence, confessed, our sins, and having been reminded of God's promise to forgive all those who truly repent and believe His Holy Gospel, we may now enter into the throne of Grace and address the Lord God with the words our savior taught us, beginning with the restored relationship of calling Him Our Father.

 

(2)  The Invitation and Offerings of Praise due God:

 

(a) At this point of the service we begin to offer up the praise due His Holy Name.  Using Psalm 51:15 we ask God to truly open our mouths, to cause our hearts to overflow in praise.  This Versicle was the traditional beginning of the Morning Office of Matins.

 

(b) The Gloria Patri is the minor doxology and summarizes the orthodox praise of God as the One Holy Triune being.  The eternal  unity and equality of the Holy Trinity is the short test of orthodoxy in the Christian tradition.  The exact form of the Gloria  has varied through time, but the Trinitarian form has been fixed since the Arian controversy of the fourth century.

 

(c) The sentences on page 8 of the Prayer Book are called antiphons or short anthems.  Their use was primarily to set the music for the Psalm to be sung and secondarily to provide the theme for the Church season.  These were commonly sung in matins according to the 'Rule' of Benedict and the Sarum Rite.  They were dropped by Cranmer in 1549 and restored for optional use in the 1928 American Prayer Book.

 

(d) The Venite is a combination of Psalm 95 and Psalm 96:9,13.  In the Rule of Benedict it is prescribed at the "vigil" or Nocturnes which became commonly called Matins.  From there it found its way into the Roman and Sarum Breviaries.  In 1549 it was set in its familiar place in the Book of Common Prayer.  The stern Language of the last four versus of psalm 95, led to their excision in the 1928 revision and the inclusion of Psalm 96:9,13.  These are part of the theocratic Psalms, so called because they speak of the sovereignty of God.  They are presumed to have been written by Moses.

 

It is the summons or invitation of the whole world to worship the Creator, Provider and Judge.  It is joyous, it offers thanks giving and calls us to honor God with beauty and awe.  Here are woven together in one tapestry the supreme attitudes of true worship: complete sincerity and unfailing trust in God.  These psalms are traditionally sung in keeping with the Jewish tradition of singing praise to God through the psalms.

 

(e) The portion of Psalter appointed next gives voice to the various moods and experience of worshipers of all ages when they come into the presence of God.  The poetry captures universal human emotions and experiences. 

 

(f) The psalms were followed by the Gloria Patri from earliest times to give the psalms a Christian reference and to keep in view that it is God we worship and praise. The psalms provide a pivot point in the service.  The movement has been man moving toward God, we respond to His call, we confess, we offer praise and now the service turns to:

 

3. Instruction ‑ God moving toward man:

 

(a) The Lessons appointed in the office change the direction of movement to God moving toward man.  Now the revelation from the word of God becomes the central focus.  The first lesson comes from the Old Testament in recognition that all scripture is inspired and profitable for our instruction and example. (2 Timothy 3:16‑17).

 

Throughout the Old Testament runs increasing expectancy and prevision of the coming of one majestic person who will rule and bless the whole world. In these lessons we find the promises of God foretold but not fulfilled.  The Messiah is anticipated but has not arrived. It is followed by a Canticle, a song of praise in response to the revelation.

 

(b) The Te Deum Laudamus is the greatest of hymns of the Western Church according to Massey Shepherd.  This is one of only two non‑scriptural hymns appointed as Canticles in the Prayer Book and dates from the fourth century Matins. [The other is the Gloria in Excelsis] In the Sarum Rite, this is the climax of Sunday Matins.

 

The Benedictus Es, Domine was introduced to the Prayer Book for the first time in the American 1928 and Scottish 1929 editions, although  it was used in the Eastern Church and in Spain in the Lauds.  It is based on The Song of the Three Holy Children Verses, 29‑34, one of the Books of the Apocrypha.  This book appeared in an early version of the bible in the Book of Daniel Chapter 3 between versus 23 and 24.  It did not appear in the Jewish old testament and thus was removed to the Apocrypha.

 

The Benedicite has been used in both Eastern and Western Churches since the fourth century.  It is also based on The Song of the Three Holy Children, Verses 35‑65.  It is similar in theme to Psalm 148 and is also a universal call to worship.

 

Note:  Rubric, Page 10.  The 1928 Prayer Book allows for the first time, the Office to end here if the Holy Communion follows to avoid duplication of material and to restore the ancient practice of including an Old Testament lesson in the Eucharist.

 

(c) Then follows the New Testament Lesson.  The Gospels show the fulfillment in whole or in part of the Old Testament promises of a Messiah.  The Messiah has come to be the Lamb of God and the Lord of the Church.  We must learn what it means to live in light of those facts.  The Book of Acts and the Epistles provide us with doctrine and instruction in Christ's purpose for the world.

 

(d) The Canticles following the New Testament lesson reveal the fulfillment of the promises of God.  In the Benedictus we find the Jewish Christian praises of Zacharias from St. Luke 1:68 who saw the birth of John the Baptist in direct fulfillment of the promise made to Israel and David.  The alternative  Jubilate Deo is drawn from Psalm 100 and had been used in Sunday Lauds.  It is also an invitation hymn like the Venite and was associated with the thank offerings in the Temple.

 

(e) The Apostles Creed is not attested in the daily Offices before the eighth century, but was then said in both Prime and Compline.  This creed sums up the Churches faith and belief in the light of the revelation of the Gospel. (Matt 28:19 on the Trinity)  Notice the personal form "I believe" instead of "we".  This is an individual profession of faith made in the context of the community.  This is the faith shared by all faithful Christians.

 

 What originally began as a baptismal formula called the Old Roman Symbal from 150‑175 AD became known as the Apostles Creed; a summary of the faith taught by the Apostles and required of all who would be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  (God the Father, John 1:1-5; God the Son, John 1:34; God the Holy Ghost John 15:26; gave his life, John 10:11)  Originally it did not contain the phrase 'He descended into Hell'.  This was added ca360 AD in three Western Dioceses.  In the Daily Offices we renew our profession of faith which was first made at our baptism.  The custom from ancient times is to face East or toward the altar when reciting the creed, symbolic of renouncing the darkness of the world and embracing the light of a new day in Christ.  Another ancient custom is to bow at the name of Jesus anywhere it is named in the Office in recognition of His divinity and Lordship.


4.  The Collects for the Day, for Peace and for Grace:

 

(a) The salutation and versicles mark another transition in the service.  At this point the minister and people greet each other to call attention to the collects that follow.  The versicles are taken from Psalm 85:7 and 51:10‑11 and relate to the two collects which are always said after the Collect of the Day.

 

Note: Rubric Page 16: If the penitential portion of the Office has been omitted, the Lord's Prayer is said after the salutation and before the versicles.

 

Note: A Collect is a designation given to a prayer expressed in a single sentence and limited to a single subject. That subject is almost always a petition for some general or universal blessing ‑ such as forgiveness, guidance, protection ‑ as distinguished from a plea for some more specific or particular favor.

 

This short form of prayer is constructed from (1) an invocation, (2) a petition and (3) a pleading in Christ's name.  Such prayers were familiar in the middle of the 5th century.  They are fully developed in the earliest Latin Sacrementaries. The collects in the Book of Common Prayer derive from the medieval sources, especially the Sarum Missal.  [(2) & (5)]

 

(b) The Collect of the Day ties into the church season.  At morning and evening prayer two unalterable collects are provided for recitation after the collect for the Day. The Collects for Peace and Grace are complimentary.  The Collect for Peace petitions for the spiritual welfare of the universal Church in the midst of spiritual warfare.  The Collect for Grace, which comes from the Sarum Rite, asks for grace for the local congregation and to defend us from Satan and sinful acts in the midst of day‑to‑day tasks.

 

 Having said these three collects, nothing essential to corporate worship has been omitted.  In the 1928 Prayer Book the Office may be ended here.  In the 1789 Prayer Book the prayer for the President  was to be said before the Office ended, as Bishop White's concession to the request of George Washington.

 

5. The Prayers:

 

See Matt 7:7‑11, Matt 21:22, Luke 11:9‑13, Phil 4:6 and John 16;23 for scripture passages on prayer in general.

 

(a) The prayers following the collects enrich our understanding of  what is necessary for the body as well as the soul.  The prayer for the President dates back to the practice of praying for the welfare of the monarch and is in keeping with the instructions of St. Paul in I Timothy 2:1‑2 and Romans 13:1‑7.  The alternative prayer on Page 18 is unique to the 1928 Prayer Book and is based on Psalm 8:1 and Isaiah 11:2.

 

(b) The prayer for the Clergy and People comes from the Gelasion Sacramentary and was included in the Daily Offices in 1662.  Notice how the request is made for the same spirit of Grace for both clergy and people. 

 

Historical Note:  The Gelasian Sacramentary is a name applied to a particular manuscript (and to a class of Sacramentaries) of the mid 8th century.  The manuscript is the earliest known Roman Sacramentary in which the feasts are arranged according to the ecclesiastical year.  It was written by the nuns of Chelles in the neighborhood of Paris.  [(5)]

 

 

(c) The prayer for All Conditions of Men is attributed to the Rev. Dr. Peter Gunning, Bishop of Chichester (1670‑1674) and Ely (1675‑1684), who was said to be a staunch royalist and high churchman.  The phrase "all who confess and call themselves Christians" was probably aimed at the Puritans, not at worldly Christians.  It contains three specific requests: first, the missionary endeavor to spread the Gospel to all nations; second, the unity of the Church;  and third, petitions for all afflicted and suffering.

 

(d) The New Testament teaches us that thanks giving is an essential part of Christian Worship and praying.  Thus, we have a general thanks giving which was apparently at first a private prayer of Queen Elizabeth from 1596. It was modified to its present form in the 1662 Prayer Book.  The theological language and biblical allusions are obvious.  It builds upon God's threefold activity as Creator, Preserver and Redeemer.  It offers thanks for God's providence and grace. It moves us from worship in the sanctuary to service in the world to praise God not only with our lips but in our lives.

 

(e) The Prayer of St. Chrysostom comes to us from the Greek liturgy and is ascribed to St. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, who died about 407.  The prayer is actually a combination of two of the Lord's sayings from Matthew 18:19‑20, which occur in the context of church discipline.  What the verses say is that when two agree on what they ask God the Father will grant it ‑ verse 19.  Verse 20 says that when two or three are gathered together, Jesus will be in their midst.  The prayer actually makes the unfortunate statement  that when two or three gather together in Jesus's Name, He will grant their requests. The harm is not major and the context of our  service is common prayer.  What is significant in this prayer is the recognition that the gift of grace allows us to gather together with one accord to make our common supplications to God.

 

6.  The Grace:

 

(a) The grace is taken from 2 Corinthians 13:14 is a prayer and not a benediction.  It emphasizes the Holy Trinity in the Son's redeeming act, the Fathers love and the Spirit's bonding us into one Holy Fellowship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Litany  [(5) & (6)]

or General Supplication

 

1. Background:

 

Litany is a Greek word meaning prayer or supplication. In English use the word denotes a special type of prayer: a series of invocations or petitions pronounced by a minister in alternation with brief responses said by the congregation.  The Prayer Book Litany consists of the following parts: (1) Invocations, solemn

addresses to the Holy Trinity; (2) Deprecations, petitions for deliverance from all evil; (3) Obsecrations, entreaties addressed to our Lord recalling his redeeming acts on our behalf; (4) Suffrages, chiefly of an intercessory nature; (5) further invocations to our Lord, the Agnus Die, Kyrie and Lord's Prayer; (6) and a special Supplication composed of responsive versicles and  collects.

 

The use of litany forms in Christian worship was first developed in the Churches of Syria during the fourth century.  They were familiar to pagan worship, and appear to have had some use in Judaism judging from the structure of Psalms such as 118 and 136.  From Syria, the litany form of intercessory prayer quickly spread into the rites of all the principal churches.  At Rome Pope Gelasius I inaugurated the use of litany intercession at the beginning of Mass. In the Western Church these processional litanies were introduced to take the place of older pagan processions.  They consisted of petitions and miscellaneous anthems  and were known as 'Rogations'.

 

About the year 470 a Gaulican Bishop, Mamertus of Vienne, inaugurated processional litanies on the three days preceding Ascension Day, at a time of special terror in their locality because of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.  The 'Rogation Days' were soon adopted by other churches in Gaul, then by the Church of England in 747, and finally by the Roman Church in the time of Pope Leo (795‑816).

 

Meanwhile in the Church in Syria another stage in the development of the Litany was underway.  This was a Litany made up of invocations of the Saints, and to special devotions to the Cross and Christ as the Lamb of God.  This new style of Litany was introduced into Rome by Pope Sergius I (687‑701).  It was soon cultivated with especial fervor in England and was carried to the Continent by Anglo‑Saxon missionaries in the Eighth century. There it became fused with the processional Litanies of the Rogation Days to form the characteristic type of Litany used in the West throughout the middle ages.

 

The English Litany was first published in 1544 as a special supplication for the nation during the war Henry VIII was waging with Scotland and France.  While he used the Litany of the Sarum Processional as a basis of his English form, Bishop Cranmer drew many suggestions of content and phrase from various other sources.  Among them were: the Commendation of the Dying from the Sarum Missal, the Litany of the Roman Missal, and in particular the revised form of this Litany made by Luther in 1529 and by Cardinal Quinones in his Breviary of 1535‑1537,  The Litany of the use of York and several Greek Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom.  Cranmer made a notable change in the rhythm by grouping several suffrages under one response instead of setting the responses after each petition.

 

The Litany or General Supplication as it stands in the Prayer Book of 1662 (and substantially in the Revised Book) is almost identical to with The Letany composed in English by Cranmer and issued in 1544; but there are important differences.  For example, (a)the invocations of Mary the Mother of God, of the angels in their orders, and of the saints in their classes which remained in 1544, followed by ‘Pray for us’, (b) a strange prayer for the Queen, and (c) the prayer for deliverance from ‘the tyranny of the bishop of Romes and all his detestable enormities’, have been omitted since 1549. The 1662 Prayer Book and the American Books of 1789 and 1892 followed earlier tradition and placed the Litany use on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays after Morning Prayer assuming that it would be followed by Holy Communion.  Injunctions issued by Queen Elizabeth made it clear that it was to be said 'immediately before the time of communion'.  The mediaeval custom of singing the Litany in procession on Rogation Days was recognized by the Elizabethan injunctions.

 

2.  The Invocations:

 

The service begins with an invocation of the Holy Trinity.  The revisions in the American Prayer Book of 1928 brought the invocations nearer to the original Latin.  They also closely parallel the Trinitarian paraphrase of the Creed in the Offices of Instruction.  This invocation of God under the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost forms the basis of our Litany.  The normal method of Christian prayer is that it should be addressed to the Father, through the Son, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.  In the primitive liturgy all the prayers were so addressed.  The Son is ‘of one substance with the Father’, that is, He belongs to the one inseparable being of God, and it is right therefore to invoke both Him and the Holy Spirit.  Such prayers are inevitably by implication addressed also to the Father, for the three are one.  Invocations of the Son, Jesus Christ, have constituted the substance of Church Liturgies from the time when their use began in the Church’s hour of special need, and they have their prototype in the prayers of St Stephen in his agony.

 

3.  The Deprecations:

 

From this point on the Litany is specifically addressed to our Lord.  The Deprecations are prayers for deliverance from all kinds of evil.  The term means ‘to plead strongly.’

 

The beginning antiphon is from Tobit 3:3 and the response from Joel 2:17.  The 1789 Book substituted the phrase "from all inordinate and sinful affections". The 1928 Book added the petition from earthquake, fire and flood".  The famous phrase "from sudden death" means a death that is unprepared, unforeseen and unprovided  for.  In the last Deprecation the words "rebellion" and "schism" stem from the 1662 revision and look back upon the unfortunate days of the Civil War and Commonwealth.

 

The grouping of phrases in the deprecations is not without design.  The first is general appeal for deliverance or redemption in which we are reminded of those spiritual forces of evil in the invisible world and their unremitting warfare against God's purpose.  ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ [Eph 6:12]  In the second, we pray against those spiritual sins of mind and heart.  How can ye believe’, said our Lord, ‘which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? [St John 6:44] 

 

In the third, we pray the Lord deliver us from the grosser moral lapses.  It was objected to by the Puritans as introducing the distinction between mortal and venial sins. But in this deprecation there is no doubt that what was chiefly in Cranmer’s mind was sins of sexual lust such as were enormously prevalent in his day as in ours. The fourth deprecation is concerned with physical calamities.  The old form of this deprecation included the intercession against ‘sudden and unforeseen’ death instead of Cranmer’s merely against sudden death.  The fifth deprecation is concerned with those disruptions of unity and concord that are the consequence of rebellion and disobedience to God's will.  It contains three separate classes of perils; the first ‘sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion’, the second ‘false doctrine, heresy and schism’ and lastly hardness of heart and contempt for the word and commandments of God.

 

 

 

 

4.  The Obsecrations:

 

In these magnificent entreaties (beginning with By the mystery...) we call upon our Lord for his assistance by virtue of all that he has wrought for us in his incarnate life.  The final petition of this section of the Litany sums up the thought of our spiritual need at all times, both in the present and in the hour of our death.  The term means ‘an earnest entreaty.’

 

5.  The Suffrages:

The intercessions which follow, make up the main body of the Litany and fall into three groups.  The first nine suffrages concern the corporate life of the people of God and their leaders in Church and State. the next seven are petitions for those in special need of help and grace.  The two that follow  are supplications of a general nature for our common needs; first the material blessings of the fruits of the earth and second for the spiritual blessings of repentance and forgiveness and the grace of the Holy Spirit. (the Absolution of Morning Prayer)

 

The petitions to "strengthen such as do stand" are derived from I Thessalonians 5:14 and Romans 16:20.  The last petition on page 56 is a citation from Psalm 146:9, and the petition on Page 57 for our enemies reminds us of our Lord's teaching in Mark 11:25 and Matthew 6:15.

 

6.  The Agnus Dei:

    The Kyrie Eleison:

    The Lord's Prayer:

 

The 1928 Prayer Book moved the Rubric for shortening the Litany to its present position after the Lord's Prayer.  The Litany is frequently used as a separate service by itself, that the Lord's Prayer as a climax and summary of the whole office.  In the Gospels the Lord's prayer ends with a liturgical doxology at the end in the version of St. Matthew, but without it in the version of St. Luke.  The Prayer Book has developed a consistent method of using the two versions.  When the Lord's Prayer is preceded by the Kyrie and has a distinctly penitential emphasis the version from Luke is used.  In all other offices, where the Lord's prayer has a more Eucharistic  note or a formal bidding, the version from Matthew with its doxology is used.

 

7.  Final Supplication:

 

Following the Lord's Prayer, the versicle and response is taken from Psalm 103:10.  The Collect is a paraphrase of thoughts derived from Psalm 51.  The next antiphon is from the last verse of Psalm 44.  The prayer is from the first verse of Psalm 44 and again the antiphon from the last verse of Psalm 44; followed by the Gloria Patri. The versicles and responses introduce the final summary Collect.  This Collect was the last of the Rogation Day Collects said at the end of the Sarum Litany.  The final Collect is one of the finest expressions in the Prayer Book of our utter dependence upon God if we are to escape the evils that overtake us when we sin by trusting in our own nature rather than in his mercy and strength.  The thought is similar to that of the Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Penitential Office [(5) & (6)]

 

                                                              for Ash Wednesday

 

1.  Background:

 

The rubric at the top of page 60 states that this office may be read after the prayer "We humbly Beseech thee, O Father" at the end of the Litany, or used with Morning or Evening Prayer, or be read as a    separate Office, or at other times at the discretion of the Minister.  The Office was originally intended to be introductory to the Holy Communion.  If used in Morning or Evening Prayer the Office would logically come at the beginning in the place of the general confession.  However, by tradition the custom is to say the Penitential Office after the Daily Office or the Litany.

 

This Office was introduced into the American Book of Common Prayer  in the 1892 revision.  It is based on A Commination service  introduced into the English Book of Common Prayer in 1549,  consisting of an exhortation, intended for use by a non preaching clergy, Psalm 51, suffrages and prayers.  The English service in turn was based upon the penitential service that preceded the Blessing of Ashes in the Sarum Rite for Ash Wednesday.  The 1879 Book of Common Prayer had included only the three prayers on Page 62, to be said on Ash Wednesday at Morning Prayer after the Litany and immediately before the General Thanksgiving.

 

2.   Psalm 51: A prayer for mercy:

 

(a) This Psalm has been called the noblest penitential hymn in all the world.  Hebrew tradition ascribed it to King David, repentant for his sins against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah the Hittite.  (II Samuel 11: & 12:)   Psalm 32 is also a Psalm of Penitence by David occasioned by the same sin.  This poem is virtually unique in the literature of the Old Testament because of its profound insight into the inwardness of sin, and its conception of the abiding, inner presence of the Holy Spirit.  Though the Psalmist speaks of a sacrificial offering, he recognized the truth so insistently taught by the prophets that the offering upon the altar of material gifts cannot atone for sin.  Nor can they be acceptable to God unless they are accompanied by sincere penitence and contrition.

 

(b) The Psalm consists of three parts.

     o Versus 1‑6: An open and full confession is made to God of offences  committed.

     o Verses 7‑12: a prayer for a clean heart and the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit that is necessary to restore  communion with God and "the comfort of his help."

     o Verses 13‑17: Resolutions of positive service to God are made.  The service is to guide other sinners back to God and to "open my lips O Lord, and my mouth shall show thy praise."

 

3.    The Kyrie Eleison:

      The Lord's Prayer:

      The Versicles:

 

(a) The short form of the Lord's Prayer introduces the devotional appendix to the service.  The versicles are taken from the Psalms and are comparable to the suffrages between the Lord's Prayer and  the Collects in the Daily Offices.  The versicles are taken from Psalm 82:2, Psalm 20:1‑2, Psalm 79:9 and

Psalm 102:1.

 

 

 

 

 

4.   The Prayers:

 

(a) The first prayer is the Collect of the Office.  It is translated from the first of the seven collects in the Sarum office.  The Collect for the 12th Sunday after Trinity is similar.

 

(b) The second prayer was put together by Cranmer from three sources:

     o The form for the blessing of the ashes,

     o the sixth of the seven Sarum Collects,

     o the Collect said after the distribution of ashes.

 

The phrases sound familiar because of their use in other Prayer Book forms ‑ the Absolution from Morning and Evening Prayer (Ezekiel 33:11), The Litany and the "Prayer of Humble Access" in  Holy Communion.  Two citations from the Psalms, 143:2 and 70:1 are also used.

 

5.   The Anthem:

 

(a) The 1552 Prayer Book directed that all the people should say this anthem with the minister. It is composed of: Jer 31:18, Joel 2:12‑13,17 (see the Epistle for Ash Wednesday Page 124), Hab 3:2, and Psalm 51:1.  Also the first antiphon sung in the mediaeval Office during the distribution of ashes.

 

6.   Final Collect:

 

(a) This Collect was placed here in the 1892 revision.  The 1789 Book omitted it altogether because Bishop White thought it "too much a play on words."  Massey Sheppard does not think it adds much to the service that has not already been said.

 

7.   The Blessing:

 

(a) Bishop Cosin is responsible for the addition of this blessing from Numbers 6:24‑26.  The Office originally was intended to be introductory to Holy Communion, and its final anthem would be sort of an introit to that service.  If used with Morning and Evening Prayer, the Penitential Office should come first also,

so that the Absolution contained in these daily offices might follow rather than precede these prayers of confession.  The traditional custom has been to say the Penitential Office after the Daily Office or Litany ‑ hence the formal conclusion of the service with "The Grace."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes

 

(1) Turning Points of Church History and A Handy Book of The Church of England by       the Rev. Edward L. Cutts; An Analytical Index to the Book of Common Prayer by George Wharton Pepper; and A History of the Christian Church by Williston Walker.

 

(2) An Analytical Index to the Book of Common Prayer by George Wharton Pepper.

 

(3) Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness, a seminar by the Rev. Douglas J. King, Th.M., St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Seattle, WA.; and A History of the Christian Church by Williston Walker.

 

(4) Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness, a seminar by the Rev. Douglas J.  King, Th.M., St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Seattle, WA.; The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church edited by F. L. Cross.

 

(5) The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church edited by F. L. Cross.

 

(6) The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary by Massey H. Sheppard, Jr. and      Reflections on the Litany by Charles Gore, D.D.

 

(7) The title Nonjuror is used of members of the Church of England  who after 1688      refused to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to William and Mary on  the grounds that by doing so they would break their previous oaths to James II and his successors.  [The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church edited by F.L. Cross]

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

LT Shivers January 1999