QUOTE: O God, the Creator and
Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions
of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy
saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church
universal; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all
who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth,
and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in
righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those
who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate;
[especially those for whom our prayers are desired]; that it may please thee to
comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them
patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their
afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. [Book of Common Prayer: A Prayer for All Conditions of Men]
AUTHOR:
The
Book of Common Prayer is the
short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion,
as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and
other Anglican churches. In addition it is used in the Lutheran Rite Church in
America. The original book, published in 1549 (Church of England 1957), in the
reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the
break with Rome. Prayer books, unlike books of prayers, contain the words of
structured (or liturgical) services of worship. The work of 1549 was the first
prayer book to include the complete forms of service for daily and Sunday
worship in English. It contained Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, the Litany,
and Holy Communion and also the occasional services in full: the orders for
Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, 'prayers to be said with the sick' and a
Funeral service. It also set out in full the "propers" (that is the
parts of the service which varied week by week or, at times, daily throughout
the Church's Year): the Collect and the Epistle and Gospel readings for the
Sunday Communion Service. Old Testament and New Testament readings for daily
prayer were specified in tabular format as were the Psalms; and canticles,
mostly biblical, that were provided to be said or sung between the readings
(Careless 2003, p. 26).
The 1549 book was soon
succeeded by a more reformed revision in 1552 under the same editorial hand,
that of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. It was used only for a few
months, as after Edward VI's death in 1553, his half-sister Mary I restored
Roman Catholic worship. She herself died in 1558, and in 1559 Elizabeth I
reintroduced the 1552 book with a few modifications to make it acceptable to
more traditionally minded worshippers, notably the inclusion of the words of
administration from the 1549 Communion Service alongside those of 1552.
In
1604 James I ordered some further changes, the most significant of these being
the addition to the Catechism of a section on the Sacraments. Following the
tumultuous events leading to and including the English Civil War, another major
revision was published in 1662 (Church of England 1662). That edition has
remained the official prayer book of the Church of England, although in the
21st century, an alternative book called Common Worship has largely
displaced the Book of Common Prayer at the main Sunday worship service
of most English parish churches.
A Book
of Common Prayer with local variations is used in churches inside and
outside the Anglican Communion in over 50 different countries and in over 150
different languages (Careless 2003, p. 23). In many parts of the world,
other books have replaced it in regular weekly worship.
Traditional
English Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian prayer books have borrowed from
the Book of Common Prayer, and the marriage and burial rites have found
their way into those of other denominations and into the English language. Like
the Authorized King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare, many words and
phrases from the Book of Common Prayer have entered common parlance.
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