THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

The Administration of the Sacraments and
Other Rites and Ceremonies
of the Church

IN THE ENGLISH PAROCHIAL TRADITION,
ACCORDING TO ORTHODOX
CATHOLIC USAGE

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Page Samples

Table of Contents Morning Prayer Old Testament Canticles Athanasian Creed Evening Prayer Benediction Compline The Psalter Prayers and Thanksgivings Bidding Prayer Family Prayer Litany Proper of the Season (1) Proper of the Season (2) Proper of the Season (3) Holy Mass (1)

Holy Mass (2) Holy Mass (3) Proper of the Saints (1) Proper of the Saints (2) Holy Baptism (1) Holy Baptism (2) Holy Matrimony Visitation of the Sick Communion of the Sick Anointing of the Sick Burial of the Dead Calendar Daily Office Lectionary (1) Daily Office Lectionary (2) Opening Sentences Guide to the Mass

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From the Introduction

The Book of Common Prayer was first published in England and ordered to be used on Whitsunday, 1549. The idea was to put the Holy Mass and Morning and Evening Prayer, the Litany, the Psalms of David, the Lessons for the Year, with the Orders for Baptism, Marriage, and so forth, in one book. This present Edition is from Lancelot Andrewes Press and is published on behalf of English Orthodox Communications. God helping, it will prove to be a useful compilation of sacred Scripture and set prayers. The Editor and staff believe that an orthodox and traditional Christianity can be expressed in the conventional forms of The Book of Common Prayer.

This book sets forth the worship of God offered in English based on the examples of the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611), the Psalter, and centuries of English usage. Our small contribution is to make a Prayer Book that is more comprehensive and organized in a rather more linear order. In this Book of Common Prayer the Daily Prayers are found at the beginning with the Psalter, then the Litany, then the Mass with the Proper of the Season and of the Saints, followed by the Pastoral Offices and Sacraments, followed other helps, such as the Calendar, at the back of the book.

In liturgical terminology, this Prayer Book (somewhat parallel to the traditions of the early Latin Sacramentarium and the Byzantine Liturgikon) is organized as (i) a parochial Breviary; (ii) a Missal; (iii) a Ritual; and (iv) a Calendar and Lectionary with Tables, Tutorials, and Sentences of Scripture.

For those who are familiar with the Prayer Book there will be few surprises in these pages. The conventions of language and grammar throughout are traditional English usages. The Morning and Evening Prayer are conventional. The Psalms are the familiar texts of the Psalter of Miles Coverdale that has served as a standard for The Book of Common Prayer for nearly five centuries. The Litany has restored to it the opening petitions as first published in 1544 and has added the petitions for the Faithful Departed proposed in 1928. The Occasional Prayers adopt the bidding, versicle, and response format of the 1929 Scottish Prayer Book.

The Church Year follows the course of Sundays from Advent Sunday through Christmas, Septuagesima, Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Trinitytide to the Sunday
Next before Advent. However, this Prayer Book reflects an English Orthodox usage in its many particulars, such as numbering the Sundays after Trinity Sunday, the use of the Litany, and the distribution of Gospels and other Lessons through the Year.

This Book of Common Prayer differs from earlier versions by the addition of the weekday Old Testament Canticles to Morning Prayer. These are borrowed from Monastic Lauds. The translation of the Athanasian Creed is taken from the 1928 Proposed English Prayer Book. Simple orders for Prime (First Hour), and Sext (Sixth Hour, or midday) and Compline (after Evensong, before bedtime) are provided. The Psalms are placed in the first part of the book for convenience as they are read daily with Morning Prayer and Evensong.

The Proper of the Season includes all of Holy Week (restored order of 1955) and the full texts of the Ember Days. The Proper of the Saints has been enlarged to include prominent extra-biblical saints like George, Benedict, or Anne, as well as a number of the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin. Some of these are ancient borrowings from the Eastern Church and others are later additions, such as the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was introduced upon the 1,500th anniversary (1931) of the Council of Ephesus ...

Our hope is to provide a useful prayer book for congregations of English-speaking worshippers. This particular edition reflects Orthodox usages. For example, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is recited without the “Filioque” clause from the Latin version of the Creed reflecting the double procession of the Holy Ghost. The Mass Canon restores a direct Invocation of the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin and Saints are mentioned in the Prayer for Christ’s Church. Holy Baptism is administered together with Confirmation (Chrismation) and First Holy Communion. The Calendar Tables found in Appendix I, as well as the Mass Propers, assume the Eastern Orthodox manner of calculating the date of Easter Day (Pascha) ...

This prayer book is offered as a helpful resource for daily prayer. It has no official approbation and is not a publication of any Diocese, Church, Synod, Convocation or Parliament of any authority anywhere. These usages have appeared in other handbooks and missals over the years and seem to be proven by the devout experience of the laity and clergy.

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Questions? Contact Lancelot Andrewes Press.