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
TABLE of CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Daily Office
the general confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the order for daily morning prayer . . . . . . . . . . . .
old testament canticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the Athanasian creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
an order for prime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
an order for sext, or midday prayer . . . . . . . . . . . .
the order for daily evening prayer . . . . . . . . . . . .
benediction of the blessed sacrament . . . . . . . . . .
an order for compline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the psalter, or psalms of david . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
prayers and thanksgivings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
a bidding prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
forms of prayer to be used in families . . . . . . . .
a penitential office for ash wednesday . . . . . . .
the litany, or general supplication . . . . . . . . . . .
The Mass, or Divine Liturgy
the proper of the season, part i . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
an outline of the mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the asperges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the order for holy mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the decalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the proper of the season, part ii . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the proper of the saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Sacraments and Pastoral Offices
holy baptism and confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the sacrament of penance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the reception of converts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the solemnization of matrimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the churching of women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
holy communion outside mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the visitation of the sick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the communion of the sick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the anointing of the sick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the litany for the dying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the burial of the dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the burial of a child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Appendices
i. the calendar of the christian year . . . . . . . . .
ii. the daily office lectionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iii. opening sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iv. historic eucharistic canons . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
v. guides to the mass and the daily office . . . . .
COMMENTARY
The Book of Common Prayer has defined the
Lancelot Andrewes Press has just released a new Book of Common Prayer that makes a very serious attempt to reform the theology, ecclesiology, and piety of the its users to that of the first millennium English church. It is assembled by Anglican rite Orthodox liturgists, and it is in line with that Holy Orthodoxy that would have existed prior to the great schism between east and west. I have only had this Prayer book for less than one week, but am convinced that it excels beyond in content beyond any other version that I have ever seen, read, or used. May this prayer book restore Anglicanism to the Orthodoxy that rightly belongs to it.
Indeed it is!
ReplyDeleteThough it is a little too Byzantine here and there, it is a book have had for quite some time now. I would unhesitatingly recommend it to all who desire to enter the path of liturgical prayer but don't have the time to pray all 8 hours of the Anglican Breviary or Canon Douglas's edition of the Benedictine Office (in accordance with the BCP).
You will notice - if you have not already - that the Feasts which have their own Psalms and readings are expanded a bit. I also really, really like the additional 'Opening Sentences' to distinguish the ferial and the festal Office.
The Mass is a bit too Byzantine here and there (prayer bfr Communion etc.) and I am not sure why not all the propers for the Mass are given. Oh well there are a few more such little things but over all it is the best edition of the BCP I have ever seen (including the 1549 one).
Will you be using it privately? Or publicly?
Fr. Gregory Wassen
Fr Gregory,
ReplyDeleteI am using this BCP in my personal devotions for the moment. I find it much more useful than any of the non-Orthodox BCP's, the breviaries, or the Anglican Missals, because unlike those books it contians the full array of offices and sacramental liturgies. This is what has been missing in Anglo-catholicism (Western Orthodoxy). I would love to use this BCP publicly, we'but it will take easing into.
Fr. Carlos,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. It is a very conventient book with most of the pastoral offices a priest might need available in one volume. The Mass does not have all the proeprs though - still it could be used as is.
I am wondering whay is the place for Anglo Catholicism in the Global Communion? It seems that the entirety of FiF UK is about to convert to Romanism and AMIA seems to be mostly Evangelical Protestant (as does ACNA) making me wonder what Anglo Catholic priests (such as yourself) see as the future of Anglican Catholicism? I realize that FiF and TAC are doctrinally more Roman than Anglican already - and my sympathies are directed more to "Prayer Book Catholics" (Percy Dearmer, Vernon Staely) and "Tridentine Anglo Catholics" (Canon Winfred Douglas, Fr. Frank Gavin, G D Carleton "The King's Highway"). It is these - I hope - that will stay to continue the Catholicity of Anglicanism.
As you may suspect I have great interest in the Anglican Church - it is after all ther Anglican Church that sent the first missionaries to my home country and brought us the true Faith in Jesus Christ! I am dutch you see (born and raised) so that somehow the Anglican heritage is part of my (western) spiritual DNA more so than Byzantine/Russian Orthodoxy and/or Roman Catholicism.
Fr. Gregory
Fr. Gregory,
ReplyDeleteI am very reluctant to make any predicitions about the future of Anglicaism, or ACNA. However, I am extremely encouraged regarding the new dialogue between the OCA's Met. Jonah & ACNA. There are a significant number of Orthodox Anglican clergy & congregations that hold to what I call Western Orthodoxy; that is the Anglo-catholicity of the British isles prior to Rome's overtaking of it. The future of this group is the group in question.
Just as a guess, I do not see these folks remainng within Anglicanism as it exists for much longer. My guess is that there will either be a kind of reception of Orthodox Anglo-catholics into the Orthodox world (Uniates of sorts), or they will just become western rite Orthodox congregations under an existing jurisdiction. That is purely speculative on my part.
That is too bad.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that Anglo Catholicism would continue to exist as such - I mean without being absorbed by either Orthodoxy or Rome. For despite ++ Jonah's involvement with ACNA he is no more inclined to accept Anglicanism as a sacramentally valid Church as is Rome. I admire my Metropolitan for closing ecumenical talks with the TEC and opening them up with ACNA but I regret that he does not pick up where St. Tikhon and Bp. Grafton left off (as he said he would).
Iow Anglican clergy will have to convert to Orthodoxy as layman as much as they would if they converted to Roma Catholicism. In my opinion - which is formed by having read much about Anglican History and its Holy Orders - the Anglican Church IS sacramentally valid and has REAL Holy Orders. This makes "conversion" and "re-ordination" a sacriligious act on he part of both us Orthodox and Rome - but my hierarchs do not share my views.
It is unfair of me to ask you about specifics - but let me express a hope that the Continuum and the other Anglo Catholics find a way to "re-group" as Western Orthodoxy or simply Catholicism without being absorbed by either Rome or the Orthodox in the process. For absorption will destroy some of the great riches Anglican Catholicism has received from the Spirit in the time of its growth and evolution. Riches lost on the Orthodox and Rome together.
Fr. Gregory +
Dear Fr. Gregory,
ReplyDeleteIt is not completely impossible that Anglo-catholics re-organize; it is another option. The formation of ACNA is more surprising to me than the unification of Anglo-catholics. However, there are inherent conciliar & canonical problems within Anglicanism that make this unlikely. Our councils are toothless, and our canons are not unanimous throughout the communion. These realities make any unification difficult.
Nevertheless, it may happen that as the evangelicals & the liberals continue with their revisionism (i.e. women's ordination, & c...), it may force the remaining Anglo-catholics to seperarate themselves from worldwide Anglicanism, & thus form a seperate communion. The diocese of Fort Worth has already hinted at this. However, this will probably only come after all of the legal battles are fought with the TEC. If they pull out now, they may appear as schismatics & not as Anglicans before the courts, and face loosing their properties. IT'S A MESS!
I do agree that it is would be sad to loose Anglican Catholicity. I also agree that our Holy orders are valid & apostolic, and that those who hold to Holy Orthodoxy should be accepted by Rome or Orthodoxy without re-ordination. I even agree that you are correct in stating that Anglicanism risks fading into Romanism or Byzantinism.
With all of this said, you can easily see that worthy as it may be the road to save Anglicanism is step & uphill. There may not be many who are willing to walk it. Hence, my excitement over this prayerbook, I beleive it retains true Anglicanism within the borders of the Orthodox church- Alleluia! My personal hope is for the establishment of a Western Orthodox jurisdiction; one that is fully Orthodox, and fully Anglo-catholic. How? When? If? Only the Lord Knows. Meanwhile, Anglo-catholics such as myself wait on the Lord's lead.