Book of Common Prayer

From Wikisource

Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the foundational prayer book of the Church of England and was one of the instruments of the Protestant Reformation in England. It replaced the various Latin rites which had been used in different parts of the country with a single compact volume in English. First produced in 1549 it was drastically revised in 1552 and more subtly changed in 1559 and 1662. It has been substantially replaced in most churches of the Anglican Communion but it is in use in England in a few places and remains, in law, the primary liturgical prayer book of the Church of England. — Excerpted from Book of Common Prayer on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This work is incomplete. If you'd like to help expand it, see the help pages and the style guide, or comment.

This work is copyrighted in England under a perpetual copyright term. Permissions to publish in England may be obtained by following the guidance in A Brief Guide to Liturgical Copyright, third edition (RTF file).

The first official liturgical text in English appeared in 1544 and the first complete Book of Common Prayer in 1549. The book went through several revisions until 1662, since when the wording of its services has remained unchanged.

It is much loved for the beauty of its language, and the services which it contains - especially Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion - are still used (with minor modifications or additions) in many churches throughout the country. It has served as a model and inspiration for worship throughout the rest of the Anglican Communion.

It is also one of the three "historic formularies" of the Church of England, in which its doctrine is to be found (the other two - the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and the Ordinal - are customarily published in the same volume).

It cannot be altered or abandoned without the approval of Parliament.

(The above text is taken from the Church of England web site and is © The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England)

[edit] Contents

• Title page (Long Title of the Book)
• Introductory Matter:
  • The Preface
  • Concerning the Service of the Church
  • Of Ceremonies
• Informational Material:
  • Rules to Order the Service
  • The Order how the Psalter is appointed to be read
  • The Order how the rest of the holy Scripture is appointed to be read
  • A Table of Proper Lessons and Psalms
  • The Calendar, with the Table of Lessons
  • The Revised Tables of Lessons Measure, 1922
  • The Revised Tables of Lessons
  • Tables and Rules for the Feasts and Fasts through the whole Year
• Daily Offices:
  • The Order for Morning and Evening Prayer
  • The Order for Morning Prayer
  • The Order for Evening Prayer
  • At Morning Prayer
  • The Litany
  • Prayers and Thanksgivings
• The Holy Communion:
  • Collects, Epistles, and Gospels
  • Holy Communion
• The Baptismal Offices:
  • Publick Baptism of Infants
  • Private Baptism of Children
  • Baptism of those of Riper Years
  • A Catechism
  • The Order of Confirmation
• The Occasional Offices:
  • The Solemnization of Matrimony
  • The Visitation of the Sick
  • The Communion of the Sick
  • The Burial of the Dead
  • The Churching of Women
  • A Commination
• The Psalter
• Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea
• The Ordinal:
  • The Preface
  • The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons
• The State Services:
  • Forms of Prayer for the Anniversary of the day of the Accession of the Reigning Sovereign
• The Thirty-Nine Articles:
  • Title Page
  • His Majesty's Declaration
  • Articles of Religion
• A Table of Kindred and Affinity

[edit] Source

• Lynda M. Howell's BCP web site

This work is in the public domain outside the United Kingdom because the author has been deceased at least 100 years. However, this work is under an eternal copyright in the United Kingdom.