The Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayers – Historical Context I

Thomas Cranmer It was he who started the

production of English books for liturgy under the reign of Henry VIII and after his death under Edward VI.

The Exhortation and Litany was the first manifestation of his changing views. It was more than a simple translation from Latin : its Protestant character was made obvious by reducing the place of saints and compressing the major part into three petitions.

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Henry VIII Reign : 22 April 1509 – 28 January 1547

Acts : • He created the anglican

church, of which he was the head of from 1534.

• He ordered the execution of Thomas More.

• In cooperation with Thomas Cromwell, he made the principle of „the power above the church” and by using this principle he dissolved the convent of the monks.

•The Book of Common Prayers – Historical Context II

The Book of Common Prayers – Historical Context III

Protestantism: One of the three main branches of Christianity. The

other two are Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic. The name comes from the Protestatio, which was intorduced in 1529 at Speyre. These people take the Bible as the fundamantals of the faith principles and not the Pope. The protestantism of the 16.th century stood up against the corruption of the Roman Catholic institutions. It also fought against the superstitions and also disapproved certain Catholic customs. Such as, the respect of saints and relics. The two main figures of the movement are : the French Jean Calvin and the Swiss Ulrich Zwingli. Under the reign of Elisabeth I. they attempted to make peace between the Catholic, the Calvinist and the Evangelistic movement and build in the Anglican Church. In 1689 the Bill of Rights announced,that the Sovereign has to be Protestant and part of the Anglican Church. Since the 17.th century new Protestant movements had risen, like the Baptists, the Swaddlers or the Quakers.

Two Founding Fathers of the New Faith:

Jean Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli

The Prayer Books of Edward VI

The first Book of Common Prayers was published in 1549,under the reign of Edward VI.

These books contained not only prayers,but also the forms of services which were required to be performed by the worshippers and the way the had to be done.

Such things,like daily prayer,baptism,marriage,funeral service and so on. Cranmer’s Prayer book

of 1549.

What exactly did it contain?• It included: morning prayer• evening prayer • Holy Communion • and other occasional services in full • (e.g.: the orders for baptism, confirmation, marriage and funeral

service).• It set out in full the biblical readings for the Sunday communion and

the psalms (zsoltárok).

• The latter are set out to be said daily over the course of a month.• Set readings for daily prayer are provided by reference only and

canticles (dicshimnuszok). • They are provided to be sung between the readings. A creed

(hiszekegy) is said and there follow set prayers.

The 1559 Prayer Book

The 1549 book was replaced by the reformed version in 1552, from the same editor : Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.

However,this book never came to use,because after the death of Edward VI, his half sister Mary I restored Catholic worship.

After the death of Mary I a slightly modified version came out in 1559.

• After her death, under Elizabeth, a more permanent enforcement of the reformed religion was undertaken, and the 1552 book was republished in 1559, along with laws requiring conformity to the new standards.

• This Elizabethan form was used for nearly 100 years, thus being the official prayer book under the Stuarts as well as being the first Anglican service in the American colonies

The prayer book of 1559 was a product of the

”Elizabethan settlement”.

• The full name of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalms of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches and the form and manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating of bishops, priests, and deacons.

The book of 1662 angered the Presbytarians.

The 1662 Prayer Book

• Following the tumultuous events leading to and including the English Civil War, the final major revision was published in 1662.

• This book was printed only 2 years after the restoration of the monarchy.

• Attempts by Presbytarians to gain approval for an alternative service book failed.

• In reply to the Presbyterian Exceptions to the book only 15 ‘irrelevant’ changes were made to the book of 1559, some of which were the opposite of what they wanted.

• Unable to accept the new book 2000 Presbytarians were deprived of their livings.

• The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is a permanent feature of the Church of England's worship. It is loved for the beauty of its language and its services are widely used. It is also the foundation of a tradition of common prayer and a key source of the Church of England's doctrine.

The Book in England and in Scotland…

The English version of the Book of Common Prayers was never accepted in Scotland, as an act of the Scotish nationalism. Edward VI. wanted to force the Scots to use the prayer book the English did, however, this attempt was violently rejected by the Scots. Instead, the Scotish created their own book with some slight changes. For example :

• The form of the invocation.• The order of services and the

insertion of words.

• … has served as a model and inspiration for worship throughout the rest of the Anglican Communion.

• … 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).

• … cannot be altered or abandoned without the approval of Parliament.

Anglican Communion's symbol

The Book of Common Prayers…

Anglican Communion• The Book of Common

Prayer appears in many variants across the Anglican Communion.

• It was adapted and revised in other countries where Anglican Churches were planted.

• Churches inside and outside of the Anglican Communion use versions of The Book of Common Prayer in over 50 different countries and in over 150 different languages. The Anglican Church of

Saint Peter

Religious influence

• The Book of Common Prayer has had a great influence on a number of other denominations. While theologically different, the language and flow of the service of many other churches owes a great debt to the prayer book.

• John Wesley, an Anglican priest whose revivalist preaching led to the creation of Methodism wrote, "I believe there is no Liturgy in the world, either in ancient or modern language, which breathes more of a solid, scriptural, rational piety than the Common Prayer of the Church of England." Many Methodist churches in England continued to use a slightly revised version of the book for communion services well into the 20th century.

• In the 1960s, when Roman Catholicism adopted vernacular revised mass, many translations of the English prayers followed the form of Cranmer's translation.

Some examples of well-known phrases from the BCP are:

• ”Speak now or forever hold your peace” from the marriage liturgy.

• ”Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” from the funeral service.

• ”Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” from the collect.