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.
•The Book of Common Prayers –
.
Historical Context II
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 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 1662 Prayer Book
• 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.
• 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.
The Book of Common Prayers…
• … 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
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.