1662 Book of Common Prayer
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The 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' is an authorised
liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...
of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and other
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
bodies around the world. In continuous print and regular use for over 360 years, the 1662 prayer book is the basis for numerous other editions of the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'' and other liturgical texts. Noted for both its devotional and literary quality, the 1662 prayer book has influenced the
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
, with its devotional use alongside the
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
of the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
contributing to an increase in
literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
from the 16th to the 20th century. As a
Christian liturgy Christian liturgy is a pattern for Christian worship, worship used (whether recommended or prescribed) by a Christian congregation or Christian denomination, denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public wor ...
, the 1662 prayer book has had a profound impact on Christian spirituality and ritual. Its contents have inspired or been adapted by many Christian movements spanning multiple traditions both within and outside the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
, including
Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...
,
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
,
Western Rite Orthodoxy Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the Eastern Orthodox tradition which perform their liturgy in Western forms. Besides altered versions of the Tridentine Mass, congrega ...
, and
Unitarianism Unitarianism (from Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the doctrine of the Trinity which states that there i ...
. Due to its dated language and lack of specific offices for modern life, the 1662 prayer book has largely been supplanted for public liturgies within the Church of England by ''
Common Worship ''Common Worship'' is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movemen ...
''. Nevertheless, it remains a foundational liturgical text of that church and much of Anglicanism.


Background

Following the
English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
and the separation of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
from the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, the
liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
of
Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
were transcribed into
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
. The first such production was the 1549 ''Book of Common Prayer'', traditionally considered to be the work of
Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
, which replaced both the
missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a pries ...
s and
breviaries A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as ...
of Catholic usage. Largely a translation of the
Sarum Use The Use of Sarum (or Use of Salisbury, also known as the Sarum Rite) is the Latin liturgical rite developed at Salisbury Cathedral and used from the late eleventh century until the English Reformation. It is largely identical to the Roman rite, ...
books, the liturgies were the
Communion service Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term ''Mass'' is commonly used in the Catholic Church, in the Western Rite Orthodox, in Old Catholic, and in Independent Catholic churches. The term is ...
and
canonical hours In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. In ...
of
Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning. The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by ...
and
Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...
, with the addition of the first Edwardine Ordinal containing the forms for the ordination of
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
s,
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
s, and
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
s in 1550. Under
Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
, the 1552 ''Book of Common Prayer'' was a radically
Protestant liturgy Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used (whether recommended or prescribed) by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is espe ...
, greater
Reformed theology Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
. This process continued with the 1559 edition, following
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
's rejection of the Marian Restoration. The 1559 edition was for some time the second-most diffuse book in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, only behind the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
, through an
act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
that mandated its presence in each
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
across the country. The usage of the 1559 prayer book and subsequent elaboration at the
Convocation of 1563 The Convocation of 1563 was a significant gathering of English and Welsh clerics that consolidated the Elizabethan religious settlement, and brought the ''Thirty-Nine Articles'' close to their final form (which dates from 1571). It was, more accu ...
, which produced the
Thirty-nine Articles of Religion The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...
and the revised ''
Book of Homilies ''The Books of Homilies'' (1547, 1562, and 1571) are two books together containing thirty-three sermons developing the authorized reformed doctrines of the Church of England in depth and detail, as appointed for use in the 35th Article of the Thi ...
'' in 1571, helped solidify Anglicanism as doctrinally distinct from Catholicism and more
Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
churches under what is now known as the
Elizabethan Religious Settlement The Elizabethan Religious Settlement is the name given to the religious and political arrangements made for England during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Implemented between 1559 and 1563, the settlement is considered the end of the E ...
. Minor alterations to the 1559 prayer book were made in 1561, with additions to the
Kalendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
.


Puritan opposition and the Commonwealth

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
rejected substantial portions of the ''Book of Common Prayer'', particularly elements retained from pre-Reformation usage. Further escalating the tension between Puritans and other factions in the Church of England were efforts, such as those by
Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, to require the usage of certain
vestment Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this ...
s such as the
surplice A surplice (; Late Latin ''superpelliceum'', from ''super'', "over" and ''pellicia'', "fur garment") is a liturgical vestment of Western Christianity. The surplice is in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, reaching to the kne ...
and
cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...
. The Puritan faction further established their opposition to the prayer book liturgical formulae by the
Millenary Petition The Millenary Petition was a list of requests given to James I by Puritans in 1603 when he was travelling to London in order to claim the English throne. It is claimed, but not proven, that this petition had 1,000 signatures of Puritan ministers ...
in 1603 and at the
Hampton Court Conference The Hampton Court Conference was a meeting in January 1604, convened at Hampton Court Palace, for discussion between King James I of England and representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans. The conference resulte ...
in 1604. The resulting Jacobean prayer book was only a minor revision, but the conference also approved the development of the
Authorized Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...
of the Bible. Among the more notable alterations in the Jacobean prayer book was an elongation of the Catechism's sacramental teachings and the introduction of a rubric allowing only a "lawful minister" to perform baptisms, which has been described as an example of post-Reformation
clericalism Clericalism is the application of the formal, church-based, leadership or opinion of ordained clergy in matters of either the Church or broader political and sociocultural import. Clericalism is usually, if not always, used in a pejorative sense ...
. The Puritan,
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, and eventually Parliamentarian opposition to the prayer book continued, while the prayer book was a sign of Royalist leanings. The imposition of a 1637 prayer book written by
William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
, the
high church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
Archbishop of Canterbury, for the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
stirred a riot that eventually spirraled into the
First Bishops' War First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. The popular Puritan
Root and Branch petition The Root and Branch Petition was a petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640. The petition had been signed by 15,000 Londoners and was presented to the English Parliament by a crowd of 1,500. The petition called on Parliamen ...
, presented to the
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
by
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
and
Henry Vane the Younger Sir Henry Vane (baptised 26 March 161314 June 1662), often referred to as Harry Vane and Henry Vane the Younger to distinguish him from his father, Henry Vane the Elder, was an English politician, statesman, and colonial governor. He was brie ...
in 1640, attempted to eliminate the
episcopacy A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
and decried the prayer book as "
Romish "Roman Catholic" is sometimes used to differentiate members of the Catholic Church in full communion with the pope in Rome from other Christians who also self-identify as "Catholic". It is also sometimes used to differentiate adherents to the ...
". With the defeat of the Royalist
Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
faction,
execution of Charles I The execution of Charles I by beheading occurred on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall. The execution was the culmination of political and military conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians in Eng ...
, and establishment of Commonwealth England under the Puritan Parliament, restrictions were repeatedly imposed on prayer book worship that culminated in its prohibition in 1645 and introduction of the ''
Directory for Public Worship The ''Directory for Public Worship'' (known in Scotland as the ''Westminster Directory'') is a liturgical manual produced by the Westminster Assembly in 1644 to replace the ''Book of Common Prayer''. Approved by the Parliament of England in 164 ...
''. Public celebration according to prayer book rubrics occasionally continued with varying degrees of discreetness, with priests such as
George Bull George Bull (25 March 1634 – 17 February 1710) was an English theologian and Bishop of St David's. Life He was born, 25 March 1634, in the parish of St. Cuthbert, Wells, and educated in the grammar school at Wells, and then at Blundell's ...
and
John Hacket John Hacket (Born Halket) (1 September 1592 – 28 October 1670) was an English churchman, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry from 1661 until his death. Life He was born in London and educated at Westminster School, Westminster and Trinity Colle ...
memorising certain offices to feign extemporaneous prayer. Private celebration of the prayer book among some laity continued, with
John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...
recording in his diary the conduct of private baptisms of his children and the churching of his wife according to the prayer book. Other proponents of the prayer book, including Laud, had been imprisoned. Laud was executed in 1645.


Revision and introduction


Restoration and Savoy Conference

Matthew Wren Matthew Wren (3 December 1585 – 24 April 1667) was an influential English clergyman, bishop and scholar. Life He was the eldest son of Francis Wren (born 18 January 1552 at Newbold Revell), citizen and mercer of London, only son of Cuth ...
, a
Laudian Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, ...
bishop locked in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
by the Parliamentarian Roundheads, remarked during his imprisonment that the prayer book "hath been long disused that not one of five hundred" were familiar enough with the prayer book that they would recognise any alterations. Despite this, Wren hoped that he could effect a revision that would resolve the issues that had made the prayer book so unpopular. This desire for effective revision was contemporaneous with a significant increase of interest in Anglican liturgical history;
Hamon L'Estrange Hamon L'Estrange (1605–1660) was an English writer on history, theology and liturgy, of Calvinist views, loyal both to Charles I and the Church of England. Along with Edward Stephens (d. 1706), he contributed to the seventeenth-century reviva ...
's 1659 ''The alliance of divine offices'' would be the only comparative study of the preceding prayer books for some time even following the 1662 edition's approval. The 1660
Stuart Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...
saw the end of Puritan rule and coronation of Charles II. While the reinstated Church of English prelates desired a return to prayer book liturgies, the surviving Nonconformist Puritan party sought an arrangement that would prevent the resurrection of the prayer book and other pre-Commonwealth Anglican practices. This dialogue culminated in the 1661
Savoy Conference The Savoy Conference of 1661 was a significant liturgical discussion that took place, after the Restoration of Charles II, in an attempt to effect a reconciliation within the Church of England. Proceedings It was convened by Gilbert Sheldon ...
at
Savoy Hospital The Savoy Palace, considered the grandest nobleman's townhouse of medieval London, was the residence of prince John of Gaunt until it was destroyed during rioting in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The palace was on the site of an estate given to ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. From among the Anglican bishops and Puritan ministers, twelve representatives and nine assistants attended the conference. The Anglican party forwarded a modest revision of the 1559 prayer book, advertised as a ''
via media ''Via media'' is a Latin phrase meaning "the middle road" and is a philosophical maxim for life which advocates moderation in all thoughts and actions. Originating from the Delphic Maxim ''nothing to excess'' and subsequent Ancient Greek philosop ...
'' between Catholic and Reformed Protestant practice. The conference terminated with few concessions to the Puritans, which included rejecting an effort to delete the
wedding ring A wedding ring or wedding band is a finger ring that indicates that its wearer is married. It is usually forged from metal, traditionally gold or another precious metal. Rings were used in ancient Rome during marriage, though the modern pract ...
from the marriage office, and encouraged the creation of a new prayer book. The Laudian
ritualist Ritualism, in the history of Christianity, refers to an emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremonies of the church. Specifically, the Christian ritual of Holy Communion. In the Anglican church in the 19th century, the role of ritual became ...
John Cosin John Cosin (30 November 1594 – 15 January 1672) was an English churchman. Life He was born at Norwich, and was educated at Norwich School and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was scholar and afterwards fellow. On taking orders he was a ...
had fled during the Commonwealth and was made
Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...
upon his return in 1660. Cosin, who had spent his exile examining the prayer book liturgy, produced a compilation of his proposed revisions as notations in a 1619 copy of the prayer book. The edits and notes of this copy, known as the Durham Book, were translated by
William Sancroft William Sancroft (30 January 161724 November 1693) was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, and was one of the Seven Bishops imprisoned in 1688 for seditious libel against King James II, over his opposition to the king's Declaration of Indulge ...
into a new copy, known as the Fair Copy. Ultimately, some of these edits were accepted by the
Convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a speci ...
and placed into a manuscript, known as the Annex Book for its attachment as an annex to the law approving it, and a noted 1636 copy of the prayer book, known as the Convocation Book. The post-Puritan Parliament passed a series of four laws, known as the
Clarendon Code In English history, the penal laws were a series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism and Protestant nonconformists by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities ...
, in order to prevent Puritans and other Nonconformists from holding office and ensure that public worship was according to officially approved Anglican texts. The
Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, adm ...
, passed on 19 May 1662, authorised the usage of the 1559 prayer book until St. Bartholomew Day that year, at which point it would be replaced with the 1662 prayer book. When the 24 August date arrived, an estimated 1,200 to 2,000
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
were evicted from their
benefices A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
in what became known as the Great Ejection or Black Bartholomew. In 1664, the Conventicle Act introduced punishments for any person over 16 years old should they attend a worship service not according to the 1662 prayer book. These Nonconformists would boost the
Dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
denominations, frustrating the Church of England's efforts for uniform worship.


Early printings

Including printings of the 1549, 1552, 1559, and 1662 editions, there were more than 500 printings of the ''Book of Common Prayer'' through to the 1730s, with an average of 2,500 to 3,000 copies in these printings. The total number of copies printed increased as technology improved; in the period between 1836 and 1846, up to half a million copies of the 1662 prayer book were printed each year. It was during the first decades of the 1662 edition's use that
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
began printing an increasingly larger proportion of the total number of prayer books produced. Some initial printings retained the already antique
blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...
script of earlier editions, though the last blackletter English prayer book of any note may have been the first
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
edition of the 1662 edition. The 1662 prayer book was among the various texts printed by
John Baskerville John Baskerville (baptised 28 January 1707 – 8 January 1775) was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and type designer. He was also responsible for inventing "wov ...
in his font during the 18th century. Baskerville, whose printings achieved acclaim for their ornamentation, also collaborated with
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
to produce
octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...
and
duodecimo Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents. The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. I ...
prayer books. Deviating from the red and Gothic script used in Roman Breviaries and earlier prayer books respectively, roman fonts were standard for 1662 prayer book rubrics.


Church of England usage

For roughly 300 years, the 1662 prayer book was left mostly unmodified. However, incremental additions appeared during the early Stuart Restoration. Among them were polemic penitential offices for the
Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought ...
and execution of Charles I, as well as one for thanksgiving following the 1666
Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...
.
James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Gloriou ...
, who succeeded the Catholic-sympathising Charles II, was an openly practising Catholic. Both favoured practices which further excluded Nonconformists. The ousting of James II and arrival of the Dutch Calvinist
William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
and
Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...
during the
Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
in 1688 resulted in a greater normalisation of relations with Dissenter parties. Along with these measures, William III endorsed the creation of a commission to improve the Church of England's relations with Nonconformists. One objective of the commission was to approve "alterations and amendments to the liturgy" along
Latitudinarian Latitudinarians, or latitude men, were initially a group of 17th-century English theologiansclerics and academicsfrom the University of Cambridge who were moderate Anglicans (members of the Church of England). In particular, they believed that a ...
lines. With the leadership of William Lloyd, then the
Bishop of Worcester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, and deans
Edward Stillingfleet Edward Stillingfleet (17 April 1635 – 27 March 1699) was a British Christian theologian and scholar. Considered an outstanding preacher as well as a strong polemical writer defending Anglicanism, Stillingfleet was known as "the beauty of holin ...
,
Simon Patrick Simon Patrick (8 September 1626 – 31 May 1707) was an English theologian and bishop. Life He was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, eldest son of Henry Patrick, a wealthy merchant, on 8 September 1626, and attended Boston Gramma ...
, and
John Tillotson John Tillotson (October 1630 – 22 November 1694) was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694. Curate and rector Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. Little is known of his early youth ...
(the latter becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury), a revised prayer book was produced in 1689. The ''Liturgy of Comprehension'' was never approved, as the policy of Toleration towards Nonconformists–codified by the 1688 Toleration Act–was felt sufficient. The contents of the ''Liturgy of Comprehension'' were not public until Parliament ordered its printing in 1854. Efforts to revise the prayer book were proliferate through the 19th century. Pamphlets containing proposals for such revisions were published in the dozens during the 1850s and 1860s, though to no formalised effect. Similarly, internal Church of England efforts to alter the prayer book resulted in only the excising of the Gunpowder Plot prayers and insertion of a general office to celebrate the accession day of the reigning monarch. An 1877 committee spent 15 years attempting to improve the 1662 prayer book's punctuation, ultimately with no action taken.


Imperial usage and translations

As the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
continued its growth beyond the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, the 1662 prayer book was consoling those migrating abroad. For those travelling on long voyages aboard ships, the prayer book made pastoral provisions with the Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea. The 1662 prayer book was also produced with an awareness of its future use these territories beyond England, both as a pastoral and missionary text. Indeed, a form of baptism for adults was introduced in part to address the increase of "baptism of natives in our plantations", as described by the 1662 prayer book's preface. For mostly academic reasons, the 1549 prayer book had been translated into
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
; there was some usage among Irish priests who knew only
Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
and Latin. Such Latin translations continued with the 1662 prayer book, with multiple revisions and the introduction of a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
translation. More practical translations were born of the prayer book's vernacular tradition, further elaborated on and defended by the Thirty-Nine Articles, which came to be seen as broad endorsement of translation and
inculturation In Christianity, inculturation is the adaptation of Christian teachings and practices to cultures. This is a term that is generally used by Catholics, whereas Protestantism, Protestants, especially associated with the World Council of Churches, p ...
. The first
Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
edition was a 1604 translation of the Jacobean prayer book from a Latin edition, executed by former- Dominican Fernando de Texada. The first published translation of the 1662 prayer book, sans ordinal, was in 1707 in an edition translated by Don Felix Anthony de Alvarado, a London minister to Spanish merchants. The 1715 edition that included an ordinal in Latin and a preface calling on Spaniards to worship with vernacular, leading the volume to be included on the Catholic list of prohibited texts. A further translation was published in 1821. In
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, the 1662 prayer book was translated into several
Native American languages Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large numbe ...
. The first was
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...
in 1715, followed by
Algonquian languages The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic languages, Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language f ...
in British colonial Canada and the
Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
, often locally led and supported by printings from the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...
.
Edmund Peck Edmund James Peck (April 15, 1850 – September 10, 1924), known in Inuktitut as ''Uqammaq'' (one who talks well),
, a
Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
missionary to the
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
, was the first to translate the prayer book into
Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
(then known as
Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
) in 1881. Further translations of the 1662 prayer book and later Canadian editions have been subsequently published. Several different translations of the Anglican liturgies into multiple
Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...
s were undertaken through the 19th century by English, Canadian, and American missionaries. These translations were used in the production of a prayer book for the Holy Catholic Church of China, a union of Anglican missionary jurisdictions that operated from 1912 until the 1949 victory of the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
in the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
. Ultimately, in 1957 the
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui The Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (abbreviated SKH), also known as the Hong Kong Anglican Church (Episcopal), is the Anglican church in Hong Kong and Macao. It is the 38th Province of the Anglican Communion. It is also one of the major denominations ...
introduced a prayer book derived from the 1662 and 1928 proposed prayer books.


Later revision, supplementation, and replacement


Proposed 1928 revision

The influences of the
Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
, a ritualist and
Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
movement launched by a series of tracts first published in 1833, continued after the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and the immediate
Interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
period drew a desire to revise the 1662 prayer book in accord with social changes. Anglo-Catholics in particular had been agitating for revision even prior to the war. In 1906, a group of five Church of England bishops led by
John Wordsworth John Wordsworth (1843–1911) was an English Anglican bishop and classical scholar. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1883 to 1885, and Bishop of Salisbury from 1885 to 1911. Life H ...
, the
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...
, and aided by liturgical scholar
Walter Frere Walter Howard Frere (23 November 1863 – 2 April 1938) was a co-founder of the Anglican religious order the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, and Bishop of Truro (1923–1935). Biography Frere was born in Cambridge, England, on 23 Nov ...
, met to discuss which ornaments and vestments were permitted by the 1662 prayer book's rubrics. Their publicly published 1908 consensus was that the
chasuble The chasuble () is the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergy for the celebration of the Eucharist in Western-tradition Christian churches that use full vestments, primarily in Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. In the Easter ...
was permitted, drawing ire that saw the Upper House of Convocation approving a less affirmative resolution in 1911. Also in 1911, Frere published ''Some Principles of Liturgical Reform''. This text prompted
Randall Davidson Randall Thomas Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, (7 April 1848 – 25 May 1930) was an Anglican priest who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. He was the longest-serving holder of the office since the English Reformation, Re ...
, Archbishop of Canterbury, to approve an advisory committee to discuss revision. An assemblage composed of members of both the Anglo-Catholic and
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
parties first met in 1912. During the war years, some of the practices that Anglo-Catholics sought, such as reserving the Eucharist, were permitted to the suspicion of the Evangelical wing. With the experience in the war, many clergy reported an increased need for revision. These efforts first culminated in NA 84 in February 1923, which most closely followed Anglo-Catholic desires and moved away from the 1662 edition. The publishing of NA 84 prompted three separate unofficial proposals in 1923 and 1924. The staunchly traditionalist Anglo-Catholic
English Church Union The Church Union is an Anglo-Catholic advocacy group within the Church of England. The organisation was founded as the Church of England Protection Society on 12 May 1859 to challenge the authority of the English civil courts to determine questio ...
published their own proposal, the "Green Book", in 1923 in accordance to their internal revision process's 1922 conclusions which deleted many non-liturgical elements of the 1662 prayer book which they determined to be anachronistic. More limited revisions were prepared by more Liberal Anglo-Catholics under William Temple in the 1923 "Grey Book" and moderate Anglo-Catholics of the
Alcuin Club The Alcuin Club is an Anglican organization seeking to preserve or restore church ceremony, arrangement, ornament, and practice in an orthodox manner. The organization was founded in 1897 and named after Alcuin of York. It was a reorganization of ...
in the 1923 and 1924 "Orange Books". Alongside these efforts, Evangelicals increasingly disapproved of revision entirely. Revision continued until 1927 producing the "Green Book" of the Church of England's
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. Proponents of the proposed prayer book noted that it would only serve as an alternative to the 1662 edition, rather than succeeding it entirely, as had occurred elsewhere. This text was submitted to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
as required by law, where it was defeated in December 1927 after a coalition of
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Church of England loyalists and Nonconformists failed to override both opposition and Catholic parliamentarian abstention. Among those in favour of approval had been
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, who affirmed the Church of England's Protestant orthodoxy, while opponents viewed the proposed text as too permissive of "indiscipline and Romanism". A second effort, with some minor modifications, similarly failed in 1928. Subsequent usage of the text, while not approved, resulted in later printings.


''Alternative Service Book'' and ''Common Worship''

Following the failure of the 1928 text, the next decades were featured a wide assortment of new conceptualisations what liturgies should look like and accomplish. This breadth of ideas was largely the result of the
Liturgical Movement The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship. It began in the Catholic Church and spread to many other Christian churches including the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and some other Pro ...
. Church of England liturgists such as A. G. Hebert pushed for "renewal" of parochial liturgies during the Interwar period, with their ideas remaining popular into the 1960s. Post-
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Anglicans from both Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical strains sought liturgical reforms, including prayer book revision. Ultimately, an incremental addition of alternative liturgies was adopted. This may have been an effort to circumvent the process that would be required to outright replace the 1662 prayer book, the same process that caused the rejection of the 1927 and 1928 proposals; The Church of England passed the Alternative and Other Services Measure in 1965 to authorise these alternative liturgies. The first, ''Alternative Services Series 1'', was published in 1966 and was largely similar to the 1928 proposed text. ''Series 2'', which contained traditional prayer book language but new orderings for rites, was well received. The publication of ''Series 3'' with modernised language and ritual saw a reactionary increase in support for the first two alternative series, particularly the Communion office. Up to that point, these alternatives had been printed in booklets, but in 1974 the publication of fully-bound pew books was authorised through the Worship and Doctrine Measure. This same measure also permanently enabled the church to produce alternative liturgies contingent on the church permanently protecting the 1662 prayer book. In 1980, the ''
Alternative Service Book The ''Alternative Service Book 1980'' (''ASB'') was the first complete prayer book produced by the Church of England since 1662. Its name derives from the fact that it was proposed not as a replacement for the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' (B ...
'' was published. The continued acceptance of these new rites saw several laws proposed to the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
in the 1980s which intended to limit the alternative texts, including requirements that parishes offer a certain proportion of their liturgies according to the 1662 prayer book. These measures failed. The lectionary was a matter of contestation; the Church of England opted against general adoption of the post-Vatican II, three-year cycle Roman Sunday lectionary despite its otherwise ecumenical reception and instead approved a two-year lectionary in the later 1960s. This two-year cycle was introduced in the ''Alternative Service Book''. The new daily Roman lectionary was also approved for use in the ''Alternative Service Book''. Ultimately, a modified form of the Roman Sunday lectionary, the three-year
Revised Common Lectionary The Revised Common Lectionary is a lectionary of readings or pericopes from the Bible for use in Christian worship, making provision for the liturgical year with its pattern of observances of festivals and seasons. It was preceded by the Common Le ...
, was approved by the Church of England. In 2000, a new compilation of the Church of England's approved liturgies was published as ''
Common Worship ''Common Worship'' is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movemen ...
''. However, due to the variety of alternatives for various offices, the text is often printed not containing each liturgy but only those relevant to the preferences and needs of various congregations. Among the approved offices in ''Common Worship'' is the 1662 Communion office, considered an alternative in the text. The favouring of ''Common Worship'' and decline in parishes utilising the 1662 prayer book has led groups such as the Prayer Book Society to sponsor the 1662 edition's usage, to some success.


Contents

The alterations and additions to the 1662 prayer book have been estimated at 600 total from the previous edition. Among these was a new preface. The Preface was part of the original approved 1662 text, and was written by Robert Sanderson, the
Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...
. The Preface details the character of the revision–many being enhancements in directions for the officiant, alterations of obsolete verbiage, the change in Scriptural translation, and various additions of new offices. This preface is retained within the 1962 prayer book still used by the
Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...
. While not printed in the original 1662 prayer book nor technically part of it now, the Thirty-Nine Articles were first formally included in 1714. Charles I's 1628 declaration defending a literal interpretation of the Thirty-Nine Articles is appended as a prefix to the articles. The entirety of the
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
are included in the prayer book. The
Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...
included in the 1662 prayer book is that of the
Coverdale Bible The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old Testament or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English (cf. Wyc ...
translated by
Myles Coverdale Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles (1488 – 20 January 1569), was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first c ...
, which had been the translation used since the 1549 prayer book and similarly used by other prayer books onwards. However, the Authorized Version of the Bible (often known as the King James Version) was selected for the 1662 prayer book's
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
lections.


Holy Communion

The priest is to recite one of the two
collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among oth ...
s for the monarch prior to saying the collect of the day. The collects often followed the models established in the 1549 prayer book, with many being translations of the Gregorian or Sarum collect for a given day or feast. However, there were sometimes additions and elongations of these prayers. Other collects had ending doxologies which were generally omitted from printings as they were popularly known. If these endings were not already included in the collect, they were implicitly deleted by the 1662 prayer book's inclusion of "Amen" as a terminus at the end of each collect. Three new collects were introduced in the 1662 prayer book. The Anaphora or Eucharistic prayer follows the pattern established by Cranmer in 1552: *''
Sursum corda The ''Sursum corda'' (Latin: "Lift up your hearts" or literally, "Upwards hearts") is the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora in Christian liturgies, dating back at least to the third century and the Anaphor ...
'' *
Preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a '' foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...
*''
Sanctus The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition. In Western Christianity, the ...
'' *
Prayer of Humble Access The Prayer of Humble Access is the name traditionally given to a prayer contained in many Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other Christian eucharistic liturgies. Its origins lie in the healing the centurion's servant as recounted in two of th ...
*Prayer of Consecration *
Thanksgiving after Communion Thanksgiving after Communion is a spiritual practice among Christians who believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Communion bread, maintaining themselves in prayer for some time to thank God and especially listening in their hearts ...
The
Black Rubric The term Black Rubric is the popular name for the declaration found at the end of the "Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper" in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP), the Church of England's liturgical book. The Black Rubric explains why ...
was introduced in the 1552 prayer book as a statement of
Eucharistic theology Eucharistic theology is a branch of Christian theology which treats doctrines concerning the Holy Eucharist, also commonly known as the Lord's Supper. It exists exclusively in Christianity and related religions, as others generally do not cont ...
, prescribing that kneeling before the consecrated Eucharist was "a sygnificacion of the humble and gratefull acknowledgyng of the benefites of Chryst", rather than suggestive of a "real and essential" change that could be construed as
transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
. The rubric was deleted in the 1559 prayer book. Ultimately, even kneeling became a rarer practice heavily opposed particularly by Puritans. The 1662 prayer book reinserted the Black Rubric, though amended. The amended 1662 version revised the rubric to disallow viewing the consecration of the Eucharist as a "corporal" change, permitting a limited theology of the
real presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. There are a number of Christian denominati ...
. The Test Act of 1673 required that ministers in the Church of England to reject transubstantiation. By 1714, standard practice was to celebrate Holy Communion on Sundays beginning at 9:45 am. The Communion office, while not the preferred Sunday service until World War I, was still in general high esteem.


Daily Office

The 1662 prayer book retained many of the elements from the 1552 Daily Office, with the addition of state prayers to be appended after Morning and Evening Prayers. Prayers for the state and
royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
are found in the suffrages, collects, and
Litany Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin ''litania'' from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (''litan ...
. The Litany was largely that written by Cranmer in the 1544 ''
Exhortation and Litany The ''Exhortation and Litany'', published in 1544, is the earliest officially authorized vernacular service in English. The same rite survives, in modified form, in the ''Book of Common Prayer''. Background Before the English Reformation, processi ...
''. There were other additions in the occasional prayers and thanksgivings. The second prayer in times of death was added, and two Ember Week prayers–including one first included in the 1637 Scottish prayer book. The 1662 prayer book introduced a rubric that allowed an anthem to be said at the conclusion of the Daily Office and before the state prayers. These anthems were derived from Latin
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s and inspired a renewed interest in
Anglican church music Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing ''a cappella'' or accompanied b ...
. Anthems became a standard feature of English
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
and
collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...
es, where choirs were standard, further distinguishing the public recitation of the Daily Office at these locations from parochial practice. By 1714, standard practice was to celebrate Sunday Morning Prayer beginning at 10 a.m. Morning Prayer was the dominant choice of Sunday service over Holy Communion through the early 20th century. By this point, though, the 1662 prayer book's Daily Office faced criticism as insufficiently reflective of Reformation desires for public celebration of the canonical hours.


Occasional offices

The offices for baptism within the 1662 prayer book were prepared partially in reaction to the rise of Anabaptistry. The form of baptism "for such as are of Riper Years" was not only suitable for those converting to Christianity in the colonies but those coming from traditions and denominations that did not practice the formerly normative
infant baptism Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions. Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that ...
. The rubric preceding the public baptismal office was altered to remove allusion to a preference for public baptisms to occur exclusively between
Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
and
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
and a
benediction A benediction (Latin: ''bene'', well + ''dicere'', to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the expositio ...
of the
baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...
was added. The prayer of thanksgiving after Communion from the Eucharistic celebration was appended to the Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea, suggesting a non-sacramental interpretation of the prayer as the maritime prayers were intended to be used by ships' captains in front of their crew. Derived from
Levitical law The book of Leviticus (, from grc, Λευιτικόν, ; he, וַיִּקְרָא, , "And He called") is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Scholars generally agree ...
, a
purification ritual Ritual purification is the ritual prescribed by a religion by which a person is considered to be free of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may ...
for women following
childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...
called the Churching of Women was taken from Sarum practice. The 1662 prayer book's alterations from the 1559 version included a rephrasing of the preceding rubric, replacement of Psalms 116 and 127 with
Psalm 121 Psalm 121 is the 121st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint a ...
, and introduction of "Let us pray" before the ''
Kyrie Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of (''Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives fr ...
'' in mirror of the Daily Office. The 1662 prayer book matrimonial office altered the rubrics from prior Sarum and prayer book practice, permitting it to be celebrated independently from a Communion office. The 1662 matrimonial office remains a legal option to solemnise marriages in the Church of England, and a modified form known as ''Alternative Services: Series One'' that is also partially derived from the 1928 proposed prayer book was latterly adopted.


Ordinal

The 1662 ordinal was changed little from the form found within the first Edwardine Ordinal, with the deletion of rubrics for some vestments in 1552 among the more notable. However, until 1662, the text had been a separate book. In 1662, the ordinal was added to the rest of the prayer book and there were some more substantial additions to the liturgies for ordaining and consecrating presbyters and bishops. These additions emphasised the office of both priest and bishop in contrast to the theology of Puritans and Presbyterians. A new version of the ''
Veni Creator Spiritus "Veni Creator Spiritus" (Come, Creator Spirit) is a traditional Christian hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus, a ninth-century German monk, teacher, and archbishop. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Greg ...
'' introduced in the 1662 ordinal was produced by Cosin to replace that from 1550. Modifications to the preface of the ordinal made in 1661 were made to distinguish
Anglican ministry The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglica ...
from those forms that had appeared under the Commonwealth. The 1662 prayer book's office for the ordination of priests closes with an emphasis on the role of preaching, keeping with the 1550 ordinal's ministerial theology. Additionally, the minimum age for candidates to the diaconate was raised from 21 to 23 and, reverting an omission made in 1552, these candidates were to be "decently habited" in vestments.


Influence and critical appraisal

The 1662 prayer book is considered a significant contributor to the modern English language, with it ranking behind only the Bible in number of common quotations as detailed by the ''Oxford Dictionary of Quotations''. The book has also come to be identified as a mark of English national identity. The historian
Brian Cummings Brian Douglas Cummings (born March 4, 1948) is an American voice actor, known for his work in radio and television commercials, television and motion picture promos, cartoons and as the announcer on '' The All-New Let's Make a Deal'' from 1984 to ...
described the prayer book as sometimes "beckoning to a treasured Englishness as stereotyped by rain or hedgerows,
dry-stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
walls or
terraced housing In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
, ''
Brief Encounter ''Brief Encounter'' is a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play ''Still Life''. Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey, ...
'' or ''
Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series c ...
''."
Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...
, then Archbishop of Canterbury, noted in 2005 the significant impact the 1662 prayer book has had on the English language and literature in particular. He also described the prayer book as "less the expression of a fixed doctrinal consensus" but "more the creation of a doctrinal and devotional climate". It was this flexibility, acknowledged in the 1662 preface, that 19th-century U.S. Episcopal bishop
William Stevens Perry William Stevens Perry (January 22, 1832 – May 13, 1898) was a 19th-century bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America and an educator. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Iowa from 1876 to 1898. Bio ...
suggested gave justification to his church's revisions and alterations. Following his conversion from the Church of England to the Catholic Church, English writer and critic
G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...
wrote of the 1662 prayer book in 1935 as "the masterpiece of Protestantism. It is more so than the work of
Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
." Chesterton approved the prayer book as best when it deviated least from Catholicism, considering it less a Protestant text and instead "the last Catholic book". The
Global Anglican Future Conference The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the An ...
, an assembly of conservative Anglicans, issued the Jerusalem Declaration at their first meeting in 2008. Besides enumerating conservative values, the declaration appraised the 1662 prayer book as "a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture".


In popular culture

The 1662 prayer book's matrimonial office is subtly referenced in
Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's 1813 novel ''
Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'', in which the reasoning of
Mr William Collins Mr William Collins is a fictional character in the 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice'' by Jane Austen. He is the distant cousin of Mr Bennet, a clergyman and holder of a valuable living at the Hunsford parsonage near Rosings Park, the estate of ...
's proposal to
Elizabeth Bennet Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice'' by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family. Elizabeth is the second child in a family of five daughters. Though the ci ...
is given in a manner parodying the three points given in the prayer book for the purpose of marriage. Austen's father, George Austen, was a Church of England parish rector. In her regular recitation of the 1662 prayer book's liturgies and devotions, Austen is estimated to have said the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
at least 30,000 times. Events in
Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...
's 1847 novel ''
Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...
'' have been noted for their correspondence with the dates of particular lessons in the 1662 prayer book. The Brontë sisters were the daughters of
Patrick Brontë Patrick Brontë (, commonly ; born Patrick Brunty; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish Anglican priest and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, and of ...
, a Church of England cleric who would lead the sisters in the regimen of prayer delineated by the prayer book. Among the dates thought intentionally included in ''Jane Eyre'' to allude to the day's lessons are 5 and 6 November, a day that marks an improvement in the
titular character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
's fortunes. On these days, the two lessons from Ecclesiastus correspond with the themes of Jane discovering her true identity. Charlotte Brontë's copy of the 1662 prayer book, gifted by her future husband
Arthur Bell Nicholls Arthur Bell Nicholls (6 January 1819 – 2 December 1906) was the husband of the English novelist Charlotte Brontë. Between 1845 and 1861 Nicholls was one of Patrick Brontë's curates and was married to his eldest surviving child, Charlotte, f ...
and later acquired by Francis Jenkinson, resides in
Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
's special collections. The popular phrase "Dearly Beloved" is associated with marriage across multiple religious traditions. While introduced to the English language by William Tyndale's translation of the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word ἀγαπητός (''agapétos'') for Tyndale Bible, his production of the Bible, as well as subsequent versions produced by Myles Coverdale, the phrase attained popularity after its inclusion in the 1662 prayer book. Perhaps best known for its appearance in the matrimonial office, it also appears in Morning and Evening Prayer as part of the officiating minister's exhortations to the congregation and the visitation of the sick. A slightly altered permutation, "my beloved brethren", appears in the office of burial.


Other Anglican revisions

Following the abortive 1637 prayer book and prior to the Glorious Revolution, the Church of Scotland did not have an authorised prayer book and the liturgies were conducted generally in a Low Church fashion. William III established Presbyterianism as the faith of the Church of Scotland in 1690, leaving the disestablished Scottish Episcopal Church, Scottish Episcopalians to seek printings of the 1662 prayer book to continue their worship. English churchmen and Oxford University Press obliged, solidifying it as a preferred option among early Scottish Episcopalian non-juring schism, Nonjurors. By the first decades of the 18th century, some Scottish Episcopalians sought a service book to replace the popular 1662 prayer book. Some Scottish critiques of the 1662 prayer book stemmed from its deviation from four "Restorationism, primitive" practices, which nonjuring divines termed "Usages". These were the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the consecration, the Prayer of Oblation, prayers for the dead, and the mixed chalice. The resulting 1718 Nonjuror Office introduced an epiclesis, or invocation of the Holy Spirit over the bread and wine during the prayer of consecration, a reflection of West Syriac Rite, West Syriac and Byzantine Rite, Byzantine influence. The epiclesis would remain a hallmark of the native Scottish liturgies, especially as the influence of Liturgy of Saint James, ancient Jerusalem's liturgical practices grew. The 1662 prayer book would again attain favour over these native Scottish liturgies in the 19th century, but would be officially replaced in 1912 when the Scottish Episcopal Church approved a complete native prayer book. However, as the 1662 prayer book proved still popular, its Communion office was retained in both the 1912 and Scottish Prayer Book (1929), 1929 Scottish prayer books. The independence of the United States following the American Revolutionary War resulted in the independence of the American Episcopal Church (U.S.), Episcopal Church. Its first native bishop, Samuel Seabury, was ordained by Scottish Episcopalians. As such, the Episcopal Church's first prayer book–approved in 1789 and published in 1790–was largely an adaption of the 1662 prayer book with the alteration or removal of certain state prayers with the addition of Scottish elements to the Communion office. Prior to the unification of the Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdoms of Ireland and Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain by the Act of Union 1800, 1800 Act of Union and 1801 establishment of the United Church of England and Ireland, the Church of Ireland was a separate church. Despite this, in 1666, the Church of Ireland adopted the English 1662 prayer book. Until the union, the Church of Ireland's prayer book accrued minor modifications, including an office for the visitation of prisoners. During the whole period of the unified church until after the 1871 separation, the versions of the 1662 prayer book approved in England without the Irish modifications were used. It was replaced in 1878 by a native Irish prayer book. Through the 19th century, Anglican denominations in regions without a British imperial presence would develop their own editions of the prayer book, often based on the 1662 edition. A native prayer book was developed by the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church in 1881. The structure aligned with that of the 1662 prayer book and was in part a translation of that text, with additions from the Mozarabic Rite and other medieval sources. Most of the Mozarabic influences were introduced as supplements or options to the 1662 liturgy. The Anglican Church in Japan ( ja, 日本聖公会, translit=''Nippon Sei Ko Kai'', NSKK) developed from both U.S. Episcopal Church and Church of England missionary efforts and these two groups proved influential on the 1878 to 1895 prayer book revision process. The original edition of ''The Book of Common Prayer of NSKK'' was largely derived from the 1662 and American 1789 prayer books and, where it deviated from these two models, offered their liturgies as alternatives. The 1662 prayer book remained a relevant factor in worship and the revision processes across the Anglican Communion, but Anglo-Catholic models of the Communion office dominated from the 1920s to the 1960s. However, there were limited exceptions. The Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now known as the Anglican Church of Southern Africa) had experimentally adapted Walter Frere's 1911 proposed rite in 1924 and formally as an alternative to the 1662 prayer book's Communion office in 1929. That denomination would later adopt a prayer book heavily derived from the 1662 prayer book in 1954. The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon, Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, a since dissolved denomination, saw an extended period of revision due to the involvement of an Evangelical faction rather than Anglo-Catholic hegemony, approving a new prayer book in 1960. A similar extended program saw the 1959 approval and 1962 adoption of a Book of Common Prayer (1962), new Canadian prayer book. While a significant proportion of later 20th-century Anglican liturgies shirked the Cranmerian pattern for Eucharistic prayer, the 1662 version was often retained as an option. One such example is the Anglican Church in Australia's 1995 ''A Prayer Book for Australia'', which contains five Eucharistic prayers including a modernised version the 1662 rite. The Church in Wales, which had for a long time avoided major deviations from the 1662 prayer book, adopted a modest revision in the Book of Common Prayer (1984), 1984 prayer book. However, the Church in Wales engaged in a vigorous set of liturgical experimentation and enrichment from the late 1980s onward. Its 2004 prayer book contains seven Eucharistic prayers, some more or less based on the 1662 model.


Non-Anglican Communion revisions

Both the Reformed Episcopal Church in the U.S. and Canada and the Free Church of England in the United Kingdom utilise prayer books at least partially derived from the 1662 prayer book. While the current 2003 prayer book of the Reformed Episcopal Church includes a preface describing its derivation from the 1662 prayer book, the 1874, 1930, and 1963 editions had been based more closely on the reformed 1552 English and proposed 1785 U.S. prayer books. An early bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Charles E. Cheney, Charles Edward Cheney, wrote that for the 1662 prayer book "no fewer than six hundred changes were made in the prayer book, every one of which made it less and less the Protestant liturgy which Edward VI had bequeathed." Cheney also favoured the Reformed Episcopal prayer book's reintroduction the Black Rubric. The Free Church of England's 1956 prayer book similarly removes or adds explanation for "particular phrases and expressions" of the 1662 prayer book that "afford at least plausible ground for the teaching and practice of the Sacerdotalism, Sacerdotal and Roman Catholic (term), Romanising Party." The Anglican Church in North America, a denomination founded in 2009 largely by congregations that had been part of the Anglican Church of Canada or U.S. Episcopal Church, establishes the 1662 prayer book as its "standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship." When the Anglican Church in North America released its Ordinal and matrimonial office in 2011 and 2015 respectively, the 1662 prayer book was cited as a basis for both. The church's 2019 ''Book of Common Prayer'' contains a Eucharistic liturgy, the Anglican Standard Text, that draws largely from the 1662 prayer book's Holy Communion office as well as those present in succeeding prayer books. A "Traditional Language Edition" of the 2019 prayer book, produced by members of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth (ACNA), Diocese of Fort Worth, was dedicated in June 2022 by the ACNA. The book was intended to render the 2019 prayer book in Elizabethan English, using the 1662 prayer book's language "where possible" and replacing the 2019 edition's "New Coverdale Psalter" with one akin to the Coverdale Psalter of the 1662 and 1928 American prayer books. In 2021, InterVarsity Press published ''The 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition'', a non-ecclesial revision of the 1662 prayer book. Besides modernising syntax and spelling, certain elements such as the state prayers were drawn other Anglican prayer books, prominently the 1928 U.S. Episcopal Church prayer book and the 1960 Ghanan prayer book. Though not developed through an Anglican denomination, the text has received international endorsement from individual Anglican bishops and priests.


Use and revision by other groups


Catholic Church

In 1980, Pope John Paul II approved a pastoral provision whereby U.S. Episcopal Church clergy, including those already married, could be received into the Catholic Church. After Catholic ordination, they would be permitted to celebrate liturgies largely derived from the Anglican tradition. This provision resulted in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship starting work on "Anglican Use" liturgies for Catholic Church usage in 1983. This produced the ''Book of Divine Worship'', first published in 2003, a text containing two forms of the Mass and canonical hours based most directly on the Book of Common Prayer (1979), 1979 U.S. prayer book. In 2009, Benedict XVI issued the apostolic constitution ''Anglicanorum coetibus'' which established personal ordinariates for former Anglicans in the Catholic Church and expanded permissions for the Anglican Use liturgy into territories regularly using the English prayer book tradition. The ''Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham'', a Daily Office book developed from the English prayer book tradition for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom, was published on the 350th anniversary of the 1662 prayer book. The 1662 prayer book provides the basis for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in the 2021 ''Divine Worship: Daily Office, Divine Worship: Daily Office: Commonwealth Edition'' which replaced the ''Customary'' for use by the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross based in Australia. While the U.S. Episcopal Church's prayer books are the dominant influence on the North America-based Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, its first bishop, Steven J. Lopes, declared that the 1662 prayer book "is still the authoritative version".


Eastern Orthodoxy

The prayer book's liturgies, particularly its Holy Communion and Ordinal offices, were reviewed in an Eastern Orthodox perspective by Julian Joseph Overbeck in 1869, with the Russian Orthodox Church and later the Greek Orthodox Church issuing official approval for Overbeck's assessment. The ranking Russian Orthodox bishop in the U.S., Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, Tikhon, submitted a request for a possible adaption of the U.S. Episcopal Church's 1892 prayer book to be used by Episcopal priests entering the Russian Orthodox Church. The 1904 response from the Russian Orthodox synod reviewing of the 1662 and later U.S. Episcopal Church prayer books found deficiencies in the manner and theology of the liturgies, though opened the door to permitting a revised version. The Liturgy of Saint Tikhon is a Western Rite Orthodoxy, Western Rite Orthodox revision of the ''Book of Common Prayer'' Eucharistic liturgy. While Tikhon, who later became Patriarch of Moscow and was canonised in the Eastern Orthodox Church, did not directly produce or approve the liturgy–it was first approved by the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate in 1977–the liturgy is named in his honour. Though this liturgy is derived largely from the U.S. prayer book tradition, it has influences traceable to the 1662 prayer book. , roughly thirty to forty per cent of Antiochian Western Rite parishes used the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon, with the remainder using the Liturgy of Saint Gregory, a revision of the Roman Rite Mass. Kallistos Ware, a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy from Anglicanism with a personal familiarity with the 1662 prayer book, opted against the Western Rite but retained 17th-century English lexicon for his translations of the ''Menaion, Festal Menaion'' and the ''Triodion, Lenten Triodion''.


Methodism

John Wesley, in his position as a cleric within the Church of England, established the Christian revival, revivalist movement of
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
during the 18th century. Besides preaching and social advocacy, Wesley undertook a pattern of liturgical modification to support his fellow Methodists. Wesley was a proponent of Anglican liturgy, saying in 1784 of the 1662 prayer book that he felt "there is no liturgy in the world, either in ancient or modern language, which breathes more a solid, scriptural, rational piety". In order to enable early Methodists to continue attending the Church of England liturgies according the 1662 prayer book, the first Methodist Church service, services were held outside standard church hours on Sundays and were composed mostly of non-liturgical preaching, Scripture reading, and prayer. These events would often featuring paraphrasing or portions of Anglican liturgical material, exposing non-Church of England Methodist adherents to the 1662 prayer book. Despite his affinity for the prayer book, Wesley desired to adjust its liturgies and rubrics in order to maximise evangelisation and better reflect his view of Scriptural and Apostolic Age, early apostolic practises. These generally took the form of abridgments, such as ''The Sunday Service of the Methodists, The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America with Other Occasional Services''. Wesley produced ''The Sunday Service'' in 1784 on behalf of Methodists in the newly-founded, post-Revolution United States as a shortening of the 1662 prayer book. These liturgies were supplemented by editions of Wesley's earlier work, including the 1741 ''Collection of Psalms and Hymns''. Among Wesley's grievances with the prayer book, voiced in a 1755 essay supporting remaining within the Church of England, were the inclusion of the Athanasian Creed, Godparent, sponsors at baptism, and the "essential difference" between bishops and presbyters. In the 1784 ''Sunday Service'', he removed the rites of private baptism, the visitation of the sick, the offices of accession, and others. Readings from the Apocrypha were removed entirely, with the exception of one reading from Book of Tobit, Tobit. Also deleted were reference to ''The Books of Homilies'', the
Black Rubric The term Black Rubric is the popular name for the declaration found at the end of the "Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper" in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP), the Church of England's liturgical book. The Black Rubric explains why ...
, and saints' feast days. Retained and complementing the liturgies were Articles of Religion (Methodist), modified Articles of Religion, derived from the standard 39 Articles in the 1662 prayer book. Influences on Wesley's liturgy included Puritans and Samuel Clarke's work to alter the 1662 prayer book, as compiled and implemented by Theophilus Lindsey for his Essex Street Chapel congregation. Wesley was also familiar with Richard Baxter's efforts to approve a more reformed liturgy at the
Savoy Conference The Savoy Conference of 1661 was a significant liturgical discussion that took place, after the Restoration of Charles II, in an attempt to effect a reconciliation within the Church of England. Proceedings It was convened by Gilbert Sheldon ...
and the later 1689 ''Liturgy of Comprehension''. While some later Methodists–including the Primitive Methodist Church's founder Hugh Bourne–found the 1662 prayer book too Popery, Popish, Methodist liturgy continued being shaped by the prayer book following Wesley's death. The Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain), British Wesley Methodist Church developed its own service book, the 1882 ''Public Prayers and Services'', based directly off the ''Book of Common Prayer'' rather than Wesley's revisions. The 1882 book utilised Morning Prayer, the Litany, and the Holy Communion office from the 1662 edition. The 1784 ''Sunday Service'' would be revised and reprinted roughly 45 times in England, sometimes as the further reduced ''Order of Administration of the Sacraments''. The 1662 edition-derived ''Sunday Service'' has remained a "urtext" for Methodist denominations in the U.S., through its 1932 adaptation by the Methodist Episcopal Church–and its successor denomination, the United Methodist Church and its 1965 ''Book of Worship''–and the African Methodist Episcopal Church's Communion office.


Unitarianism

The King's Chapel congregation in Boston, Massachusetts, originated as a Church of England parish in 1686. During the American Revolution, the parishioners were largely Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalist and many fled following the 1776 Siege of Boston#Evacuation, British evacuation of Boston. Those Anglicans that remained agreed to permit Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists from Old South Church to use King's Chapel in shared, alternating fashion. James Freeman (clergyman), James Freeman arrived to serve as a lay reader in 1782 and introduced his own theology of Socinianism and eventually
Unitarianism Unitarianism (from Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the doctrine of the Trinity which states that there i ...
. Using a copy of Theophilus Lindsey's Essex Street Chapel liturgy as a model, Freeman and the King's Chapel congregation created a 1662 prayer book modified to match their nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian theology in 1785. Freeman and the congregation were both denied entry into the newly-independent U.S. Episcopal Church by bishops Samuel Seabury and Samuel Provoost, resulting in it becoming the first Unitarian church in the U.S. King's Chapel continues to operate as an independent Unitarian church with the modified 1662 prayer book as its liturgy, currently in a ninth edition published in 1986.


Associated texts


Hymnals

While the Church of England does not possess a standardised approved hymnal, several hymnals were developed specifically for usage within the church to compliment the 1662 prayer book. Hymns accompanying parochial services were not standard, though had grown increasingly popular by the 1830s due to the influence of Dissenter, particularly Wesleyan, practice. Partially due to this exterior pressure and partially due to the desires of Tractarians, ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' was published in 1861. Among its contributors were Jane Laurie Borthwick, Edward Caswall, Thomas Helmore, John Mason Neale, and Catherine Winkworth. A 1904 revision was widely panned for its alteration of verbiage and numbering, as well as the deletion of popular hymns. While vicar at St Mary-the-Virgin, Primrose Hill, in London, Percy Dearmer determined their usage of ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' to be deficient. Dearmer pursued the creation of his own hymnal with Ralph Vaughan Williams, resulting in the words version of ''The English Hymnal'' published by Oxford University Press in 1906. Hymns were provisioned to the offices of the 1662 prayer book, with a tendency towards Anglo-Catholic sympathies. With hymns for the Mary, mother of Jesus, Virgin Mary and the dead, the Diocese of Bristol prohibited the text and prompted the creation of an abridged version which was printed in 1907. ''The English Hymnal'' received a minor revision in 1933 and was regularly used through to the 1980s. The 1986 revision, the ''New English Hymnal'', has largely supplanted the earlier versions.


Ritual and rubrical supplements

In 1894, ''Ritual Notes'' was introduced as a supplement to provide greater detail to Church of England ritualist celebrants. The text was written with the intention of serving alongside 1662 prayer book's liturgies, though it also proved popular with U.S. Episcopal Church Anglo-Catholics. Its 11th and final edition was published before the Book of Common Prayer (1979), 1979 American prayer book's approval, this later prayer book proving too great a deviation from the patterns ''Ritual Notes'' was designed for use alongside. The rubrical text thus declined in general popularity. A similarly High Church supplement, ''The Parson's Handbook'', was created by Percy Dearmer in 1899.


See also

*''Anglican Breviary'' *''Book of Alternative Services'' *Book of Common Prayer (1845 illuminated version), ''Book of Common Prayer'' (1845 illuminated version) *''English Missal'' *''Liturgy of the Hours'' *''Lutheran Book of Worship'' *Mass of Paul VI *Primer (prayer book)


Notes


References


External links


1662 ''Book of Common Prayer''
according to a 1762 John Baskerville printing. *
''The Book of Common Prayer Reformed According to the Plan of the Late Dr. Samuel Clarke''
a proposed revision of the 1662 prayer book based on notes by Samuel Clarke and published by Theophilus Lindsey for usage at Essex Street Chapel. {{Anglican Liturgy, state= 1662 books 1662 in Christianity 1662 in England Anglican Church of Australia Anglican Church of Canada Anglican Church of Southern Africa Anglican liturgical books Anglo-Catholicism Book of Common Prayer Cambridge University Press books Episcopal Church (United States) History of Methodism History of the Church of England King James Version Oxford University Press books Scottish Episcopal Church