Book of Common Prayer

Book of Common Prayer (in full the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church), official prayer book of the Church of England and of Anglican Churches in other countries, including the Episcopal Church in the United States. The first complete version of the Book of Common Prayer appeared in 1549 at the time of the Reformation, during the reign of Edward VI; its use was made compulsory by Parliament. It followed other Church reforms and was the result of the work begun during the reign of Edward's father, Henry VIII, under the direction of Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley. Much of the text (still in use today) was taken, in an edited form, from prayers found in the Eastern, Roman, Lutheran, and earlier Spanish-Mozoarabic Christian heritage. The aim of Cranmer and Ridley was to produce a book in the vernacular that would be a unified and simplified equivalent of the Roman Catholic liturgical books. Used with the Bible and an authorized hymnal, it provided all of the formularies for Anglican worship, from morning and evening prayers and the liturgy of Holy Communion to the rites for the sacraments and visitation of the sick. An ordinal (ordination service) was added in 1550.

A revised version of the Book of Common Prayer, sometimes called the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI, appeared in 1552, and its use, too, was made compulsory by Parliament. This version differed radically from the earlier one. The structure of the Holy Communion service was changed, many ceremonies were eliminated, and the vestments worn by the clergy were simplified. Eight months after its appearance, it was suppressed by Mary I, who reintroduced Latin as the language to be used in services in the Church of England.

After Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558, the Book of Common Prayer was amended, and the prayer book, which in the new version was less strongly Protestant, was restored to use; further amendments away from a strongly Protestant position were made in 1604, during the reign of James I. During the Commonwealth the Book of Common Prayer was suppressed, but in 1662, following the restoration of the monarchy, its use was again made compulsory. Because the amendments made in the 1662 version also compromised decidedly Protestant positions, many Puritans defected from the established Church. The Book of Common Prayer in current use differs from the 1662 version only in minor details. In 1980 the Church of England authorized the introduction of the Alternative Service Book, intended to act as a modern-language complement to the Book of Common Prayer. The ASB's authorization was renewed for a further ten years in 1990, but it was to be phased out in 2000 and replaced with the new Common Worship liturgy.