Collect for Easter Even (1928 BCP)

Collect for Easter Even (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed for Easter Even, or Holy Saturday, in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. The prayer joins baptism into Christ's death, continual mortification of corrupt affections, burial with Christ, passage through the grave, and joyful resurrection. In the 1928 propers it stands with 1 St. Peter iii. 17-22 and St. Matthew xxvii. 57-66.

Text of the Collect

GRANT, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The collect begins from Baptism, but it does not treat Baptism as a detached ceremony. "Baptized into the death" of Christ makes the Christian life a participation in his Passion. The petition therefore asks that the baptized continually mortify corrupt affections: the burial named in the prayer is both union with Christ and daily repentance.

The final clauses carry the prayer from Holy Saturday to Easter. The grave is not denied; it is named as "the grave, and gate of death." Yet the same clause asks that the faithful may pass through that gate to "joyful resurrection." The conclusion grounds the petition not in human discipline but in Christ's merits: he "died, and was buried, and rose again for us."

Appointed Epistle and Gospel

The appointed Epistle, 1 St. Peter iii. 17-22, gives the theological frame for the collect's baptismal language. It joins Christ's suffering, death, quickening by the Spirit, Noah's ark, Baptism, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly lordship.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

This sentence supports the collect's movement from death to life. The Savior who was "put to death in the flesh" is "quickened by the Spirit"; the baptized are therefore taught to pray for burial with him in order to share his resurrection.

The Epistle then makes the baptismal connection explicit:

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel, St. Matthew xxvii. 57-66, places the prayer beside the burial of Jesus and the sealing of the sepulchre. Easter Even is not yet the open tomb; it is the Church's day of watchfulness at the grave.

And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

Matthew's narrative also records the hostile attempt to secure the tomb:

So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

The collect answers that sealed stone by asking for passage "through the grave, and gate of death." The Church does not pray as though death were unreal. It prays because Christ has entered death, rested in the grave, and risen for his people.

Baptismal Theology

The Easter Even collect echoes the language of Romans vi, but the appointed Epistle gives the proper for the day its immediate biblical text. Baptism is not reduced to outward washing; it is tied to Christ's death and resurrection, and therefore to repentance, conscience, and new life.

The same pattern appears in the 1928 Baptism office's thanksgiving after Baptism:

And humbly we beseech thee to grant, that he, being dead unto sin, may live unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, may also be partaker of his resurrection.

This baptismal prayer helps explain why the collect asks for "continual mortifying." The baptized person has been received into Christ's death and resurrection, yet still must ask for grace to put corrupt affections to death. The Prayer Book's baptismal theology is therefore both sacramental and ascetical: union with Christ is given, and the life corresponding to that gift must be prayed and practiced.

Historical Development

The Easter Even collect is not one of the ancient Western Sunday collects translated by Cranmer. It entered the English Prayer Book tradition at the Restoration after an earlier Scottish form. The 1928 American text keeps the inherited collect, while the comparative apparatus notes two changes around earlier American books and the 1928 conclusion.

The Collect and Readings for Easter Even appear with the Propers for Holy Days in the Proposed (1786) Book.

The same note records that the Proposed Book read "the continual mortifying of" where the 1928 text has "continual mortifying," and marks "the same" as added in 1928 before "thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

The official Church of England 1662 text shows the collect in its Restoration form without the 1928 American addition "the same":

Grant, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that, through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the day as a fast marked by Christ's burial and descent, while also distinguishing older vigil usage from the later Prayer Book provision:

The last day of the Great Week, called Easter Even, was a fast-day of the universal Church. It is kept holy in memory of Christ's resting in the grave, and of His descent into hell.

They also identify the source and Prayer Book placement of the collect and readings:

The Prayer Book has deserted the customs of antiquity and has provided special services for this day, but taken no account of the services of the Easter Vigil. The Collect first appeared in the Scottish Book, and after much alteration was inserted here in 1661. The Epistle and Gospel are newly selected with reference to the events of the day.

Percy Dearmer makes the baptismal association still more explicit when discussing parish observance of Easter Even:

Easter Even, the Great Sabbath, or Holy Saturday, was anciently marked by the blessing of the new fire and the Paschal candle, and by the hallowing of the Font. The Collect for the Day makes special allusion to its connection with Holy Baptism.

Dearmer further notes that the Prayer Book offices for the day are Morning Prayer, Communion, and Evening Prayer, with litanies reflecting older service patterns:

The offices in the Prayer Book are Mattins, Communion, and Evensong. The Litany, or a metrical litany, should also be sung, as litanies were a feature of the old services for this day.

Theological Meaning

The Easter Even collect teaches Holy Saturday through a chain of clauses. "As we are baptized into the death" names the given sacramental reality. "So by continual mortifying our corrupt affections" turns that reality into daily penitence and spiritual discipline. "We may be buried with him" keeps the Christian life united to the whole paschal mystery, not only to Easter joy. "Through the grave, and gate of death" refuses to treat death as harmless sentiment, while "joyful resurrection" confesses that Christ's grave is the way to life.

The appointed Epistle and Gospel sharpen this reading. 1 Peter interprets Christ's suffering as the just for the unjust and links Baptism to resurrection and good conscience. Matthew shows the dead Christ wrapped, laid in the tomb, and guarded by his enemies. The collect prays between those two texts: baptized into Christ's death, the Church waits at the sealed tomb in hope of resurrection.

Use in Worship and Catechesis

In worship, the collect is a concise Holy Saturday prayer for baptized Christians: they ask to die to sin because Christ has died, to be buried with him because he was buried, and to pass through death because he rose. In catechesis it can be read beside 1 Peter iii, Romans vi, the Apostles' Creed's confession that Christ "was crucified, dead, and buried," and the 1928 Baptism office's thanksgiving for burial and resurrection with Christ.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Holy Week in the 1928 BCP
• Collect for Good Friday (1928 BCP)
• Collect for Easter Day (1928 BCP)
• Baptism (1928 BCP)
• Exsultet in Anglican Easter Liturgy

External Links

• Society of Archbishop Justus, The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 BCP
• Society of Archbishop Justus, 1789 and 1892 propers with 1928 notes
• Church of England, Easter Even from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII
• Percy Dearmer, The Parson's Handbook, chapter VIII