Collect for Monday before Easter (1928 BCP)

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Collect for Monday before Easter (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for Monday in Holy Week. It is a 1928 proper collect placed after the repeated Palm Sunday collect and before the appointed Isaiah 63 Epistle and St. Mark 14 Gospel. The prayer interprets the first weekday of Holy Week as "the way of the cross," where Christ's path through suffering to glory becomes the Church's path of life and peace.

Text of the Collect

ALMIGHTY God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified; Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[1]

The collect opens with Christ's order: joy comes through pain, and glory comes through crucifixion. It therefore refuses a triumphal Holy Week that passes around the Passion. The Father is addressed through the Son whose way has already been walked; the Church does not invent its own route to peace.

The petition is clause-by-clause discipleship. "Walking in the way of the cross" asks for grace to follow Christ in a concrete path, not merely to contemplate the cross from a distance. "Life and peace" names the end of that path: the cross is not suffering for its own sake, but the cruciform way by which Christ brings his people through death toward resurrection life.

Monday before Easter also receives the Palm Sunday collect by rubric:

This Collect is to be said every day, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Good Friday.

[2]

That rubric means Monday's new 1928 collect is not isolated. Palm Sunday's prayer keeps Christ's incarnation, humility, patience, and resurrection before the congregation; Monday then applies that pattern to the daily "way of the cross."

Historical Place

The Society of Archbishop Justus comparative text records the 1928 character of the weekday collect:

Collect added in 1928.

[3]

The collect itself is therefore a 1928 American addition, but the day is not a new liturgical invention. The weekday Epistle and Gospel continue older Holy Week patterns. Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the Prayer Book's ordered use of Passion Scripture:

The whole week was observed with greater strictness and solemnity than the rest of Lent. This custom is retained in the Church of England by giving a special character to the daily services, in the appointment of Epistles and Gospels for each day, and thus collecting most of those portions of scripture which relate to the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour.

[4]

They identify the Gospel course in terms directly relevant to Monday:

These are taken in an orderly course: the history of S. Matthew is read on Palm Sunday, in the second Lesson, and continued in the Gospel; S. Mark's history is read in the Gospels on Monday and Tuesday; S. Luke's on. Wednesday and Thursday; and S. John's on Good Friday.

[5]

John Cosin's Prayer Book notes also witness the older textual setting of the day. His entry identifies Monday before Easter with the Sarum feria and records the Prayer Book's Isaiah and Mark appointments:

MONDAY BEFORE EASTER. ... The Epistle, Is. Ixiii. 1. ... The Gospel, Mark xiv. 1.

[6]

This history helps explain the 1928 arrangement. The American book adds a proper weekday collect that names the way of the cross, but it leaves the older biblical course in place: Isaiah 63 for the Epistle and Mark 14 for the Gospel.

The official Church of England 1662 text still prints Monday before Easter without the 1928 American collect, but with the same broad weekday lectionary:

Monday before Easter ... For the Epistle Isaiah 63.1-end ... The Gospel St. Mark 14.1-end

[7]

Appointed Epistle

The 1928 BCP appoints Isaiah 63:1-end "For the Epistle." Its opening image is the solitary victor whose garments are dyed as from the winepress:

WHO is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

[8]

The collect's "pain" and "crucified" language receives its prophetic depth here. Isaiah's figure is "mighty to save," yet appears in blood-marked garments. The Monday proper therefore places the cross under the sign of divine victory, not defeat.

The Epistle later turns from judgement imagery to God's covenant mercy and afflicted presence:

I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them.

[9]

This second movement matters for the collect. The way of the cross is not merely the believer's hardship; it is first the way of the Son who enters affliction for his people. The Church can ask for life and peace because the saving one is present in affliction and bears his people.

Appointed Gospel

The Gospel is St. Mark 14:1-end. It begins with the plot against Jesus and immediately sets over against it the anointing at Bethany:

AFTER two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

[10]

The collect's "way" is therefore narrated immediately as a way surrounded by conspiracy, costly devotion, and preparation for burial. The woman's action in Mark is not ornament; Jesus interprets it as preparation for his death.

The Gospel then gives the institution of the Supper inside the Passion narrative:

And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat;this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

[11]

This makes Monday before Easter eucharistic without displacing Maundy Thursday. The cross is the way of life and peace because Christ gives himself for many; the path of discipleship rests on his self-offering before it becomes the Church's imitation.

The same chapter shows Christ's obedience in Gethsemane:

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

[12]

Here the collect's first clause is made visible. Christ does not go up to joy by avoiding pain; he entrusts himself to the Father's will within the sorrow of the cup. The Church asks to walk after him, which means receiving the cross as the path where obedience and peace meet.

Mark also places the believer's weakness beside Christ's fidelity:

And they all forsook him, and fled.

[13]

The collect is therefore not a confident claim that disciples already know the way. It is a plea for mercy because even the closest disciples fail when the cross becomes costly. Monday's prayer trains the Church to ask for the grace to walk where unaided resolve fails.

At the hearing before the high priest, Mark joins silence and confession:

But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

[14]

This is the Gospel's own version of "not up to joy but first he suffered pain." Christ confesses his identity and coming glory at the moment that confession brings condemnation. Monday's collect places Christian discipleship inside that same pattern: glory is real, but it is reached through the faithful way of the cross.

Theological Interpretation

E. J. Rowland's Anglican manual on Holy Week and Easter gives a useful way to read Monday in the whole sequence:

Easter is the Christian Passover (or more exactly, Good Friday and Easter together are), for the Passover is a passing over from death to life. As the ancient Passover included the preparation of a lamb for the Passover feast, so the first five days of Holy Week are the preparation of the Lamb of God for his Passover, starting with his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

[15]

Monday before Easter is one of those preparation days. The collect says this preparation is not simply chronological movement toward Friday; it is spiritual participation in Christ's way. The congregation prays to find the cross as "life and peace" because Holy Week is ordered toward the Christian Passover: death to life in Christ.

Rowland also explains why the Old Testament lesson belongs in Holy Week:

During Holy Week and Easter the Church employs every device of her Liturgy (that is, of her public, official worship of God) to gather together all three strands of the Passover; taking us back in mind to the Passover of the Jews in Egypt and to the Passover of Christ in Jerusalem, and reminding us of our own Passover.

[16]

That interpretation fits the 1928 collect closely. Isaiah 63 gives prophetic images of divine salvation, afflicted mercy, and redemption; Mark 14 gives the Lamb's preparation, Supper, agony, betrayal, and confession. The collect gathers them into petition: the Church asks to walk in Christ's cross-shaped way and to find there the peace that belongs to his saving work.

Anglican Use

In 1928 BCP worship, Monday before Easter can be used at Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Holy Communion when the proper is appointed. It is especially suitable for catechesis on discipleship because it prevents two common errors: treating the cross only as an external doctrine, and treating Christian suffering as valuable in itself. The collect teaches both substitution and participation. Christ first walks the way; the Church asks to follow him by grace.

For preaching, the collect can be mapped to the appointed readings. "Pain" and "crucified" are filled out by Mark's Passion narrative. "Joy" and "glory" are promised in Christ's resurrection and exaltation. "The way of life and peace" is grounded in Isaiah's saving Lord, who is mighty to save and present in the affliction of his people.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Collect for Monday before Easter, in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "Monday before Easter," PDF page 26 of the Society of Archbishop Justus propers file; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". The complete collect was compared word for word with the Society of Archbishop Justus transcription; PDF spacing artifacts were normalized.
  2. ↑ Rubric following the Collect for the Sunday next before Easter, in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Sunday next before Easter, commonly called Palm Sunday"; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels".
  3. ↑ Society of Archbishop Justus comparative transcription, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels to be used throughout the year: the 1786 Proposed, 1789, 1892, and 1928 U. S. Books of Common Prayer," note beside "Monday before Easter"; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Book of Common Prayer: Collects, Epistles, & Gospels".
  4. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," section on Holy Week, p. 535 in the printed text; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription: A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII.
  5. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), chapter XIII, p. 535; A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII. the printed transcription's punctuation after "on" before "Wednesday" is preserved as checked.
  6. ↑ John Cosin, The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, John Cosin, Lord Bishop of Durham, Now First Collected, volume V, Notes and Collections on the Book of Common Prayer, new edition collated with the original manuscripts (Oxford: John Henry and James Parker, 1855), notes on "Monday before Easter," p. 276; Internet Archive full text: The works of ... John Cosin, now first collected. the quotation condenses the Latin entry with ellipses to avoid depending on OCR-distorted words.
  7. ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (1662), Cambridge University Press 2006 edition, "Monday before Easter"; official Church of England text: Monday before Easter. Ellipses condense headings and appointed references, not the substance of the appointments.
  8. ↑ Isaiah 63:1-2, appointed "For the Epistle" for Monday before Easter in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". line-break and word-spacing artifacts were normalized.
  9. ↑ Isaiah 63:7-9, appointed "For the Epistle" for Monday before Easter in the 1928 BCP; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". PDF capitalization of LORD was normalized to the 1928 display form.
  10. ↑ St. Mark 14:1-3, appointed as the Gospel for Monday before Easter in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". PDF spacing artifacts were normalized.
  11. ↑ St. Mark 14:22-24, appointed Gospel for Monday before Easter in the 1928 BCP; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". The Society of Archbishop Justus transcription prints "eat;this" without a following space; the article preserves that form because the PDF also confirms the same sentence sequence with spacing artifacts.
  12. ↑ St. Mark 14:36, appointed Gospel for Monday before Easter in the 1928 BCP; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". The transcription's later OCR errors "lie" for "he" and "ho" for "he" were not used.
  13. ↑ St. Mark 14:50, appointed Gospel for Monday before Easter in the 1928 BCP; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels".
  14. ↑ St. Mark 14:61-62, appointed Gospel for Monday before Easter in the 1928 BCP; Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels". spacing artifacts in the PDF were normalized.
  15. ↑ E. J. Rowland, Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained, revised and enlarged 4th ed. (St Leonards on Sea: Christ Church Publications, 1956), introduction; Project Canterbury transcription: Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained.
  16. ↑ E. J. Rowland, Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained, revised and enlarged 4th ed. (St Leonards on Sea: Christ Church Publications, 1956), introduction; Project Canterbury, "Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained".

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