Eastertide in the 1928 BCP
Eastertide in the 1928 BCP is the Prayer Book ordering of the paschal season in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the local comparative propers source, the 1928 revision adds the heading "EASTERTIDE" at Easter Day and then continues through Easter Week, the Sundays after Easter, Rogation Sunday, Ascension Day and its octave, the Sunday after Ascension, and Whitsunday. The article is therefore not about a single collect, but about the way the 1928 BCP prays the Resurrection, the risen Christ's appearances, the Ascension, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Easter Day and Easter Week
Easter Day begins with the Prayer Book's most direct paschal proclamation. At Morning Prayer the Easter anthems replace the ordinary Venite, so that the office opens with Scripture interpreted as praise.
CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast, Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness : but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7. CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more : death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once : but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin : but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 9. CHRIST is risen from the dead : and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death : by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die : even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 20.
Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere trace these anthems to older Easter morning ceremony, showing that the 1928 BCP preserves a simplified form of inherited Easter proclamation.
Before Mattins on Easter morning a procession went to the Sepulchre, the host was taken thence and laid upon the altar; the Cross was then carried in procession to a side altar: meanwhile the Antiphon, 'Christ rising again from the dead' and its Verse were sung; then after a versicle and collect the Cross was again venerated. From this service are derived the present Easter anthems.
The Easter Day collect joins victory over death to prevenient and continuing grace. The Resurrection opens "the gate of everlasting life," and the prayer asks that desires first given by God may be carried into actual obedience.
ALMIGHTY God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
The appointed Epistle, Colossians 3, gives the collect its ethical direction. Easter faith is not only belief that Christ rose, but participation in his risen life.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Procter and Frere summarize the Prayer Book's historical compression of Easter Week. The older Western books had fuller daily Mass provision; the Prayer Book preserved a narrower but definite pattern, and the 1928 book directs the Easter Day collect to be said daily through Easter Week.
The Latin rituals had special Masses for every day in Easter week, but according to Sarum use the first three days were distinguished above the rest as double feasts. In the Prayer Book special provision was made for only two days. The old Collects were discarded, but the Epistles and Gospels were retained, recounting the principal testimonies to the Resurrection. The following Sunday, called in England traditionally Low Sunday, is counted as the Octave of Easter.
Sundays After Easter
The First Sunday after Easter continues Easter Day's moral and sacramental themes. The collect names Christ's death "for our sins" and his rising "for our justification," then turns the Passover leaven image into a prayer for pureness of living and truth.
ALMIGHTY Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Second Sunday after Easter is the Good Shepherd Sunday of the 1928 sequence. Its collect holds together atonement and imitation: the Son is both "a sacrifice for sin" and "an ensample of godly life."
ALMIGHTY God, who hast given thine only Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin, and also an ensample of godly life; Give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Percy Dearmer notes that these first two post-Easter collects belong to the Prayer Book's own sixteenth-century English composition rather than merely translating ancient Latin collects. That helps explain why they so directly echo the appointed apostolic readings.
The Collect of the Day is generally, as we have seen, an ancient Latin prayer translated from the Sarum Missal by Cranmer or another. Most are from the Communion Service of S. Leo (c. 450), or of Gelasius (c. 480), or of S. Gregory (c. 580). But nineteen [6/7] (including the First and Second Sundays in Advent, Christmas Day, Quinquagesima Sunday, and the First and Second Sundays after Easter) were specially written for the Prayer Book of 1549; and three, as we have seen, were added when our Prayer Book took its present form in 1662.
Procter and Frere give the theological shape of the whole period from Easter to Ascension: the Gospels move through resurrection joy and the promise of the Comforter, while the Epistles press the moral duties that answer baptismal and Easter profession.
The joyful commemoration of our Saviour's resurrection, and the promise of the Comforter, are the principal subjects of the Gospels from Easter to Ascension Day; while the Epistles exhort to the practice of those duties which are answerable to the Christian profession.
Ascension and Whitsunday
The Fifth Sunday after Easter is identified in the 1928 source as "commonly called Rogation Sunday." Its Gospel, John 16, prepares for prayer in Christ's name and for the Lord's departure to the Father. Ascension Day then receives a distinct 1928 heading, "ASCENSIONTIDE," and the collect is appointed daily through the octave.
GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
The 1928 Ascension Epistle, Acts 1, supplies the forty-day frame and the missionary promise that leads toward Whitsunday. This is why Ascensiontide in the Prayer Book is not a retreat from earth into heaven, but the enthroned Christ's preparation of witnesses.
To whom also he shewed him self alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.
Procter and Frere describe the interval after Ascension as expectation rather than vacancy.
The ten days after the Ascension are sometimes called Expectation Tide: they commemorate that anxious period during which the Apostles tarried at Jerusalem, in earnest expectation of the promised gift of the Comforter.
Whitsunday completes the paschal movement. The collect asks for right judgment and holy comfort by the same Spirit who taught the hearts of the faithful at Pentecost.
O GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Holy Communion Proper Prefaces make the same doctrinal arc explicit: Easter praises the Paschal Lamb, Ascension praises the Lord who prepares a place for us, and Whitsuntide praises the descent of the Holy Ghost to teach, lead into truth, and empower gospel preaching.
But chiefly are we bound to praise thee for the glorious Resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord: for he is the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered for us, and hath taken away the sin of the world; who by his death hath destroyed death, and by his rising to life again hath restored to us everlasting life.
Percy Dearmer notes that the great festivals are distinguished at Holy Communion by these proper prefaces.
Some special days are further marked out. The Great Festivals (Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday) have Proper Prefaces at Holy Communion.
Prayer Book Use
In parish teaching, Eastertide in the 1928 BCP should be read as a single paschal course rather than as disconnected spring Sundays. Easter Day proclaims victory and new life; Easter Week and the following Sundays form that life in purity, faith, shepherded obedience, and hope; Rogation Sunday turns the Church toward prayer; Ascensiontide directs the mind and heart to the exalted Christ; and Whitsunday completes the sequence with the mission and comfort of the Holy Ghost.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
- Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
- Collect for Easter Day (1928 BCP)
- Collect for First Sunday after Easter (1928 BCP)
- Collect for Fifth Sunday after Easter (1928 BCP)
References
- ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Easter-day," Morning Prayer Easter anthems in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1021-1057; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 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), p. 540, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; wording checked against
tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 593-607; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Easter-day," collect in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1078-1096, with comparison-note artifacts corrected manually; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Easter-day," Epistle, Colossians iii. 1, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1095-1108; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 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), p. 543, chapter XIII; wording checked against
tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 694-703; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "The First Sunday after Easter," collect in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1378-1387; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "The Second Sunday after Easter," collect in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1431-1445; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book: What It Is and How We Should Use It, Churchman's Penny Library No. 4 (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd., 1907), pp. 6-7, "The Material of the Prayer Book"; wording checked against
tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/dearmer-1907.html, lines 60-74; Project Canterbury transcription, The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer. - ↑ 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), p. 544, chapter XIII; wording checked against
tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 737-743; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "The Ascension-day," collect in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 52-76; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "The Ascension-day," Epistle, Acts i. 1, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 75-101; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 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), p. 546, chapter XIII; wording checked against
tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 798-801; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Whitsunday," collect in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, checked against local source
sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 199-218; Society of Archbishop Justus, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Holy Communion, Proper Preface for Easter, "Upon Easter-day, and seven days after," checked against local source
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 495-504; Society of Archbishop Justus, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. - ↑ Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book: What It Is and How We Should Use It, Churchman's Penny Library No. 4 (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd., 1907), p. 31, "The Ideal Before Us"; wording checked against
tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/dearmer-1907.html, lines 244-253; Project Canterbury transcription, The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer.