Epiphany in the 1928 BCP

Epiphany in the 1928 BCP is the Prayer Book celebration of "The Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles" in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the 1928 book it is both a fixed feast on January 6 and the beginning of an Epiphany season in which the propers, Daily Office sentences, and Eucharistic Proper Preface proclaim Christ as the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.

Feast and Octave

The 1928 propers give the feast a formal heading that interprets the word "Epiphany" for the reader: "the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles." The collect then moves from the star-led manifestation to the Magi toward the Church's final hope of seeing God:

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave.

The collect is a compact theology of revelation and hope. God "manifest[s]" the Son to Gentiles, so Epiphany is not merely a story about exotic visitors but a proclamation that Christ is given for the nations. The petition "we, who know thee now by faith" places the worshipping Church beside the Magi: present knowledge is real but mediated by faith, while the final gift is "the fruition of thy glorious Godhead." The octave rubric extends that prayer daily through the feast's immediate week.

Appointed Epistle and Gospel

The Epistle, Ephesians iii. 1, gives doctrinal form to the feast. The "mystery" hidden in earlier ages is now revealed in Christ, and Gentiles are not spectators but fellow-heirs:

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.

The Gospel, St. Matthew ii. 1, supplies the narrative image behind the collect. The star leads Gentile worshippers to the child, and their gifts confess his royal dignity and the costly worship due to him:

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

The Epistle and Gospel interpret each other. Matthew gives the visible sign of Gentile worship; Ephesians gives the apostolic explanation that Gentiles are "of the same body" and share the promise in Christ. The collect gathers both readings into prayer: the star's historical leading becomes the Church's present faith and future vision.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere summarize the design of the feast in those same terms:

For the Epiphany the Collect and Gospel are taken from the old services; but a new passage is assigned for the Epistle instead of the old Lesson from Isaiah, which was transferred to be the first Lesson at Mattins. These show clearly the design of the feast, which is to show our gratitude to God for admitting the Gentiles to those religious privileges, which had been confined to the Jews.

Manifestations of Christ

Classical Prayer Book commentators often treat Epiphany as more than one manifestation. Anthony Sparrow's seventeenth-century rationale connects the Magi, Christ's baptism, and Cana under the one feast:

This Feast is called in Latin Epiphaniae, Epiphanies, in the plural; because upon this day we celebrate three glorious apparitions or manifestations, all which happened upon the same day, though not of the same year. Chrys. Serm. 159.

The first manifestation was of the Star, (mentioned in the Gospel) the Gentiles guide to Christ.

The Second Epiphany or manifestation was that of the glorious Trinity at the baptism of Christ, mentioned in the second Lesson at morning prayer. S. Luke 3. 22.

The third was of Christ's glory or Divinity, by the miracle of turning water into wine, mentioned in the second Lesson at Evening prayer, S. John 2.

This older interpretive pattern explains why Epiphany season is not exhausted by Matthew ii. The 1928 propers emphasize the Magi and the Gentiles on January 6, but the following Sundays continue to disclose who Christ is: the child about his Father's business, the Son baptized by John, the worker of miracles, the healer, the ruler of the Church amid danger, and the judge who will divide wheat from tares.

Procter and Frere state the same seasonal movement in relation to Christmas:

From Christmas to Epiphany the design of the proper services is to set forth the humanity of our Saviour; and from Epiphany to Septuagesima to show the divine nature of the Son of Man by relating in the Gospels some of His first miracles.

Daily Office and Holy Communion

The 1928 Daily Office gives Epiphany its own opening Scripture sentences. At Morning Prayer, Malachi i. 11 places Gentile worship on the lips of the whole Church:

From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering: for my Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.

The Venite may also receive an Epiphany invitatory through the octave and again on the Feast of the Transfiguration:

On the Epiphany and seven days after, and on the Feast of the Transfiguration. - The Lord hath manifested forth his glory : O come, let us adore him.

At Evening Prayer, Isaiah lx. 3 gives the same theme in prophetic form:

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Holy Communion marks the feast with a Proper Preface appointed for "The Epiphany, and seven days after." The preface joins manifestation to Incarnation: Christ manifests glory "in substance of our mortal flesh" so that believers are brought from darkness into light.

Upon The Epiphany, and seven days after. THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord, who, in substance of our mortal flesh, manifested forth his glory; that he might bring us out of darkness into his own glorious light. Therefore with Angels, etc.

Together these office and eucharistic texts prevent a narrow reading of Epiphany. The day is missionary, because Gentiles come to the light; christological, because the Lord manifests his glory; eucharistic, because the Church gives thanks through the manifested Son; and pastoral, because the light is given to bring worshippers out of darkness.

Sundays after Epiphany

The 1928 book introduces the post-feast sequence with two rubrics: the Epiphany Epistle and Gospel serve until the next Sunday, and the First Sunday after Epiphany begins with a collect for knowledge and obedience:

O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people who call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

That collect is paired with Romans xii. 1 and St. Luke ii. 41. The Epistle asks for bodies presented as "a living sacrifice"; the Gospel shows the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, about his Father's business. The season therefore moves from manifestation to discipleship: those who have been shown the light must perceive, know, and fulfill God's will.

The Second Sunday after Epiphany in the 1928 book uses Mark i rather than the older John ii Gospel for that Sunday, while the local Justus comparison notes that 1928 shifted the older second and third Sunday Gospel readings to the third and fourth Sundays. Even so, the seasonal logic remains: baptism, miracle, healing, storm, Church, and judgment are read as manifestations of Christ's person and authority.

Theological Summary

Epiphany in the 1928 BCP has four linked emphases.

First, Christ is manifested to the Gentiles. The collect, Ephesians iii, Matthew ii, Malachi i, and Isaiah lx all make Gentile inclusion explicit. The feast is therefore a Prayer Book witness to the catholic and missionary scope of the Gospel.

Second, present faith is ordered toward final vision. The Church already knows God "by faith," yet prays for the "fruition" of God's glorious Godhead after this life. Epiphany light is not merely intellectual illumination; it is a foretaste of beatific communion.

Third, the Incarnation remains central. The Proper Preface says Christ manifests glory "in substance of our mortal flesh." The same Son who is adored by the Magi is truly human, and his manifested glory brings worshippers out of darkness.

Fourth, revelation calls for obedience. The First Sunday after Epiphany asks both knowledge of duty and "grace and power" to fulfill it. In the Prayer Book pattern, manifestation leads to worship, doctrine, mission, and holy living.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Collect for Epiphany (1928 BCP)
• Proper Prefaces (1928 BCP)
• Epistle in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Gospel in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer at the Society of Archbishop Justus
• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels
• Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII
• Anthony Sparrow, A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer: Epiphany