Holy Week in the 1928 BCP

Holy Week in the 1928 BCP is the final Passiontide sequence in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer, running from the Sunday next before Easter, commonly called Palm Sunday, through Easter Even. In the 1928 BCP it is not chiefly a set of extra ceremonies, but a dense ordering of collects, Epistles, Gospels, Good Friday intercessions, and Easter Even baptismal hope. The week moves worshippers from Christ's humility and Passion, through the way of the cross, to his burial and the threshold of resurrection.

Prayer Book Shape

The 1928 BCP gives Holy Week its frame by making Palm Sunday's collect a daily prayer until Good Friday. That rubric makes the opening collect interpret the whole first movement of the week: Christ takes flesh, suffers death upon the cross, gives the example of humility and patience, and brings his people to share in his resurrection.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. This Collect is to be said every day, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Good Friday.

The appointed Epistle then gives the doctrinal center of the week. Holy Week is not merely a devotional remembrance of suffering; it is the Church's annual concentration on the humiliation and exaltation of the incarnate Son.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the older Prayer Book pattern as an ordered course through the Passion narratives. Their account also shows the 1928 American book's continuity with classical Anglican use, even where the 1928 revision added weekday collects and clearer Holy Week headings.

The whole week was observed with greater strictness and solemnity than the rest of Lent.

Monday Through Wednesday

The first three weekdays of Holy Week each receive a proper collect in the 1928 BCP. Monday interprets discipleship as the way of the cross: joy and glory are reached only through Christ's suffering and crucifixion.

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.

Tuesday's collect joins Isaiah's suffering servant language to Christian patience. Its clauses move from Christ's smitten back and hidden face to the petition that present sufferings be borne in hope of revealed glory.

O LORD God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters and hid not his face from shame; Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wednesday's collect turns from bearing suffering to entering the contemplation of "mighty acts." The local HTML transcription hyphenates the word as "medi-tation"; the 1928 PDF confirms the intended word is "meditation." Its Epistle from Hebrews ix places Christ's death in covenantal and sacrificial terms, and the Gospel from Luke xxii begins with Passover, betrayal, the Supper, and Gethsemane.

ASSIST us mercifully with thy help, O Lord God of our salvation; that we may enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts, whereby thou hast given unto us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Maundy Thursday

The 1928 BCP names Thursday before Easter as "commonly called Maundy Thursday" and provides a collect newly added in the 1928 revision. The collect is eucharistic and memorial: Christ institutes the Sacrament of his Body and Blood on the night before he suffers, and the Church asks to receive it thankfully as a pledge of eternal life.

ALMIGHTY Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, did institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood; Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him, who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal; the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The 1928 PDF appoints 1 Corinthians xi. 23 as the Epistle, focusing the day on the dominical institution of the Lord's Supper. The alternative Gospel from John xiii adds the washing of feet, so Maundy Thursday holds together eucharistic thanksgiving and Christ's command of humble love.

I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you.

Percy Dearmer's notes on the season identify the historical source of the name "Maundy" in the commandment and foot-washing tradition, while still treating the Prayer Book as the controlling public office for Anglican use.

Maundy-Thursday, the Birthday of the Eucharist as it was well called, was also most appropriately the day of the Reconciliation of Penitents.

Good Friday

Good Friday in the 1928 BCP is marked by three collects. The first beholds the Church as Christ's family, the second intercedes for all estates of the Church, and the third uses the 1928 revised wording for those who do not know God as revealed in the Gospel of his Son. The set makes Good Friday both Passion remembrance and solemn intercession.

ALMIGHTY God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

O MERCIFUL God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy fold, that they may be made one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Good Friday Epistle from Hebrews x makes the theological claim explicit: the Passion is the once-for-all offering of Christ, not an endlessly repeated sacrifice. The Gospel from John xix then narrates the scourging, crucifixion, death, pierced side, and fulfillment of Scripture.

By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Procter and Frere explain the old liturgical instinct behind Good Friday and Easter Even: the Church fasts because the Bridegroom is taken away, and the public office takes the form of lessons, collects, and intercessions rather than an ordinary celebration.

Good Friday and Easter Even have always been distinguished from the rest of the days of the year by the fact that no celebration of the Eucharist took place on them.

Easter Even

Easter Even, or Holy Saturday, is a burial and baptismal text in the 1928 BCP. The collect asks that those baptized into Christ's death may be buried with him by continual mortification and pass "through the grave, and gate of death" to joyful resurrection. Its appointed Epistle, 1 Peter iii. 17, directly connects suffering, Christ's death, Noah, water, baptism, and resurrection.

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 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.

Dearmer notes the same baptismal connection when commenting on Easter Even. His interpretation is especially relevant because it explains why the 1928 BCP's Easter Even collect is not merely about Christ's tomb, but about the baptized Christian's burial and rising with him.

The Collect for the Day makes special allusion to its connection with Holy Baptism.

Theological Interpretation

The 1928 Holy Week propers are best read as an ordered biblical and liturgical argument. Palm Sunday gives Christ's humility and Passion from Philippians and Matthew; Monday and Tuesday draw in Isaiah's suffering servant imagery; Wednesday interprets the Passion through Hebrews and covenant blood; Maundy Thursday gives the institution of the Eucharist; Good Friday proclaims the once-for-all offering of Christ; Easter Even joins burial, baptism, and resurrection. The week therefore teaches doctrine by sequence.

E. J. Rowland, writing in an Anglican liturgical manual on Holy Week and Easter, gives a concise theological summary of that sequence: Good Friday and Easter belong together as the Christian Passover, while the earlier days prepare the Lamb of God for that Passover.

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.

This interpretation fits the 1928 BCP without requiring later ceremonial additions. The book itself supplies the essentials: proper collects, the Passion Gospels, the eucharistic institution, Good Friday intercession, the once-for-all sacrifice from Hebrews, and baptismal hope on Easter Even. Supplementary devotions may help a parish, but they should serve the appointed Prayer Book offices rather than replace them.

Use in Worship and Catechesis

In 1928 BCP parish worship, Holy Week can be taught day by day. Palm Sunday asks the faithful to follow Christ's humility and patience; Monday names the way of the cross as life and peace; Tuesday teaches joyful endurance under the suffering servant; Wednesday asks for grace to meditate on the saving acts; Maundy Thursday joins thankful Communion to Christ's command of love; Good Friday centers intercession and the cross; Easter Even teaches burial with Christ and the hope of resurrection.

For catechesis, the week is a concentrated map of classical Anglican soteriology. The saving work is Christ's: he takes flesh, suffers, institutes, offers himself once for all, rests in the grave, and brings his people through death into life. The Church's response is not invention but ordered participation through Scripture, collect, sacrament, intercession, repentance, and hope.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Lent in the 1928 BCP
• Eastertide in the 1928 BCP

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer at the Society of Archbishop Justus
• The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
• E. J. Rowland, Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained
• Percy Dearmer, The Parson's Handbook, chapter VIII
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII