The Book of Common Prayer (REC 2003)
Work in progress: parent article for the REC 2003 Prayer Book project, reproduced by permission of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Further parts are to follow.
The Book of Common Prayer (REC 2003)
The Book of Common Prayer (REC 2003) is the Book of Common Prayer according to the use of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) in North America, in its 4th edition: The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church According to the Use of the Reformed Episcopal Church in North America, Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David. It is the REC's authorized Prayer Book for public worship, daily prayer, and the sacraments and other rites, standing in the 1662 Prayer Book lineage that the REC has kept since its founding in 1873.
Edition, authorization, and permission
The edition transcribed on AnglicanWiki is the 4th edition, certified by Nelda L. Banek, Custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer, as conforming to the edition authorized by action of the Fifty-first General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Feast of the Transfiguration, A.D. 2005. Its copyright notice reads "Copyright © 2003, 2005, by the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Reformed Episcopal Church. All rights reserved. Fourth Edition. ISBN: 1-893293-00-9."
The wiki-facing name of the book is REC 2003. That is the name used in every title, header, and source line in this project, including the Saints and Holy Days comparison table ("REC (2003)"); the 2003, 2005 copyright years and the 2005 certification are recorded here, once, so the short name is never mistaken for a different edition.
The text on this and the following pages is reproduced by permission of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Reproduced by permission of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Steve states that written permission from the REC has been given; the letter itself has not yet been supplied for this draft, so its exact scope and credit wording are not asserted here. No page in this series should be saved live until the credit wording above has been filled in from the letter and the sample (Daily Morning Prayer, opening) has been reviewed. If the letter's scope proves narrower than the whole book, the affected parts will be listed here as descriptive summaries only, not as reproduced text.
What the book contains
The book opens with front matter: An Historical Preface (from the 1662 book, printed pp. v–xii); Concerning the Use of the Book of Common Prayer (pp. xiii–xv, including a Table of Topical Selections of Psalms); Psalms and Lessons of the Christian Year (pp. xvi– liii); The Calendar (pp. liv–lvii); and Tables and Rules for the Moveable and Immoveable Feasts (pp. lviii– lxvi). The front matter is summarized here, not transcribed as separate pages; the Calendar is used as the source for the REC column of the [[Saints and Holy Days]] comparison table.
The main text, in the book's order, is:
- Daily Morning Prayer (printed pp. 3–21) and Daily
Evening Prayer (pp. 22–35)
- Athanasian Creed (pp. 36–38)
- The Litany, or General Supplication (pp. 39–45)
- A Commination (pp. 46–49) and A Penitential Office
(pp. 50–55)
- Prayers and Thanksgivings (pp. 56–82)
- The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper
(pp. 85–92), The Holy Communion (pp. 93–104), and The Alternate Form of Holy Communion (pp. 105–118)
- The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (pp. 119–284):
Sundays and seasons, Holy Days, Ember and Rogation Days, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Marriage, and Burial
- The Psalter, or Psalms of David (pp. 287–454), in
the 30-day Morning/Evening cycle
- The Ministration of Holy Baptism (pp. 457–470),
Offices of Instruction (pp. 471–484), Confirmation (pp. 485–489), Solemnization of Matrimony (pp. 490–496), Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth (pp. 497–499), Visitation of the Sick (pp. 500–512), Communion of the Sick (pp. 513–515), Burial of the Dead (pp. 516–532)
- The Ordinal (pp. 533–580): Deacons, Presbyters,
Bishop, Litany for Ordinations, Consecration of a Church, Reception of Presbyters, Institution of Ministers
- A Catechism (pp. 583–590)
- Forms of Prayer to be used in Families (pp. 593–607)
- The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (pp. 609–622)
- Declaration of Principles of the Reformed Episcopal
Church (p. 623)
- A Table of Kindred and Affinity (p. 624)
A full section-by-section map, with printed and PDF page numbers for every part, is kept with the project papers; the printed pagination above is the book's own.
How the REC book relates to the books already on the wiki
The REC book is a distinct Prayer Book, not a reprint of the 1928 American book, and its pages are kept distinct from the existing [[Book of Common Prayer (1928)]] articles. Where the wiki already covers a subject, the REC pages link to that coverage rather than duplicating it:
- The Psalter: the REC Psalter is the Coverdale
tradition, and on the psalms spot-checked (1, 23, 51, 100) its wording matches the 1928 Psalter in substance. Individual psalms are therefore covered by the existing The Psalter (1928 BCP) articles ("Psalm N (1928 BCP)", 150/150); this project does not re-transcribe 150 psalms. What is recorded here is the REC appointment of psalms to the 30-day cycle and the REC Psalms and Lessons tables. A full verse-by-verse collation has not been done; if it finds material differences in any psalm, those differences — not a blind duplicate — will be transcribed, on Steve's word.
- The Thirty-nine Articles: the REC Articles are the
American Articles "of 1801", printed with two features that must not be dropped — Article XXI carries an editorial bracket note explaining that the article "is normally omitted" but is provided "in the interest of offering the reader the entire document", and Article XXXVII is in its American form. The existing Thirty-nine Articles article is linked; a separate REC Articles page, if made, will carry the REC text where it differs materially, or the full text if the permission letter's scope covers it and Steve so decides.
- The Calendar: the REC Calendar (pp. liv–lvii) is
the source for the REC column of the [[Saints and Holy Days]] comparison table — reference use of calendar facts, not a wholesale copy of the table. The REC column is the conservative column: the full 1662 list plus the Transfiguration alone, with Joseph, Visitation, Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary on 15 August, Holy Cross Day, and James of Jerusalem absent.
Distinctive features a reader will meet
A few features of the REC book, visible from its opening offices, are worth naming so that readers do not mistake them for misprints:
- Morning Prayer may pass at once from the Sentences
to the Lord's Prayer (save on fast days, or when the Litany or Holy Communion follows immediately), first pronouncing "The Lord be with you".
- The Absolution may be replaced, at the Presbyter's
discretion, by the Declaration of Absolution from the Holy Communion; a Minister who is not a Presbyter remains kneeling and reads the Collect for the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity instead.
- The Venite is drawn from Psalms 95 and 96, with
seasonal invitatory antiphons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Transfiguration, Easter Week to Ascension, Ascension to Whitsunday, Whitsunday, Trinity, Purification and Annunciation, other festivals).
- Before and after each Lesson the Minister may say
"This is the Word of the Lord", the people responding "Thanks be to God", in place of the longer "Here beginneth / Here endeth" forms.
- State prayers are given in forms for both Canada
and the United States.
- The Alternate Form of Holy Communion is a distinct
REC form, not a variant folded into the main form; whether it stands on its own page or with the main form will be decided at sample review, after its length is known.
How the text is presented
Spoken text is given plain; rubrics (directions) are in italics, so a reader can tell at a glance what is said aloud and what is direction. In the supplied PDF the rubrics are italic type, not red — the italic distinction was recovered from the PDF's font data, since plain-text extraction drops it. Speaker labels are given in bold (Minister., Answer.). The book's wording, spelling, and punctuation are preserved; drop capitals are normalised to ordinary capitals. Nothing is invented: anything unclear in the PDF is flagged [VERIFY] in the draft and never guessed into the live text. Every transcribed page carries a source line naming this edition, its ISBN, and the printed page range it covers, together with the credit wording once it is filled in from the permission letter.
Planned parts (not yet published)
The following parts are planned, in the book's order. They are listed here in plain text and are NOT linked, because the pages do not exist yet; links will be added only as each part goes live:
- Daily Morning Prayer (REC 2003) — sample drafted,
awaiting review
- Daily Evening Prayer (REC 2003)
- Athanasian Creed (REC 2003)
- Litany (REC 2003)
- Commination (REC 2003); Penitential Office (REC 2003)
- Prayers and Thanksgivings (REC 2003)
- Holy Communion (REC 2003) — Order, Holy Communion,
and Alternate Form
- Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (REC 2003) — by season
- Psalter (REC 2003) — summary and appointment tables
only, per the link-first decision above
- Baptism (REC 2003); Confirmation (REC 2003);
Matrimony (REC 2003); Visitation of the Sick (REC 2003); Communion of the Sick (REC 2003); Burial of the Dead (REC 2003)
- Ordinal (REC 2003)
- Catechism (REC 2003)
- Family Prayers (REC 2003)
- Thirty-nine Articles (REC 2003) — link-first; see above
- Declaration of Principles (REC 2003)
- Table of Kindred and Affinity (REC 2003) — summarized