Trinitytide in the 1928 BCP

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Trinitytide in the 1928 BCP is the Prayer Book keeping of Trinity Sunday and the Sundays after Trinity in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the 1928 propers, Trinity Sunday confesses the glory of the eternal Trinity and the Unity of the Divine Majesty, while the long sequence after Trinity turns that confession toward grace, love, obedience, repentance, mercy, and perseverance before the next Advent.

Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday stands at the hinge of the Prayer Book year. The collect is doctrinal rather than narrative: it prays that the faithful, having received grace to confess the Trinity and worship the Unity, may be kept steadfast in that faith and defended from adversities. The collect therefore gathers the preceding cycle from Advent through Whitsunday into adoration of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

[1]

The appointed Epistle, Revelation 4, gives the feast its doxological center. The Church hears heavenly worship before the throne and joins the thrice-holy praise that also appears in the Daily Office sentences for Trinity Sunday.

And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever.

[2]

The Gospel, John 3, places the confession of God with regeneration by water and the Spirit and with the Son of Man lifted up. The 1928 BCP therefore connects Trinity Sunday not only with abstract doctrine but with the saving work by which the faithful enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

[3]

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere interpret the feast as the theological summary of the first half of the Christian year. Their explanation fits the 1928 arrangement: Advent through Whitsuntide has recounted the saving work of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Trinity Sunday gathers that teaching into worship.

The ecclesiastical year is divided into two parts. The first, from Advent to Trinity, is designed to commemorate the life of Christ on earth; and the several particulars of his life are celebrated in their order,-His incarnation, nativity, circumcision, manifestation to the Gentiles; His doctrine and miracles, His baptism, fasting, and temptation; His agony, His cross, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension; and the mission of the Holy Ghost.

[4]

Procter and Frere also identify the Western and English Prayer Book shape of the season. Trinity Sunday developed from the octave of Pentecost, but English usage reckons the following Sundays after Trinity rather than after Pentecost.

In early days the Sunday following Whitsunday was kept merely as its octave. The service of the Trinity came into existence first as a Votive Mass: it then became customary (apparently first in England and in the Xth or Xlth century) to use this upon the Octave of Pentecost as a day more especially appropriate; and from this arose the festival of Trinity Sunday, designed to sum up all the dogmatic teaching of the first half of the year in a solemn commemoration of God the Blessed Trinity.

[5]

Holy Communion and the Daily Office

The 1928 Holy Communion office marks Trinity Sunday among the days on which the Nicene Creed must be said. It also provides a Proper Preface for Trinity Sunday only. The Creed requirement makes the feast a principal doctrinal observance, and the preface turns doctrinal precision into eucharistic praise.

Then shall be said the Creed commonly called the Nicene, or else the Apostles' Creed; but the Creed may be omitted, if it hath been said immediately before in Morning Prayer; Provided, That the Nicene creed shall be said on Christmas-day, Easter-day, Ascension-day, Whitsunday, and Trinity-Sunday.

[6]

WHO, with thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord, in Trinity of Persons and in Unity of Substance. For that which we believe of thy glory, O Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference of inequality.

[7]

Percy Dearmer's survey of Prayer Book worship notes the same liturgical distinction: Trinity Sunday belongs to the great festivals marked by a Proper Preface at Holy Communion. This supports reading Trinitytide from the altar as well as from the propers table.

Some special days are further marked out. The Great Festivals (Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday) have Proper Prefaces at Holy Communion.

[8]

The Daily Office gives Trinity Sunday its own opening sentences and Venite antiphon. Morning Prayer quotes Revelation 4, Evening Prayer quotes Isaiah 6, and the Venite antiphon names the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as one God.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

[9]

On Trinity Sunday. - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God : O come, let us adore him.

[10]

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

[11]

Sundays After Trinity

After Trinity Sunday, the season becomes practical and ascetical without ceasing to be doctrinal. The First Sunday after Trinity begins by confessing dependence on grace: the faithful can do no good thing without God and must be helped to please him in both will and deed. Its Epistle from 1 John then turns trinitarian confession toward love of the brethren.

O GOD, the strength of all those who put their trust in thee; Mercifully accept our prayers; and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[12]

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God: and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

[13]

Procter and Frere describe the Sundays after Trinity as a received sequence of collects, epistles, and gospels. Their account explains why the season feels like moral and pastoral formation after the great doctrinal feasts: the Epistles exhort Christian virtues, and the Gospels often illustrate the Epistles.

The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for the Sundays after Trinity are taken in the order in which they stood in the Sarum Missal. The Epistles are a series of exhortations to the practice of Christian virtues, and form part of that dislocated series of readings taken in order from S. Paul's Epistles which has already been noticed. The Gospels are selected from the parables, miracles, and conversations of our Lord, and in many cases are meant to be illustrative of the teaching of the Epistle.

[14]

The later Trinity Sundays show the same practical pattern. The Eighteenth Sunday asks for grace against "the world, the flesh, and the devil," then appoints Matthew 22 on the two great commandments. The Nineteenth Sunday prays for the Holy Spirit to direct and rule the heart, then appoints Ephesians 4 on putting off the old man and putting on the new.

LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[15]

O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[16]

Ending the Season

The 1928 BCP adds a rubric for years with more or fewer Sundays after Trinity. It uses the omitted Epiphany propers to fill a long season and preserves the final Sunday before Advent as the appointed close. This rule makes the end of Trinitytide both flexible and fixed: the number of intervening Sundays changes, but the final transition toward Advent remains stable.

If in any year there be twenty-six Sundays after Trinity, the service for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany shall be used on the Twenty-fifth Sunday. If there be twenty-seven, the service for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany shall be used on the Twenty-sixth, and the service for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany on the Twenty-fifth. If there be fewer than twenty-five Sundays, the overplus shall be omitted.

[17]

The final Sunday after Trinity is the old "Stir up" proper. It gathers Trinitytide into fruit-bearing obedience and opens toward Advent's coming King through Jeremiah 23 and John 6.

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[18]

Prayer Book Use

Trinitytide in the 1928 BCP is best taught as the season in which the Church lives out what Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascensiontide, and Whitsuntide have confessed. Trinity Sunday names the one God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Holy Communion and the Daily Office give that confession eucharistic and daily form; the Sundays after Trinity teach grace-enabled Christian living; and the final Sunday turns fruitful obedience toward Advent hope. The season is therefore not merely a long ordinary interval. In Prayer Book terms it is the practical half of the Christian year, ordered by the doctrine of the Trinity and sustained by the grace confessed in the opening collect.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "Trinity-Sunday," collect; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 487-496. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  2. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "Trinity-Sunday," Epistle, Revelation iv. 1; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 497-526, where the Justus comparative note identifies the 1928 wording "living creatures." Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  3. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "Trinity-Sunday," Gospel, St. John iii. 1; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 539-568. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  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), p. 522, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; wording checked against local research copy tmp/revision-research/trinitytide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 88-104. Society of Archbishop Justus, "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, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), pp. 548-549, chapter XIII; wording checked against local research copy tmp/revision-research/trinitytide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 903-911. Society of Archbishop Justus, "A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII".
  6. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," rubric before the Creed; wording checked against local source sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 226-231. Society of Archbishop Justus, "Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  7. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," Proper Preface for Trinity Sunday, "Upon the Feast of Trinity only"; wording checked against local source sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 525-533. Society of Archbishop Justus, "Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  8. ↑ 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 local research copy tmp/revision-research/trinitytide-in-the-1928-bcp/dearmer-1907.html, lines 238-250. Project Canterbury, "The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer".
  9. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Morning Prayer, opening sentence appointed for Trinity Sunday from Revelation iv. 8; wording checked against local source sources/justus1928/MP.htm, lines 151-153. Society of Archbishop Justus, "Morning Prayer - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  10. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Morning Prayer, seasonal Venite antiphon for Trinity Sunday; wording checked against local source sources/justus1928/MP.htm, lines 329-333. Society of Archbishop Justus, "Morning Prayer - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  11. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Evening Prayer, opening sentence appointed for Trinity Sunday from Isaiah vi. 3; wording checked against local source sources/justus1928/EP.htm, lines 131-133. Society of Archbishop Justus, "Evening Prayer - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  12. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The First Sunday after Trinity," collect; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 571-583. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  13. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The First Sunday after Trinity," Epistle, 1 St. John iv. 7; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 584-608, with OCR spacing artifacts excluded from the quotation. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  14. ↑ 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. 550, chapter XIII; wording checked against local research copy tmp/revision-research/trinitytide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 950-958. Society of Archbishop Justus, "A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII".
  15. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity," collect; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 1515-1525. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  16. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity," collect; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 1554-1564. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  17. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," rubric before "The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity"; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 1883-1889. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".
  18. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity," collect; wording checked against local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsC.htm, lines 1896-1906. Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Collects, Epistles and Gospels from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer".

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