Читать книгу Prayer Book Through the Ages - William Sydnor - Страница 10

When you put pen to paper, you expect your written word to endure long enough to carry out its intended purpose. That may be only a matter of minutes or hours for some minor note or message. It may be a matter of days or years for something more permanent. Thomas Cranmer who was Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI never dreamed that the fruit of his pen would differ from that pattern. He certainly did not foresee that the Book of Common Prayer which he and a few colleagues compiled and which first appeared in March 1549 would still be in use over 400 years later. He could not have imagined that its phrases and services would become so embedded in the minds of English-speaking folk around the globe that the celebration of life’s milestone events—baptism, marriage, burial—would naturally be expressed in his venerable words.

This extraordinary piece of liturgical history deserves to be rehearsed and known for it belongs to all of us regardless of our ecclesiastical affiliation.

Here, then, is the story of that 440 years in the life of the Book of Common Prayer. There have been eight times through the centuries when this venerable book of worship and devotion might have been retired to a dusty shelf and forgotten. But instead, it was revised, updated, and with renewed vitality leads a new generation of worshippers into God’s presence.