Introduction

This pamphlet is an introduction to the discipline of daily liturgical prayer, according to the system of the Book of Common Prayer. It contains three parts: a theological introduction, an historical overview, and a practical guide. (A list of related readings and resources appears on the last page.) It encourages a particular understanding of prayer, which realizes the fullness of our union with Christ; an understanding, namely, that no Christian prays alone, and that private prayer enlivens liturgical or corporate prayer, while corporate or common prayer informs private prayer. As the Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote: "Liturgy by its very nature tends to prolong itself in individual contemplative prayer, and mental prayer in its turn disposes us for and seeks fulfillment in liturgical worship."1 In common liturgical prayer each Christian realizes the necessary support of the great communion of saints, and is thereby strengthened to "run the race." (Hebrews 12) This communion is based on our membership in Christ. "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ ... The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you.'" (1 Cor. 12:12,21) Indeed, members of Christ pray as members of one another, as St. Paul also points out: it is the one Spirit, who enlivens diverse members of the Body, who is the source of prayer to God the Father. (Gal. 4:6)

It is this union that makes the Church, the Body of Christ and his Bride, pray as one, joining in Christ's own prayer to the Father. This common participation in Christ's Priesthood is essentially what is called "the prayer of the Church," or common prayer.

I. What is the Prayer of the Church, or "Common Prayer"?

In the first place, What is prayer? In the words of a former Dean of Durham, Thomas Comber (1645-1699),

Prayer is not only an excellent means to obtain all blessings, but the very act itself is an elevation of the soul to contemplate the beauties of the Divine nature, that by beholding such transcendent perfection it may learn to love, desire to please, and delight to imitate so great and exact a pattern; and consequently it is a duty of the highest concernment: for it is an honour and a benefit to us, and yet it is accepted by God as our homage, and the testimony of our observance.2

When we engage in any type of prayer, we are attempting (however feebly and half-consciously) to see God with our interior eyes, and to offer him due reverence. Comber's words presuppose the vision of eternal worship that the Church has always understood herself to participate in. By virtue of our union with Christ, we are brought to participate in the heavenly liturgy every time we think to make our souls altars of sacrifice in the offering of prayer, even if it is simply an earnest "Our Father" before going to bed.
"An elevation of the soul to contemplate the beauties of the Divine nature." God calls his human creation to participate in the adoration of the angels, whom we see through the great visions of the holy prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, and likewise through St John the Divine, gathered around the eternal throne in loving worship. "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims ... And one cried unto another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:1-3)
This thrice-holy hymn of the unfallen realm belongs also to the Church in earth. Not only are the words repeated at the Eucharistic liturgy, during which the Church mysteriously ascends with her sacrifice to become united with heaven, but they are also recited at Morning Prayer during the Te Deum. Why? With the angelic hosts, man was also created to share in this glory. Although through the Fall he lost his capacity to participate in the uncreated Light, the infinite lovingkindness of God would not leave him to the darkened state that he had chosen. God the eternal Word became man, and through the union of divine and human natures Christ restored to man the grace that he had lost, namely, the grace to offer to God perfect worship, that is, undivided love. God, himself a Trinity of persons in eternal loving union, made man out of love, and for loving we are made. The cry of "holy" is the utterance of sheer adoration, unadulterated love, blessing. It is this love which enlightens our souls, and in which we find true life and the meaning of our existence. Worship of God is, in fact, the end of all existence, as the Te Deum again instructs us, for the image of the Church offering worship entails all of creation:
We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy holy ...
The heavens and all the powers; all angels; all the earth. What an amazing thing, that graciously we are brought by God to worship him alongside the angels! Unworthy as we are through disobedience, Jesus Christ again did "open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." (BCP p. 8) This is why St John's vision is peopled not only by angelic beings, but by the Church triumphant, evangelists, elders and martyrs. When we pray, we are participating, however imperfectly, in that heavenly liturgy of eternal loving worship, united and present in the one Body of him who was slain, and praying in the one Spirit who is sent out over all the earth.
This vision is the root of the notion of common prayer. Prayer is common because of its source, means, and object. It is made possible by the one Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowlege Jesus as the Christ and follow his commandment to love. By the Spirit we pray through Jesus as the Head of the Body, for he is our great High Priest; it is through his perfect self-offering to the Father that we are able to approach the throne of God, glimpsed by Isaiah and St John. We pray, therefore, with a great multitude, not only angels, but with one another, and with the Body of Christ through time, that holy fellowship by whom we are aided (in their examples and prayers) in our efforts to know, love and follow Christ. We also pray with and for the non-rational creation. For man was created as head of the natural order, and as such he is its priest; when we pray we bring the whole earth's praise "into conscious thought and word."3 When rational creatures offer to God their selves, souls and bodies (BCP p. 85), the dust from which they are made is also transformed to glorify its creator. Finally, prayer has a common object, that is, to worship God by making "supplications, prayers and thanksgivings ... for all men." (1 Timothy 2:1; cf. BCP p. 75)
Common prayer, then, is not simply a common form of worship, or a collection of common options. The prayer of the Church is "common" because it is an activity in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, in union with all creation. When the children of God offer worship as individuals, each is involved in substantially the same activity as others, for it is an offering of love to the Holy Trinity, through the gracious love of the Trinity himself. Form is important, however, because it symbolizes and assists this unity of intention and our shared life in God. When we offer worship to God through the words of Mary, his Mother (in the Magnificat); in the words of Simeon, who saw the salvation of God (in the Nunc Dimittis); in the words of Zechariah, who saw mystically the coming dayspring (in the Benedictus); when we pray the psalms; when we pray according to the orthodox faith (as through the Creed and collects); and when we pray even in the words of our Lord himself (in the Our Father), we are sharing words that have shaped the souls of Christians over centuries, even entering into the mind of those who knew Christ's face, and through grace conforming to the mind of Christ himself.
The Church, therefore, wisely supplies a form of common prayer for the benefit of the whole Body. Liturgical prayer has a definite content. Praying in the words of the liturgy, we discover what is revealed of God in Scripture and in the holy tradition; we conform our minds and hearts and lives to Christ through the meeting we have with him in the Church's worship. For having clear thoughts about God, who has revealed himself to us in terms to which we can respond in our interior and exterior selves, means that we can be in a definite relationship with him. Seeing his holy face through the formal worship that has been handed down through ages, we can know him ourselves, and love him. Sharing the words of the Church (which is the communion of saints), and making them our own through prayer and thoughtfulness, means that we come to share the Church's vision and participation in God's glory.
We therefore return to the words of Dean Comber, for what he says about prayer in general must, if it is valid, equally apply to the Church's prayer. Seeing in the form of the liturgy an image of Christ our God, and brought thereby to "contemplate the beauties of the Divine nature,"
<
by beholding such transcendent perfection [the soul] may learn to love, desire to please, and delight to imitate so great and exact a pattern; and consequently it is a duty of the highest concernment: for it is an honour and a benefit to us, and yet it is accepted by God as our homage, and the testimony of our observance.
"A duty of the highest concernment." Office comes from the Latin word officium, "duty." Let us turn to an historical overview, to see how the Church has sought to fulfil the duty she owes her Lord.
II. A Bit of History
Where do the Anglican offices come from? How do they relate to what the Church has always done?
The Divine Office has a long and complex history, dating back to the Fourth Century. It was around this time that the institution of daily corporate prayers began to take shape. It is possible that, very early on, the offices were developed as a preparation or vigil for the Eucharist. Some scholars have argued that these daily prayers were an extension of Jewish synagogue practices which included the saying of prayers at fixed hours in the day and night. Though there is little evidence for daily synagogue services in the manner of the Divine Office, there are numerous scriptural references to the act of praying at particular hours of the day (Dan 6:10; Ps 55:17, 119:164; Acts 3:1, 10:9, 16:25).
In the early Church these hours were frequently connected with Gospel events. St Cyprian (d. 258), for example, associated the third hour with the Spirit's descent at Pentecost, and the sixth and ninth hours with the crucifixion and death of Christ respectively. As the monastic tradition developed, an eightfold office became common which included both day and night hours. St Benedict (d. 550) modified slightly the offices of the Roman practice. His Rule, in which he referred to the Divine Office as the opus Dei or "work of God," became the dominant influence on monastic life in the Western Church.
The Benedictine schedule of eight offices consisted of Mattins, the night office said after midnight and well before sunrise; Lauds, following in the early morning; Prime, the first office of the day hours, said at the first hour (about 6 a.m.); Terce, at the third hour (9 a.m.); Sext, at the sixth hour or noon; None, at the ninth hour (3 p.m.); Vespers, which belonged to the early evening; and finally Compline, said immediately before retiring to bed. Between the hours of prayer, members of the community would be engaged in prayerful reading (lectio divina), including meditation upon holy Scripture, or manual labour.
The purpose of the Divine Office was of course continuous prayer. Acts of prayer were viewed as sacrifices to God, and continuous prayer was understood to fulfil the Old Testament requirement to offer perpetual sacrifices to the Lord. The offices were never considered times of simply private prayer for the sake of individual devotion. The offices were always viewed as the continual offering of praise and thanksgiving to God on behalf of all creation. The liturgical office was therefore called the prayer of the Church: her continuous intercession for the created world, its sanctification and salvation.
During the Reformation in England, there was an effort to simplify the liturgical duty of the secular cleric and to provide an opportunity for the whole Church to participate more equally in liturgical worship. Some of the offices were combined with others while the rest fell into disuse. The offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, which the Anglican tradition has maintained, are a result of this combination. Morning Prayer is a compression of Mattins, Lauds and Prime, while Evening Prayer is made up of Vespers and Compline. The proposed 1928 revision of the English Prayer Book revived some of the lesser hours such as Prime and Compline; the Canadian revision of 1962 seconded this effort, presenting in addition to the morning and evening offices an order for Compline.
The Prayer Book commemorates both St Benedict and Thomas Cranmer on the same day (21 March). Robert Crouse finds this apt, for in his ordering of prayer for the whole English church, Cranmer made the opus Dei the daily work of all Christians.4 It was one of the aims of the English reformers to restore to the laity their duty of liturgical prayer, that is, to discourage the clerical "professionalization" of prayer and encourage "monasticization" of everyday life. The effect was to imbue the everyday life of laity as well as clergy with the work of prayer. The Benedictine emphasis on lectio divina is particularly present in Cranmer's insistence on the ordered reading of Scripture. This Anglican practice has undergone thoughtful revision throughout the centuries, resulting in the Canadian Prayer Book's careful balance between continuous reading and seasonal, or festal, lessons. The psalter, too, has always been an integral part of all Church offices; seen as the essence of the Church's prayer, the psalms offer to God the whole range of human experience, including that of Salvation. The psalms serve as mirrors of our own experience; expressions of internal spiritual struggle (as in the "battle psalms"); and intercession for other Christians who may be facing strife and persecution. Meditation on Scripture is punctuated by canticles, or offerings of praise in the words of the great saints or prophets, and framed by prayers for mercy and grace. In this way, through the simple format of the Prayer Book, the opus Dei is made accessible, and a reasonable duty, for all Christians.
Priests and deacons are obliged to pray the offices as part of their regular discipline. This duty is made clear in the 1549 Preface to the "Book of the Common Prayer" (BCP, p. 715) and maintained in the 1962 General Rubrics to Morning and Evening Prayer (p. lvi). Both also illustrate an expectation concerning the laity's participation. They appoint that the offices may be said either privately, or openly in the Church. If publicly, then a bell is to be rung to invite people to come to the service, or at least to call them to participate in the service of prayer by "lift[ing] up their hearts to God in the midst of their occupations." It is clear that the offices are not strictly the work of the clerical orders, but are intended to be a common activity. According to one 18th-century commentator, praying the office "privately" meant that the clergyman should pray the office with his family. A.G. Hebert notes that whether or not this was precisely the expectation of the Preface's author, the comment offers a sound understanding of common prayer.5
The Prayer Book offices offer something substantial to the modern Christian. They carry on the English Benedictine heritage, by introducing a manageable, contemplative rhythm into a life of worldly activity and labour. The regular and punctual praying of psalms, meditation on Scripture, and offering of praise, supplication and thanksgiving, carry over into daily life in the world the Benedictine ideal of ora et labora, "prayer and work." This is perhaps something of particular value to life today, as we find ourselves in a world increasingly technological and spiritually dislocated from preceding generations. Although guilty of monastic dissolution, the English church maintained a monastic ideal of common prayer for the whole Body, and in this sense holds a unique inheritance among the protestant bodies. Common prayer is one of the marks of our reformed Catholic Church, and one of the riches of the Anglican spiritual witness.
Over the past several decades, however, the daily recitation of the offices has fallen into disuse. This neglect corresponds notably with the ideological revolution of the post-war generation, and the first inroads of deconstructive theory: the advent of the culture of Postmodernism, which has led to the grievous abandonment of so much of the Church's tradition. So human-centred have the altars become in so many places, that the Church's duty of conversion and worship has increasingly become "optional," and the Prayer Book's insistence on the human need for grace is dismissed as "morbid" and "overly penitential." The officium of daily prayer is but one victim of the vast changes that have taken place within a few decades. Some churches, at best, view the office of Morning Prayer as a full Sunday service which then replaces the Holy Eucharist (which was never the intention of the compilers of the Book of Common Prayer), but very few parishes maintain the godly pattern of the daily offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.
It is high time the Church renewed her vision of Divine transcendence, her sense of common prayer and duty to God, and the encouragement of her members to incorporate (at least to some degree) the offices of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline into their own devotional lives. With the continuous reading of Scripture that the offices provide, and the solid grounding in the theology of the ancient Church that they present, such devotional practice will strengthen and nourish the Church's children and open their hearts and minds to the eternal Truth, to taste more fully the promise of eternal Life upon which the Church is founded.
III. A Practical Guide
This section attempts to lay out as simply as possible instructions concerning the finding of proper readings, psalms and collects for each particular day, and adds other general or particular comments that will assist the daily use of the Book of Common Prayer.
i) Some general comments.
Whether or not the local parish church offers the daily service of prayer, we are nevertheless able to pray the offices by ourselves or as a family, and be assured that we are accompanied by the praying Church around the world, in heaven, and throughout time. When praying the offices alone we should not alter any of the words, but say it as though we were with others, for indeed we are. We should maintain "we" and "our" when it occurs, and say both versicles and responses as they are written; for it is the Church universal that says to us, "The Lord be with you," and the Church who responds to us, "And with thy spirit"; likewise, it is we who bless the Church with simultaneous invitation and response. (When the office is led by laity, it is, however, acceptable to change the response, "The Lord be with you; / And with thy spirit," to "Lord, hear our prayer; / And let our cry come unto thee." This is because "spirit" is sometimes understood to refer specifically to the grace of ordination.)
The only element that need be changed when no priest is present is the absolution of the minister of God; in that case, the text of the absolution in both Morning and Evening Prayer (pp. 5 and 20) is commonly replaced by the collect for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity (p. 252), or the "Prayer for Pardon through the Cross" (p. 730), or left out altogether in order to proceed directly to the "Our Father."
It is instructive to read carefully the rubrics (the small print!). The Prayer Book itself tells us how to use it. What follows is therefore not exhaustive, but prefers to provide a helpful outline. The guide may appear complex, but as we become more familiar with the Prayer Book and its system, we notice simple principles and patterns that nevertheless lead to a full living of the Church's year.
You need only a Prayer Book, a Bible, and a number of bookmarks.
ii) Where to Start: Some guidelines.
The days of the liturgical year can be roughly divided into three categories: Sundays, Weekdays and Holy Days. (Holy days are of two types, "black-letter" and "red-letter". These terms are explained below.) Each day requires the finding of lessons, psalms, and collects. The following charts and tables (found at the beginning of the Prayer Book) contain this information.
1. The Calendar (pp. ix-xii)
2. The Table of Lessons (pp. xvi-xlv)
3. Lessons Proper for Holy Days (pp. xlvi-xlvii)
4. Psalms for Sundays and Holy Days (pp. l-liv)

Once you have become familiar with the charts and their format, follow the steps below to prepare for the office. These will help you co-ordinate the elements appropriate to a given day.
a) On any given day, look at the Calendar. If there is no commemoration on that day, go to step d.
If there is a commemoration, look to see whether it is in bold type or not. If it is not in bold, it is a called a black-letter day; go to step b. If it is in bold, it is a red-letter day; go to step c.
b) A black-letter day is a minor feast-day. It simply has a special collect. These collects are found in the section of the Prayer Book called "Supplementary Collects, Epistles and Gospels" (pp. 309-321). Find the collect appropriate to the individual being commemorated. For example, if it is 26 May, we find Augustine of Canterbury described in the Calendar as "Missionary" and "Archbishop"; mark either the collect for a bishop (p. 311) or for a missionary (p. 314). It is necessary to use only one, but you may wish to use one in the morning and the other in the evening.
If there appears to be no appropriate collect, use the collect for the octave of All Saints' (p. 304) in most cases. Some days are matters of historical importance for the Canadian Church (e.g. Sept. 3); in such a case, a collect such as that for Canada (p. 278), or for founders, benefactors and missionaries (p. 302) may be appropriate.
If the feast falls on a Sunday, it is moved to the nearest next day on which there is no commemoration. In the same way, if two commemorations fall on the same day, it is "recommended" (p. xii) that one be transferred.
The proper psalms and lessons for black-letter day are found according to step d.
Ember days and Rogation days are exceptions; see section iii, below.
c) A red-letter day is a major feast-day. It has its own collect, readings, and psalms. Some red-letter days have an octave (an eight-day period of commemoration, during which the collect is repeated), and in the cases of Easter and Pentecost, special psalms for each day within the octave. Collects are found on pp. 260-308, "Holy Days Throughout the Year." The rubrics within this section will also make it clear whether the feast has an octave. (Note the dates written on the bottom of the pages to help you find them.) Readings are found in "Lessons Proper for Holy Days," the chart listed above. Proper psalms likewise are found in "Psalms for Sundays and Holy Days."
A red-letter day that lands on a Sunday takes precedence, meaning that the Sunday collect, psalms and readings are not used. The Sunday's collect is nevertheless prayed throughout the week as usual, even in an octave.
Note that red-letter days are commemorated on the eve as well as on the day itself. The collect for the feast is used, as are special lessons and psalms. The chart of lessons (p. xlvi) has separate columns for "First Evensong" (the night before the feast) and "Second Evensong"; the chart for psalms on Sundays and Holy Days (p. l) provides for first evensong on separate lines. Commemoration on the eve asserts a concept of time that preceded the clock; in Genesis' account of creation, for example, we read repeatedly that "there was evening and there was morning, a ... day." The day begins in darkness and ends in light; we may reflect that at the eve of our life, or during times of sorrowful dusk, we may look forward to the light of the Resurrection.
Sundays are also anticipated on the eve, but with the Sunday collect only.
It is useful to consult a dictionary of saints or book of lives, so that we know whom we are commemorating!

d) Look for the appointed readings in the "Table of Lessons." If it is Sunday, choose the readings from either Year I or Year II, according to the rubrics' instructions at the top of p. xvi. If it is a weekday, the readings are listed in the chart under those of the previous Sunday.
If it is a Sunday, psalms are appointed in the chart on p. l. If it is a weekday, the appointed psalms are found by turning to the psalter (beginning on p. 331); the psalms are divided according to the day of the month, morning and evening. In this way all the psalms are prayed over the course of thirty days. In the case of a month having more than thirty days, a selection of psalms for use on the thirty-first day is provided at the bottom of p. liv.
For those who wish to pray the psalter on a two-monthly cycle, an alternative table is provided on p. lv.
The collect appointed for the day is that of the preceding Sunday, found on p. 95 ff.
If you are within an octave, pray also the preceding red-letter day's collect (for which, see step c.)
iii) Other occasions and comments.
a) The calendar of the Prayer Book includes Ember Days and Rogation Days, which are listed as days of Solemn Prayer (p. xiii). "Ember" comes from an Old English word meaning simply a period of time; Ember Days are periods of time for special prayers, set aside "at the four seasons": during Advent (p. 100), Lent (p. 142), Pentecost (p. 210), and after the feast of the Holy Cross (p. 245). They always involve prayers for clergy and ordinands, but prayers for peace, missionary work, church unity, and labourers are also used. Remember to look carefully at rubrics; whatever the season, one is always directed to use the collect on p. 210.
Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday preceding the Ascension. The collects appear on pp. 198 and 199. "Rogation" derives from a Middle English word related to asking or petition.
Both Rogation Days and Ember Days have proper lessons which appear in the ordinary course of the Table of Lessons (e.g. pp. xxviii-xxx); as well as proper psalms, listed among those used on "Sundays and Holy-Days" (p. li).
Days of Solemn Prayer are marked not only by special collects, but by the use of the Litany (p. 30). The Litany follows the Creed at Morning and Evening Prayer, to the exclusion of what would ordinarily follow the Creed. ("A Supplication" is provided on p. 35; it may be added to the Litany before the Prayer of St John Chrysostom.)
It is instructive to compare the occasions for fasting and abstinence prescribed by common discipline (p. xiii) with the exhortation to Solemn Prayer. The Litany is also commended for use on Wednesdays and Fridays.
b) On Good Friday, Easter Day and Whitsunday, special anthems replace the Venite at Morning Prayer (pp. 173, 182, and 204 respectively).
c) Following the collect for clergy and people at Morning Prayer, and the Third Collect at Evening Prayer, the rubrics allow for the addition of other prayers contained in the Prayer Book. A selection follows on p. 39, wherein various specific needs may be addressed, as well as thanksgiving made. If the office is prayed with others, each collect should be preceded by the bidding, "Let us pray for ..." (or "let us give thanks for ..."), and a brief space to permit the recollection of thoughts and intentions. (Each collect has a heading, which is helpful for bidding prayers; in using a collect on p. 47, for example, one may simply say, "Let us pray for those being prepared for Confirmation.")
Prayers may be taken from any place in the Prayer Book. Prayers for the departed, for example, may be found in the Order for Burial (pp. 599-601, 608). Prayers for family and friends may be found following p. 728. Read through the Table of Contents to find out what lies in corners of the Prayer Book; "A Penitential Service" has moving prayers; "The Ministry to the Sick" may contain prayers needed at a given time; Compline offers collects appropriate to Evening Prayer. A useful list of page-references for occasional collects is found on pp. 329-330.
IV. Concluding Remark
Through the diligent use of the Church's offices, we consistently hold before our hearts and minds the icon of our Lord (which is in the liturgy's presentation of Scripture and the orthodox faith), that by grace we may come to know, love and follow him. "One must study the church services ... because the beauty and profundity of christian worship is higher than that of angels, it is the link between earth and heaven. It is a choir of angels and men striving towards the union of their hearts with God, and of their wills with the will of God."6
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.
Suggested Reading and Resources
Barbee, C. Frederick and Paul F.M. Zahl. The Collects of Thomas Cranmer. Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1999.
A short historical note on each collect is followed by a page-long meditation.
Clarke, Lowther, ed. Liturgy and Worship: A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion. London: SPCK, 1932.
A volume (c. 860 pp.) of historical and theological essays.
Hankey, Wayne J., et al. Common Prayer: A Devotional and Practical Commentary on the Scripture Readings for Morning and Evening Prayer. Charlottetown: St Peter Publications, 1986.
An inexpensive, seven-volume series of spiral-bound books on the Prayer Book lectionary, including a volume on the psalms.
Jones, Cheslyn, et al. The Study of Liturgy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
A good source for those interested in the details of historical development.
Merton, Thomas. Praying the Psalms. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1956.
A concise little book on the question, "Why has the Church always considered the Psalms her most perfect book of prayer?" and why the psalms are to be prayed by all.
A Canadian Church Calendar. Charlottetown: St Peter Publications.
Features the Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer, an aid to following feast-days, octaves, and so on; with paintings of Canadian churches. Produced annually by St Peter Publications (P.O. Box 713, Charlottetown, P.E.I., C1A 7L3).
Notes
1 Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (Garden City: Image Books, 1971), p. 46.
2 Thomas Comber, A Companion to the Temple or A Help to Devotion in the use of the Common Prayer, vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1841), p.1.
3 Wayne J. Hankey, et al., eds, Common Prayer, vol. 1 (Charlottetown: St Peter Publications, 1995), p. i-ii.
4 Robert Crouse, "The Ordering of Prayer: St Benedict and Archbishop Cranmer," Anglican Free Press, 16.1 (1999): 9.
5 A.G. Hebert, "The Daily Offices," Machray Review, 7 (1998): 34.
6 John Lawrence, trans., An Early Soviet Saint: the Life of Fr. Zachariah (Springfield: Templegate, 1976), p. 61.