The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is the foundational prayer book of Anglicanism. The original was one of the instruments of the English Reformation. In addition to the authorized Prayer Book of the Church of England, most member churches of the Anglican Communion now have their own official versions, which may be used by individual Anglicans for their private devotions. Many Anglican churches use contemporary alternatives to the Prayer Book, such as Common Worship (Church of England), or the Book of Alternative Services (Anglican Church of Canada).
Many devout Anglicans begin and end their day with the Daily Office of the Prayer Book, which includes the forms for morning, noonday, evening, and bedtime prayer, as well as suggested Bible readings appropriate to each. Some Anglo-Catholics use forms of the Roman Catholic Daily Office, such as the Liturgy of the Hours, or the forms contained in the Anglican Breviary.
The Litany in the Book of Common Prayer, or litanies from other sources, is also a devotion used for private or family prayer by some Anglicans.
Quiet Time, a time of prayer and Bible reflection is quite common among evangelical Anglicans, while Lectio Divina, a similar practice, is advocated by more Catholic-minded Anglicans.
Read more about this topic: Anglican Devotions
Famous quotes containing the words book of common, book of, book, common and/or prayer:
“Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.”
—Book Of Common Prayer, The. Solemnization of Matrimony, “Wedding,” (1662)
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 116:15.
In the Book of Common Prayer, the lines are rendered: “Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:13)
“A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“I am now old enough to make common cause with my predecessors against my successors.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“At length, having come up fifty rods off, he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his god was angry with me; and so I left him disappearing far away on the tumultuous surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)