In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the general standard form of  Church of England Sunday worship was established and it remained so for the majority of parishes until the second half of the  twentieth century. This standard form was also exported to the colonies and so was also found in what later became the Anglican Communion of Churches, including the PECUSA. 

The biographer of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Dr Diarmaid MacCulloch, has referred to this standard form as “a morning marathon of prayer, scripture reading and praise, consisting of matins, litany and ante-communion, preferably as a matrix for a sermon to proclaim the message of scripture anew week by week…” Then, of course, there was evening prayer (evensong) before sundown. 

How did this come about? 

There is no doubt that the English Protestant Reformers intended that the central service at the parish church each Lord’s Day should be the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion.   

This is confirmed by the content of the first Book of the Common Prayer of 1549.  In this first complete English Prayer Book, the service of Mattins is so constructed as being more of a service for the clergy and especially devoted laity than for the parish as a whole.  It begins, “O Lord open thou my lips.”   But the Order for Holy Communion is so constructed as to be for parishioners and they were expected to come for the Litany, said after Mattins, and stay for the Holy Communion. 

It is also confirmed by the content of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer where not only is there expected to be the Order for Holy Communion on the Lord’s Day but that it will be prefaced by Morning Prayer (mattins) and the Litany.  Further, Morning Prayer in this new edition of the BCP of 1552 is enlarged so as to make it more of a public service for it begins with a Call to worship, a call to repentance and confession of sins and a declaration of forgiveness to those who are repentant. And “O Lord open thou my lips” becomes “O Lord open thou our lips.”  Further, the local priest is required to toll the church bell before Morning Prayer so that the parishioners are called to the service.

So whether it was Litany and Holy Communion for the laity (1549) or  Morning Prayer, Litany and Holy Communion  for the laity (1552) it was certainly Holy Communion each Lord’s Day in intention. 

BUT  what is often intended does not always occur and what was not planned becomes the norm.   

For reasons which are not wholly clear (see below), what happened was that all three services were used in most parishes but the third one,  on most Sundays, soon began to stop half-way through, after the Prayer “for the whole state of Christ’s Church.” And thus the “morning marathon of prayer and praise and bible reading” began  in the 1560s and continued into the middle of the twentieth century in many parishes –even though the Anglo-Catholic movement did mount opposition for a century or so.   

What actually really broke the pattern was the success of the  Parish Communion movement in the West. The new pattern of the centrality of the Eucharist emerged and is where MOST Anglican parishes are today --- the Eucharist at 8.a.m. and 10.a.m. and  only rarely Mattins and Litany (except maybe in Lent) as public Services. 

One of the major blessings of the “morning marathon” was that people came to know the content of the Bible and also to know by heart much of the content of the BCP so that they could recall and pray it alone as occasion required. A major weakness was that they received only rarely the sacramental body and blood of the crucified and exalted Saviour and thus failed to do regularly what he commanded – “do this in remembrance of me.” 

But why did the English people in the 16^th century not take up the plan of the English Reformers and participate in the whole of the Order for Holy Communion?  I offer three reasons but there may be more. 

1. The Order for Holy Communion of 1552  requires the reading of an Exhortation to the people before they actually receive the Holy Communion. The content is such as to make any person who listens to it carefully  to hesitate before going forward to receive the body and blood of Christ. It seemed as if only saints, or saints in the making, could be admitted to the Lord’s Table.
2. The supplying of bread and wine for a large congregation week by week was expensive and church wardens and priests  were reluctant to spend  that money.
3. For centuries the custom had been for laity not to receive Communion at Mass except on special occasions. Perhaps this custom was deeply in grained in the English soul and thus most people did not look for frequent Communion. 

Whatever be the precise religious, economic and social reasons for the development of the pattern of having only “Ante-Communion” rather than the whole Order for Holy Communion, it somehow seemed to have been something that a majority of parishioners were content with. They saw themselves as being guided by the Word of God and receiving the Holy Communion at major festivals only. 

Perhaps what is needed today is a return to what the English Reformers truly planned – a whole morning in each parish given to the singing/saying of Mattins and the Litany, followed by the whole Order for Holy Communion (including an Exhortation to right reception of the body and blood of Christ). The time needed is about 90 minutes, if the sermon is not long and if the Sacrament is efficiently is efficiently administered. 

In this situation people would be free to come to any part but they would be encouraged to come to the whole. Suitable provision could be made for infants and children and also for fellowship after the Services. And receiving the Body an Blood of Christ would be an individual decision where people were not questioned afterwards either for not receiving or for receiving. In other words the holy Bread and Wine would be holy food not badges of membership of a club called “Episcopalian.” 

We need to get away from the modern emphasis on “Eucharist, Eucharist and more Eucharist” as if the receiving of the Body and Blood of Christ were like receiving and consuming our favorite fast food! 

The Ministry of the Word, of Prayer and of the Sacrament are all needed and ought to be on offer at a real parish church of say 100 members or more each Lord’s Day, together with Mattins and Evensong offered to the Lord daily, at  least by a quorum of the parishioners. 

The Rev’d Dr Peter Toon
15 August 2001, the BVM.