Daily Office (Anglican)

The Daily Office in Anglican churches focuses the traditional canonical hours on daily services of Morning
Prayer (also called Matins or Mattins, especially when chanted) and Evening Prayer (called Evensong,
especially when celebrated chorally), usually following the Book of Common Prayer. As in other Christian
traditions, either clergy or laity can lead the daily office. Most Anglican clergy are required to pray Morning
and Evening Prayer daily.

History
The Anglican practice of saying daily morning and evening prayer
derives from the pre-Reformation canonical hours, of which eight
were required to be said in churches and by clergy daily: Matins,
Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. This
practice derived from the earliest centuries of Christianity, and
ultimately from the pre-Christian Jewish practice of reciting the
Shema prayer in the morning and evening as well as a
remembrance of the daily sacrifices in the Temple.[1]

The first Book of Common

Prayer of 1549[2] radically
simplified this arrangement,
combining the first three
services of the day into a
single service called
Mattins and the latter two
into a single service called
Evensong (which, before
One of the first pages of the psalter the Reformation, was the
in a service book used for the English name for
Vespers [3]). The rest were
canonical hours before the
Reformation, showing the beginning abolished. The second
of Matins on Sunday. Shown is the edition of the Book of
direction to sing Venite and Psalms Common Prayer (1552)[4]
1 and 2. renamed these services to
Morning Prayer and
Evening Prayer,
respectively, and also made some minor alterations, setting the The first Book of Common Prayer
pattern of daily Anglican worship which has been essentially (1549), which first presented the
unchanged in most cathedrals and other large churches ever since, modern Anglican Daily Office
continuing to the current edition of the Church of England's 1662 services in essentially the same
Book of Common Prayer. form as present.

In most Anglican provinces, ordained ministers are required to say

Morning and Evening Prayer daily; devout lay Anglicans also often make this a part of their spiritual
practice. Historically, Anglican religious communities have made the Daily Office a central part of their
communal spiritual life, beginning with the Little Gidding community of the 17th century.[5] Regular use of
Morning and Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer was also a part of the "method" promoted
by John Wesley and the early Methodist movement.[6]: 283

Since the Oxford (Tractarian) and ritualist movements of the 19th century, interest in the pre-Reformation
practice of praying the office eight times a day has revived. Before his conversion to Roman Catholicism,
the Tractarian priest John Henry Newman wrote in Tracts for the Times number 75 of the Roman
Breviary's relation to the Church of England's daily prayer practices, encouraging its adoption by Anglican
priests.[7] The praying of "little hours", especially Compline but also a mid-day prayer office sometimes
called Diurnum, in addition to the major services of Morning and Evening Prayer, has become particularly
common, and is provided for by the current service books of the Episcopal Church in the United
States[8]: 103–7, 127–36 and the Church of England.[9]: 29–73, 298–323

Liturgical practice
Traditional Anglican worship of the Daily Office follows the patterns first set down in 1549 and 1552.
Since the 20th-century liturgical movement, however, some Anglican churches have introduced new forms
which are not based on this historic practice.[9][10] This section will describe the traditional form, which is
still widely used throughout the Anglican Communion.

The Book of Common Prayer has been described as "the Bible re-arranged for public worship":[11]: 155 the
core of the Anglican Daily Office services is almost entirely based on praying using the words of the Bible
itself, and hearing readings from it.

Confession and absolution

According to the traditional editions of the Book of Common Prayer since 1552, both Morning and
Evening Prayer open with a lengthy prayer of confession and absolution, but many Anglican provinces
including the Church of England and the American Episcopal Church now no longer require this even at
services according to the traditional forms.[12]: 80 [8]: 37, 61, 80, 115

Opening responses

The traditional forms open with opening responses said between the officiating minister and the people,
which are usually the same at every service throughout the year, taken from the pre-Reformation use: "O
Lord, open thou our lips; and our mouth shall show forth thy praise", based on Psalm 51 and translated
from the prayer which opens Matins in the Roman Breviary. Then follows "O God, make speed to save us"
with the response "O Lord, make haste to help us", a loose translation of the Deus, in adjutorium meum
intende which begins every service in the pre-Reformation hours, followed by the Gloria Patri in English.

Psalms and canticles

A major aspect of the Daily Office before the Reformation was the saying or singing of the Psalms, and this
was maintained in the reformed offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. Whereas for hundreds of years the
church recited the entire psalter on a weekly basis (see the article on Latin psalters), the traditional Book of
Common Prayer foresees the whole psalter said over the longer time period of one month; more recently,
some Anglican churches have adopted even longer cycles of seven weeks[8]: 934 or two months.[13]: lv
At Morning Prayer, the first psalm said every day is Venite,
exultemus Domino, Psalm 95, either in its entirety or with a
shortened or altered ending. During Easter, the Easter Anthems
typically replace it; other recent prayer books, following the
example of the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours as revised
following the Vatican II council,[14] allow other psalms such as
Psalm 100 to be used instead of the classical Venite.[8]: 45, 82–3
After the Venite or its equivalent is completed, the rest of the psalms
follow, but in some churches an office hymn is sung first.[15]: 191–2

After each of the lessons from the Bible, a canticle or hymn is sung.
At Morning Prayer, these are usually the hymn Te Deum laudamus,
which was sung at the end of Matins on feast days before the
Reformation, and the canticle Benedictus from the Gospel of Luke,
which was sung every day at Lauds. As alternatives, the Benedicite
from the Greek version of the Book of Daniel is provided instead
of Te Deum, and Psalm 100 (under the title of its Latin incipit
Jubilate Deo) instead of Benedictus. The combination of Te Deum
and Jubilate has proven particularly popular for church music "Psalms of David", illustration by
composers, having been set twice by Handel, as well as by Herbert Owen Jones from the 1845
Howells and Henry Purcell. illuminated Book of Common Prayer.

At Evening Prayer, two other canticles from the Gospel of Luke are
usually used: Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, coming respectively from the services of Vespers and
Compline. Psalms 98 and 67 are appointed as alternatives, but they are rarely used in comparison to the
alternatives provided for Morning Prayer.

Bible readings

The introduction to the first Book of Common Prayer explained that the purpose of the reformed office was
to restore what it described as the practice of the Early Church of reading the whole Bible through once per
year, a practice it praised as 'godly and decent' and criticized what it perceived as the corruption of this
practice by the mediaeval breviaries in which only a small portion of the scripture was read each year,
wherein most books of the Bible were only read in their first few chapters, and the rest omitted.[8]: 866–7

While scholars now dispute that this was the practice or intention of the Early Church in praying their hours
of prayer,[16] the reading of the Bible remains an important part of the Anglican daily prayer practice.
Typically, at each of the services of morning and evening prayer, two readings are made: one from the Old
Testament or from the Apocrypha, and one from the New Testament. These are taken from one of a
number of lectionaries depending on the Anglican province and prayer book in question, providing a
structured plan for reading the Bible through each year.

Apostles' Creed

The Apostles' Creed, or Credo, is said congregationally following the readings and canticles.

Preces, or Suffrages

These are petitionary versicles and reponses, in the following sequence:

 (a) the opening: ℣ "The Lord be with you"; ℟ "And with thy spirit"; ℣ "Let us pray"
(b) the Kyrie eleison, in English
(c) the Lord's Prayer, said or sung
(d) the main responses (cf. the service's opening or final responses)
(e) the collects: the first is usually a collect of the day, appropriate to the church season; the
second and third are taken (at Morning Prayer) from the pre-Reformation orders for Lauds
and Prime or (at Evening Prayer) from Vespers and Compline.[17]: 396–7, 403

The versicles and responses follow an ancient pattern,[18]: 120 other prayers follow including prayers for the
civil authorities, for the ministers of the church and all its people, for peace, and for purity of heart. [Note 1]
The pattern is similar to that which opens the service.

Anthem

The rubric of the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 then reads 'In Quires and Places where they sing here
followeth the Anthem.' At choral services of Mattins and Evensong, the choir at this point sings a different
piece of religious music, which is freely chosen by the minister and choir. This usage is based on the pre-
Reformation practice of singing a Marian antiphon after Compline,[17]: 397 and was encouraged after the
Reformation by the directions of Queen Elizabeth I's 1559 directions that 'for the comforting of such that
delight in music, it may be permitted, that in the beginning, or in the end of common prayers, either at
morning or evening, there may be sung an hymn, or suchlike song to the praise of Almighty God'.[19]

Closing

In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, five additional prayers were added to close the service.[17]: 397

In modern practice, the anthem is usually followed by some prayers of intercession, or sometimes a sermon,
before the congregation is dismissed.[20]: 22–3

Music
Since the services of Morning and Evening Prayer were introduced
in the 16th century, their constituent parts have been set to music
for choirs to sing. A rich musical tradition spanning these centuries
has developed, with the canticles not only having been set by
church music composers such as Herbert Howells and Charles
Villiers Stanford, but also by well-known composers of classical
music such as Henry Purcell, Felix Mendelssohn, Edward Elgar,
and Arvo Pärt. Evening Prayer sung by a choir (usually called
'choral Evensong') is particularly common. In such choral services, A choir rehearsing for choral
all of the service from the opening responses to the anthem, is Evensong in York Minster
usually sung or chanted, except the lessons from the Bible, and the
Creed.

Settings of the opening responses and the section from the Kyrie and Lord's Prayer up to the end of the
collects are suitable for both Morning and Evening Prayer and are usually known by the title 'Preces and
Responses'; settings of the canticles differ between the two services and, especially in the latter case, are
usually called a "service" (i.e. 'Morning Service' and 'Evening Service'). Almost every Anglican composer
of note has composed a setting of one or both components of the choral service at some point in their
career. In addition, the freedom of choirs (and thus composers) to select music freely for the anthem after
the collect has encouraged the composition of a large number of general religious choral works intended to
be sung in this context.

The sung Anglican Daily Office has also generated its own tradition in psalm-singing called Anglican
chant, where a simple harmonised melody is used, adapting the number of syllables in the psalm text to fit a
fixed number of notes, in a manner similar to a kind of harmonised plainsong. Similarly to settings of the
responses and canticles, many Anglican composers have written melodies for Anglican chant.

The psalms and canticles may also be sung as plainsong. This is especially common during Lent and at
other penitential times.

See also
Breviary
Anglican Church Music

Notes
1. In modern use the term 'preces' is often used to refer to the opening responses, and
'responses' the part of the service after the creed, due to a misunderstanding of the name
Preces and Responses, a common title for choral settings of both of these parts of the
service. The historical usage of the term in liturgics, however, is to refer to the part of the
service nearer the end. "preces" (https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/149607). Oxford English
Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. March 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
(Subscription or participating institution membership (https://www.oed.com/public/login/loggingin#wit
hyourlibrary) required.)

References
1. "Praying the Daily Office" (https://www.stjohns-hingham.org/praying-the-daily-office).
Retrieved 21 October 2020.
2. The Booke of the common praier and administracion of the Sacramentes, and other rites and
ceremonies of the Churche: after the use of the Churche of Englande (https://archive.org/det
ails/bookeofcommonpra00chur_2). London: Richard Grafton. 1549.
3. "evensong" (https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/65285). Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.).
Oxford University Press. March 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2019. (Subscription or participating
institution membership (https://www.oed.com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)
4. The Boke of common prayer, and administracion of the Sacramentes, and other rites and
Ceremonies in the Churche of Englande (https://archive.org/details/bokeofcommonpray00ch
ur). London: Edward Whitchurch. 1552.
5. "Little Gidding community". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford
University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68969 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F6
8969). (Subscription or UK public library membership (https://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#p
ublic) required.)
6. Kirby, James E.; Abraham, William J., eds. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Methodist
Studies (https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696116.001.00
01/oxfordhb-9780199696116). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199696116.
7. "Newman Reader - Tracts for the Times - Tract 75" (http://www.newmanreader.org/works/tim
es/tract75/). www.newmanreader.org. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
 8. The Book of Common Prayer … according to the use of The Episcopal Church. New York:
Church Publishing Incorporated. 1979.
9. Common Worship: Daily Prayer (Preliminary ed.). London: Church House Publishing. 2002.
ISBN 0715120638.
10. A New Zealand Prayer Book/He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa. Collins. 1989.
ISBN 9780005990698.
11. Dailey, Prudence, ed. (2011). The Book of Common Prayer: Past, Present, and Future (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=3HLSKJwYXmIC). London: Continuum.
ISBN 9781441160416.
12. Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England. London: Church House
Publishing. 2000. ISBN 071512000X.
13. The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and
Ceremonies of the Church According to the Use of the Anglican Church of Canada (http://pra
yerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/). Toronto: Anglican Book Centre. 1962.
14. Liber hymnarius cum invitatoriis et aliquibus responsoriis. Sablé-sur-Sarthe, France: Abbaye
Saint-Pierre de Solesmes. 1983. ISBN 2-85274-076-1.
15. Dearmer, Percy (1928). The Parson's Handbook, containing Practical Directions Both for
Parsons and Others as to the Management of the Parish Church and Its Services According
to the English Use, as Set Forth in the Book of Common Prayer (11th ed.). London,
Edinburgh, etc.: Humphrey Milford.
16. Bradshaw, Paul F. (Summer 2013). "The Daily Offices in the Prayer Book Tradition" (http://w
ww.anglicantheologicalreview.org/static/pdf/articles/bradshaw.pdf) (PDF). Anglican
Theological Review. 95 (3): 447–60.
17. Procter, Francis; Frere, Walter Howard (1910). A New History of the Book of Common
Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices (https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofbook00proc).
London: Macmillan and Co, Ltd.
18. Blunt, John Henry, ed. (1892). The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, being an Historical,
Ritual, and Theological Commentary on the Devotional System of the Church of England (ht
tps://archive.org/stream/annotatedbookofc00churrich) (New ed.). London: Longmans, Green,
and Co.
19. Gee, Henry; Hardy, W. H. (1896). Documents Illustrative of English Church History. New
York. pp. 417–42.
20. The Shorter Prayer Book. London. 1948.

External links
Daily Prayer (http://daily.commonworship.com): the Church of England's services of Morning
Prayer and Evening Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer (1662) and Common
Worship: Daily Prayer
The Daily Office App (https://dailyoffice.app): The Episcopal Church’s Daily Office from the
Book of Common Prayer (1979), as practiced by the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory, an
Episcopal/Anglican religious community

SingTheOffice (https://singtheoffice.com): generator for matins, evensong, and compline

from the Book of Common Prayer with Gregorian chant

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