AN ACT OF PIRACY.

The Status of "The Book of Common Prayer" in the Constitution of the Episcopal Church.

There appears to be since 1979 a double meaning to "The Book of Common Prayer" in the Constitution of the Episcopal Church. It is referred to in the important Preamble and then is the subject of Article X where its use and revision are discussed.

The Preamble to the Constitution of the Episcopal Church is as follows:

"The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, otherwise known as the Episcopal Church., is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, a Fellowship within the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted Dioceses, Provinces, and regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. This Constitution, adopted in General Convention in Philadelphia in October 1789, as amended in subsequent General Conventions, sets forth the basic Articles for the government of the Church, and of its overseas missionary jurisdictions."

The first American Prayer Book, a revised form of the English 1662 Prayer Book, was created in America, approved in the Church of England and then adopted for use in the new Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA in 1789. The American Church wanted the approval of the English Bishops for their new edition of the classic Prayer Book, even as she wanted consecration of her nominees for bishops by them. That is, the Church in the former 13 colonies wished to begin on a sound footing sharing the same worship, doctrine, polity and discipline of the mother Church.

So the reference to The Book of Common Prayer in this Constitution refers to that Book whose first edition was in 1549 and whose major edition has been that of 1662. This edition has been translated into over 150 different languages and used with minor changes to accommodate different political & social settings all over the world. The English Bishops agreed that the 1789 American edition was a true Book of Common Prayer, propagating the same historic Faith and Order contained in the English 1662 edition (wherein are also the Ordinal and the Articles of Religion).

It is common knowledge that the Protestant Episcopal Church made gentle and minor revisions of its Prayer Book in 1892 & 1928. In both editions the historic Faith and Order were maintained.

But in the 1970s the same Church, now calling herself "The Episcopal Church" , engaged in liturgical revision. Instead of doing a gentle revision of the received Prayer Book (edition of 1928) or instead of producing (as in Australia, England, Canada etc.) a "Book of Additional/Alternative Services" to exist alongside the Prayer Book of 1928, the Episcopal Church produced a Book of Varied & Alternative Services, which included some edited texts from the 1928 BCP as part of the choice, and then without sense of propriety and in a great act of piracy, proceeded to call the result, "The Book of Common Prayer, edition of 1979".

In other words, the nature, shape, content and doctrine of Common Prayer, as understood in the Anglican Communion and by the See of Canterbury since 1549, was rejected and replaced by a Book containing a totally new approach to the definition and meaning of Common Prayer. The classic Book of Common Prayer was set aside and replaced by the new Book, as if the transition were like that from the 1789 edition to that of 1892 or from 1892 to 1928. Piracy was thus disguised.

In other words, without consultation with Canterbury or with the whole Communion, the American province, the ECUSA, deliberately changed the meaning of Common Prayer and thus provided for itself a novel reading of its own Constitution, and especially the Preamble thereof. If the Preamble is read as if it refers to the 1979 book then there is a major problem in interpreting the Constitution for in Britain and at Canterbury "The Book of Common Prayer" is the name of the legal Prayer Book of the National Church and such editions and translations as are in strict conformity to it. And its name cannot be pirated by another book, however similar or different it maybe. The same applies in Wales, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and so on.

However, in the ECUSA in Article X of the Constitution the expression, "The Book of Common Prayer", which once referred to the classic editions of this Book, must now be taken to refer to the 1979 Prayer Book and to any official revisions of the same.

Thus the situation is that in the Preamble, if it is to make sense and be a valid historical statement, the Book of Common Prayer must refer to the editions of 1789/1892/1928, wherein is the historic Faith and Order contained in the services, while in Article X, the reference which is internal to the ECUSA must be to that Book of this Name which is currently authorized by the General Convention.

REGRETTABLY, there was not sufficient protest from within the ECUSA or from abroad (from the C of E especially) in the late 1970s concerning the terrible act of PIRACY whereby the American Province took a hallowed name, and a name full of historical meaning, and gave it to a new creation of the post 1960s world. By this act of piracy the ECUSA has caused deep confusion as to her true identity and vocation in the USA and the world, and she has led many souls astray. How much better and simpler it would have been had the 1979 Prayer Book been called "An American Prayer Book" and the 1928 edition of The BCP left intact!

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The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)