People ask me: Why does The Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1662, 1928) delay the Collect on Fasting to the First Sunday in Lent when it should , by rights, be prayed on the First Day of Lent?
The Collect for the first Sunday is one of the very few such prayers addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ, rather than to his Father, and it does concern the discipline of abstinence and fasting. It was written by Archbishop Cranmer and begins,
O Lord, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to thy honour and glory…..
The Collect appointed for Ash Wednesday prays to the Father:
Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And this Collect contains no reference to fasting at all.
The answer to the question is that back in the late patristic period when the Christian Year, with its Collects, Epistles and Gospels, was created Lent began on the Sunday which was called Quadragesima (previous Sundays being named Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima). Only later was the beginning put back to the previous Wednesday. So in the tradition of the Sarum Use (Latin usage in England before the arrival of the BCP in 1549) although Lent began literally forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter on the Wednesday (called Ash W.), the Collect for the First Sunday testified to an earlier period when Lent began on the Sunday which was 40 days or so before Easter.
One further explanation is needed: the reformed Church of England did not use the actual medieval Sarum Collect for Quadragesima (which had a theology of works righteousness) but it did retain its theme of fasting in the powerful new Prayer written by Archbishop Cranmer.
Now back to Ash Wednesday’ Collect and its origins. It seems to have been composed by the Archbishop with the Collect used at the benediction of the ashes on Ash Wednesday in the Sarum Use, before the ashes were laid upon the heads of the members of the congregation with the words, “Remember, man, that thou art ashes and unto ashes shalt thou return.”
Here is the Sarum Collect in English translation, which seeks to preserve the style of the original:
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast compassion upon all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost not impute the sins of men by reason of their penitence; who also dost succour those who labour in necessity; Vouchsafe to bless [+] and sanctify [+] these ashes, which thou has appointed us to bear upon our heads after the manner of the Ninevites, in token of humiliation and holy devotion, and in order to the washing away of our offences; and, by this invocation of thy holy name, grant that all those that shall bear them upon their heads, to implore thereby thy mercy, may obtain from thee both the pardon of all their offences, and also grace so to begin today their holy fasts, that on the day of Resurrection, they may be counted worthy to approach to the holy Paschal feast, and hereafter to receive everlasting glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Cranmer’s Collect preserves the Latin style of the use of relative clause (in contrast to the modern “You have compassion upon all”) but is both shorter and designed to be free of any possible suggestion of works-righteousness.
Lent, of course, is not about historical research but is about devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let your abstinence and fasting be adorned in Gospel righteousness.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon MA., D.Phil (Oxford)
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