WThe name Agenda is given, particularly in the Lutheran Church, to the official books dealing with the forms and ceremonies of divine service.
WThe Alternative Service Book 1980 (ASB) was the first complete prayer book produced by the Church of England since 1662. Its name derives from the fact that it was proposed not as a replacement for the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) but merely as an alternative to it. In practice, it was so popular that the various printers had to produce several editions very quickly and churches which retained the BCP drew attention to this fact as something to be noted. The Prayer Book Society soon complained that it was becoming hard to find a church which used the old prayer book and that theological colleges were not introducing students to it. It has now been replaced by Common Worship.
WThe Book of Cerne is an early ninth-century Insular or Anglo-Saxon Latin personal prayer book with Old English components. It belongs to a group of four such early prayer books, the others being the Royal Prayerbook, the Harleian prayerbook, and the Book of Nunnaminster. It is now commonly believed to have been produced sometime between ca. 820 and 840 CE in the Southumbrian/Mercian region of England. The original book contains a collection of several different texts, including New Testament Gospel excerpts, a selection of prayers and hymns with a version of the Lorica of Laidcenn, an abbreviated or Breviate Psalter, and a text of the Harrowing of Hell liturgical drama, which were combined together to provide a source used for private devotion and contemplation. Based on stylistic and palaeographical features, the Book of Cerne has been included within the Canterbury or Tiberius group of manuscripts that were manufactured in southern England in the 8th and 9th centuries CE associated with the Mercian hegemony in Anglo-Saxon England. This Anglo-Saxon manuscript is considered to be the most sophisticated and elaborate of this group. The Book of Cerne exhibits various Irish/Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Continental, and Mediterranean influences in its texts, ornamentation, and embellishment.
WBook of Common Prayer (BCP) is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with Rome. The work of 1549 was the first prayer book to include the complete forms of service for daily and Sunday worship in English. It contained Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion and also the occasional services in full: the orders for Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, "prayers to be said with the sick", and a funeral service. It also set out in full the "propers" : the introits, collects, and epistle and gospel readings for the Sunday service of Holy Communion. Old Testament and New Testament readings for daily prayer were specified in tabular format as were the Psalms; and canticles, mostly biblical, that were provided to be said or sung between the readings.
WThe Book of Common Prayer (1928) was a revised version of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. The proposed revision was approved in 1927 by the Church Assembly but rejected by Parliament. Its authorisation was defeated in the House of Commons for a second time on 14 June 1928.
WThe 1979 edition of the Book of Common Prayer is the official liturgical book of the US-based Episcopal Church. It is similar to versions of the Book of Common Prayer used by other churches within the Anglican Communion.
WThe Book of Divine Worship (BDW) was an adaptation of the American Book of Common Prayer (BCP) by the Roman Catholic Church. It was used primarily by former members of the Episcopal Church within Anglican Use parishes of the Pastoral Provision and the Personal Ordinariates. It has been replaced by a new book to be used worldwide, titled Divine Worship: The Missal.
WThe book of hours is a Christian devotional book popular in the Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and psalms, often with appropriate decorations, for Christian devotion. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books made for wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, with full-page miniatures. These illustrations would combine picturesque scenes of country life with sacred images. Books of hours were usually written in Latin, although there are many entirely or partially written in vernacular European languages, especially Dutch. The English term primer is usually now reserved for those books written in English. Tens of thousands of books of hours have survived to the present day, in libraries and private collections throughout the world.
WThe Book of Nunnaminster is a 9th-century Anglo-Saxon prayerbook. It was written in the kingdom of Mercia, using an "insular" hand, related to Carolingian minuscule. It was probably later owned by Ealhswith, wife of Alfred the Great. It is related to, but of an earlier date than, the Book of Cerne, and also to the Royal Prayerbook and the Harleian prayerbook. Like Cerne it contains the Passion narratives of the four Gospels and a collection of non-liturgical prayers, many of which relate to the Passion. The Book of Nunnaminster shares some poems with the Book of Cerne. The Book of Nunnaminster includes some decorated initials.
WThe Book of Protection: Being a Collection of Charms is a collection of Eastern Christian charms and incantations associated with the so-called 'Nestorian' Church, edited and translated by Hermann Gollancz from three Syriac manuscripts which date back to early 19th century and earlier. The compilation was first published in 1912 by Henry Frowde, with 27 illustrations from Codex A.
WA breviary is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times.
WCommon Worship is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movement within the Church and is the successor to the Alternative Service Book (ASB) of 1980. Like the ASB, it is an alternative to the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of 1662, which remains officially the normative liturgy of the Church of England.
WThe Directory for Public Worship was a manual of directions for worship approved by an ordinance of Parliament in 1644 to replace the Book of Common Prayer.
WDivine Worship: The Missal (DW:TM) is the liturgical book containing the instructions and texts for the celebration of Mass by the former Anglicans within the Roman Catholic Church in the three personal ordinariates of Great Britain, United States and Canada, and Australia. The rite contained in this missal is a variant of the Roman Rite eucharistic liturgy. It was approved for use beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2015.
WThe Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office or Work of God or canonical hours, often referred to as the Breviary, is the official set of prayers "marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer". It consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings and other prayers and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times. Together with the Mass, it constitutes the official public prayer life of the Church. The Liturgy of the Hours also forms the basis of prayer within Christian monasticism.
WThe Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) is a worship book and hymnal used by several Lutheran denominations in North America. A supplement, With One Voice (WOV), contains additional hymns and service music. The LBW is sometimes called the "green book", as opposed to With One Voice, which is bound in blue; or Service Book and Hymnal, which is bound in red; or The Lutheran Hymnal, which is also bound in red, with a simple gold cross.
WMissale Aboense was the first book printed for Finland. As its name suggests, it was a prayer book used for Mass. It follows the tradition of the Dominican liturgy, which around the year 1330 was adopted as the official liturgy of the see of Turku. This poor bishopric could not afford to have its own missal printed, but its Dominican tradition came to the rescue.
WPutni tovaruš is a prayer book written in 1660 by Croatian poet and noblewoman Katarina Zrinska on her estates in Ozalj. It was first published a year later in Venice.
WThe Vatican Croatian Prayer Book is the oldest Croatian vernacular prayer book and the finest example of early Shtokavian vernacular literary idiom.