The Good Friday Collects
The Book Common Prayer beautifully teaches the meaning of Good Friday. It synthesises the Solemn Collects into three Collects for the Day. And teaches Christian doctrine now sadly abandoned by many.
Blessed Good Friday!
Today, we enter into the Church’s chief day of mourning. Her most somber day. At the same time, this day she pays special attention to pray for all sorts and conditions of men with orations unique to their state.
The Book of Common Prayer features these Collects for Good Friday.
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
This Collect begins with not the main event of the day but its fruit: our being made sons of God through Christ: becoming the Lord’s family. It proceeds to then establish the main event and tone for the day: the death of Our Lord. And not only his death only but the whole mystery of his Passion. It is important to note how the mention of his death is not divorced from its fruit and, therefore, in a subtle way points to his Resurrection.
In the Prayer Book Tradition, this Collect was taken from the end of the Holy Wednesday Mass, during the markedly penitential bowing of the head, to be used for Good Friday. In the 1549 BCP, it found its place as a Good Friday Collect (first merely for Mattins and later as part of a set of three Collects) until it was later moved to be the first of the three Collects.
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee. Through.
This Collect proceeds to introduce the supplicatory element of Good Friday, beginning with a prayer for the Catholic Church and all her members. This is taken from the Solemn Collects. The Solemn Collects are a set of nine prayers, each for a certain person or group of people, chanted after the readings but before the Veneration of the Cross and the Liturgy of the Presanctified.
The first five Solemn Collects are focused on the Church: as a whole, then especially the bishop, then especially the ordained, then especially the King, then especially the catechumens—the very fringe of the Church, it could be said.
This Collect in particular is taken from the Solemn Collect for ‘all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, for all Subdeacons, Acolytes. Exorcists, Door-keepers, Confessors, Readers, Virgins, and Widows: and for all the holy people of God.’ While it has a special emphasis on clerks and consecrated persons, it is also zooms out to capture all members of the Church. This zoomed out perspective is emphasised here in the Prayer Book Tradition while retaining the special attention to ‘vocation and ministry’.
O merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics; and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
This Collect concludes the set of Good Friday Collects, praying not for the Church but rather from the Church looking out into the world. It begins in the first clause by calling back to the Collect for Ash Wednesday—the first day of Lent—which, by this point, was prayed every day since until Palm Sunday.
It then turns its focus to the specific groups the Church intercedes for, desirous of their conversation: Jews, Turks, infidels (that is, those without faith), and heretics. Two features are especially notable in this list.
First, the inclusion of ‘Turks’ as its own unique group is interesting. While older prayers focused on the groups of heretics & schismatics, Jews, and infidels; this reveals both a consideration of Moslems as their own category (both politically and religiously) and a special concern for their conversion. Keep in mind that Constantinople had fallen to the Turks not even 100 years prior to the composition of this prayer.
Second, one may wonder why ‘heretics’ are specified but not also ‘schismatics’. While it is not exactly certain, it should not be supposed that schismatics were not seen to be in need of prayers. The danger of schismatic groups (whether Romanists or radicals) was greatly felt, and would only be more intensely felt over time. This is seen in the Office’s Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions of Men as well as in the Litany. Rather, ‘heretics’ could be considered to encapsulate both heretics and schismatics, especially since both receive a single Collect in the Solemn Collects. Or, the prayer for the Catholic Church could be considered a sufficient prayer for her unity (and, therefore, against schismatics).
This Collect concludes with a supplication for their conversion, keying into how they are in their miserable state: neglect of Our Lord and his Word. The solution, then, is Our Lord bringing them to himself, the Good Shepherd. This is especially important to consider in light of the readings during Holy Week which (in both our current Prayer Book and in the original 1549) speak of Christ as the Good Shepherd, making it fresh in the mind by Good Friday.
One final note on the Collect: it makes the most basic Christian claim of the Church being the true Israel and, therefore, we the true Israelites. As St. Paul teaches, the Catholic Church is the New Jerusalem and our Mother. And this was not lost in the Prayer Book Tradition by any means. Just as Abraham, looking forward, had faith in Christ; we likewise, looking back on his finished work, have that same faith which likewise unites us to him.
If the previous Collect captured the first five Solemn Collects for the Church, then this Collect could be said to capture the last four Solemn Collects, which focused outward and beseeched God for his mercy and salvation upon: the world, heretics and schismatics, Jews, and pagans.
Comparison with the Sarum Collect
In our current rite, since the extra ceremonies of Good Friday (including the Solemn Collects) are restored, the Prayer Book Collects end up only being said during the Daily Office. The Sarum Collect for Good Friday (the same as the Roman) is as follows.
O God, from whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt, and the thief the reward of his confession, grant unto us the effects of thy propitiation: that as in his passion Jesus Christ, our Lord, gave unto both the divers rewards of their merits; so he may take away the transgressions of our old nature, and bestow upon us the grace of his resurrection. Who liveth.
This Collect immediately sets the scene of Our Lord’s Crucifixion. It contrasts Judas’ betrayal and despair with the Good Thief’s faithfulness and trust in his confession of Our Lord.. The former receiving punishment; the latter receiving his just reward: the effects of Our Lord’s propitiation which is available to all of us. Therefore, we are called to take off the old man and put on the new, in light of the coming feast of Our Lord’s Resurrection.
It is interesting to note that while the Prayer Book’s first Collect begins with the fruit and then proceeds to the Crucifixion and Passion, this Collect begins immediately with his Crucifixion and then proceeds to its fruit, concluding with a direct mention of his Resurrection.
A Consideration of the Modern Roman Rite
In the Novus Ordo, both the theology of the Church as the New Jerusalem and the Solemn Collect for the Jews were radically altered. The new Solemn Collect for the Jews is said thus:
Let us pray also for the Jewish people, to whom the Lord our God spoke first, that he may grant them to advance in love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. (Prayer in silence. Then the Priest says:) Almighty ever-living God, who bestowed your promises on Abraham and his descendants, hear graciously the prayers of your Church, that the people you first made your own may attain the fullness of redemption. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Orémus et pro Iudǽis, ut, ad quos prius locútus est Dóminus Deus noster, eis tríbuat in sui nóminis amóre et in sui fœderis fidelitáte profícere. (Prayer in silence. Then the Priest says:) Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui promissiónes tuas Abrahæ eiúsque sémini contulísti, Ecclésiæ tuæ preces cleménter exáudi, ut pópulus acquisitiónis prióris ad redemptiónis mereátur plenitúdinem perveníre. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
It is important to keep in mind that this is the current expression of the faith of the Roman Church (lex orandi, lex credendi). And it certainly reflects the theological shift made in the Second Vatican Council. Even those who do not use this rite (such as traditionalists and Uniates) still are called to adopt this as their faith.
As discussed in What is Faith?, faith is trust in Christ’s promises. Abraham himself had faith in Jesus Christ, as did all those righteous faithful of the old covenant. As St. Jude teaches, Jesus Christ watched over the Israelites crossing through the Red Sea. St. Paul, throughout the entire book of Romans, grounds the doctrine of justification by faith on the reality that the faith of the Old Testament Patriarchs, by which they were justified, is the same faith by which we are justified.
This is why the Church has always asked to receive an increase of faithfulness, while praying for those outside the Church to receive faith. This is seen, beyond our previous considerations, in our Good Friday prayer for the Jews, which the Roman Church used to hold and cherish:
Let us pray also for the faithless Jews: that our God and Lord would take away the veil from their hearts; that they also may acknowledge Jesus Christ, our Lord. . . . Almighty and everlasting God, who deniest not thy mercy even to the faithless Jews: graciously hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of this people: that they, acknowledging the light of thy truth, which is Christ, may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same . . . Amen.
In contrast, Rome has not only omitted this prayer but even now prays the very opposite! She ascribes faithfulness to those who know not Our Lord (asking for them to increase in it), as if they were members of the Church. How can this be the case, unless we are not the true Israelites and (God forbid!) Our Lord not the true Messiah?
When we pray for heretics and schismatics today, let us keep Rome in mind. For she has fallen so far from her previous place of grandeur and primacy within the Catholic Church. Let us also pour out our hearts unto the Lord for the conversion of all men, especially for those Jews who do not currently know and love the Christ.