Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son. And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.Here's the Prayer of Thanksgiving in the current Church of England version of the 1662 BCP:
ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son. And we most humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.Allowing for changes in punctuation and orthography, this seems to be very similar to the Prayer of Thanksgiving in the 1549 BCP. Here is the Rite Two Prayer of Thanksgiving in the 1979 TEC BCP:
Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the Body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.Now, people can dispute the precise theological implications of the changes between the TEC 1928 BCP and 1979 Rite Two, but it seems to me that several things stand out.
- There was never a Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Tridentine or Post-Conciliar mass.
- There was never an approved Latin version of this prayer as a "gold standard" for comparison.
- All three versions here, as far as I can tell, contain generally consistent phraseology in generally consistent sentence structure. Some language has been simplified and compressed in the 1979 Rite Two without apparent loss of meaning.
- But since there is no Latin "gold standard", we're left with more subjective standards as to what English words meant in the 1600s vs the 2000s.
- It's hard for me to avoid thinking that deliberate archaisms and Anglicisms can be an obstacle to understanding for a contemporary audience. 17th century English cannot be a "gold standard" for any text like this. Nor is it "holier" than contemporary English.
People with more liturgical expertise are welcome to correct me on this.
