Episcopal Speak:

A glossary of terms for people who thought Anglicans spoke English.

• Daily Office

The daily offices are prayer services used in worship each day.  They can be prayed in church, lead by a priest, deacon, or layperson, or prayed at home by individuals or families.  Participation in the daily office is at the heart of Anglican spirituality.  These combinations of prayers contain collects, scripture readings, prayers, psalms, canticles, the creed, confession, and petition.  In addition to forms for Daily Morning Prayer and Daily Evening Prayer in contemporary and traditional language, the BCP section for the daily office includes forms for Noonday Prayer, Order of Worship for the Evening, Compline, and Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families. These are based on the practice of monks and nuns praying together at various times throughout the day and night.

Use of daily prayers to mark the times of the day and to express the traditions of the praying community is traditional in Judaism and in Christianity. The third, sixth, and ninth hours (9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m.) were times of private prayer in Judaism. The congregational or cathedral form of office developed in Christianity under Constantine (274 or 288-337) with the principal morning and evening services of lauds and vespers. The people participated in the cathedral form of office. 

The monastic form of office also developed at this time. In addition to lauds and vespers, the monastic form included matins (at midnight or cockcrow), prime (the first hour), terce (the third hour), sext (the sixth hour), none (the ninth hour), and compline (at bedtime). By the late middle ages, the Daily Office was seen as the responsibility of the monks and clergy rather than an occasion for participation by all in the prayers of the community throughout the day. After the Anglican Reformation, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) reduced the eight monastic offices to the two services of Morning and Evening Prayer. These services were printed in vernacular English and intended for use by all members of the church.

• Anglican Chant

Since ancient times, psalms and canticles, prayers, dialogue, scripture, and other liturgical texts have been chanted, sung to the rhythm of speech.   There are many types of melodic formulas for chants and among them is Anglican chant.  Anglican chant is sung in four-part harmony for psalms and canticles and reflects development and adaptation of medieval plainsong.  Each half verse of the psalm or canticle begins with a reciting note, and concludes with a melodic ending. 

Plainsong (Plainchant)

Plainsong dates from the earliest centuries of Christianity and may have been influenced by the musical tradition of the Jewish synagogue.  It has one melody and is traditionally sung without musical accompaniment. Plainsong was most frequently based on the psalms, although it may be used for other liturgical texts. The rhythm of plainsong is free and based on the words of the text rather than meter. Plainsong is not structured by musical bars or time -- since it follows the rhythm of a text, its pulse falls irregularly.

Plainsong evolved into the profound body of praises to God that we know as Gregorian Chant.   In 597, Augustine brought Gregorian Chant to England.

• Paschal Triduum
  
  The Paschal Triduum, the three-day commemoration of the heart of the Christian faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, begins on Maundy Thursday.   On the Thursday evening before Easter, Christians remember the Last Supper and celebrate the institution by Jesus of the Eucharist.  The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin meaning “command” and refers to Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to love and serve one another.   Maundy Thursday is also associated with the “washing of feet.”  As an example of humility and service, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet during the celebration that evening. 

Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus.  It is a day of fasting and special acts of discipline and self-denial.  Eucharist is not celebrated and we hear John’s account of the Passion.  A midday service, The Three Hours, contemplates Jesus’ final words:

• ·         Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
• ·         Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
• ·         Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26-27).
• ·         My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45 & Mark 15:34)
• ·         I thirst (John 19:28).
• ·         It is finished (John 19:30).
• ·         Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46).

The Paschal Triduum concludes with the joyous celebration of Easter.  Many Christians believe one cannot truly experience the exuberance of Easter without first observing the sadness and despair of the first two days of the Triduum.

• Music in Worship

While some Episcopalians prefer services without music, most regard the rich musical traditions of the church as central to our worship.  Over the next several Sundays, Episcopal Speak will explore these traditions, and the words that accompany them.  We begin with the most obvious: choir. 

A choir is a body of singers who provide musical leadership for congregational singing. Choirs may also sing anthems or make other special musical offerings to beautify and enhance the experience of worship, but its primary role is to lead and support the congregation's worship through singing.  Choir members may wear a cassock and surplice, or an alb. Some choirs do not wear vestments. The choir may be placed in a section of the chancel (also known as the "choir" or "quire"), or the choir may sit together in a designated part of the nave. 

In a choral service, certain texts of the liturgy are sung rather than spoken by the officiant, choir, and people.  A choral celebration of the Holy Eucharist is one in which portions of the ordinary and the propers (parts of the eucharistic liturgy and the Daily Office which change according to season or occasion)  are sung by the officiant, choir, and congregation.  

• Antiphon/Antiphonal

An antiphon is a verse sung before and usually after a psalm, canticle, or hymn.  It is often drawn from scripture and is appropriate to the liturgical season or occasion. The Book of Common Prayer (CP) provides that antiphons may be used with the psalms of the Daily Office. These antiphons may be drawn from the psalms, or from the opening sentences in the Daily Offices, or from other passages of scripture.

Verse-by-verse alternation between groups of singers or readers for the singing or recitation of the Psalter is called antiphonal.  This alternation may be between choir and congregation, or between one side of the congregation and the other. The term is from the Greek, meaning "voice against voice."