Commontide

For Guidance

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices; that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Commontide
Collect
Prayers

Easter Eve

O God, you made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord’s resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Deus, qui hanc sacratissimam noctem gloria Dominicae Resurrectionis illustras, excita in Ecclesia tua adoptionis spiritum, ut, corpore et mente renovati, puram tibi exhibeamus servitutem.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 609

Proper Preface

Preface of Easter

But chiefly are we bound to praise you for the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; for he is the true Paschal Lamb, who was offered for us, and has taken away the sin of the world; who by his death has destroyed death, and by his rising to life again has won for us everlasting life.

Found in the Prayer Book

This prayer appears in more than one place in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.

  • Collects of the Christian Year
  • Great Vigil Of EasterLent & Holy Week

Provenance

Gelasian, c.700; Cosin 1662

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in Anglican worship, this Easter Eve collect traces to the Roman Vigil service books of the early medieval period and has been prayed at the Easter Vigil for at least thirteen centuries. Bishop John Cosin translated it for the 1662 Prayer Book, giving the Church of England its first propers for Easter Eve.