Commontide
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers, and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Original-language source · public domain
BCP 2019, p. 603
Preface of the Lord’s Day, or of the Epiphany
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
One of the oldest prayers in Anglican worship, this collect traces back to an anonymous Latin oration from the late seventh century, preserved in the great Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries. Archbishop Cranmer translated it for the very first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, deepening the Latin slightly: where the original says we "can do nothing" without God, Cranmer wrote that we can do "nothing good," a small qualifier carrying centuries of theological weight.