Breviary questions, Compline

archer75

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Hi all,

Finally got an Anglican Breviary from the library and am trying out 30 days of Compline to get my feet wet, as recommended at Anglican Breviary | Home.

I have a few questions. Maybe someone could field them. I know this is the simplest office...so I figure I better know what I'm doing here before going on.

This is all for private recitation for now.

1) At the opening, one not ordained says instead of "Pray, Sir, give me they blessing" "Pray, Lord, give me Thy blessing". Yes?

2) The Brief Lesson is invariable, always I Peter 5:8?

3) The Antiphon. B74, for instance, only has "Let my prayer." Where are these Antiphon texts found in full? Only the beginning of it is said at the beginning of the Psalms, and then the whole thing at the end?

4) How exactly do these abbreviations in the Brief Responds work? Where do I find the texts bolded below?

Br. R. Into thy hands, O Lord, * I commend my spirit. Into thy. V. For thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, thou God of truth. I commend. Glory be. Into thy.

5) After the Collect, what does one not in holy orders say? The closing versicles.

6) After the Triple Prayer, does Sacrosanctae still get followed by a Pater and Ave?

Thanks so much!
 

Arcangl86

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Just wanted to get familiar with the "more ancient" offices and so on. The BCP doesn't seem to have the same volume of stuff? At least the 1979 American BCP.
More isn't necessarily better. The Anglican Breviary is essentially just the old pre-Vatican 2 Roman Breviary translated into English. It's as good as it goes, but it's really designed for those who lived in a cloistered community. Cramner simplified the offices when he edited the first BCP specifically to make it more accessible for laity. I would suggest you first adjust to the rhythms and patterns of the BCP before adding additional elements as suit your spirituality.
 
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gordonhooker

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I laboured with the Anglican Breviary for some time but found it became quite tedious because it was difficult to flip from section to section. If you were cloistered then you have time to cover the entire book of Psalms in a week but not if you also have daily life commitments. I now use our SSF Daily Office and there is an iPhone/iPad app android as well called Daily Prayer that is a laity version of the Daily Office that contains the correct Lectionary extracts for The Church Of England. For a small yearly fee you can have the offline version as well.
 
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SteveCaruso

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Aye, that Anglican Breviary is a bit of trouble to grasp and is not very well edited and organized.

The Daily Office that I use is the Rite I Daily Office in the 1979 BCP (which is Matins and Evensong, but I have a Rite I setting for Noonday and Compline as well) However, that required a lot of page flipping, too, so I've re-typeset it myself with a full Lectionary and Sarum chants incorporated into the text in a manner that doesn't require a dozen bookmarks to keep straight. Once I get the rest of the Psalms typeset and pointed (I'm using the Coverdale Psalter) I'm going to release the PDFs.

Doing the Office as it's written in modern reference books is tough. :)
 
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archer75

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Aye, that Anglican Breviary is a bit of trouble to grasp and is not very well edited and organized.

The Daily Office that I use is the Rite I Daily Office in the 1979 BCP (which is Matins and Evensong, but I have a Rite I setting for Noonday and Compline as well) However, that required a lot of page flipping, too, so I've re-typeset it myself with a full Lectionary and Sarum chants incorporated into the text in a manner that doesn't require a dozen bookmarks to keep straight. Once I get the rest of the Psalms typeset and pointed (I'm using the Coverdale Psalter) I'm going to release the PDFs.

Doing the Office as it's written in modern reference books is tough. :)
Are you using LaTex or something? This is awesome, however you're setting it.
 
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SteveCaruso

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Are you using LaTex or something? This is awesome, however you're setting it.

I started out using LaTeX but it didn't give me enough control, so I've crafted the chants in Inkscape and the typesetting is all done with Microsoft Word.

I have a few sample pages up here: The Breviary
 
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SteveCaruso

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Steve, I don't know how to read music written in that style. Do you - since you're working with it - happen to have a good resource you can recommend on that?

It's standard Gregorian notation (plus the use of maxima, the bar note), and a good resource for getting the gist of it is Gregorian Chant Notation.

I'm still working on my own tutorial. :)
 
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everbecoming2007

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Aye, that Anglican Breviary is a bit of trouble to grasp and is not very wdell edited and organized.

The Daily Office that I use is the Rite I Daily Office in the 1979 BCP (which is Matins and Evensong, but I have a Rite I setting for Noonday and Compline as well) However, that required a lot of page flipping, too, so I've re-typeset it myself with a full Lectionary and Sarum chants incorporated into the text in a manner that doesn't require a dozen bookmarks to keep straight. Once I get the rest of the Psalms typeset and pointed (I'm using the Coverdale Psalter) I'm going to release the PDFs.

Doing the Office as it's written in modern reference books is tough. :)

I would like a copy of the PDF. When do you think it will be finished?

I started using Rite 1 in the 1979 BCP for the Offices so I could use the 7 week cycle of psalms. I was not sure that the 1928 shorter cycle covered all the psalms, and the thirty day cycle can be long. I also wanted to be more familiar with the '79 book. I like the extra collects: otherwise I do not say it much differently than I said the '28 Office. But I only do one reading at both Offices -- not sure if that is in line with the rubrics.

I use the 1918 edition of Compline. I do not have the traditional language for '79 Compline. I like the rhythm of the 1918 edition *a lot* and it meshes well with either the '28 or Rite I '79 offices I think. I use the '28 Coverdale psalter, and I do pray a Hail Mary after the Our Father.

For a while I prayed a pre-Vatican II Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but even though the offices therein are simpler and shorter than a full breviary I still found the rhythm too often and too much even for my relatively unbusy life. I can usually say both Morning and Evening prayer along with Compline daily and tend to revolve any extra devotions I do around those Offices as needed and before the Eucharist.

Some laity manage to say the whole breviary, but I don't even bother trying that. I manage to pray throughout my day in a more laity friendly way.
 
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Christopher Green

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Hi all,

Finally got an Anglican Breviary from the library and am trying out 30 days of Compline to get my feet wet, as recommended at Anglican Breviary | Home.

I have a few questions. Maybe someone could field them. I know this is the simplest office...so I figure I better know what I'm doing here before going on.

This is all for private recitation for now.

1) At the opening, one not ordained says instead of "Pray, Sir, give me they blessing" "Pray, Lord, give me Thy blessing". Yes?

2) The Brief Lesson is invariable, always I Peter 5:8?

3) The Antiphon. B74, for instance, only has "Let my prayer." Where are these Antiphon texts found in full? Only the beginning of it is said at the beginning of the Psalms, and then the whole thing at the end?

4) How exactly do these abbreviations in the Brief Responds work? Where do I find the texts bolded below?

Br. R. Into thy hands, O Lord, * I commend my spirit. Into thy. V. For thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, thou God of truth. I commend. Glory be. Into thy.

5) After the Collect, what does one not in holy orders say? The closing versicles.

6) After the Triple Prayer, does Sacrosanctae still get followed by a Pater and Ave?

Thanks so much!

Hengesthorsa...Your question on the Brief Responds has been bugging me for three years...and I have only gotten one answer from many of the Anglican Breviary Web sites and Blogs...and I can't find it any more...but here is pretty much what I believe the rubrics say [I have really looked hard]:

The "texts bolded" are said thusly:

Into thy. is said ==> Into thy hands, O Lord. [that is, up to the * only]
I commend is said ==> I commend my spirit. [that is, up to the period, only]
"Glory be." is truncated into ==> Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. [that is...do not also complete "As is was in the beginning...etc."
Into thy. again ==> only say...Into thy hands, O Lord.

There is a Rubric...which I can no longer find, in those buried in the text of the Anglican Breviary soon following the Proper of the Season for Advent...and others in the Roman Catholic Breviary...and if I find the one that deals with these patterns, I will post it back here. The same patterns are seen very often after the Little Chapter in the other Offices, also ...as part of the the Brief Responds very frequently, and even sometime with the Responds...also

This was/is all related historically to the way in which the chanting occurred, in Choir. There is a nice note in Quigley's Guide to the Breviary that says these shortened notations, and the responds as I indicate are actually "not obligatory" nor need to be repeated in any way...and are "optional" to be said or not in any way by those not "in Choir"...that is...those not ordained a deacon or priest.

But I a still on the hunt to find an "official" response or Rubric. I am not ordained...I am a physician...because I flunked myself out of Seminary on the third day...it was too hard. Medical School was much easier.
 
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