Commontide

For the Acceptance of Prayer

O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help; for you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

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Commontide
Collect
Collects

The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

O God, you know that we are set in the midst of many grave dangers, and because of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant that your strength and protection may support us in all dangers and carry us through every temptation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Deus, qui nos in tantis periculis constitutos pro humana scis fragilitate non posse subsistere: da nobis salutem mentis et corporis; ut ea, quae pro peccatis nostris patimur, te adiuvante vincamus.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 602

Proper Preface

Preface of the Epiphany

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who took on our mortal flesh to reveal his glory; that he might bring us out of darkness and into his own glorious light.

Provenance

Gregorian, c.790

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in the Anglican prayer book, this collect traces to the Gregorian Sacramentary of early medieval Rome, where it was prayed by Christians who knew what it meant to be "stationed in the midst of great dangers." Cranmer translated it for the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, and it has been carried in Anglican books ever since.