Title Page of the Church of England\’s
Book of Common Prayer of 1662

The Book of Common Prayer is one of the major works of English Literature. Since the publication of the first Prayer Book in 1549, this Anglican liturgical text has had an enormous influence on everything written in English. It has gone through many of revisions, both in England and in the other countries of the Anglican Communion, but the original text is still comprehensible and relevant.

The Episcopal Church is the representative of the Anglican Communion in the United States, and also in several other countries. It has had its own Book of Common Prayer since the American Revolution; prior to that, of course, it was part of the Church of England. There have been four editions of the Episcopal Church’s Prayer Book, the current book having been ratified by the Church’s General Convention in 1979.

The Society of Archbishop Justice maintains an index of online Anglican liturgical resources including various versions of The Book of Common Prayer here.