Trainee priests get crib sheet to decipher Cofe prayers
Priests-in-training are to be given glossaries for the first time to help them understand the Book of Common Prayer because they struggle to decipher the language.
The Prayer Book Society, which gives out free copies of the 17th-century book to first-year students in theological colleges, will this year include a key to some of its more old-fashioned words and phrases.
The list includes definitions for words such as “eschew” meaning abstain from, “concord”, for an agreement between people, and “froward”, meaning perverse or contrary.
Some of the included words could cause confusion to young ordinands due to more modern definitions. For instance, in the 17th century, “magnify” didn’t mean to make something appear larger than it is, but to glorify or praise greatly.
At the time the book was written “meet” meant “appropriate or fitting”. And “comfortable”, rather than meaning at ease or relaxed, meant to strengthen or to make strong.
Tim Stanley, the Society’s press officer who conceived the scheme, told The Daily Telegraph: “The language is quite Shakespearey. It’s very beautiful but it’s very ancient and there are some words in it which modern readers might find difficult to understand.”
The glossary was researched and drafted by Fergus Butler-gallie, a 25-year-old ordinand at Westcott House Theological College, Cambridge.
The Prayer Book Society was founded in 1972 to promote the 1662 version of the book, which was first created in 1549 by Thomas Cranmer, amid concerns that it would fall out of use due to competition from more modern versions.
It is the traditional service book of the Church of England which is still widely used and remains broadly unchanged from its original 16th-century incarnation. In a press release the Society said: “Although Cranmer committed himself to setting out church services in ‘a tongue understanded of the people’, the meaning of some of his language – as with Shakespeare’s – has changed over the centuries.”
The glossary will be given in bookmark form to new students, and is also available on the Society’s website.