Eucharistic Prayer A

9 Eucharistic Prayer A

Eucharistic Prayer A, although now one of the eight prayers in Common Worship Order One, was in earlier versions the only alternative to a prayer derived from the 1662 rite. In its first version as the Eucharistic Prayer in ‘Series 2’, it drew considerably on the liturgy of the Church of South India. A number of textual changes as well as a move into contemporary language saw it emerge as the Eucharistic Prayer of ‘Series 3’. ASB included it in two versions. The First Eucharistic Prayer of Rite A was the direct descendant of the ‘Series 3’ prayer, with very little textual change. The Second Eucharistic Prayer of Rite A provided a contemporary version of the ‘Series 2’ prayer, without the ‘Series 3’ changes but with some new material. The First and Second Eucharistic Prayers were thus quite similar (indeed the preface was identical), and it was perhaps not surprising that those revising the rite for Common Worship chose to conflate the two, bringing into the First Eucharistic Prayer some elements of the Second. Eucharistic Prayer A of Common Worship is that conflation…