Rules to Order the Service

1. When some other greater Holy Day falls on Ash Wednesday, on Passion Sunday, on Palm Sunday or one of the fourteen days following, on Ascension Day, or on Whitsunday or on one of the seven days following, it shall be transferred as appropriate to the Friday after Ash Wednesday, or the Tuesday after Passion Sunday, or the Tuesday after Easter 1, or the Friday after Ascension Day, or the Tuesday after Trinity Sunday: except that if Easter Day falls on April 22nd, 24th or 25th, the festival of St Philip and St James shall be observed on the Tuesday of the week following Easter 1, and the festival of St Mark shall be observed on the Thursday of that week.

2. On any Sunday other than Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, Easter Day, Easter 1, Whitsunday and Trinity Sunday, the service of the Sunday may be replaced by that of a greater Holy Day falling on the Sunday, or of a patronal or dedication festival, or of a Harvest Thanksgiving, or of a baptism or confirmation; or it shall be permissible to transfer a greater Holy Day falling on a Sunday to the following Tuesday, except that St Stephen's Day, Epiphany and All Saints' Day may not be so transferred.

3. A lesser Holy Day shall lapse if it falls on any Sunday, on Ash Wednesday, on Palm Sunday or any of the fourteen days following, on Ascension Day, or on Whitsunday or any of the seven days following. A lesser Holy Day shall lapse when a greater Holy Day is transferred to the date appointed for it, but the collect of the lesser Holy Day may be used as a memorial. But when a lesser Holy Day is observed as a patronal festival, it may be treated as a greater Holy Day and observed in accordance with rules 1, 2 and 6; it shall take precedence over other greater Holy Days falling on or transferred to the same day.

4. When a greater or lesser Holy Day falls on an Ember Day or a Rogation Day, the service appointed for the Holy Day shall be said and the collect only of the Ember Day or Rogation Day shall be said as a memorial.

5. Except when other provision is made, the collect of the Sunday is to be used on the remaining days of the week; but the collect of Christmas Day, Ash Wednesday and Ascension Day shall be used on the weekdays which follow when no other provision is made.

The collect of every Sunday except Easter Day shall be said at evening prayer on the Saturday evening before; and the collect of other Holy Days except Christmas Day shall be said at evening prayer on the evening before; except that at evening prayer on Christmas Day, Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day and All Saints' Day the collect of the day only shall be said.

6. A service for evening prayer appointed for a greater Holy Day or for a patronal or dedication festival may be used either on the evening of the Holy Day or on the previous evening, or if circumstances require it this service may be held on both evenings; except that on St Stephen's Day, St John's Day, the Innocents' Day, Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day, or All Saints' Day, it may be said on the evening of the Holy Day only.

Text from The Book of Common Prayer, the rights in which are vested in the Crown,
is reproduced by permission of the Crown's Patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Copy to clipboard

Source URL: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/rules-order-service