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Burial and Anniversary Prayers (1928 Prayer Book)
Burial prayers and the anniversary prayer from the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer: some pray for the departed, others for the living.
Burial of the Dead
O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered;
Accept our prayers on behalf of the soul of thy servant departed, and grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life;
in whom whosoever believeth, shall live, though he die;
and whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, shall not die eternally;
who also hath taught us, by his holy Apostle Saint Paul, not to be sorry, as men without hope, for those who sleep in him;
We humbly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness;
that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him;
and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight;
and receive that blessing, which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all who love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.
Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.
O Almighty God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, who by a voice from heaven didst proclaim, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord;
Multiply, we beseech thee, to those who rest in Jesus, the manifold blessings of thy love, that the good work which thou didst begin in them may be perfected unto the day of Jesus Christ.
And of thy mercy, O heavenly Father, vouchsafe that we, who now serve thee here on earth, may at last, together with them, be found meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
for the sake of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy death didst take away the sting of death;
Grant unto us thy servants so to follow in faith where thou hast led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in thee, and awake up after thy likeness;
through thy mercy, who livest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
For an Anniversary of One Departed.
Almighty God, we remember this day before thee thy faithful servant [N.], and we pray thee that, having opened to him the gates of larger life, thou wilt receive him more and more into thy joyful service;
that he may win, with thee and thy servants everywhere, the eternal victory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Editorial reflection
The first, third and last prayers ask God's mercy for the person who has died; the second and fourth pray for the living, so a Christian who does not pray for the dead can use them too. The second is the burial collect of the 1662 English Prayer Book, kept with small changes: 1662 asks that we may rest in Christ "as our hope is this our brother doth". The third takes its opening from Revelation 14:13. The anniversary prayer comes from the book's Family Prayer; [N.] marks where the name is said.
Text: The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1928; James Pott & Company printing, 1929), Burial of the Dead, pp. 334–336, and Family Prayer, p. 586. Source page: archive.org · Burial and Anniversary Prayers (1928 Prayer Book) ↗.