The Lectionary of 1662, Adapted and Supplemented: The Collects, Psalms, Epistles, Gospels for the Holy Eucharist adapted from the Books of Common Prayer of 1662, 1962, and 2019, with a Supplement of Old Testament Lessons. Edited by Benjamin von Bredow & Brandon Hughes. Prayer Book Society of Canada, 2025. 433 pp. $25 (hardcover).
Between the fifth and eighth centuries, what we now know as the historic one-year lectionary developed in the Western Church. This set of readings for use at Holy Communion on Sundays and Holy Days was retained by the English Church with very few alterations at the time of the Reformation. Indeed, prior to the 1970s, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans all used this historic lectionary (with some minor revisions and variations) for over 1,000 years. While the modern three-year lectionary includes an Old Testament lesson, a portion of the Psalms, an Epistle reading, and a Gospel for each day, the historic one-year lectionary only includes an Epistle and a Gospel.
In 2021, the Prayer Book Society of Canada (PBSC) began a project to compile a list of Old Testament lessons that would “complement” the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of the historic lectionary. As the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer already included two selections from the Psalms for each entry in the Lectionary, the PBSC believed the addition of an Old Testament lesson would be helpful when introducing the historic lectionary to parishes that had hitherto only been familiar with the modern three-year lectionary. After all, one of the benefits of the three-year lectionary was a greater emphasis on the Old Testament at Holy Communion than had been typical in much of the Church’s past.
That project culminated in 2024 with the publication of two lectern editions of The One-Year Lectionary for use in the Anglican Church of Canada. One edition was in traditional “Tudor” English, with readings from the King James Bible and Psalms from the Coverdale Psalter as revised for the Canadian 1962 Book of Common Prayer. The other used modern English with readings from the English Standard Version of the Bible and with Psalms from the Canadian Book of Alternative Services.
In the late spring of 2025, I received a message from Fr. Brandon Hughes, inviting me to be a part of an external review team on a new phase of this project: adaptation of The One Year Lectionary for use in the Anglican Church of North America. For the new phase, Collects and Lessons would need to conform to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, as the Canadian 1962 edition included several departures from the older Prayer Book. Much of the work for the adaption for ACNA use had already been completed, but the editors wished to have a handful of ACNA clergy review it and make suggestions prior to final publication.
For the rest of the summer, I looked through the PDF drafts provided and made notes of various feedback to submit by email. In August, we held a final group Zoom meeting and then eagerly awaited the final product.
Just prior to Advent, The Lectionary of 1662 was released for sale on Amazon. Like The One-Year Lectionary from 2024, The Lectionary of 1662 was released as either a traditional-English edition or a modern-English edition. Since the new editions were for use in the ACNA, the modern-English edition used the translation of the Psalms from the New Coverdale Psalter included in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.
Like the Canadian One-Year Lectionary, the current volumes have two purposes in mind. First and foremost, The Lectionary of 1662 is designed to introduce the historic one-year lectionary to those who are accustomed to the modern three-year lectionary. Indeed, as the project was underway, I spoke with a few rectors who have become disenchanted with what they perceive to be a frequent disconnect between readings in the three-year lectionary, and were thus looking forward to exploring this publication.
Second, The Lectionary of 1662 is designed to provide Psalms and Old Testament lessons to those who already use the historic one-year lectionary. Again, I have talked with many clergy over the years who use the one-year lectionary but lament the absence of truly complementary Old Testament lessons and Psalms.
Though this project is relatively new, the idea of supplementing the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels of the historic one-year lectionary is not. Every edition of the Book of Common Prayer that used the historic lectionary included some form of Old Testament “propers” for Sunday mornings, usually meant for use at Morning Prayer. My own familiarity with these historic approaches is primarily from the 1945 revision to the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer daily office lectionary, but I am also familiar with those used in the original 1662 daily office lectionary. The prefaces to the present volume discuss the methodology used in selecting the specific Old Testament lessons, and why a different approach was taken compared to those done by older Prayer Books. My own review of The Lectionary of 1662 has confirmed much of the PBSC’s reasoning. That is, I do think that the lessons chosen in the present volume are usually a better fit than those from the American 1928 or the original English 1662 Books of Common Prayer.
Each entry in The Lectionary of 1662 also includes two selections from the Psalms, most of which originally come from the Canadian 1962 Book of Common Prayer. Similar to their use in the Canadian Prayer Book, the included Psalm selections are labeled as an Introit and Gradual for each entry and typically consist of between three and seven verses each. In the Tridentine and post-Tridentine Latin “minor propers,” the Gradual was chanted between the Epistle and the Gospel, with the final verse as the Alleluia. In The Lectionary of 1662, the Gradual Psalm is printed between the Old Testament Lesson and the Epistle but may be used in the traditional way as well. The prefaces discuss several ways the Psalms may be used in a given congregational context.
Indeed, the prefaces and the appendix are worth the price of the volume in of themselves. The Canadian preface included in all four editions surveys the history of the one-year lectionary and makes a strong case for its continued use today. The new preface for The Lectionary of 1662 is a beautiful homage to the work of the ACNA in developing the 2019 Book of Common Prayer as well as a brief introduction to the historic one-year lectionary. The appendix is a commentary on each of the entries in the lectionary, reflecting on the theme of each week and giving a rationale for the selection of the Old Testament lessons. This commentary is new for The Lectionary of 1662 but is based on a document available on the PBSC website.
In terms of the physical characteristics of The Lectionary of 1662, the first thing that one would notice is that the color choices complement the 2019 Book of Common Prayer in both the original and traditional language editions. That is, the modern-English version of The Lectionary of 1662 uses the same color of red as the pew editions of the 2019, and the traditional-language version matches the green of the 2019TLE (incidentally, this is a very similar shade of green to that of the 1662 International Edition). That is, the editors were very keen to make sure that the present volumes “fit” within an ACNA library.
Second, The Lectionary of 1662 is designed to be used as an altar book. The pages are letter-sized and thick enough not to show bleed in the print. The font size is large and very readable, with decorative first letters for each reading. Furthermore, between pages 209 and 243 are blank “missal pages” onto which a given congregation can paste or tape the Eucharistic Rite used at the congregation. It is a very practical book for those who would adopt it for congregational use.
However, as The Lectionary of 1662 is printed through Amazon’s print-on-demand service, the physical quality of the book is below that of Anglican House Publishers’ editions of the 2019 Gospel Book or 2019 Altar Book. That said, as The Lectionary of 1662 costs less than a tenth of the price of the AHP books, the quality differences are an acceptable tradeoff. Indeed, The Lectionary of 1662 is priced similar to a pew edition of the Prayer Book or of the Hymnal.
As the rector of a congregation that uses the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer, I spent much of my review time thinking about how we might use these supplemental readings in our own context. Most of the time the 1928 Lectionary matches the 1662 Lectionary. However, during the Christmas and Epiphany Seasons there are indeed some significant differences. This would require some minor adaptations for us, likely changing some of the readings in The Lectionary of 1662 rather than the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. After all, the Prayer Books in the pews include the full Epistle and Gospel readings, and are often used by worshippers.
A bigger question would be whether to simply insert the Old Testament Lesson and Psalms into the order of Holy Communion, or to use the 1928’s options for a very abbreviated Morning Prayer to be used as a preface to Holy Communion. In the latter case, the Introit (possibly expanded) would be used as the Psalm, and the Old Testament Lesson would be read as the Lesson from Morning Prayer. The Gradual would be used between the Epistle and Gospel. The former approach would likely be easier to implement, but the latter would better conform to the rubrics of the Prayer Book.
Of course, for those who would be moving from the three-year lectionary to The Lectionary of 1662, one would simply substitute the one-year readings for the three-year readings. That said, while I can confirm that The Lectionary of 1662 is on the radar of at least some of the ACNA bishops (and is indeed in the hands of the ACNA Liturgy Taskforce), it has not yet been officially approved by the Province. As such, a rector who would like to incorporate The Lectionary of 1662 would be strongly advised to get permission from his bishop prior to implementation. Also, it is always wise to make significant changes in a parish slowly and mindfully so as not to foster unnecessary congregational conflict.
Such caveats aside, I heartily recommend The Lectionary of 1662 in either edition, depending on one’s current Prayer Book use and/or preference. As mentioned above, the prefaces and appendices are worth the purchase by themselves, and the complete volume is a nice addition to anyone’s library. I am very honored to have had at least a small part in the production of this worthy project!
