The Daily Office Trivia Quiz

Answer: Matins, Noonday Prayer, Evensong, Compline

In the Anglican tradition, there are four daily prayer services. Matins (sometimes spelled mattins) is another term for Morning Prayer, and it combines the canonical hours of matins and lauds in the monastic tradition. Noonday Prayer, also known as Midday Prayer, is the second service, traditionally held at noon. Evensong is another word for Evening Prayer, and it combines vespers with other offices in the monastic tradition. Compline is the last service of the day and is traditionally said before bed.

The two principal services of the Daily Office are Morning and Evening Prayer. Clergy in most Anglican parishes are expected to pray both daily, and some devout Anglicans also make it a regular practice to do so. There are two rites in the Book of Common Prayer for Morning and Evening Prayer. Rite II, which contains more contemporary language, is quoted throughout this quiz.

Answer: Collects

The term "collect" arises because these brief, formal prayers "collect" the thoughts and intentions of the congregation. These prayers more or less fit a pattern developed by the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who was the primary preparer of the first Book of Common Prayer. Each prayer usually contains four elements:

1. An address to God and to either his character or his actions in the world on our behalf.
2. A request.
3. An invocation and doxology.
4. A concluding Amen.

Answer: Canticles

Canticles are songs with lyrics drawn directly from the Bible. The word canticle comes from a Latin word (canticulum) meaning "little song." Each of these canticles has a Latin name, and most also have an English name. Morning Prayer begins with the Venite, Jubilate, or Pascha nostrum (Christ our Passover).

Answer: Lessons

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer only requires one lesson to be read, but often more are included. Readings come from the Anglican lectionary and include passages from the Old Testament, the Epistles (or other New Testament books), and the Gospels. Each lesson concludes with "The Word of the Lord" and the response "Thanks be to God", and is followed by a psalm or canticle.

Answer: The Apostle's Creed

The Apostle's Creed is recited after the lessons but before the Prayers. The Nicene Creed is typically used during Sunday Eucharist services, while the Apostle's Creed is typically used during the Daily Office and baptismal services. The Athanasian Creed was used by the Church of England on certain principal feasts, but it was never appointed for liturgical use in the Episcopal Church in America.

It is included among the Historical Documents in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The Thiry-Nine Articles outlines the doctrines of Anglicanism.

Answer: Suffrages

The suffrages (sometimes called responses) are responsive prayers of petition. Two sets of suffrages (A and B) are included in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Set B for Evening Prayer comes from a Byzantine evening litany.

Answer: Nor the hope of the poor be taken away

This line comes from Suffrages B in Rite II Morning Prayer.

The other lines can be found as either a call or a response elsewhere in the suffrages:

V. Lord, keep this nation under your care;
R. And guide us in the way of justice and truth.

V. Lord, keep us from all sin today;
R. Have mercy upon us, Lord, have mercy.

The V is for "versicle" (a short petition offered by the officiant) and the R for "response."

Answer: Saint Paul

The Book of Acts tells of Saint Paul's noonday conversion on the road to Damascus: "As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me" (Acts 22:6, ESV). Paul, who had formerly persecuted Christians, became known as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

This collect continues, "We pray you to illumine the world with the radiance of your glory, that all nations may come and worship you; for you live and reign for ever and ever.

Answer: Friday

The clue here is the reference to the crucifixion, which in Christian tradition is thought to have occurred on a Friday. There is no specific collect specified for Thursdays. Collects are only specified for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Answer: A Collect for Strength to Withstand the Wiles of Satan

The officiant may say the collect of the day (if it is a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) or one of four other appointed collects, including "A Collect for Protection" and the three collects listed here. The collects for Morning Prayer are, in addition to the collects of the day, "A Collect for the Renewal of Life", "A Collect for Peace", "A Collect for Grace", and "A Collect for Guidance".

Answer: unworthy

The officiant and people say the General Thanksgiving together, an 18-line prayer that begins:

"Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all whom you have made."

The term "general" is used because the prayer offers thanks to God, in general (comprehensively), for all of his gifts.

Answer: An ascetic, late-4th-century archbishop of Constantinople

St. John Chrysostom was born between 344 and 349 AD and became Archbishop of Constantinople in 397. He is honored in the Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. He was known for denouncing the abuse of authority.

In the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the prayer reads:

"Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen."

Answer: The Apostle's Creed

Noonday Prayer begins with the call "O God, make speed to save us", and the response "O Lord, make haste to help us." After the opening call and response, a suitable hymn may be sung, and then one or more psalms are sung or said. Next follows the reading of one or more verses of Scripture and the Lord's Prayer.

A collect is said, intercessions are offered, and the officiant concludes, "Let us bless the Lord," with the people responding, "Thanks be to God." No creeds are recited.

Answer: apple

The call and response goes as follows:

V. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit;
R. For you have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth.
V. Keep us, O Lord, as the apple of your eye;
R. Hide us under the shadow of your wings.

These last two lines are drawn from Psalm 17:8. The "apple of your eye" expression is also used in Deuteronomy 32:10: "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." About seventy percent of the content of The Book of Common Prayer is drawn directly from the Bible.

Answer: chances

In addition to the collects for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the order of service for compline contains four collects. Another is: "Be our light in the darkness, O Lord, and in your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen."

Answer: Alleluia

In Anglican, Catholic, and some other traditions, the word "allelulia", which means "praise the Lord", is omitted during Lent to emphasize the penitential nature of the season and the expectation for Christ's resurrection. The "allelulias" return on Easter Sunday.

Answer: Saturdays

This collect is appropriate for Saturday, which was the original Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, the day on which God "rested from all his works."

Though the collect for Saturday acknowledges Saturday as the original day of rest, Anglicans observe Sunday as "The Lord's Day", when Jesus rose from the dead. The Morning Prayer collect for Sunday brings that resurrection to mind: "O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"

The collect for Saturdays used in Evening Prayer refers to watching for God, as God was, in Christian tradition, crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday: "O God, the source of eternal light: Shed forth your unending day upon us who watch for you, that our lips may praise you, our lives may bless you, and our worship on the morrow give you glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

There is no collect specified for Mondays.

Answer: weep

The prayer continues, "Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen." This is one of two prayers that can be used to precede the period when silence may be kept or when free intercessions and thanksgiving are offered.

Answer: Compline

As previously noted, Compline is the last service of the day. The word "compline" comes from the Latin "completorium", meaning "completion" or "finished".

Answer: And sustain us with your Holy Spirit

This call and response is drawn from Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (ESV). The other choices also appear in the suffrages for morning prayer.

V. In you, Lord, is our hope;
R. And we shall never hope in vain.

V. Day by day we bless you;
R. We praise your name for ever.

V. Lord, show us your love and mercy;
R. For we put our trust in you.