"From our enemies defend us": why we need Cranmer's prayers at the end of the Litany

The Versicles were taken from the occasional portion added to the Litany in time of war.

So note Procter and Frere regarding the final versicles at the close of the 1662 Litany:

From our enemies defend us, O Christ.
Graciously look upon our afflictions.
Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts.
Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people.
Favourably with mercy hear our prayers.
O Son of David, have mercy upon us.
Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ.
Graciously hear us, O Christ; graciously hear us, O Lord Christ.

Procter and Frere are rather sniffy about the inclusion of these versicles:

It may be doubted how far this feature is a desirable part of the regular normal course, and whether the Litany would not be better suited for general use without it.

Revisions of the Prayer Book have largely heeded this view. In Ireland 1926, PECUSA 1928, and England as Proposed in 1928, the Litany can be concluded at the Lord's Prayer, omitting the two subsequent collects and the versicles. This material - what the Proposed 1928 Book described as "A Supplication" - was clearly viewed as repetitive and unnecessary. Similarly, contemporary versions of the Litany - TEC 1979, CofE Common Worship, CofI 2004 - all omit the material Cranmer placed at the conclusion of the Litany.

There was, however, wisdom in Cranmer's decision to use such versicles for time of war as a routine part of the Litany. In the words of the collect of the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany:

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright ...

At our Baptism, we are signed with the Cross and charged:

manfully fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant until his life's end.

And in the Burial Office we hear:

In the midst of life we are in death.

We do, then, need to regularly pray for defence from our enemies, those forces which would harm us in body and soul: "From our enemies defend us, O Christ". Alongside the versicles at the end of the Litany, the collects Cranmer places at the Litany's conclusions likewise recognize such dangers and petition for deliverance:

O God merciful Father, that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful: Mercifully assist our prayers that we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities, whensoever they oppress us; and graciously hear us, that those evils, which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us, be brought to nought, and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed ...

And:

We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities; and for the glory of thy Name turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved ...

In this time of Covid-19, our need of such petitions is revealed afresh. Our frailties and vulnerabilities, individual and communal, are starkly revealed by this crisis. The naive assumptions we made about assured and universal progress, peace, and prosperity are exposed as folly. Before Covid-19, we had an economic crash to reveal systemic greed disordering our social relations, bloody war in Afghanistan and Iraq, hatred of Islam, #MeToo, revelations about the abuse of children within the Church and across society, widespread concern about the effects of online pornography, intense persecution of Christians, and - 75 years after the liberation of the death camps - a new wave of vile anti-Semitism. It was a rather impressive level of delusion that led the Church in such contexts to consider prayer for deliverance from enemies as antiquated and no longer relevant.

If Anglicans are rediscovering the Litany during this time of Covid-19, it is to be hoped that we are also rediscovering Cranmer's wisdom in placing these collects and versicles at the conclusion of the Litany. There are enemies - seen and unseen, physical and spiritual - which seek our harm in body and soul. We need God's gracious providence and provision to protect and deliver us. The Church's prayer should - without embarrassment or unease - enable us to pray in this manner. Yes, we do need those concluding prayers in Cranmer's Litany.

(The 'Keep Calm and Pray the Litany' graphic was designed by the Prayer Book Society.)

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