In his Sermon XII (preached in 1621), John Donne asserted that the Reformed ecclesia Anglicana prayed for the faithful departed. He did so by quoting the prayer at the graveside from the Burial of the Dead in BCP 1559:
beseching the that it may please the of thy gracious goodnes, shortelye to accomplishe the numbre of thyne electe, and to haste thy kyngedome, that we with thys oure brother, and all other departed in the true fayth of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummacion and blisse, both in bodye and soule in thy eternall and everlastynge glorie. Amen.
Donne was not alone in interpreting this as a petition for the departed. The 1572 Puritan Admonition to Parliament objected to this prayer: "whereby prayer for the dead is maintained". This has some significance for understanding the addition in 1662 to the Prayer for the Church Militant, as the addition employs the same pattern: "that with them". Wheatly highlights this in his commentary.
And though the direct petition for the faithful departed is still discontinued, yet, were it not for the restriction of the words, 'militant here on earth', they might be supposed to be implied in our present form, when we beg of God that 'we WITH THEM may be partakers of his heavenly kingdom'.
Wheatly's caution at this point highlights the reserve and moderation of the classical Prayer Book tradition regarding prayers for the departed. Specific - what Wheatly terms "direct" - petitions for the departed are not offered. They are, after all, not required, "for they rest from their labours".
The departed, however, remain part of the Church and, as such, are gathered up in our prayers for the whole Church:
that it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people;
that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom;
we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins;
the blessed company of all faithful people;
that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss.
To not include the faithful departed in our prayers for the whole Church is to do the same as particular, specific prayers for the departed: it is to regard them apart from the whole Body of Christ. As Donne highlights, the departed are not prayed for separately, apart from the eschatological hope of the whole Body of Christ. They are embraced in our petitions for "the whole Catholic church in heaven, and earth". They have no particular needs apart from this. We do this quietly, with due reserve and moderation, so as not to cast any doubt on the truth that the faithful departed are at rest, "and there shall no torment touch them".
Embracing the whole Church in our prayers in the hope of "The Resurrection of the body; And the life everlasting" witnesses to the truth celebrated in the collect of All Saints' Day: "O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship".
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine
All Saints' Day, as Donne (echoing Cranmer's collect) emphasised in his sermon for the feast, "hath relation to all Saints, both living and dead":
and unites in our devout contemplation, The Head of the Church, God himself, and those two noble constitutive parts thereof, The Triumphant, and the Militant.
There is a shared eschatological hope which embraces the entire Communion of Saints. All Souls' Day, by contrast, can present a rather different understanding which threatens to undermine the truth of "one communion and fellowship". It sets the faithful departed apart from the rest of the one communion, having a different experience and particular needs, removed for a time from the hope of peace and glory in Christ. It obscures the "one communion and fellowship", placing most of the faithful departed elsewhere; not at rest, not upon another shore, not in a greater light.
This, perhaps, offers a coherent rationale for the absence of All Souls' Day from the classical Prayer Book tradition. Put simply, it is not required. It is not required because All Saints' Day embraces the Church Triumphant and Militant, one communion sharing one eschatological hope: the faithful departed are not set apart from this. It is not required because the faithful departed are not dependent on our particular petitions beyond embracing including them in prayer for the whole of Christ's Church in light of the hope of "The Resurrection of the body; And the life everlasting".
A day set apart for particular, direct prayers for the faithful departed risks distorting our perception of the "one communion and fellowship". It also runs contrary to how the Prayer Book tradition has classically referred to the faithful departed: not as a separate category requiring our urgent petitions, but as one with us in the Body of Christ, "the blessed company of all faithful people". The reserve, moderation, and quiet hope of the 1662 words - "that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom" - is much to be preferred, as an expression of the apostolic proclamation that "whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him".
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