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Lament and penitence on Holocaust Memorial Day

Many thanks to The Critic for carrying my article for Holocaust Memorial Day, calling for it to be observed by Christians as a day of lament and penitence.  At the heart of the article is the suggestion that A Commination in BCP 1662 (or the alternative penitential liturgies in other versions of the Book of Common Prayer e.g. Ireland 1926) be used by Anglicans on this day as an expression of our penitence.

Holocaust Memorial Day confronts Christians with a shameful history of anti-Semitism, a history that was invoked by the instigators of the Holocaust and which motivated some in Nazi-occuppied territories to collude with this evil. The Church of England’s 2019 report on Christian-Jewish relations, ‘God’s Unfailing Word’, states that Christians over centuries “have used Christian doctrine in order to justify and perpetuate Jewish suffering”. The report continues to say that this “has fostered attitudes of distrust and hostility among Christians towards their Jewish neighbours, in some cases leading to violent attacks, murder and expulsion”. This history “contributed to fostering the passive acquiescence if not positive support of many Christians in actions that led to the Holocaust”.

The long, bitter history of Christian anti-Semitism, and its contribution to the Holocaust, should lead to corporate penitence on Holocaust Memorial Day. There already is a historic liturgy appropriate for this.  The Book of Common Prayer has ‘A Commination’, a robust service normally used on Ash Wednesday but also for use at other times of communal penitence. In recalling sins against our neighbour, it has a particular resonance in light of the history of Christian anti-Semitism: “Cursed is that removeth his neighbour’s land-mark … Cursed is he that smiteth his neighbour secretly”. 

The heart of ‘A Commination’ is reciting Psalm 51 kneeling, a psalm of deep and profound penitence. The fact, of course, that Christianity has inherited this psalm and the entire Psalter from Judaism would be especially resonant on Holocaust Memorial Day. As Christians we would be kneeling in penitence, seeking forgiveness for our tradition’s sins against the Jewish people, in words bequeathed to us by the Jewish tradition.

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Also appropriate on this day - and eminently suitable for inclusion in any penitential liturgy - is the very fine collect 'For reconciliation with the Jews' offered by the Prayer Book Society of Canada:

O GOD, who didst choose Israel to be thine inheritance: have mercy upon us and
forgive us for violence and wickedness against our brother Jacob; the arrogance of
our hearts and minds hath deceived us, and shame hath covered our face. Take away
all pride and prejudice in us, and grant that we, together with the people whom thou
didst first make thine own, may attain to the fulness of redemption which thou hast
promised; to the honour and glory of thy most holy Name. Amen. 
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