Give Me Oil on My Hands, Make Me Roman

The story is told of an Anglican bishop who at an ecumenical gathering greeted his Orthodox counterpart with a threefold embrace. Afterwards the bishop’s chaplain congratulated him on his symbolism, recognising how keen our Orthodox friends are on the doctrine of the Trinity. “I’m afraid it wasn’t that at all,” came the reply, “On the first embrace I lost my glasses in his beard, and I had to go back twice to find them!”

An amusing story, but it underlines the fact that symbolism can be misunderstood. No-one was more aware of this than the sixteenth-century Anglican Reformers, who recognized that there was much in the liturgical practices of their day which could be misleading. There is an old Latin saying lex orandi, lex credendi, which highlights the fact that the way we pray will shape what we believe. They were therefore very careful to remove from our liturgical patterns anything which would encourage the promotion or continuation of false doctrine.

To this end Archbishop Cranmer in his first revision of the Book of Common Prayer wrote an explanation Of Ceremonies, why some be abolished, and some retained.1 This is still printed in the 1662 book, and is part of the historic formularies of our Church, to which all ministers are required to give assent. In his essay, which is well worth reading, Cranmer points out that some ceremonies are necessary for any liturgical order, and that the Prayer Book retains those which edify, but has put away those which were regarded as excessive, or could lead to superstitious blindness. Hence, for instance, the use of signing with the Cross in baptism was retained in spite of those who wished to see it dispensed with. To read more, click here.