The Conclusion

A. The daily prayers begin thus:—In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the one God ; Oh, Lord, have mercy, O Lord, bless. Amen. Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, now at all times, and for evermore. Amen. Make us worthy of saying with thanks the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done as in heaven so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sin, as we forgive them that sin against us. And lead us not into temptations ; but deliver us from the evil one: for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”

A. It is called the Lord’s Prayer because our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught it with His own dear Mouth to His Church as He dictated to His glorious disciples (S. Matt. vi.). Its purport briefly given is this: That we all believers, high and low, call the eternal God Who created us our Father, by grace and favour, a thing which He granted us through the Incarnation of the Word, the only Son (S. John i.13). That we ask Him that our conduct may be suitable to the hallowing and glorifying of His Name, and that the Christian faith (which is called His kingdom) may be spread; that, as the heavenly angels conform in their service and worship to His Will, so we believers may do on earth, that our bodily food may be sufficient for all of us, rich and poor; that as we are obliged to forgive those who do evil to us, so we implore Him to forgive our sins, and not allow us to fall into the quicksands of temptation and miseries, but to defend us from the arrows of the enemy of our salvation, Satan and his host; and lastly, we acknowledge to God alone the supreme kingdom, invincible power, and eternal glory.

A. The person praying shall, after saying the Lord’s Prayer, repeat the Prayer of Thanksgiving and the Fiftieth Psalm, some of David’s Psalms of Praise, a chapter of the Gospel, the appointed Collects, the three Holies, the Creed, and the final Collect, supplicating God for the sake of His holy and righteous ones—z.e., our Lady, the ever-Virgin ; His Angels, Apostles, Martyrs, and Saints.

A. Holy is God. Holy is the Powerful. Holy is the Immortal. Thou Who wast born of the Virgin, have mercy upon us. Holy is God, &c. Thou Who was crucified for us, have mercy upon us. Holy is God, &c. Thou Who arose from among the dead and ascended into the heavens, have mercy upon us.

A. Yes; for it is the Son was Incarnate, Who was born of the Virgin, crucified for us (in the body), rose from among the dead, and ascended into heaven.

A. Yes; it testifies that the Son of Mary is holy and the Son of God (S. Luke i. 35). And that He who was crucified for us is Himself the Lord of glory (1 Cor. ii. 8). The great God and our Saviour Who gave Himself for us (Titus 1. 13, 14). The Holy One the Just, and the Originator of life (Acts iii. 14, 15). But, as has already been said on the subject of the mystery of the Incarnation, He submitted to suffering, crucifixion, and death. Not as God. God forbid, but as man. And as He is one undivided person, this is attributed to Him as the Scripture testify.

A. The Holies with which the Church praises the Three Persons united in substance and Godhead are those which she has taken from the angels above—namely, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy Glory.” These are addressed, not to the Son alone, but to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; but the first three are meant for the Son Who redeemed us by the mystery of His Incarnation.

A. The one who prays says, Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, now at all times, and for ever. Holy Trinity have mercy on us, etc.

A. It is this, “We magnify thee: O Mother of the True Light. We glorify thee, O Holy Virgin, O Mother of God, for thou hast given birth for us, the Saviour of the world, Who came and four souls, Glory to Thee, O Christ, our Lord and King. Thou, the glory of the Apostles, the crown of Martyrs, the joy of the righteous, the strength of the Churches, the forgiver of sins. We preach and proclaim the most Holy Trinity one Godhead. We worship Him and glorify Him saying, O Lord have mercy! O Lord bless! Amen.”

A. “We of a truth believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father, before all ages, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not created, equal to the Father in substance; through Whom all things were made, He Who for us men, and for our salvation descended from heaven, was Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of S. Mary the Virgin, became man, was crucified for us in the days of Pontius Pilate, suffered, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day as according to the Holy Scriptures, And ascended into the height of heavens, and sat on the right hand of the Father in the Highest. He will also come in His glory to judge the quick and dead: He of Whose kingdom there is no end. Yea, we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the life giving One, proceeding from the Father, worshipped with the Father and the Son, Who spake through the prophets and in the only One, Universal, Apostolic, and Holy Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we hope for the resurrection of the dead, and life of the world to come. Amen.”

A. The Church from the beginning acknowledged and believed the purport of the whole of this Creed, but this form was first drawn up by the two General Councils, the first being the Council of Nice, assembled in the year A.D. 325: and the second, that of Constantinople, in 381. The Fathers of the first Council drew up the form of this Creed from the beginning of the sentence, “We believe in one God” to “We believe in the Holy Ghost,” &c., and the Fathers of the second Council added the rest. The Fathers in both these Councils have, however, introduced into the form of this Creed no sentence or word that does not conform to the spirit of the Holy Scriptures and the teaching the Church since its foundation by the glorious Apostles and their successors. This Creed was read in this form before the third General Meeting at Ephesus in A.D. 431, when it was legally decided that it should be accepted and adhered to without any addition or subtraction.

A. Yes; even the Western Churches, which now say “the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son,” acknowledge that the form delivered by the Early Councils above mentioned is this established one which the Eastern Churches own, without the addition of the words “and the Son,” and that this addition was made by the Western Church after the eighth century.

A. Three only, and these are: the first Council of Nice, composed of 318 Bishops, assembled in the days of Constantine the Great to condemn the heresy of Arius, who blasphemed the eternal Son of God. The Council of Constantinople, composed of 150 Bishops, assembled in the days of Theodosius the Great to condemn the heresy of Macedonius, who blasphemed the Holy Ghost; and the Council of Ephesus, assembled in the day of Theodosius the Junior, to condemn the heresy of Nestorius. These three General Councils are the only acknowledged ones by our Church and the Churches united completely with us—namely, the Church of Abyssinia, which is a branch of our church of S. Mark, and the original Syrian Church of Antioch, and the original Armenian Church, all of which acknowledge no other Councils in all that concern the articles of Divine faith. Glory be to the Supreme One, the One in Substance, the three in Person, for ever and ever. Amen.