Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is the foundational prayer book of the Church of England (and hence Anglicanism). It was one of the instruments of the English Reformation and was later to be adapted and revised in other countries where Anglicanism became established. The BCP replaced the various 'uses' or rites in Latin that had been used in different parts of the country with a single compact volume in English so that "now from henceforth all the Realm shall have but one use". First produced in 1549, it was drastically revised in 1552 and more subtly changed in 1559 and 1662. It remains, in law, the primary liturgical prayer book of the Church of England, although it has, in practice, been largely replaced by more modern prayer books, the most recent of which is Common Worship. The Book of Common Prayer is also the name of the current liturgical book in the Episcopal Church of America as well as some Methodist churches.