Commontide
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Original-language source · public domain
BCP 2019, p. 601
Preface of the Epiphany
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who took on our mortal flesh to reveal his glory; that he might bring us out of darkness and into his own glorious light.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
One of the oldest prayers still in Anglican use, this collect traces from a Latin oration of the seventh or eighth century through the medieval Sarum Missal, Cranmer's 1549 revision, and a 1979 re-translation that restored the original's vision of seeing God face to face. The star that led the Magi becomes, in the prayer's logic, a figure for the life of faith itself.