Evangelisch-Lutherische Gebetsbruderschaft (Evangelical Lutheran Prayer Brotherhood) is a German Lutheran religious society for men and women, based on the doctrines of the Bible and Book of Concord, with regular prayer for the renewal and unity of the Church.
Prayer Brotherhood was founded in Leipzig by Lutheran theological students. The main objectives in the beginning were Augsburg Confession, regular Eucharist on Sundays, and the daily office with mutual prayer. [1]
The Brotherhood uses its own breviary, the Breviarium Lipsiensae: Tagzeitengebete (“Leipzig Breviary: Prayer of the Times of the Day”). It is one-volume breviary, in German with occasional Latin, containing a lectionary and four liturgical hours per day, with all 150 psalms, divided for four weeks. Musically it is descendant of the Alpirsbach movement. The Leipzig Breviary is also the main source for The Brotherhood Prayer Book of the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood, a confessional Lutheran confraternity based in North America; it is used to pray the canonical hours at seven fixed prayer times. [2] [3]
The Evangelical Lutheran Prayer Brotherhood includes members and pastors of the Evangelical Church in Germany as well as of the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Germany. The Brotherhood is led by Ältester.
The Roman Breviary is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office.
Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Old Catholicism, and Independent Catholicism. The term is also used in some Lutheran churches, as well as in some Anglican churches, and on rare occasion by other Protestant churches.
In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers.
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell towers, often part of a municipal building, an educational establishment, or a tower built specifically to house a carillon. Church bell towers often incorporate clocks, and secular towers usually do, as a public service.
Compline, also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times.
Matins is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning.
Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours.
Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Within Christianity, liturgies descending from the same region, denomination, or culture are described as ritual families.
The Liturgy of the Hours, Divine Office, or Opus Dei are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official set of prayers "marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer." The term "Liturgy of the Hours" has been retroactively applied to the practices of saying the canonical hours in both the Christian East and West–particularly within the Latin liturgical rites–prior to the Second Vatican Council, and is the official term for the canonical hours promulgated for usage by the Latin Church in 1971. Before 1971, the official form for the Latin Church was the Breviarium Romanum, first published in 1568 with major editions through 1962.
A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are termed "service books" or "liturgical books", and are thus not prayer-books in the strictest sense, but the term is often used very loosely. A religion's scriptures might also be considered prayer books as well.
In the Lutheran Church, Matins is a morning-time liturgical order combining features that were found in the Medieval orders of Matins, Lauds, and Prime. Lutherans generally retained the Order of Matins for use in schools and in larger city parishes throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. In some places, Matins continued to be sung in Latin still longer. For example, at the close of the eighteenth century in Leipzig, one historian records that "every Sunday and festival day the canonical hours taken over from the Roman Catholic Church are still being chanted before [the chief service] at 6:30 am." The orders experienced a revival in the Confessional Renewal that took place in the 19th century, and now have a stable place in modern Lutheran liturgical books.
The Lutheran liturgical calendar is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by various Lutheran churches. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) are from the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship and the calendar of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) use the Lutheran Book of Worship and the 1982 Lutheran Worship. Elements unique to the ELCA have been updated from the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect changes resulting from the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship in 2006. The elements of the calendar unique to the LCMS have also been updated from Lutheran Worship and the Lutheran Book of Worship to reflect the 2006 publication of the Lutheran Service Book.
Vespers is the evening prayer service in the liturgies of the canonical hours. The word comes from the Greek εσπερινός and its Latin equivalent vesper, meaning "evening." In Lutheranism the traditional form has varied widely with time and place. Martin Luther, in his German Mass and Order of Divine Service (1526') recommended reading the gospel in Latin in schools: "Then let another boy read the same chapter in German for practice, and in case any layman were there to hear...In the same way at Vespers, let them sing the Vesper Psalms as sung hitherto, in Latin, with an antiphon; then a hymn, as there is opportunity." While Latin vespers continued to be said in large churches, many experiments with simplified liturgies were made, including combining the hours of vespers and compline, later taken up in Thomas Cranmer's Anglican evensong. Under the influence of the 20th century Liturgical movement the Alpirsbach circle reintroduced Gregorian chant and spawned the Evangelisch-Lutherische Gebetsbruderschaft, established in 1954, which publishes the Breviarium Lipsiensae or Leipzig Breviary.
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice.
A breviary is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times.
The Daily Office is a term used primarily by members of the Episcopal Church. In Anglican churches, the traditional canonical hours of daily services include Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, usually following the Book of Common Prayer. As in other Christian traditions, either clergy or laity can lead the daily office. Most Anglican clergy are required to pray Morning and Evening Prayer daily.
Fixed prayer times, praying at dedicated times during the day, are common practice in major world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
For All the Saints: A Prayer Book for and by the Church is a breviary used in the Lutheran tradition. It is used daily to pray the canonical hours at fixed prayer times. It is bound in four volumes and follows the lectionary of the Lutheran Book of Worship. For All the Saints: A Prayer Book for and by the Church has prayers and readings from the Old Testament, Epistles and Gospels with a commentary on them. The breviary covers the entire Christian Bible in a two-year cycle.
Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is especially important in the Historical Protestant churches, both mainline and evangelical, while Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches tend to be very flexible and in some cases have no liturgy at all. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday.
