Compline

Compline is the last service in what is known as the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours. These services constitute the public prayer of the Church, offered since the earliest days.

The history

To begin at the beginning: the practice of praying at different times of the day or night is recorded in the Old Testament. For example the prophet Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). The Psalmist wrote 'Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws' (Psalm 119:164). At some point it was aligned with the sacrificial worship offered at the Temple in Jerusalem: 'May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice' (Psalm 141:2).

Structured communal prayer developed in two main ways. First, in the monastic tradition of the early Church. In order of their daily offering, the services comprised Mattins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. These included prayers and short scriptural readings but mainly focused on the recitation of the entire Psalter over a fixed period of time such as one week. Obviously this was a significant undertaking, viable only within full-time religious communities.

Later in time, cathedrals and non-monastic churches developed their own simplified structure. This took the form of morning and evening gatherings attended by clergy and laity in which only a selection of Psalms were offered. Some Psalms were thought particularly suitable for the morning and some for the evening.

The Church of England developed its own prayer book in the Reformation. This consolidated the series of monastic offices into just two, Mattins and Evensong, later known as Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. The Book of Common Prayer, finalised in 1662, set the pattern for the following centuries. This single book with its set services was the only legal form for prayer for both the clergy and the laity. Elements of Compline were taken into Evening Prayer but otherwise the service continued to be offered only in monastic communities.

Its appearance in mainstream Anglican use arose indirectly from the growth of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the 19th century. This saw the introduction of some ritualistic practices of the Roman Catholic Church in a number of parishes in the Church of England. The 'Ritual Controversies' resulted in Parliament passing the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, under which five Anglo-Catholic clergy were sent to prison. The period of prosecution ended with a Royal Commission on ecclesiastical discipline which in 1906 accepted the legitimacy of different forms of worship.

Over the next 20 years, the Church of England debated revising the Book of Common Prayer. This resulted in a new book which, among other things, permitted the practice of the reservation of the sacrament (keeping the consecrated bread and wine in a special place for use in holy communion at a later time). The book was passed by the Church's governing bodies, but rejected twice by Parliament in 1927 and 1928. It was issued by the bishops nonetheless, but not widely used.

The purpose of this historical interlude is to set the context; because the 1928 Prayer Book contained a form of Compline as a separate service to be used after Evening Prayer had already been said.

Around the same time that the Roman Catholic Church was modernising itself in the later 20th century, the Church of England began to authorise some experimental use of individual services. This culminated in the publication of the Alternative Service Book in 1980 and its successor, Common Worship, in 2000. This is what we use today. Its services of public prayer include not only Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, but also Night Prayer. This is Compline, an updated version of the service in the 1928 Prayer Book. Its central Psalms are those used since the earliest times: Psalm 4, Psalm 91, and Psalm 134. These are particularly suitable for the ending of the day. Common Worship also permits the use of other Psalms, such as Psalm 139 and Psalm 143, on varying days and in varying seasons.

My personal experience

I discovered Compline when I went up to Oxford University to read Modern History. At the age of 20, I was a recent convert to Anglicanism after a difficult upbringing in a traditional Roman Catholic home environment. My college – Christ Church – was one of the grandest colleges, and the cathedral church of the diocese of Oxford. The college did not offer the service of Compline. But I had friends at two other colleges which did. These offered the service in two contrasting settings.

The chaplain at University College was Rev William Sykes (known universally and affectionately as Bill Sykes; born 1939, died 2015). He opened the college chapel one evening a week at 9.50pm. We sat in silence for 10 minutes – my first experience of silent prayer – then he led Compline straight through, antiphonally as needed, in its traditional 1928 format. The language of this service is beautiful, and poetic, and I fell in love with it. I can still recite much of the service by heart ('Brethren, be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist, steadfast in the faith…')

After the service, our group retired to Bill's rooms in college for hot chocolate, and a discussion of chosen spiritual reflections from his wide collection of quotations. These were later published in several volumes, and eventually anthologised as The Canterbury Book of Spiritual Quotations.

These services and sessions at University College made a deep impression on me. Compline has held a special place in my heart ever since.

The practice at Magdalen College was quite different. The chaplain also bore the title of the Dean of Divinity at the college. At the time this was Rev Jeffrey John, born 1953, now the Associate Chaplain at St George's Anglican church in Paris. He rose to fame, or rather notoriety, in 2003, when he was the first priest in an openly gay relationship to be nominated for the office of bishop. He was bish0p-designate of Reading for a very short time, until concerted pressure from the conservative evangelical wing of the Church of England resulted in him standing down. This episode prompted the formation of the Inclusive Church movement.

Jeffrey John was in the Angl0-Catholic tradition. He offered Compline in Magdalen chapel not on his own but as part of a team, and it was sung rather than spoken. Immediately the service finished, the chapel team would continue with the sung service of Benediction. This service involved the veneration of the blessed sacrament (sung lyrics included "Therefore we, before him bending, this great sacrament revere") and ended with the blessing of the congregation with the reserved sacrament.

I found this difficult to accept. First, it revived my unwelcome memories of my Catholic upbringing. Second, it depended on doctrinal assumptions about the real bodily presence of Christ in the eucharist, which I had already rejected for a more mainline Anglican interpretation. And third, I was there for the Compline, the whole Compline, and nothing but the Compline. So I soon stopped going to the Magdalen service.

The purpose of Compline is to end the day. The Church of England has got it largely right in the introductory notes in Common Worship, with which I'm going to end:

The ancient office of Compline derives its name from a Latin word meaning ‘completion’ (completorium). It is above all a service of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day. It is most effective when the ending is indeed an ending, without additions, conversation or noise. If there is an address, or business to be done, it should come first. If the service is in church, those present depart in silence; if at home, they go quietly to bed.