11 May 2010
World without end. Amen.
In the Byzantine Rite, prayers often end eis tous aionas ton aionon (unto the ages of ages); and in the Roman Rite, per omnia saecula saeculorum (through all the ages of ages), although in saecula is not unknown. The Anglican Prayer Book idiom renders this by World without end. I wonder: is there a Hebrew background? Is Cranmer's phrase common in medieval English? I have found it in the translation of the Canon made for polemic purposes by the appalling Miles Coverdale, chaplain to the largely mercenary fforeign army which slaughtered the Catholic peasantry of Cornwall in 1549. Anglo-catholic liturgical books often made it Throughout all ages world without end. They did this because world without end doesn't have enough syllables to sustain the chant (in the Latin Missals) of per omnia saecula saeculorum. Where did the Anglo-catholics get this from? Where does it first appear?