The Swedish Rite - A Translation of Handbok För Svenska Kyrkan #246879

From the earliest days the Eucharist was the chief service of the Church, and the occasional offices grew out of the application of the Eucharist to special occasions in a Christian's life as time went on.1 This aspect was preserved in the first English Prayer Book but has been somewhat lost sight of in subsequent revisions and additions — especially in the case of most of the forms drawn up by diocesan Bishops for the consecration of churches in the Swedish Handbok it has almost entirely vanished, for even the Ordination Services, which in the present English Prayer Book are inserted in the Commu nion Office, have lost all connexion with the Eucharist, except in so far as they may occasionally follow the ordinary Communion Service of the day. The Marriage Service alone contemplates a celebration of the Eucharist in connexion with it, though it leaves the matter optional this, however, is not the nuptial mass (brudmassa), concerning which something is said later.