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On Intercessory Prayer

Grant White, 1981

Intercession is the priestly function of the whole church of God; it is the offering of the whole world by the church to God. Intercession has a type in the high-priestly prayer of Christ in the seventeenth chapter of John, where Christ prays for himself, his disciples, and the whole church. A distinctive mark of the prayer of intercession is in its understanding of the laity as a specific order in the church, given to perform a certain function. This function is primarily the priestly function of offering up prayer to God, for the church and the world. It can be said, therefore, that intercession is the most "worldly" of elements in the liturgy.

In the early church (before the end of the fourth century), the prayers of intercession, or the "prayers of the people," were included in the service of the ante-Communion, or synaxis. They occurred after the sermon, following the dismissal of catechumens. Since the eucharist in those days was often celebrated without the synaxis, the prayers constituted the ending to the service. For one example of evidence of the position of the intercessions in the liturgy, see Justin Martyr's First Apology, chapter sixty-seven.

By the end of the fourth century, however, intercessions began to be included in the Great Eucharistic Prayer, or anaphora. As intercessions were inserted in the anaphora and the synaxis was joined to the eucharist proper, the intercessions we re gradually left out of the service. Until recently the only place where the old form of the intercessions could be found in any Western liturgy was in the intercessions (Solemn Collects) of the Roman Good Friday liturgy.

As the Reformers tended to excise the anaphora of any intercessions, once again a need was felt to bring back the prayers of the people to their original position. Instead of the old "bidding-prayer-collect" form used earlier, however, the Reformers generally used a didactic pastoral prayer. The result of such a practice was a greatly clericalized service where the laity no longer had a sense of the part they were to play and offer in the Eucharist. In recent eucharistic liturgies, however, this opportunity for greater participation of all the People of God is brought forth. Intercession has been included in one "modern" eucharistic prayer, "A Common Eucharistic Prayer," which is based on the anaphora of the Liturgy of St. Basil.

All modern intercessions follow a basic pattern: prayer for the Church, the world, and the needy. Often prayer for the departed and commemoration of a saint is included as well. A very important part of recent intercession forms has been a return to the practice of allowing the congregation to voice concerns and thanksgivings spontaneously. This practice accords with the practice of the early church, in that the liturgy was fluid: i.e., the structure was common but the actual content could be composed to fit the occasion.

It would be well for a congregation to prescribe not a fixed set of prayers of intercession to be used by a leader, but rather a basic structure of themes to be prayed for in the course of the intercessions. Such a list could comprise the following elements:

• The World (leaders, nations, for peace)
• The Church (its unity, all orders of the Church, all churches on earth)
• The Needy (sick, suffering, poor, oppressed, travelers, etc.)
• The Departed (and commemoration of a saint, when appropriate)

For All God's People: Ecumenical Prayer Cycle is a week-by-week system of intercession for the churches of the world, country by country. It gives the present condition of the Christian churches in each country and gives suggestions for thanks giving and intercession related to the churches in the particular country considered. It gives a collect concerning the churches from the particular country to be used in the liturgy. This excellent resource could be drawn upon for subjects for intercession for the Church and the Needy, week by week. For instance, the prayer for the Church could include intercession for churches in the country pertaining to the exact week in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle. In this way the Cycle could be used year-round. In the process, the congregation is made aware of the fellowship of the faith that transcends the boundaries of race or nation. The Ecumenical Prayer Cycle could, in this function, greatly enrich the worship of a congregation.

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