Night prayers

Night and evening prayers across the Christian traditions: Compline, Evensong, and bedtime.

Night prayer is the oldest evening pattern in Christian devotion: Compline in the Catholic and Anglican traditions, Small Compline in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Evensong in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, the evening prayers of Luther and Wesley in the Protestant household tradition, and the bedtime prayers Christians have taught their children for centuries. The prayers gathered here are for the close of the day, before sleep, and at the lighting of the evening lamps. They include the BCP Order for Compline, the great Marian antiphons sung at the close of the day (the Salve Regina, the Sub Tuum Praesidium), the Orthodox Evening Prayer and Symeon's Pre-Communion Prayer, Luther's Evening Prayer from the Small Catechism, the protection Psalms 23 and 91, the BCP Collect against All Perils of this Night, and the simple bedtime prayer for families and children. Together they span the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant traditions in their evening and night-time worship.