It will require a further vote of the Synod in three years to approve the introduction of the new prayer for reconciliation, whose text begins, “ O God, who didst choose Israel to be thine inheritance: have mercy upon us and forgive us for violence and wickedness against our brother Jacob”.
In 1992 Canada’s Anglican Church deleted a Good Friday prayer from the Book of Common Prayer which asked God to show mercy to the Jews for rejecting Jesus.
While the Book of Common Prayer - which was last substantially amended in 1662 - is also used in English churches, most congregations pray with the modern liturgy known as Common Worship.
The new C of E Good Friday service contains a prayer which speaks of greater understanding between Jews and Christians.
The introduction to Easter season services also emphasises the importance of being “sensitive to the ways in which an unreflecting use of traditional texts can perpetuate a strain of Christian antisemitism”.
