Ember Days: An Anglican Perspective

Days of Discipline, Denial, and Special Prayer

The Anglican calendar is ordered by a hierarchy of holy days, each carrying a different weight of observance. At the top sit the seven Principal Feasts. Below them are the Red-Letter Holy Days. And woven throughout the calendar are the Days of Discipline, Denial, and Special Prayer, listed on page 689 of the BCP 2019. Among these are Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, the weekdays of Lent, and every Friday of the year outside the twelve days of Christmas and the fifty days of Eastertide. Ember Days belong in this same category — days appointed for fasting, prayer, and penitence, observed four times a year, one set in each season. Most modern Anglicans have never heard of them. They are near the back of the Prayer Book, easy to miss, and easy to pass over. But they carry a weight of history and a genuine spiritual usefulness that speaks directly to the needs of the Church today.

The term rogation comes from the Latin rogare — to ask, to beseech. Similarly, the name Ember comes either from the German Quatember, a contraction of the Latin Quatuor Tempora meaning “the four times” or “the four seasons,” or from the Old English ymbren, meaning a recurring circuit or course — a reference to the fact that these days come around again with the turning of each season. Both etymologies fit the character of the observance: these are days that mark the passage of time and call us back, again and again, to the rhythms of prayer.

It is worth distinguishing Ember Days from Rogation Days, their neighbors in the Anglican calendar. Rogation Days — the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day — are directed primarily toward asking God’s blessing on agriculture, industry, and the created order. Ember Days, by contrast, are directed primarily toward the Church’s ministry and the raising up of faithful leaders for God’s people. Both practices honor the sanctification of time; they do so from different angles.

Ancient Roots

The origins of Ember Days are, as the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church frankly admits, somewhat obscure. What can be said with confidence is that they are very old. The earliest written evidence appears in the late fourth century, in the writings of Philastrius, Bishop of Brescia, who died around 387 AD. By the mid-fifth century they were firmly established at Rome: Pope Leo the Great (440–461), who regarded them as an apostolic institution, preached a notable series of sermons for Embertide that survive to this day.

In their earliest form there appear to have been only three seasonal observances, likely adapted from Roman agricultural festivals connected with sowing, harvest, and vintage. The Church took these existing seasonal rhythms and transformed them into times of Christian fasting and prayer, giving thanks to God for the gifts of creation and asking his blessing on the fruits of the earth. Over time the fourth season was added and the focus shifted increasingly toward the ministry of the Church — particularly toward the ordination of clergy. From at least the fifth century, the Ember seasons were recognized as especially fitting times for ordinations. From Rome, the practice spread throughout Western Christendom, and it has remained a feature of Anglican liturgical life in every generation since the Reformation.

Observance has varied across the centuries even within Anglicanism. Churches of the Anglican Communion made Ember Days optional in 1976, and many provinces observed them more loosely in the decades that followed. The BCP 2019 restores them as a clearly marked and fully resourced observance, with assigned collects, lectionary readings, and calendar dates — an intentional retrieval of a practice that speaks to perennial needs.

When Are Ember Days Observed

The BCP 2019 appoints Ember Days on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays following four fixed points in the liturgical year, listed on page 689. The winter Ember Days fall after St. Lucy’s Day (December 13), placing them in the third week of Advent in the heart of a season already given to penitential preparation and expectant prayer. The spring Ember Days fall after the First Sunday in Lent — in the first full week of Lent, deepening its disciplines of fasting and self-examination. The summer Ember Days fall after the Day of Pentecost, arriving in late May or June. The autumn Ember Days fall after Holy Cross Day (September 14), arriving in mid-to-late September. The summer and autumn sets punctuate the Season after Pentecost, keeping the Church attentive to its calling when the great feasts are not near.

The BCP 2019 is clear about the primary intention: “Ember Days are set aside for prayers for those called to Holy Orders.” (BCP 2019, p. 689) But as will be seen, the tradition has always understood their scope to extend beyond the ordained ministry alone.

The Two Collects

The BCP 2019 provides two collects for Ember Days on page 634, both worth knowing and praying in full. The first, appointed for the Ministry of the Church, is broad in its scope: “Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, in your divine providence you have appointed various orders in your Church: Give your grace, we humbly pray, to all who are called to any office and ministry for your people; and so fill them with the truth of your doctrine and clothe them with holiness of life, that they may faithfully serve before you, to the glory of your great Name and for the benefit of your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” The second collect is more specifically focused on the ordering of ministry through the Church’s discernment: “O God, you led your holy apostles to ordain ministers in every place: Grant that your Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may choose suitable persons for the ministry of Word and Sacrament, and may uphold them in their work for the extension of your kingdom; through the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (BCP 2019, p. 634)

Read together, these two prayers offer a complete theology of Christian ministry. The first emphasizes God’s sovereign appointment and the need for doctrine and holiness. The second emphasizes the Church’s responsibility to discern wisely under the Spirit’s guidance and to support those it calls. One practical pattern: use the first collect in the morning and the second in the evening on each of the three Ember Days, so that both prayers shape the whole day of intercession.

Praying for Ministry

Notice what both collects assume. Ministry is not a career path or an institutional necessity. It is a calling — something God himself initiates, sustains, and must equip. The first collect asks that those called to ministry be filled with the truth of doctrine and clothed with holiness of life. These are the two great requirements of faithful pastoral work: knowing the truth, and living it. They cannot be separated, and neither can be manufactured by human effort alone.

This is not merely a pious custom. It is a serious spiritual obligation rooted in Jesus’ own words: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37–38, ESV) Jesus does not say, work harder to recruit more clergy. He says, pray. Ember Days are the Church’s structured response to that command.

Not Only for the Ordained

It would be a mistake to think of Ember Days as relevant only to clergy or to those in formation for ordination. The first collect’s phrase — “all who are called to any office and ministry” — deliberately widens the circle. Every baptized Christian has a vocation. Peter addresses the whole Church: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10, ESV) Every Christian life is a stewardship of gifts given by God for the benefit of others. Ember Days are an invitation for all to ask: what has God called me to? How faithfully am I exercising it? Where do I need his grace to do better?

This is one of the gifts of Anglican practice at its best — the way the liturgy holds the ordained and lay vocations together without collapsing one into the other. The priest needs the prayers of the people. The people need the faithful ministry of the priest. Ember Days hold both truths at once.

Fasting as Spiritual Discipline

Ember Days have always been associated with fasting, and this is worth taking seriously rather than quietly setting aside. Fasting is a countercultural act — a deliberate choice to be hungry, to feel a lack, in order to turn that hunger toward God. The prophet Joel calls the people to return to God “with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” — and then immediately clarifies: “rend your hearts and not your garments.” (Joel 2:12–13, ESV) Fasting is not a performance. It is a private act of dependence, an acknowledgment that we do not live by bread alone.

The traditional form of Ember Day fasting is relatively modest: one full meal and two smaller ones. For those for whom this is not medically appropriate, abstaining from meat or eating a noticeably simpler meal than usual serves the same purpose. The goal is not suffering for its own sake but a deliberate interruption of ordinary comfort in order to heighten attentiveness to God and his work. In the context of Ember Days, fasting sharpens prayer for ministry — putting the body behind the prayers, expressing in the most physical way possible that the Church’s calling is something that matters, something worth sacrifice.

A Rhythm for the Whole Year

One of the underappreciated gifts of Ember Days is simply the rhythm they provide. Four times a year, in each season, the Church is called back to the same questions: how is the Church being equipped for its work? Who is being called into ordained ministry, and are we praying for them? What is God calling me to, and am I being faithful to it?

This quarterly rhythm works against the tendency to drift through ordinary time without attending to the deeper purposes of Christian life. It builds into the year a regular pattern of examination and prayer that does not depend on us to remember to do it — the calendar does that for us. This is one of the great practical blessings of liturgical Christianity: the Church’s year is arranged to shepherd us through the whole of the Christian life, prodding us gently toward things we might otherwise neglect.

The challenges facing Christian ministry today give Ember Days a particular urgency. Clergy carry enormous burdens — spiritual, pastoral, administrative, and often financial. The cultural pressures on those who preach orthodox Christianity are not getting lighter. Seminaries wrestle with declining enrollment. Paul’s instruction to Timothy points toward the long game: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2, ESV) The transmission of faithful ministry across generations is not automatic. It requires discernment, formation, prayer, and the active participation of the whole Church. Ember Days are one small but real way the Church takes responsibility for this work.

Observing Ember Days

The four Ember seasons are listed on page 689 of the BCP 2019. Mark them on the calendar before they arrive — the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after St. Lucy’s Day (December 13), after the First Sunday in Lent, after the Day of Pentecost, and after Holy Cross Day (September 14). Set a reminder a few days beforehand so the days do not slip past unnoticed.

Pray both collects from BCP 2019, p. 634. A natural pattern is to use the first collect in the morning and the second in the evening on each of the three days, so that both prayers shape the whole day of intercession. The dedicated Ember Day lectionary readings speak directly to the calling and equipping of ministers: the Wednesday lessons include Numbers 11:16–17, 24–29, Psalm 99, 1 Corinthians 3:5–11, and John 4:31–38, all of which address the vocation and sustaining of those set apart for God’s work. These may be read at Morning Prayer, a said Eucharist, or as devotional reading on those mornings.

Fast in some form. Even a modest modification — skipping a meal, abstaining from meat, or eating noticeably more plainly than usual — creates a physical rhythm that supports the prayer. The traditional form is one full meal and two smaller ones. Let the discipline speak.

Pray by name. Think of anyone known to be in discernment about a call to ordained or lay ministry. Think of the clergy who serve the parish and diocese, the seminarians in formation, the missionaries in the field, and the lay leaders who give so much to the Church’s work. Pray for them by name. This is the animating center of the whole observance.

Ember Days are also natural occasions for a brief examination of one’s own calling. A few lines in response to a simple question — how is God using me right now, what is he calling me toward — can, over time, become a meaningful record of spiritual growth and discernment.

Conclusion

Ember Days are a gift to the Anglican Church — a structured yet flexible way to pray, fast, and reflect on God’s call to ministry. Grounded in Scripture and ancient practice, they connect the Church to the deep roots of its tradition while fostering a communal commitment to God’s mission. The two collects the BCP gives for these days say everything that needs to be said: God appoints, God equips, and God asks the Church to pray — for those he is calling, for the Church that must discern and send them, and for all who seek to be faithful stewards of whatever gifts he has given.

“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:17, ESV)