![]() Instead, the greater need is simply to recover the actual history of the church, a history which has been dramatically obscured in a relatively short amount of time. It does not intend to render a judgment about the permissibility or prudence of using ashes today. The goal of this essay is to lay out the historical record of Ash Wednesday among Anglicans in both England and North America. ![]() The Reformers discontinued the use of ashes in the liturgy, and they would not again become a normal fixture of Protestant liturgies until the late 20 th century. To the great surprise of many, the Protestant use of ashes for Ash Wednesday services is a modern phenomenon. It is also easy to assume that this has always been the Anglican practice.īut the actual history tells another story. To observe Ash Wednesday simply is to impose ashes upon the congregation, we assume. Because of this relatively rapid consensus, it is easy to assume that the ritual and the day stand or fall together. This custom is nearly (though not entirely) universal among Anglicans, is very widely practiced among Lutherans, and is becoming more and more common among Presbyterians and other evangelical bodies. Ash Wednesday is upon us and most people who conduct services on the day also practice the ritual imposition of ashes as a part of the liturgy.
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