Structure of Eucharistic Prayer

There is a similarity among the liturgies used by different Churches, Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant, across the centuries from the earliest surviving examples to the present. The Greek and Latin names for the ten elements reflect the languages in which they were first developed. Not all liturgies include all ten elements and not all place them in the same order but this is the pattern they have in common.

Sursum Corda – Lift up your hearts: a call to approach God in thanksgiving.
Anamnesis – remembering the history of our salvation from humanity’s falling into sin, through the incarnation of Christ to his suffering, death and resurrection
Sanctus – ‘Holy, holy, holy’ – the words of the seraphim around the throne of God (Isaiah 6)
Benedictus – ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ – the acclamation of the crowd on Palm Sunday
Preliminary Epiclesis or Proclesis – a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to come upon the bread and wine which are about to be consecrated
Institutio – the account of the Last Supper, usually based on 1 Corinthians 11
Oblation – an offering of ourselves in response to the self-sacrifice of Christ for us
Epiclesis – a prayer that the Holy Spirit will come upon the people gathered in order to make a real communion
Intercession – praying for others, possibly for a particular person or cause (intention)
Doxology – a concluding ascription of praise to the Holy Trinity.

There is divergence amongst the Churches regarding which parts of the prayer need to be said or sung by the presiding minister. Some, e.g. Baptist, invite any appropriate member of the local congregation to offer any part. Some require the whole prayer to be offered by an ordained minister or priest. Where the prayer is shared by different voices with the congregation saying some, such as 3 and 4, together, the presiding minister usually says 6. However, some liturgical scholars say that since the whole prayer is a thanksgiving to God, the part to be reserved for the presiding minister should be 2.