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Handout #37 |
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The eucharist in the middle of the second century |
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| To reply to the attacks
of those who suspected Christian worship of immorality, Justin, in the
middle of the second Century wrote an apology, i.e. a defense of the
Christians, to the Emperor Antoninus Pius. There is nothing secret about
us, he says; this is how we celebrate our worship. And in this way he
introduces us to baptism and the eucharist in the second century.
It is easy to identify in this text the structures of the celebration of the eucharist which are still to be found in our eucharist today: Bible readings, homilies, prayers for the world, eucharistic prayer and communion. And on the day called Sunday there is a meeting in one place of those who live in cities or the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits. When the reader has finished, the president in a discourse urges and invites us to the imitation of these noble things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers. And, as said before, when we have finished the prayer, bread is brought, and wine and water, and the president similarly sends up prayers and thanksgivings to the best of his ability, and the congregation assents, saying 'Amen'; the distribution, and reception of the consecrated elements by each one, takes place and they are sent to the absent by the deacons. Those who prosper, and who so wish, contribute, each one as much as he chooses to. What is collected is deposited with the president, and he takes care of orphans and widows, and those who are in want on account of sickness or any other cause; and those who are in bonds, and the strangers who are sojourners among us, and briefly, he is the protector of all those in need. We all hold this common gathering on Sunday, since it is the first day, on which (God transforming darkness and matter made the universe, and this food we call eucharist of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink- but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus. Justin, Apology I, 67, 66. |
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