Dr. Frank Gavin’s very useful article, “The Eucharist East and West” in the book Liturgy and Worship provides the information that I am going to share with you now about the worship of early Christians.
The past always influences the present.
Our current Book of Common Prayer grew out of ways of worship that come straight from the practices of the earliest gatherings of Christians. These people sought ways of worship that helped them to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus by having Jesus once again in their midst through their thanksgivings and their offerings. The early Christians also found Jesus among them in their fellowship with one another. In sharing the bread and wine, they found strength, new power and new life. And early Christians looked forward, with anticipation, to the heavenly Messianic banquet at the end of time. Their whole idea of worship was shaped by their gratitude to God, their thanksgiving. In fact, our word “Eucharist” comes from the Greek word meaning “to give thanks.”
Three things shaped the development of the Eucharist in the early church—and continue to shape our worship today, and these three things are, first, the scriptures of what we know as The Old Testament; second, the attitude and practice of thanksgiving; and third, the distressing economic situation and social divisions throughout the world in the time of the early church, situations which are still true today.
Here are a few specifics about these three things.
First, the Old Testament–
The ideas of the Old Testament, the scripture of the Jewish people, and the scripture that Jesus knew well, shaped early worship. (The Bible as we know it, with the addition of the New Testament, did not come into existence until 397 CE, when the bishops at the Synod of Carthage made a final decision on which writings would become the books of the New Testament as we know it today. So these scriptures that we have in the New Testament were available to the early church in the form of the gospels that certain communities developed and read, and in the form of the circulating letters of Paul and other apostles that were shared throughout the early churches.)
Throughout the Old Testament, we find the revelation of God to us beginning with creation itself, through the words of prophets, and through God’s covenants and relationships with human beings.
And we also find in the Old Testament a very close connection between religion and ethics—that is, what we believe about God determines how we relate to one another—God cares for us, and asks us to care for one another, to treat one another with righteousness.
Second—the attitude and practice of thanksgiving.
The early Christians came together on a regular basis to give and to offer everything they had to God out of gratitude for all that God had given to them. The idea of sacrifice was this—God doesn’t need what we can give, but people have a deep need for what God gives, either directly, or indirectly. The offerings of the early church were not just money, good deeds, or charity—instead, the offerings of all of these things became acts of worship. So the early Christians offered not only their praise and thanksgiving, but they also offered themselves and all that they had, not only when they worshipped, but in all that they did in their daily lives, so that their daily lives became worship, acts of praise and thanksgiving to God through offerings and sacrifice.
Third, the distressing economic and social divisions in the time of the early church.
The early Christians had a new way of coping with the problems that poverty created. Many people then, as they do today, lived without hope. The Christian way of life offered hope and joy and fellowship with those who believed in Jesus. The church’s action and the church’s worship meant hands on work—caring for the helpless and the needy and assisting those in distress as a way of generous offering and thanksgiving to God.
As we’ll see today as we worship, the Eucharist first took shape as sharing a meal together. The agape meal or the “love feast” brought together several strands of what it means to love one another—having goodwill for one another, eating and drinking together in Christian fellowship, the poor being fed by the resources of the rich, and the sacrament of the Eucharist itself—our offering of love to God, which God then offers back to us through his Son in the form of bread and wine, Jesus with us in the sacraments.
Now, a few words about today’s worship. The liturgy we’re using comes from two ancient sources. Today’s Eucharistic Prayer comes from the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome, written early in the second century, for the Eucharistic Prayer. The closing prayer is from the Didache, or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, believed to have been written in the late first century or early second century. The prayers of intercession are taken from the Good Friday service in our prayer book. Even though they do not date back to the second or third century, the format is similar to the prayers of the church in the early centuries.
Some things that we will do today will seem familiar, and some will not.
You’ll see several leaders up front. In the second and third centuries, I’d be called the president, appointed by the bishop to celebrate the Eucharist, and with me are the presbyters, who were members of the governing bodies of the early churches. Eunice and Boyd, our current Vestry members, are serving as presbyters today.
After the opening hymn, I’ll greet you with the ancient greeting that Jesus used when he first returned to the disciples after his resurrection, and then we’ll have the readings, followed by the homily in which I’ll exhort you to carry out in your lives the themes from the readings today, and then we’ll have the prayers. During the prayers, we all stand with our hands in the “orans” position, a posture of prayer in the early church.
At the offertory, you will see many things being offered in addition to bread and wine and money. You’ll see food like olives and cheese being offered, food for the needy, gifts, anything people had to offer to God, they brought and gave at the offertory, and all was brought forth to the altar. So we’ll do that today, and then the presbyters and I will lay hands on the bread and wine. This action is an ancient sign of offering.
The food that has been brought for the relief of the needy is set aside to be distributed later.
Early Christians did not kneel to receive the Eucharist, but came forward and stood to receive the bread and wine. So today, we’ll start with the people at the back of the church and work forward. Come down the aisle, receive the bread from me, go to the chalice bearer on your side for the wine, and then return to your seat.
At the end of the Eucharist, the deacon would have taken bread and wine to those who could not be present—and our Lay Eucharistic Visitors continue that tradition, but we won’t do that today. Also, the people present would have taken some bread and wine home so that they could receive privately during the week as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet to come, and also as a way of looking forward to the Eucharist the next Sunday.
After the Eucharist ended, the people would have shared an agape meal together, which is what we will do, sharing the bread, wine, olives, grapes, cheese and other food that has been offered. Help yourselves to this agape meal during the congregational meeting, which will take place as the informal conversation that the early Christians would have shared with one another as they ate.
After the meeting, we’ll close our celebration of the Eucharist with an ancient prayer from the Didache and then we’ll go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Resources
Frank Gavin, ThD, “The Eucharist in East and West,” in Liturgy and Worship: A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion, edited by W. K. Lowther Clarke, D.D., with the assistance of Charles Harris, D.D., SPCK, London, 1950.
“A Pre-Nicene Liturgy,” in Seven Pre-Reformation Eucharistic Liturgies: Historic Rites Arranged for Contemporary Celebration, by Marion J. Hatchett. The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, 1973.