A Brief Introduction To The Eucharistic Practices In The Early Patristic Age

Church History I
Professor: The Rev. Steven A. Peay, PhD.

James Brzezinski
3 November 2009

A Brief Introduction To The Eucharistic Practices In The Early Patristic Age

The Eucharist is a central part of our Anglo-Catholic piety. The purpose of this paper is to glance at the early development of the Eucharist with a focus on the Patristic age. The development of the worship of the Christian church is centered on the sacrament of Eucharist. By studying the early growth of the Eucharist we can better understand the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us on the cross.

The Eucharist was first celebrated at the Last Supper during the Passover meal that Jesus Christ had with his disciples. In the account of this meal, as written in the gospel of Luke,

17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. - Luke 22:17-20 NIV 1

Jesus gave thanks over the bread and wine. Euxaristhsas, the Greek word from which our word Eucharist is derived, is used in the 17th verse of this passage for the words ‘to give thanks.’ Another important phrase in this passage is at the end of verse 19, e0mh_n a0na/mnhsin, where we get the word ‘anamnesis’ which translates as ‘my remembrance’ or ‘in remembrance of me.’ This was the Lord’s command to us for the way he wants us to remember him and participate in the body and blood of his sacrifice for us. We are to break bread and drink wine, giving thanks for his remembrance.

The apostles’ experience at the Last Supper was a Paschal meal, there still remains the question of the exact procedure of the Paschal ritual…was a solemn meal composed of three main parts: (1) the introductory prayer and distribution of bread, (2) the meal itself, (3) the solemn blessing over the last cup of wine.2 There is a clear indication of a combination of a secular portion of the meal with the spiritual aspect of prayer and blessings, the agape meal and the Eucharistic.

Until well into the 3rd century, and possibly later, the bishop as the normal leader at the Eucharist, would have improvised the prayer, and the forms that survive from this early period are probably only possible models (e.g. the Eucharistic prayer in the Apostolic Tradition; also St Polycarp's prayer before his martyrdom in the Martyrdom of Polycarp, 14; the Didache may provide another example).3 The 4th and 5th centuries saw the composition of the great prayers in the liturgies attributed to St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, and others. In the Gallican, old Spanish (Mozarabic) and Ambrosian rites the prayer continued to be in the form of several short prayers.4
An example from Polycarp’s Prayer (died circa 167 AD) before his martyrdom gives us a glimpse at what Eucharistic prayers will look like.

"O Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, the God of angels and powers and of all creation, and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your presence,… For this reason, indeed for all things, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly high priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you, with him and the Holy Spirit, both now and for the ages to come. Amen."5

A portion of the 9th and 10th chapters of the Didache (circa 50 – 150 AD) titled ‘Concerning Eucharist’ moves us farther along the path of the development of Eucharistic prayers. These words from the Didache sound familiar to us.

Chapter 9. 1First, concerning the cup: We give you thanks, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you have made known to us through Jesus, your servant; to you be the glory forever.6 Chapter 10. 2We give you thanks, Holy Father, for your holy name, which you have caused to dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality that you have made known to us through Jesus your servant; to you be the glory forever. 3You, almighty Master, created all things for your name's sake, and gave food and drink to humans to enjoy; so that they might give you thanks; but to us you have graciously given spiritual food and drink, and eternal life through your servant…7

There are many patristic Fathers that have contributed to the development of the Eucharist. Justin Martyr (circa 100 – 167 AD) mentions two Eucharist services in his Apologies, the Baptismal Eucharist and one of the regular weekly (Sunday) Eucharist.8 Justin’s regular Eucharist has these parts: (a) Scripture Lessons; (b) Preaching; (c) Common Prayers; (d) Offertory; (e) Eucharistic Prayer (=the Consecration, probably already call the Epiclesis); (f) Amen and (g) the Communion.9 This outline indicates a rather complete order of service.

Hippolytus of Rome (circa 170-236) wrote in his Traditio Apostolica a surprisingly clear picture of the setup of Church life, and it contains the first complete text of a Eucharistic Prayer that has come down to us, one now well known everywhere: The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. Lift up your hearts. We lifted them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is meet and just.10

There was a gradual development of the Eucharist in practice, doctrine, and texts. In the patristic period there was remarkably little in the way of controversy on the subject.11 The foundation in the Jewish temple worship, the Passover meal, and the transition to the agape meal and then to the codification of the liturgy went through a lot of change during the patristic period. It is easy to see how the history of the Eucharist also shows us development in the doctrine and theology of this time as well. The development of the Eucharist coincided with the expansion of the Roman Empire, the growth of the Christian Church, the cultures and people. The Eucharist is central in the faith and practice of Christians from Christ death until today. By learning about the practices of the early church we can grow closer to Christ. As we understand the progress our fathers in the faith made as they worshiped and shared the sacraments with each other our connection with them becomes more meaningful and our catholic faith solid.

35 Then the two told what had happened on the way,
and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Luke 24:35 12
_______________________

Footnotes

1 NIV. HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973,1978,1984), 1854.
2 KEdward J. Kilmartin, the Eucharist in the Primitive Church. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965), 143.
3 F.L. Cross, and E. A. Livingstone, . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. (3rd Edition Revised. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) , 573.
4 Ibid. 573.
5 Michael W. Holmes, ed. The Apostolic Fathers. (3rd edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 321.
6 Ibid. 357.
7 Holmes, ed. The Apostolic Fathers, 359.
8 Felix L. Cirlot, Felix L. The Early Eucharist. (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1939), 75.
9 Ibid.75.
10 Josef A. Jungmann, The Mass - An Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Survey. (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1975) 31.
11 Cross. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 570.
12 NIV. HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973,1978,1984), 1854.

WORKS CITED

Cirlot, Felix L. The Early Eucharist. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1939.

Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd Edition Revised. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Holmes, Michael W., ed. The Apostolic Fathers. 3rd edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007.

Jungmann, Josef A. The Mass - An Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Survey. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1975.

Kilmartin, Edward J. The Eucharist in the Primitive Church. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965.

NIV. HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973,1978,1984.

St. John Chrysostom

Church History I
Professor: The Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.

James Brzezinski
3 November 2009

St. John Chrysostom

With the commencement of my studies at Nashotah House Theological Seminary I have begun to see the many connections between the different areas of theological study. Each course seems to have intersecting relationships with the other courses that add value and exponentially contribute information and meaning to the other subjects. In this paper I will attempt to show that Saint John Chrysostom, through his life, writings, and ministry, has the same significance and importance today that he had when he lived in the 4th century A.D., by asking the question, “Do the words spoken by ‘golden-mouthed’ John Chrysostom the ascetic, preacher, and bishop, have the meaning in our post-Christian post-modern world?”

My first interest in St. John Chrysostom began many years ago when I first heard this prayer during Morning and Evening Prayer. The prayer, found in the Book of Common Prayer 1928, was titled, A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. Here follows the BCP 1979 version.

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.1

This prayer expresses the corporate nature of prayer, the promise that through Jesus, God the Father will be present with those gathered in the name of his Son Jesus and the request that our prayers be answered in the way the Lord sees fit for us, that we be given knowledge of the Lord’s truth and eternal life. This is an eloquent prayer, a prayer that expresses what we really need from the Lord.

This familiar prayer in the BCP was drawn by Thomas Cranmer from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom.2 Researching the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom revealed the interesting fact that the Prayer of St Chrysostom’s authorship is unknown,3 but recently however, many passages for which parallels can be found in Chrysostom’s works have led G. Wagner to defend the connection.4 This controversy does not negate the influence of Chrysostom on this liturgy and this prayer because there are extensive extant examples of John Chrysostom’s writing; far more than exist for many other writers.
John Chrysostom was born between 344 and 354 A.D. at Antioch in Syria… as an adult he was baptized in 367… from 370 – 376 he lived an ascetic lifestyle as a monk near Antioch… he was ordained a deacon in 381 and ordained a priest in 386 and thereafter he began preaching… the Affair of the Statues occurs in 387… he leaves Antioch to become Archbishop of Constantinople in 398… he visits Ephesus and elsewhere in 401… the Synod of the Oak takes place in 403 and Chrysostom is banished and recalled… in 404 he is definitively banished to Cucusus in lesser Armenia and in 407 dies at Comana in Pontus on 14 September.5

John Chrysostom’s practical, insightful, and pastorally sensitive writing about children’s education appear in his third book. “The most awful responsibility, he claims, which God imposes on parents is to bring their children up properly, yet most fathers, are really only concerned for their having a successful career. Instead of warning them against love of money and worldly ambition and holding up the gospel ideals before them, they surround them with superfluous luxuries...”6 John Chrysostom proposes a radical programe, that parents should entrust their children to monks from the start.7 Ten years later in his, “On Vain Glory and How Parents Should Educate Children,” we find a more practical frame of mind. A priest of pastoral experience, John Chrysostom had now abandoned all idea of packing children off to monasteries for their schooling. He is as insistent as ever on the need for a thoroughly Christian education based on the scriptures, but he now recognizes that it is in the home that children must receive it and that the duty of instructing them falls primarily on the father.8 This sounds so similar to the current trend toward homeschooling that seems to be gaining popularity in the last two decades.

These texts from “Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood” are of particular interest to seminary students because they are expert advice for those responding to the call to the priesthood. This whole treatise, consisting of introduction and six books, is full of wisdom for potential priests as well as practicing clergy.

Book V 7. … But let him not even consider the opinion, so erroneous and inartistic, of the outside world. Let, therefore, the man who undertakes the strain of teaching never give heed to the good opinion of the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such persons; but laboring at his sermons so that he may please God, (For let this alone be his rule and determination, in discharging this best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, nor good opinions,) if, indeed, he be praised by men, let him not repudiate their applause, and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek it, let him not be grieved. For a sufficient consolation in his labors, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to pleasing God.9

Book VI 4. …The soul of the Priest should shine like a light beaming over the whole world. … Priests are the salt of the earth. …For the Priest ought not only to be thus pure as one who has been dignified with so high a ministry, but very discreet, and skilled in many matters, and to be as well versed in the affairs of this life as they who are engaged in the world, …he too should be a many-sided man--I say many-sided, not unreal, nor yet fawning and hypocritical, but full of much freedom and assurance, and knowing how to adapt himself profitably, where the circumstances of the case require it, and to be both kind and severe, for it is not possible to treat all those under one's charge on one plan, … For, indeed, continual storms beset this ship of ours, and these storms do not assail from without only, but take their rise from within, and there is need of much condescension, and circumspection, … and all these different matters have one end in view, the glory of God, and the edifying of the Church.10

These two excerpts should give an obvious view of the timeliness of John Chrysostom’s writing which is as meaningful and helpful to us today, as it was in the 4th century.

John, surnamed from his remarkable and singular eloquence ‘Chrysostom,’ 0Iwa/nnhs Xruso/stomos or the ‘golden-mouthed’…could scarcely have been given to him during his life, since no allusion is made to it during that period of time by any writer... But when we come to the close of the fifth century, we find that writers almost invariably assigned to him the title of Chrysostom and his original name of John… in combination.11

Bishops deserve credit for the zeal with which their flocks sought to make Christianity the sole religion of the empire… John Chrysostom constantly urged his people to live lives of such commendable piety that others would want to imitate them by becoming Christian.12

St. John Chrysostom’s preaching is full of instruction for an epoch such as ours… Today as then, the world is in need of lives entirely consecrated to the service of God and souls… the spoken word cultivated by an ardent convinced and outspoken soul, will always remain one of the most essential and influencing forms… Chrysostom gave his whole life to it with a talent flavoring of genius, a conviction, an enthusiasm and all the disinterestedness of a saint.13

From various references in the sermons surviving from John Chrysostom’s years in Antioch, it is clear that the preacher planned his sermons carefully with his listeners in mind and that they led him to concentrate upon what they wanted or needed to know… the congregation seems to have been … ordinary people who knew enough about their religion to debate doctrine among themselves and evangelize others.14 The writings of St. John Chrysostom are timeless in their expression of the faith, truth, and doctrine that they convey. These eloquent words have empowered believers to express their faith to others for centuries and still have the ability encourage the reader to be transformed into new creations for the sake of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
___________________________

1 The Church Hymnal Corporation. The Book Of Common Prayer. (New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979), 126.
2 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd Edition Revised. F. L. Cross, and E. A. Livingstone, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 346.
3 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 346.
4 Ibid. 346.
5 Donald Attwater, St. John Chrysostom - Pastor and Preacher. (London: Harvill Press, 1959),192
6 J. N. D. Kelly, Golden Mouth - The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995), 53.
7 Ibid. 53.
8 Kelly, Golden Mouth - The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop, 54.
9 Philip Schaff, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father of the Christian Church - Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the statues. Edited by Philip Schaff. Translated by W. R. W. Stephens. Vol. IX. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmanns Publishing Company, 1889), 71.
10 Schaff, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father of the Christian Church - Saint Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, 76-77.
11 R. Wheler Bush, The Life and Times of Chrysostom. (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1885) 34-35.
12 E. Glenn Hinson, The Early Church - Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages. (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1996) 275-276.
13 Bruno H. Vandenberghe, John of the Golden Mouth. Translated by Bruno H. Vandenberghe. (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1958) 89.
14 Jaclyn L. Maxwell, Jaclyn L. Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity - John Chrysostom and his Congreagation in Antioch. (Cambridge: Cambrigde University Press, 2006), 117.

WORKS CITED

Attwater, Donald. St. John Chrysostom - Pastor and Preacher. London: Harvill Press, 1959.

Bush, R. Wheler. The Life and Times of Chrysostom. London: The Religious Tract Society, 1885.

Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd Edition Revised. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hinson, E. Glenn. The Early Church - Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1996.

Kelly, J. N. D. Golden Mouth - The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1995.

Maxwell, Jaclyn L. Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity - John Chrysostom and his Congregation in Antioch. Cambridge: Cambrigde University Press, 2006.

Schaff, Philip. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father of the Christian Church - Saint Chrysostom: on the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the Statues. Edited by Philip Schaff. Translated by W. R. W. Stephens. Vol. IX. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmanns Publishing Company, 1889.

The Church Hymnal Corporation. The Book Of Common Prayer. New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979.

Vandenberghe, Bruno H. John of the Golden Mouth. Translated by Bruno H. Vandenberghe. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1958.