WRITTEN BY: Catechist Branislav Ilić, editor of the portal „Kinonia“
The Eucharist represents the essence of God’s eternal covenant with men, established in the upper room of Jerusalem at the Last Supper. The Lord Jesus Christ blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take, eat; this is my body.” And in the same way, he took the cup and giving thanks gave it to them, saying: Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:26-29). The world fulfills its true purpose in the Eucharist, in it it is transformed and becomes the Body of Christ, that is, the Church. In the Eucharist, people are deified and Christified, they become sons of God by grace, finding in Christ an inexhaustible source of life, since He is Life (John 14:6) and the Bread of life which comes down from heaven, that whoever eats of Him may not die (John 6:50). The realized and living communion with God that is established in the Eucharist implies constant thanksgiving to God for everything he has done for us. We thank God for creating this world, for bringing it from non-existence into being, and for giving it the opportunity to attain eternal existence in union with Him.
We will try to present here what the Eucharistic gathering in the apostolic community looked like and what the Eucharist represented for the Christians of that period. The sources that bring us specific details regarding the gathering in the apostolic community are few, but based on several biblical testimonies we can form a clear picture of what it looked like, and even learn about the sacred order at that time.
After Christ’s ascension on the Mount of Olives and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, the first Christian community lived a full spiritual life for several decades, gathering for Eucharistic gatherings. According to the description in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, and especially in the Epistles to the Corinthians, the Eucharist of the early Church (1 Cor. 10:16) was always to be found in the context of the community of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:13). The entire economy of salvation, from the Incarnation of God the Logos to His Ascension, was accomplished by the power and action of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the consummation of the Eucharist was never just an anamnesis of the Last Supper, but rather its most concrete actualization and presence here and now. When it comes to the Eucharist in the time of the apostolic community, one detail from the Epistles of the Apostle Paul is particularly valuable. The addressing of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul to the Church of God in Corinth or in Thessalonica (1 Cor. 1:1; Thess. 1:17) indicates a Eucharistic gathering of the faithful in Corinth or Thessalonica. It was at that Eucharistic assembly that the epistle addressed by the God-wise apostle was read. The term “domestic Church” (Rom. 16:5, 23; 1 Cor. 16:19) also refers to the Eucharistic synaxis of all Christians in a particular place in the home of some prominent believer. Specifically, the Eucharistic community has always been identified with the Church of God, so the Eucharistic gathering of believers in one place was actually the Church of God in that place. The apostle wrote his epistles with pastoral rhetoric and addressed them to the churches in order to solve a specific problem in the community. The presence of many liturgical elements in his epistles shows that he addressed them to the community gathered for worship, which is why he includes existing liturgical hymns in them, knowing that the reading of his epistle will be followed by the Lord’s Supper. The endings of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians and the Epistle to the Colossians (1 Thess. 5:27–28; Col. 4:16) testify to this.. In his epistles, the Apostle Paul often uses the expression “prayer” (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2; 1 Tim. 4:5) or “thanksgiving” (1 Cor. 4:16; 2 Cor. 4:15; 1 Tim. 2:1), and we also find mention of “vigils” (2 Cor. 6:5; 12:27), which is undoubtedly related to the Eucharist, which was the centre and focal point of the life of the apostolic Church. When he addresses his epistles to the Christians of a single city, the Apostle Paul never speaks of the Church in the plural; he uses the plural only and exclusively when he addresses a specific area through a specific epistle. When the term Church is used for a specific place, it has the meaning of calling all the Christians of that place into one and unique assembly that will represent the Church. When the Apostle Paul speaks of the Church gathered in the house of Gaius in Corinth, and when he refers to the gathering for the Eucharist, he means the entire Church. The Apostle Paul never directly mentions the term Eucharist, but rather the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 10:21) or the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:20). Towards the end of the apostolic era, the name Eucharist prevailed for the Lord’s Supper, precisely because of the prayer that is said over the bread and wine. The earliest mention of the term Eucharist in the sense of the Lord’s Supper is found in a writing called „Didache“.
In the First Epistle to the Corinthians we see that in apostolic times, the entire Church of that place, that is, all believers in Christ from that place, gathered for the Eucharistic assembly in one place (in this case, Corinth). The Eucharistic assembly was always one and unique in each place, since it included the entire Church of God in that place. In the Epistle to the Ephesians of the holy Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer of Antioch, we find the following words that support the above truth: “Let no one be deceived: if anyone is not inside the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two is effective, how much more so is the prayer of the bishop and the whole Church” (Eph. 5:2). In the same epistle, Saint Ignatius also teaches in the following words: “Seek to gather together often for the Eucharist and for the praise. For when you meet together often in one place, then the powers of Satan are overthrown” (Eph. 13:1). The same saint teaches the believers in Philadelphia in the following words: “Seek only one Eucharist, for there is one body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup for the communion of His blood; there is one altar, just as there is one bishop, and with him presbyters (priesthood) and deacons” (Phil. 4). It is clear that in apostolic times the Eucharist was one and only in each local Church, and therefore it was the principle and centre, but also the expression of the unity of that local and complete Church of God.
The Eucharist of the apostolic period had as its prototype the Lord’s Supper, which was structured according to the type of the Jewish supper. The increasingly frequent contacts of the apostles with the Gentiles left their mark on the nature and structure of the apostles’ worship life. Two elements are of exceptional importance: the church sacrifice represents a counterpoint to the pagan sacrifice, and the breaking of bread is seen as a real worship of the Lord’s Day. The bread is blessed and everyone partakes of communion, and after the supper the cup is also blessed and everyone partakes of communion. So the Eucharist of the first centuries combines elements of the Jewish Passover, that is, the Sabbath ritual, with the characteristic features of the antiquity cult. If we compare this worship service of the first days of the Christian Church with the testimony that arose a quarter of a century later, recorded by the Apostle Paul in Troas as part of his third missionary journey, then the following picture emerges: on the first day of the week (Sunday), on the Lord’s Day, Christians gather for the „breaking of bread“. The Apostle Paul preaches to the elect on that occasion and his sermon extends deep into the night, the apostle goes out into the upper room and breaks bread thus receiving communion, then he speaks until dawn and then departs. In this testimony, we can recognize three elements of the apostolic Eucharist: teaching, gathering and breaking bread.
During the time of the apostolic community, the Epistles of the Apostles were read at the Eucharistic assembly, followed by the kiss of love (2 Cor 13:12; Rom. 16:16). After the kiss of love, the liturgist blessed the faithful with “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (2 Cor. 13:13), followed by a prayer of thanksgiving and the words “Take, eat… and drink from it, all of you…” (Mt. 26:26-27). We do not have enough clear testimonies about the prayer of invocation of the Holy Spirit. Communion followed (1 Cor. 11:27-29). This is exactly how the Eucharist was celebrated during the time of the apostolic community.