“Sacred cows make the tastiest
hamburger.” – Abbie Hoffman
While lay people and even most clergy in the Church use the
terms Eucharist and Communion as if they were virtually interchangeable, this
is not the case. The word Eucharist
derives from ancient Greek for “Thanksgiving” and refers most accurately to the
central prayers of the service at which attendees partake of Communion, the
actual wine and bread.
I stress “wine” because despite the pretensions and
self-delusions of a wide section of American Protestant fundamentalism, when it
says “wine” in the Bible, it means WINE,
and, in fact, wine that was usually two to three or even more times stronger
than most wine these days. So strong
that those drinking it almost always diluted it with water before doing so.
The anti-alcohol theme only arose as part of the American
temperance movement of the 19th century, and among Christians is
unique to the fundamentalist sect and its offshoots. The proposition of Jesus and his disciples
drinking nonalcoholic wine, or even its very existence, in the times in which the
events in the gospels are set is a ludicrous myth. Only someone with complete ignorance of the meteorological
climate of Palestine, of science, of the process of fermentation, and of the
practices of Judaism could believe that.
Theologians and liturgists refer to the central prayer, or
set of prayers, of consecration as the Anaphora, and its parts have been more
or less standardized since the 4th century, though there is some
slight variation on the order and in the West prayers vary in wording according
to the season. In general, the order of
an anaphora is this: Sursum corda,
Preface, Sanctus, Benedictus, Post-Sanctus, Words of
Institution, Anamnesis, Oblation, Epiclesis, Intercessions, Doxology.
The Sursum corda
is a series of versicles and responses between celebrant and congregation at
the opening of the anaphora. The Sanctus and Benedictus are canticles.
The Anamnesis is the statement
of remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus.
The Epiclesis is the
invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine.
Before the 4th century, things were a bit less
regular.
Holy Communion has been part of Church practice since the
beginning, its significance altered, corrupted, twisted, and contorted out of
all recognition the further away in time from the events which it is supposed
to commemorate and the further away in culture from that in which the Church
was born and incubated. Its meaning has
been given as anything from ritual symbolic cannibalism, to merely a memorial
meal, to a magic ceremony which supernaturally transforms bread and wine into
actual human flesh and actual human blood to make the cannibalism actual rather
than merely symbolic, to a ritual in which communicants are able to have their
god-cake and eat him/it too.
Out of the context in which the practice arose, the ritual
and symbolism lost all real meaning, becoming inscrutable and seemingly magical.
When I first started thinking about this, I realized that
perhaps one of the best ways to glimpse that lost past was to find the earliest
liturgy possible. One of the first
suggestions for that which I came across was the Liturgy of St. James the
Just. He was the brother of Jesus who
was bishop of Jerusalem and main ideological antagonist of Paul of Tarsus. However, it was immediately apparent when I
found a copy of the rite that the claims about it were seriously mistaken.
A better candidate, also from the East (the St. James liturgy
is used by the Syriac churches), was the Liturgy of Addai and Mari, which lacks
several of the key parts of modern anaphoras, such as there being no Anamnesis,
no Words of Institution, and no Epiclesis.
This rite is also used by Syriac churches, both their Oriental Orthodox
and Uniate versions. Rome requires its
Uniate churches to insert the Words of Institution into the anaphora of the
liturgy so that the magical ritual will not be incomplete.
There is another, even better, candidate, from probably the
early 3rd century of the Common Era (C.E.), that has nearly all
parts of modern anaphoras, but before I get to that, I want to discuss what is
perhaps the earliest set of Eucharistic prayers known.
One of the earliest works of the Christian Church is a catechistic
tract titled The Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles to the Heathen, but more commonly known as the Didache.
Probably written around 50 CE (some scholars date it later, to around
the late first or early second century), it is older than most of the books of
the New Testament, at least in the forms in which we have those.
Primarily an instructional treatise on Christian living and
rites and some aspects of church government, it is organized into sixteen
chapters. For this essay, the most
relevant chapters are 9 and 10, which begin with the phrase, “Concerning the
Eucharist”.
First concerning the Cup, We give thanks to you,
Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you made known to us
through your servant Jesus; to you be glory forever.
And concerning the broken Bread: We give you thanks, Father, for the life and
knowledge which you made known to us through your son Jesus. To you be glory
forever.
As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains but was brought together and became one, so let your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, for yours are the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.
As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains but was brought together and became one, so let your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, for yours are the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.
But after you are
satisfied with food, thus give thanks: We give thanks to you, holy Father, for making
your holy name dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and
immortality which you have given us through Jesus your son. To you be glory forever.
You, Lord Almighty, created all things for your name's sake, and gave all humanity food and drink for our enjoyment, that we might give thanks to you, but you have blessed us with spiritual food and drink and eternal light through your son. Above all we give thanks that you are mighty. To you be glory forever.
You, Lord Almighty, created all things for your name's sake, and gave all humanity food and drink for our enjoyment, that we might give thanks to you, but you have blessed us with spiritual food and drink and eternal light through your son. Above all we give thanks that you are mighty. To you be glory forever.
Remember, Lord, to
deliver your church from all evil and to make it perfect in your love, and
gather it together in holiness from the four winds to the kingdom which you have
prepared for it. For yours are the power and the glory forever.
Let grace come and let
this world pass away. Hosannah to the God of David. If anyone be holy, let them
come! If anyone be not, let them repent: Maranatha, Amen.
No Words of Institution, no Anamnesis, nothing much that
even remotely resembles any modern anaphora, other than the lack of the same in
the Liturgy of Addai and Mari. Most
scholars studying the Didache have found themselves puzzled by the apparent
reversal of the order of the blessing of bread and wine. This is largely because they are looking at
it out of its proper context, despite the fact that they have an explanation
staring them in the face.
It was not until I attended services for a year at the local
Conservative synagogue (Bnai Zion in Chattanooga) that I got it, and even then
only after attending a First Shabbat dinner.
The ceremony began with the Sanctification of the meal over
a cup of wine, with the rabbi saying the following, in Hebrew, of course:
Blessed are you, O
Lord our God, King of the Universe, who create the fruit of the vine. Amen.
The rabbi’s sanctification of his own cup sanctified those
of all the attendees.
Next came the Benediction, pronounced over a loaf of bread,
by which all the food to be eaten at the meal was blessed (though modern Jewish
prayers exist for other foods):
Blessed are you, O
Lord our God, King of the Universe, who bring forth bread from the earth. Amen.
After the meal came
the Thanksgiving, pronounced once again over a cup of wine:
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who sustain the
entire universe with your goodness, grace, and mercy. Blessed are you, O Lord, who sustain all. Amen.
We give thanks to
you, O Lord our God, that you prepared for our fathers a good land
and brought us out of Egypt, and gave to us the Covenant, Torah, and all the
food we could want.
Blessed are you, O Lord, for the land, and for the food. Amen.
O Lord our God, have mercy upon Israel your people, upon
Jerusalem your city, and upon that house that is called by your Name. May you restore the kingdom of the house of
David your Messiah to its rightful place.
Blessed are you O Lord our God, who build Jerusalem. Amen.
May he who makes peace in the celestial
heights create peace for us and for all Israel, and let us say, Amen. Amen.
Blessed are you, O
Lord our God, King of the Universe, who create the fruit of the vine. Amen.
These prayers have existed and been used for more than two millennia,
dating from well before the turn of the era.
That these were the prayers said by Jesus at the Last Supper before his
pronouncements recorded in the gospels (and in the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians) was taken for granted by
those of that time.
When the Eucharistic prayers of the Didache are viewed in their proper context, the solution to the
seemingly odd reversal of the blessing of the bread and wine becomes obvious. The text clearly states that the third prayer
comes after the meal, which Jewish Christians and Gentiles familiar with Jewish
practice knew was supposed to be pronounced over a cup of wine.
If one goes by the accounts of the Last Supper in the Gospel of Matthew and/or in the Gospel of Mark, both of which have only a
blessing of bread then a blessing of wine, even this might not bring
clarity. However, read the account from
the Gospel of Luke (22:17-20), which
is what I mentioned earlier as the example staring scholars in the face:
And he took the cup,
and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among you: For I say
unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God
be come
And he took bread, and
when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is
my body, which is given for you: do this in the remembrance of me.
Likewise also after
supper he took the
cup, saying, This cup is that new Testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Here in one of the
Synoptic Gospels is the answer that could have explained for theologians what to
them was the incomprehensible tripartite Eucharist in the Didache.
The text is from the
1599 edition of the Geneva Bible. The “Authorized
Version” published in 1611 is not, as many assume, the first complete
translation of the Bible into English; that place belongs to the 1560 Geneva
Bible translated by John Knox. The only
significant difference between that edition and the one in 1599, also by Knox,
was the addition of footnotes throughout the whole book, well before the advent
of the 20th century’s Scofield Reference Bible.
Being of Calvinist origin, which favored congregational or presbyterian polity, Knox’s translation was deemed insufficiently supportive of the Episcopal government favored by the Court of James I of England. Thus, despite its predecessor’s superior clarity and excellence, we got the “King James Version”, largely plagiarized from the Geneva Bible, but with select passages rewritten to show more support for Episcopal government and others rendered opaque by use of words and language archaic even then.
Being of Calvinist origin, which favored congregational or presbyterian polity, Knox’s translation was deemed insufficiently supportive of the Episcopal government favored by the Court of James I of England. Thus, despite its predecessor’s superior clarity and excellence, we got the “King James Version”, largely plagiarized from the Geneva Bible, but with select passages rewritten to show more support for Episcopal government and others rendered opaque by use of words and language archaic even then.
When fundamentalists
and evangelicals vehemently condemn all other versions of the Christian Bible
and uphold the KJV as the only true translation, they are in effect affirming
the polity of the Anglican Communion and its branches. As an Episcopalian, I have to say, “Thank you
for your endorsement.”
The “Authorized
Version”, by the way, along with the older Geneva Bible, included translations
of the works recognized as sacred by the Roman and Eastern churches yet
rejected as such (though still held to be inspired) by Protestant and Reformed
leaders. Therefore, those Bibles that
lack the Apocrypha which nearly all the preachers from the Church’s
fundamentalist and evangelical wings thump should be titled “King James Bible, Abridged
Version”.
Getting back on topic,
it is apparent from the Didache that early Christians partook of Communion
during a meal, following the form inherited from its Jewish precedent, with a
tripartite eucharist, or thanksgiving.
The predecessor of this kind of meal among Jews was called a chavurah (fraternal)
meal; among Christians it came to be called an agape (unconditional divine love)
meal. That such was the case is also
evident from Paul’s discussion of the “Lord’s supper” in the eleventh chapter
of his First Epistle to the Cornithians (11:17-33).
One reason the
concept of a tripartite eucharist may elude most theologians is that the Words
of Institution in most modern anaphoras is based on this passage in 1 Cor.
11:23-26, again from the 1599 Geneva Bible:
For I have received of the Lord that which I
also have delivered unto you, to
wit, That the Lord Jesus in the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he brake it,
and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this
do ye in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had
supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do as oft
as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For
as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye show the Lord’s
death till he come.
Here, the Eucharist is only two-fold. This, in spite of being in the middle of a
discussion of “the Lord’s supper” in the context of a communal meal, possibly
already being referred to as an agape meal, for which we have an account from
the Didache of a threefold
eucharist. This part of the passage about
“the Lord’s supper” may be a much later interpolation.
Many textual analysts opine that the two letters of Paul of
Tarsus to the church at Corinth in their present form have been mashed together
from four originals, with possibly a fragment of a fifth added to the mix. The earliest form in which we have these two
letters comes from Marcion of Sinope, who brought to Rome in 140 CE the seven
agreed-upon as genuine letters of Paul (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon) along with an early version of what is
now called the Gospel of Luke which
he named the Gospel of the Lord.
Losing the initial cup of wine was Christians’ first step
away from the foundation of Holy Communion in its journey from its original design
of a shared communal meal eaten in homes inherited from a Jewish antecedent to what
became for all intents and purposes magical rite of transformation of common elements
into the body of a god at a sacrificial altar presided over by a priest to whom
was ascribed the keys to the gates of heaven.
Now, these mystery aspects of Communion are not without
antecedent themselves, not in Judaism but rather in the pagan
Mystery Cults, many of which had stories of a dying and rising god similar to
the later doctrines of Christianity.
The oldest of these was the cult of Osiris in Egypt. His communion used beer and barley bread
rather than wheat bread and wine. After
the conquests by Alexander and subsequently by Ptolemy, a new cult arose based
on Osiris but in the form of a new syncretic god named Serapis.
Serapis derived from the merging of the Egyptian gods Osiris
and Apis, but in Greek form, and was later further endowed with the healing
aspects of the Greek god Asclepius.
There was a Serapeum, a shrine to Serapis, just outside of the walls of
Jerusalem next to the Fortress Antonia in the time of Jesus; the Gospel of John places one of his
miracles there. Another Serapeum stood
in the city of Samaria.
Other popular Mystery Cults of the last two centuries BCE
and the first three centuries CE were of Dionysus, Attis, Adonis, and Mithras,
but the list is hardly exhaustive. And don’t just take
my word for the similarity between Christianity and the Mystery Cults; the 2nd
centuries Christian theologians Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria both
discussed it in their writings. Justin
Martyr condemned the similarities as a trick of Satan. Clement of Alexandria offered those same similarities
as proof of the validity of Christianity in debate with pagan philosophers.
The anaphora in the late 2nd century/early 3rd
century Apostolic Tradition, a work
that has been often mistakenly ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome but more likely
originated in the East of the empire, represents a midway point in the
transition:
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up unto the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord.
It is meet and right.
It is meet and right.
We give thanks to you God, through your beloved son Jesus Christ, whom you sent to us in former times as Savior, Redeemer, and Messenger of your Will, who is your inseparable Word,
through whom you made all, and in whom you were well-pleased, whom you sent from heaven into the womb of a virgin, who, being conceived within her, was made flesh, and appeared as your Son, born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin. It is he who, fulfilling your will and acquiring for you a holy people,extended his hands in suffering, in order to liberate from sufferings those who believe in you.
Who, when he was delivered
to voluntary suffering, in order to dissolve death, and break the chains of the
devil, and tread down hell, and bring the just to the light, and set the limit,
and manifest the resurrection, taking the bread, and giving thanks to you,
said, "Take, eat, for this is my body which is broken for you." Likewise the chalice, saying, This is my
blood which is shed for you. Whenever you do this, do this memory of me.
Therefore, remembering
his death and resurrection, we offer to you the bread and the chalice, giving
thanks to you, who made us worthy to stand before you and to serve as your
priests.
And we pray that you
would send your Holy Spirit to the oblation of your Holy Church. In their
gathering together, give to all those who partake of your holy mysteries the
fullness of the Holy Spirit, toward the strengthening of the faith in truth, that
we may praise you and glorify you, through your son Jesus Christ, through whom
to you be glory and honor, Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit, in your Holy
Church, now and always, Amen.
In this we have nearly all the elements of the later
anaphora that we have today, the notable exception being the lack of the Sanctus.
However, the text still contains elements that connect Communion to a
meal, providing additional prayers for the sanctification of oil (presumably to
dip bread in), of cheese, and of olives:
Sanctify this oil, O
God, with which you anointed kings, priests and prophets, so as to grant health
to them who use it and partake of it, that it may bestow comfort on all who
taste it
and health on all who
use it. Glory to you, with Holy Spirit,
in the holy church, both now and always and world without end. Amen.
Sanctify this milk
that has been united into one mass, and unite us to your love. Let your loving kindness
ever rest upon this fruit of the olive, which is a type of your bounty, which you
caused to flow from the tree unto life for them who hope in you. Glory to you, with Holy Spirit, in the holy church,
both now and always and world without end.
Amen.
Cheese and olives plus bread do not make a hearty meal, but
who doesn’t enjoy a good wine and cheese party?
As for the oil, ancient Christians must’ve thought Jesus tasted better
that way.
In addition, though the prayers are not included, the
Apostolic Tradition prescribes that after receiving the bread the newly
baptized be given water, then milk with honey, then the wine, which preserves
the idea of a meal in smaller form.
Sometime between this and the 4th century, the
meal aspects of the service disappeared entirely, leaving a rite that was only
a shadow of its former self, hollowed out of any connection to its original
meaning and intent. From this we got
silly practices such as parading around with a staff enshrining a piece of
bread as if Christians worship food.
Holy Communion is not about worshipping food. The Real Presence has never been in there,
but in the “two or more gathered in my name”, sharing a meal in love and
fellowship, even if that meal is usually limited now to bread as a tasteless wafer
and a tiny sip of wine.
APPENDIX: The anaphora of Addai
and Mari
In the Liturgy of Addai and Mari still used by Assyrian and
Chaldean and some Thomasine Christians, the anaphora of dates back to 3rd
century CE Edessa. In its original form,
presented here in English translation, it lacks the Words of Institution. It is the oldest anaphora in use in all of Christendom.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the
Father and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and at all times and forever
and ever. Amen.
V. Let your hearts be on high.
R. To thee, God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Israel,
glorious King.
V. The offering is being offered to God, the
Lord of all.
R. It is meet and right.
Worthy of
glory from every mouth and thanksgiving from every tongue is the adorable and
glorious Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who created the
world in his grace and its inhabitants in his compassion, has redeemed mankind
in his mercy, and has affected great grace towards mortals.
Your
majesty, O Lord, a thousand heavenly
beings worship and myriad myriads of angels, hosts of spiritual beings,
ministers of fire and spirit with cherubim and holy seraphim, glorify your
name, crying out and glorifying, shouting and praising without ceasing and
crying one to another and saying:
Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts heaven and
earth are full of his praises.
And with
these heavenly hosts we give thanks to you, o my Lord, even we your servants
weak and frail and miserable, for that thou hast given us great grace past
recompense in that thou didst put on our manhood that thou mightiest quicken it
by thy godhead, and hast exalted our low estate and restored our fall and
raised our mortality and forgiven our trespasses and justified our sinfulness
and enlightened our knowledge and, o our Lord and our God, hast condemned our
enemies and granted victory to the weakness of our frail nature in the
overflowing mercies of thy grace.
Do thou, O my Lord, in thy many and unspeakable mercies make a good and acceptable
memorial for all the just and righteous fathers who have been well-pleasing in
thy sight, in the commemoration of the body and blood of thy Christ which we
offer unto thee on thy pure and holy altar as thou hast taught us, and grant us
thy tranquillity and thy peace all the days of the world.
Yea, O our
Lord and our God, grant us thy tranquillity and thy peace all the days of the
world that all the inhabitants of the earth may know thee that thou art the
only true God the Father and that thou hast sent our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son
and thy beloved. And he our Lord and our God came and in his life giving gospel
taught us all the purity and holiness of the prophets and the apostles and the
martyrs and the confessors and the bishops and the doctors and the presbyters
and the deacons and all the children of the holy catholic church, even them that
have been signed with the living sign of holy baptism.
And we
also, O my Lord, thy weak and frail and miserable servants who are gathered
together in thy name, both stand before thee at this time and have received the
example which is from thee delivered unto us, rejoicing and praising and
exalting and commemorating and celebrating this great and fearful and holy and
life giving and divine mystery of the passion and the death and the burial and
the resurrection of our Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ.
And may
there come, o my Lord, thine Holy Spirit and rest upon this offering of thy
servants and bless it and hallow it that it be to us, o my Lord, for the pardon
of offences and the remission of sins and for the great hope of resurrection
from the dead and for new life in the kingdom of heaven with all those who have
been well pleasing in thy sight.
And for all
this great and marvellous dispensation towards us we will give thee thanks and
praise thee without ceasing in thy Church redeemed by the precious blood of thy
Christ, with unclosed mouths and open faces lifting up praise and honour and
confession and worship to thy living and holy and life giving name now and ever
and world without end. AMEN.
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