{"id":8943,"date":"2012-01-12T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T16:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=8943"},"modified":"2015-02-05T15:25:38","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T22:25:38","slug":"this-all-sounds-so-familiar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2012\/01\/12\/this-all-sounds-so-familiar\/","title":{"rendered":"This all sounds so familiar…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JustinYesterday I published a\u00a0blog entry<\/a>\u00a0which contained the text which we are going to study tonight at the\u00a0JP2 Group<\/a>. We’re going to read this document\u00a0as part of our three-week series looking at worship in\u00a0the Early Church.<\/p>\n

The text I posted yesterday was a substantial extract from a work by Justin Martyr. St. Justin was a Christian in the 2nd Century and he wrote an apologetic work addressed to the Emperor known as his First Apology.\u00a0In this ancient document he provides a defense of the Christian faith, but he also describes in some detail the Christian worship of his era.<\/p>\n

Justin wrote his First Apology in around AD 150 and, despite the\u00a0nascent state of the Church at this time, the liturgy has a clear structure. Catholics and all those who attend “liturgical” churches should be able to recognize many things in Justin’s description which are present in their own worship:<\/p>\n

1. Sunday Worship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists<\/a>\u00a0say that Christians should worship on the Sabbath (Saturday), but it’s clear from St. Justin that in the Second Century Christian worship was on Sunday:<\/p>\n

“And on the day called ‘Sunday’, all who live in cities or in the countryside gather… We hold our assembly on Sunday because it is the first day, on which God brought forth the world from darkness and matter. On the same day, Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2. Deacons<\/strong>
\nIt is the role of Deacons to distribute Communion:<\/p>\n

“…those who are called ‘deacons’\u00a0give to each person present a portion”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

3. Reading of Scripture<\/strong>
\nThe Sunday liturgy begins with a Liturgy of the Word:<\/p>\n

“…the memoires of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

4. Homily<\/strong>
\nThe one leading the liturgy teaches from the Readings which have been heard:<\/p>\n

“…the president instructs and exhorts [the congregation] to the imitation of these good things [from Scripture]”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

5. Prayers of the Faithful<\/strong>
\nThe Church gathers together to intercede for themselves and the world:<\/p>\n

“…we offer hearty prayers: for ourselves, for the [baptized] person, and for all others in every place…we all rise together and pray”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

6. The Poor Box<\/strong>
\nMoney is collected for the poor:<\/p>\n

“Those who are able, give willingly whatever sum they think appropriate. The money collected is deposited with the president…he takes care of all who are in need”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

7. Sign of Peace<\/strong>
\nJustin’s description makes a handshake seem quite lame, doesn’t it? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

“…we greet one another with a kiss”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

8. Bread and Wine<\/strong>
\nThe Eucharist is central to Justin’s description of worship.<\/p>\n

“Then bread and a cup of wine mixed with water are brought to the president of the brethren”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the Second Century wine mixed with water is brought to the one presiding. In today’s Roman liturgy it is the priest himself who mixes the water and wine, praying\u00a0“By the mystery of this\u00a0water and wine may we come to share in the\u00a0divinity of Christ”.<\/em><\/p>\n

9. Eucharistic Prayers<\/strong>
\nThe one presiding over the Eucharist leads the people in prayer, at least a portion of which appears to have been prayed extemporaneously:<\/p>\n

“…he gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and he offers thanks at considerable length…according to his ability”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It is also noteworthy that, although the word “Trinity” is not used (since the word<\/span> has not yet been invented), Justin’s theology is clearly Trinitarian!<\/p>\n

10. The Amen<\/strong>
\nCertain Hebrew words are present in the liturgy:<\/p>\n

“…all the people present express their assent by saying ‘Amen’, the Hebrew for ‘so be it’\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

11. Body and Blood<\/strong>
\nJustin communicates very clearly that what is being received is not simply bread and wine, but Jesus’ Body and Blood:<\/p>\n

“We do not receive these as common bread and drink…we have been taught that the food blessed by the prayer of his word\u2026is the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

12. Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers<\/del>\u00a0Eucharist for those who are absent<\/strong><\/strong>
\nThe Eucharist is taken to those who cannot attend the liturgy:<\/p>\n

“The deacons carry a portion to those who are absent”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It is worth noting that this sits awkwardly with Lutheran Eucharistic theology since many Lutherans\u00a0believe that, although Christ is made present in the Eucharist (“consubstantial”<\/em>), He is only present in the bread and wine only during the Eucharistic liturgy itself. This is not a universally held belief among Lutherans though.<\/p>\n

I have a couple of other thoughts, but I’ll save those until tomorrow \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I published a\u00a0blog entry\u00a0which contained the text which we are going to study tonight at the\u00a0JP2 Group. We’re going to read this document\u00a0as part of our three-week series looking at worship in\u00a0the Early Church. The text I posted yesterday was a substantial extract from a work by Justin Martyr. St. Justin was a Christian in the 2nd Century and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[749,748,662,746,660,743,269,750,2969,742,744,737,745,118,136,139,152,747],"class_list":["post-8943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","tag-amen","tag-blood","tag-body","tag-bread","tag-communion","tag-deacons","tag-eucharist","tag-extraordinary-eucharistic-ministers","tag-featured","tag-first-apology","tag-homily","tag-justin-martyr","tag-poor","tag-prayer","tag-scripture","tag-sign-of-peace","tag-sunday","tag-wine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8943"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55133,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8943\/revisions\/55133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}