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Nick Tobin
Diachronic Analysis
How was the Eucharistic Service Performed?
Throughout the first 15 centuries of Church history the Eucharist has been the central act
of the Christian worship service. Through looking at various primary sources from this period it
will become clear that the Eucharistic service was the central element, but the way it was
performed changed drastically. The changes were due to differing political, theological and
philosophical concerns in each of the respective time periods. In general the service became
more elaborate and complex as time went on reaching its climax in the Late Middle Ages. Also,
as history progresses the theology of the Eucharist moves beyond the boundary of the service
itself and affects things such as how the elements are made and how they are used by the laity.
Again, these changes are theologically and philosophically driven and the closer that history
moves towards the Late Middle Ages the more this effect is seen. The history of the Eucharistic
Service, and how it was performed, reflects the history of the Church.
One of the earliest sources that mentions the Eucharist is the Didache from the first part
of the second century.1 Its purpose was to establish norms within the early church during a time
when unity was vitally important to the Church’s survival. This is in agreement with Steven
McKinion who highlights the role of unity in the Didache in his book The Life and Practice of
the Early Church.2 The language used when talking about the Eucharist reinforces this when it
speaks of gathering bread from across various hills into one loaf or asking God to bring the
Church together from the four winds. The need for this unity was directly related to the position
1 “Didache,” in Readings in World Christian History: Volume I: Earliest Christianity to 1453, ed. John Coakley
and Andrea Sterk (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013), 12-16.
2 Steven McKinion, ed., Life and Practice in the Early Church: A Documentary Reader (New York: New York
University Press, 2001), 100.
of the Church during this time when it was in its infancy and as persecutions of Christians were
moving from a relatively rare occurrence to a more common event. The service laid out in the
Didache prescribes a very basic Eucharistic celebration where all baptized members eat the
bread and drink the wine, followed by a simple prayer.
As Church history moves toward the middle of the second century Justin Martyr
published his First Apology in an attempt to lessen the persecution of the Church through
detailing what happened during Christian worship services and thereby debunking commonly
held beliefs about Christians.3 Dix points out this fact in his book The Shape of the Liturgy, as
well as describing that Justin’s effort did not have the effect he had hoped.4 Among the beliefs
that Justin is attempting to correct is the conviction that Christians were cannibals who baked
babies into the bread and ate their flesh during the Eucharist. Justin, as a means to refute these
views, lays out in detail all of the elements of the Eucharist service. Through his writings we see
that Christians must be baptized and that there is care taken to make sure that baptized Christians
who could not attend the service were brought the elements. The worship service also consisted
of offering prayers and exchanging a “holy kiss” between the believers. The service is simple
and straightforward with the central act being the receiving of the elements of the Eucharist. It
can also be assumed that the service was private, otherwise Justin would not have to write about
what took place behind the closed doors. The main theme during this time appears to be unity as
a means of resisting the breakdown of the Church through persecutions.
From the writing of Cyprian in his Epistles during the third century it can be seen that the
service is getting more complex, as are the requirements for those who are receiving the
elements.5 The service is starting to move beyond its immediate surroundings and is creeping
3 Justin Martyr, First Apology, accessed December 10, 2015,
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-firstapology.html
4 Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, 2nd ed. (New York: The Seabury Press, 1983), 150.
5 Cyprian, Epistles, accessed December 10, 2015, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0506.htm
into other parts of the Christian’s life. For example, in response to those who had fallen away
under the persecution of Decius, Cyprian writes about having to be in a right state before
receiving communion. In fact, Cyprian details a number of steps that the lapsed must go through
to gain this right state, including: confession, a time of waiting and blessing by a priest or bishop.
No longer is being baptized the only prerequisite, now the believer must be in a right state. In
regards to the service itself, water is now being added to the cup because water was a symbol of
both the believer’s baptism and of the water that flowed from Christ’s side during the
Crucifixion. As the water and wine are united in the cup so too is the believer united with Christ
through taking the elements. Cyprian also states that the Eucharist should be given to martyrs
and others who are about to die, regardless of whether or not they are in a right state, as the
Eucharist has power to unite them with Christ. In light of the ongoing martyrdom of believers,
as Bradshaw and Johnson point out in their book The Eucharisitic Liturgies, Cyprian is linking
the idea of sacrifice to the Eucharist in a way that has not been done before.6 This is very central
