Under my last post, a discussion ensued regarding the early patristic writers and the Roman Catholic Eucharistic liturgy. I made the following claim:

Bardelys the Magnificent responded by informing us…

…about Roman Catholic apologist Fisheater’s defense of the Eucharist in “What the Earliest Christians Wrote About the Eucharist.”

I am also, indeed, aware that Roman Catholics cite the majority of the patristic writings as a defense of their own positions, even though I also cite those same writings against those same positions! So, given my claims regarding the early church, FishEaters at least appears to directly refute my statements.

For those who do not know, FishEaters is a Catholic Italian-American laywoman apologist. Although some of my readers may reject any teachings that come from a woman (because woman are “not supposed to teach”), I do not share their concern. Anyone who is not interested can just abandon the blog for a few weeks, or however long it takes to do the whole list.

Over the next many posts, I’ll be discussing the early writings one at a time: those that are mentioned in that article as well those early sources that are missing from her list. With one article per source, it will be much easier to keep the discussion focused on each source while also allowing me to update articles to correct errors and add or replace evidence.

Although we will be examining some writings that are more recent than the first 300 years of the church, nonetheless, at the end of this series we will revisit my opening claim to see if it still has merit. I’d like to know what everyone else thinks too.

If there is any source missing from the list that you would like me to discuss, let me know in the comments.

Although I look at a lot of primary sources and draw many conclusions of my own directly from the primary and secondary sources myself, a large amount of research has already been performed by former Roman Catholic Timothy F. Kauffman. I borrow heavily from the work published on his blog. As I’ve read every article on his site, it would be impossible for me to know which ideas are purely my own vs. which ideas have been borrowed from him. When in doubt, assume the latter.

That said, it would not be possible for me to write this series without his years of extensive research, which I merely expand upon. In particular, his work at sifting through the thousands-upon-thousands of pages of material has been invaluable, for I simply do not have the time or resources to do all that research myself.

For those who want to read more of Roman Catholic FishEaters’ apologetics work on the Eucharist, here are some selected works:

• The Eucharist / Introduction to the Latin Mass
• What the Earliest Christians Wrote About the Eucharist
• Eucharistic Adoration
• Holy Communion
• Order of the Mass

See also:

• Craig Truglia, “Development of the Term ‘Unbloody Sacrifice’ in the Antiochene Rites (Early Liturgies).” (2015)
• “The Sacrifice of the Mass.” Church Fathers