Athanasius of Alexandria

While we have a number of letters of Athanasius’ work, the Sermon to the Newly Baptized is a fragmentary work that does not appear to have been translated into English, other than the quotation above. Here is the quotation in text form:

To understand what Athanasius is saying, we need to figure out what the context is. So, what is this reference to the Levites bringing loaves and wine? For that we have to look at the Old Testament:

As we’ve seen throughout this series and in the Old Testament, the firstfruits offering is part of the thanksgiving—eucharist—tithe in the church. The Levites collected the tithes, which included bread and wine. A tenth of that tithe went to the house of God while the rest was available for their general use, as payment for their priestly service. This is to what Athanasius is referring.

Athanasius refers to (2-3) the tithe—eucharist—offering as simply bread and wine, for that is what it contained. Then he notes that after the (4) prayer of consecration (“prayers of supplication and entreaties”) the bread becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ (i.e. “this is my body”; “this is my blood”). Athanasius describes a tithe offering followed by a Consecration for the Lord’s Supper, explicitly contrasting the unconsecrated and consecrated bread and wine.

Despite it being named the Eucharist—thanksgiving—the tithe offering has no role in the Roman liturgy. For Athanasius to speak of the tithe as immediately preceding the Consecration and the Lord’s Supper makes no sense from that perspective. But as we’ve seen throughout this series, the writers stand unified on the ancient liturgy.

But perhaps you remain unconvinced by the relative ambiguity of “Sermon to the Newly Baptized.” Fortunately, we have other letters from which we can consult.

Athanasius joins the rest of our growing list of patristic writers who saw Malachi’s prophecy as described in Part 8: Interlude as being fulfilled in (2-3) the church’s thanksgiving offering—eucharist—of the sacrifice of prayer, praise, hymns, service, and the giving of tithes: Jesus, John, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and Aphrahat. And, as Athanasius notes, it concludes with (3) the corporate “Amen”

Notice that for Athanasius, the (2-3) Eucharist is sacrifice of tithes (and psalms and songs!) which, after being offered, is taken up for distribution to the poor. Only then do we (4) “enter into the holy place.” Athanasius clearly separated (1-3) the sacrifice of the tithe from (4-5) the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

Athanasius wrote his Easter Letters each year, so his reference to “the festival” is a reference to the Passover (or Easter) celebration. But what about entering the holy place? In the Old Testament, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies once per year on Yom Kippur. But in Christ Jesus, we enter into the holy place by way of the (4-5) Consecration and the Lord’s Supper as a celebration of Christ’s Passover before the first Easter. The (1-3) thanksgiving sacrifice of the Eucharist and the (4-5) celebration of the Lord’s Supper completely replaced all the other services that the Hebrews once performed. And, for Athanasius, the Easter celebration of the Lord’s Supper was an especially important and joyful occasion.

Athanasius died in 373, only a few years before Apostolic Constitutions (c.375-380) was written. Festal Letter 45 was the last letter he wrote, perhaps written for Easter on April 1, just a month before he died on May 2. Unlike Apostolic Constitutions, where the tithe was collected for the benefit of the bishop and the rest of the clergy, Athanasius described a eucharistic tithe collected for distribution to the poor. What a contrast that only a few years makes!