Origen Let’s start with the final quote before examining the others. There Origen is very clear: Origen identifies the flesh of Christ as the Word of God and cites John 6—on the bread of life from heaven—to illustrate the metaphor. This is just as we examined in Part 7: Clement of …
Tertullian At first glace these quotes seem rather tame and innocent. But they are among the most divisive words ever written in the church. For the first time in this series, additional contextual analysis—from outside this mostly self-contained series—is required. Tertullian is the first writer in the church to use …
Let’s take a short break from the examination of the patristic era writers to look at the concept of the sacrifice and thanksgiving (eucharist). The Eucharistic Sacrifice The first mention of thanksgiving in the Bible is Leviticus 7 referring to the fellowship offering of thanksgiving, a sacrifice of bread or meat. The …
Clement of Alexandria To respond to this, we need only share a bigger quote: Clement believed that the flesh and blood of Christ were metaphors for the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that leads to eternal life (see Jesus’ reference to Isaiah 55 in John 6). Who can …
Irenaeus The first quote is just the plain observation that Jesus spoke the words of institution (“he confessed”) over created agricultural products: bread and wine. If anything is to be noticed at all, it is that Jesus called created things his body and blood. This is hardly the basis for transubstantiation …
Clement of Rome In “Letter to the Corinthians. §38,44”, Clement of Rome speaks of helping the poor, the giving of thanks (“ευχαριστειν”), and of presenting the tithe offerings or gifts (“δῶρα”), although as with Justin Martyr you need to reference Roman Catholic J.P. Migne’s Patrologia Graeca (1857–1866) in vol I, 285,300, to see how …
Ignatius Ignatius is either a flaming heretic, or he understands the elements metaphorically. First, Ignatius calls it the “Bread of God”, not the “Bread of Christ”, which either makes him deny the canonical Trinity doctrine or else he is using “bread” in a broader metaphor than Roman Catholics use it. …
Justin Martyr (100-165) Now let’s go over Justin Martyr’s First Apology in depth, specifically Chapters 13, and 65 through 67, where he describes the ‘Protestant’ liturgy in the second century. Chapter 13 describes the (2) offerings of “thanksgiving”, “thanks by word of processions” (Greek: διά λόγου πομπάς; Latin: rationalibus eum pompis; …
Didache FishEaters does not cite The Didache—found here—most likely because it describes a Eucharistic liturgy that is mutually exclusive with the Roman liturgy. The Didache is not a long read. I’ll quote portions of it here, but you can read its entirety quickly without worrying about out-of-context quotations. Chapters 9, …
The Eucharist Liturgy The original liturgy of the Eucharist is this… Dismissal — of the unbeliever, the catechumen, and the backslider. Eucharist — The offering (or sacrifice) of praise, thanksgiving, tithes, and firstfruits for the poor. Oblation — The presentation of the Eucharist to God with prayer and spoken “Amen.” …