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CLASSICAL ESSAY |
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by Justin Martyr
After the believer is baptized, and so incorporated or made one with us, we lead him to the congregation of the brethren, as we call them, and then with great fervency pour out our souls in common prayers both for ourselves, for the person baptized, and for all others all the world over; that having embraced the truth, our conversation might be as becometh the gospel, and that we may be found doers of the world, and so at length be favored with an everlasting salvation. Prayers being over we salute each other with a kiss; After this, bread and a cup of wine and water are brought to the president or bishop, which he takes, and offers up praise and glory to the Father of all things, through the name of His Son and the Holy Spirit; and this thanksgiving to God for vouchsafing us worthy of these His creatures, is a prayer of more than ordinary length. When the bishop has finished the prayers, and the thanksgiving service, all the people present conclude with an audible voice, saying, Amen; now Amen in the Hebrew tongue, is, so be it. The eucharistical office being thus performed by the bishop, and concluded with the acclamation of all the people, those we call deacons distribute to everyone present to partake of this eucharistical bread and wine, and water, and then they carry it to the absent. This food we call the eucharist, of which none are allowed to be partakers, but such only as are true believers, and have been baptized in the Laver of Regeneration for the remission of sins, and live according to Christ's precepts; for we do not take this as common bread, and common wine. But as Jesus Christ our Saviour was made flesh by the logos of God, and had real flesh and blood for our salvation, so are we taught that this food, which the very same logos blessed by prayer and thanksgiving, is turned into the nourishment and substance of our flesh and blood; and is in some sense the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus. For the Apostles, in their commentaries called the Gospels, have left this command upon record, "That Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He said, Do this in commemoration of Me, for this is My body; And in like manner He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He said, This is My blood," and delivered it to them only. And this very solemnity too the evil spirits have introduced in the mysteries of Mithra; for you do, or may know, that when any one is initiated into this religion, bread and a cup of water, with a certain form of words are made use of in the sacrifice. After this sacrament is over, we remind each other of the obligations to his duty, and the rich relieve the poor; and upon such charitable accounts we visit some or other every day.
Excerpted from The Apologies of Martyr Justin, by Justin Martyr |
The
Writings of Justin
Martyr, St.
Justin Martyr,
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