By Scott | Published:
February 8, 2010
The sixth chapter in Thomas Howard’s book, Ritual and Ceremony: A dead Hand or the Liberty of the Spirit?, opens with the note that when the early Christians met for worship, everyone present was a full participant.
Bishops, priests, deacons, and laity were the four orders in the Church that we glimpse in the New Testament [...]
By Scott | Published:
August 10, 2009
As I was writing my series on the history of the belief and practice of the Eucharist, I decided I would next reflect on the pervasive modern myth that Constantine somehow subverted or radically changed the Church. This myth surfaces in a wide variety of ways. Some people assert that the dogma of the Trinity [...]
By Scott | Published:
August 9, 2009
This seems like a good place to bring this series to a close. I believe I’ve demonstrated what the Internet Monk called “the historical problem” with the Baptist understanding of the Eucharist. I’ve meandered through the writings of the early church, the church under persecution, from the first century to the third century. Consistently, from [...]
Posted in Eucharist | Also tagged blood of christ, bread and wine, eucharist, Holy Scriptures, holy spirit, new testament, Orthodox, orthodox church, St. Basil, thomas aquinas, transubstantiation, zwingli |
By Scott | Published:
August 6, 2009
We continue today with St. Cyprian’s letter on properly preparing the Cup of our Lord.
Since, then, neither the apostle himself nor an angel from heaven can preach or teach any otherwise than Christ has once taught and His apostles have announced, I wonder very much whence has originated this practice, that, contrary to evangelical and [...]
By Scott | Published:
August 4, 2009
We continue today with St. Cyprian’s letter on properly preparing the Cup of our Lord. I find it likely my reflections on this letter will need to be broken into several posts. Concerning the necessity of wine, St. Cyprian writes the following.
Know then that I have been admonished that, in offering the cup, the tradition [...]
By Scott | Published:
July 28, 2009
I’m now going to move forward a few more decades to a period around 170-180 AD as we focus on Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons. We know that when Irenaeus was young he knew Polycarp. Polycarp, as you may recall, was a disciple of John the Beloved. So there remains a close, direct connection between the [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged apostle, baptists, celestial beings, Christian, christian gnosticism, dualism, eucharist, evil, Faith, Father, flesh, gnostic heresies, God, heaven, heresies, heretics, irenaeus, Jesus, judgment, love, lyons, old testament, person, polycarp, prophet, prophets, resurrection, spirit, spiritual, trinity, unity |
By Scott | Published:
July 27, 2009
This post concludes my reflections on Justin Martyr’s First Apology. I saved for last Chapter LXVI which focuses explicitly on the Eucharist.
And this food is called among us Eukaristia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged apostle, baptists, body, Christian, eucharist, evil, Faith, flesh, God, Holy Scriptures, Jesus, justin martyr, love, new testament, person, prayer, scripture, Southern Baptist, spirit, zwingli |
By Scott | Published:
July 25, 2009
Now we will move forward several decades and reflect on Justin Martyr’s First Apology. This places us right in the middle of the second century. There are few left alive at this point who personally encountered any of the apostles, but there are still those few. There are now many who have been taught by [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged adaptation, anger, apostle, baptists, bread and wine, Christian, deacons, episcopal, eucharist, Father, God, Holy Scriptures, Jesus, justin martyr, Orthodox, person, prayer, prayers, presbyter, presbyters, priests, prophet, prophets, roman catholic, scripture, thanksgiving, torah |
By Scott | Published:
July 24, 2009
I decided to open and close the posts in this series reflecting on St. Ignatius with different chapters in his letter to the Smyrnaeans. In my first look at this letter, I focused on chapter 8. In this post I’m going to consider chapter 6.
Let no man be deceived. Even the heavenly things, and the [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged ancient christian writings, apostle, baptist belief, baptists, bishops, body, Christian, condemnation, Didache, eucharist, evil, Faith, Father, flesh, God, heaven, heretics, Jesus, london confession, love, new testament, person, prayer, reality, resurrection, scripture, spirit, spiritual, way of life, zwingli |
By Scott | Published:
July 22, 2009
Next, let’s look at the letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Philadelphians. This is a very short letter and I recommend reading the entire letter. For the purpose of this post, though, we’re going to focus on chapter 4.
Be diligent, therefore, to use one eucharist, for there is one flesh of our [...]
Posted in Church History, Eucharist | Also tagged anger, apostle, baptists, body, body and blood, Christian, christianity, deacons, Didache, eucharist, Faith, flesh, God, Holy Scriptures, Jesus, judaizers, liturgical practice, lord jesus christ, new testament, oneness, person, philadelphians, physicality, presbyter, presbytery, protestants, reality, schism, schismatic, scripture, st ignatius of antioch, thanksgiving, zwingli |