IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

EUCHARIST LITURGY of the Order of Centurions

TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM

Download Liturgy with Selected Psalms and Canticles

The online version is in the Chapel. The student of early liturgical worship may enjoy reading this Early Eucharist historical summary. I've also included some notes taken from various sources concerning early worship as well as links to source documents concerning the Early Church liturgies.

[Justin Martyr 1st Apology Ch LXV & LXVII]

[Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions LVII]

[John Chrysostom]

[Didache]

[Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus]

Powers, Joseph Eucharistic Theology
Spencer, Bonnel A Functional Liturgy

EARLY CHURCH CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE EUCARSIT

Extracted from the Church History Site and other sites on the www. and cited here for research and educational purposes with some annotations added.

Topical - of Children at the Euchcarist:
let the bishop partake, then the presbyters, and deacons, and sub-deacons, and the readers, and the singers, and the ascetics; and then of the women, the deaconesses, and the virgins, and the widows; then the children; and then all the people in order, with reverence and godly fear, without tumult. [Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, 8.2.13 ](see more here)

100 Around this time St. John died at Patmos. (Eusebius, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria agree that John lived into the reign of Trajan, which began in 98.) The Didache, written in this era, indicates worship was on Sunday: “Assemble on the Lord’s day, and break bread and offer the eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one.” Note also the implication that the communion was regarded as a sacrifice.

160 Justin Martyr: Christians "neither celebrated the Jewish festivals, nor observed their Sabbaths, nor practiced circumcision" (Dialogue with Trypho). In another place he says that they were "all accustomed to meet on the day which is denominated Sunday, for reading the Scriptures, prayer, exhortation and communion. The assemblies met on Sunday, because this is the first day on which God, having changed the darkness and the elements, created the world, and because Jesus our Lord on this day arose from the dead," etc.

190 Turtillian, "We Christians "celebrate Sunday as a joyful day. On the Lord's day we think it wrong to fast or to kneel in prayer." It was a common opinion of the earlier Christians that all public prayers on the Lord's day should be uttered standing, because kneeling is a more sorrowful attitude and inconsistent with the joy and blessedness of Christ's day."

190 Clement "A true Christian, according to the commands of the gospel, observes the Lord's day by casting out all bad thoughts and cherishing all goodness, honoring the resurrection of the Lord, which took place on that day." [Clement of Alexandria]

198 In a commentary on Daniel, Hippolytus stated that Jesus was born on Wednesday, December 25, in the 42nd year of the Emperor Augustus (2 BC?). He identified March 25 as the date of Christ’s crucifixion, believing this to have occurred on Nisan 14, following John’s chronology.

198 A council meeting in Caesarea of Palestine, led by Theophilos of Caesarea and Narcissos of Jerusalem, with Kassis of Akkar and Karos of Akka present, discussed the issue of the Pascha (Easter). They determined to celebrate Pascha on a Sunday, and wrote to other churches to inform them of their decision: “The day we celebrate, those in Alexandria also celebrate. … We have exchanged letters with them so that we may celebrate together on this holy day.” In the early church, it was common in Asia, Cilicia, northern Syria, and Mesopotamia to observe the Lord’s crucifixion on the 14th of Nisan (April), using the Hebrew lunar calendar, and his resurrection on the 16th. But churches in Greece, Italy, Africa, Egypt, Palestine, and Pontus commemorated the passion always on a Friday, and the resurrection on a Sunday. (See 190.)

231 A private house in the city of Dura-Europas on the Euphrates was adapted for Christian worship. This is the earliest known example of a church with religious pictures on the walls. The art appears to have been influenced by similar work in a synagogue in the same city. Depicted on frescoes are Adam and Eve, the Good Shepherd and his flock, the Samaritan woman at the well, Christ walking on the water, the raising of Lazarus, the resurrection of Christ, the healing of the paralytic and David's victory over Goliath.

280? The Chapel of the Centurion of Armageddon in Palestine. Date uncertain. It has a table for the Holy Eucharist set in the middle of the chapel and the names of the Centurion Gaianus who built the chapel, and Akeptus who donated the Holy Table.

301+ During this century, the Eastern Church began singing the Gloria in Excelsis in the Daily Offices. The hymn was originally written in Greek. It was adopted for use in the West, often during Matins. The Gloria was first introduced to Rome by Symmachus (498-514). When the Roman liturgy spread throughout the Western Church during the eighth century, the Gloria came to be used exclusively in the eucharist.

321 Constantine required all subjects of the Roman Empire to observe the Lord's day as a day of rest and also to honor Friday, the day of Christ's death. He allowed Christian soldiers leave to attend church on Sunday, and even enjoined pagan soldiers to pray on Sunday. (Note that this in no way implies that Constantine invented Christian worship on Sunday.) Prior to this time, the seven day week had not been officially observed by the Roman Empire. Instead, the days of the month were denoted by counting down toward the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides of each month.

325 1st Eccumenical Council at Nicaea. As a 40-day period (six weeks) Lent was mentioned in canon 5. Canon 20 forbade kneeling on Sundays or during the period of Easter through Pentecost, since these are times of joy.

325 Eusebius: "The Word" (Christ) "by the new covenant translated and transferred the feast of the Sabbath to the morning light, and gave us the symbol of the true rest, the saving Lord's day, the first of light, in which the Saviour gained the victory over death. On this day, which is the first of the Light and the true Sun, we assemble after the interval of six days, and celebrate holy and spiritual Sabbath; even all nations redeemed by him throughout the world assemble, and do those things according to the spiritual law which were decreed for the priests to do on the Sabbath. All things which it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day, as more appropriately belonging unto it, because it has the precedence, and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. It hath been enjoined on us that we should meet together on this day, and it is evidence that we should do these things announced in this psalm [Eusebius of Cæsarea on Psalm 92 "A Song for the Sabbath Day]

347 Two monks living in Antioch, Flavian and Diodore, promoted the practice of singing the Psalms with short responsory choruses: the first Christian litanies. Diodore later became bishop of Tarsus (378), while Flavian became bishop of Antioch (381).

350 Around this time (348-50) Cyril of Jerusalem (elected bishop in 350) produced the Mystagogical Catecheses for new believers. He described the church service as follows:

Then having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual hymns, we call upon the merciful God to send forth his Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before him: that he may make the bread the body of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ, for whatever the Holy Spirit has touched is sanctified and changed. Then after the spiritual sacrifice is perfected, the bloodless service upon that sacrifice of propitiation, we entreat God for the common peace of the Church, for the tranquility of the world, for kings, for soldiers and allies, for the sick, for the afflicted; and in a word for all who stand in need of succour we all supplicate and offer this sacrifice. Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, that at their prayers and intervention God would receive our petition. Afterwards, also on behalf of the holy fathers and bishops who have fallen asleep before us, and in a word of all who in past years have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a very great advantage to the souls, for whom the supplication is put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is presented."

450 The short "Collect" prayers were introduced as propers for days in the calendar in the west beginning in [Barbee and Zahl, The Collects of Thomas Cranmer]

471 - Peter Fullo of Antioch orders the Nicene-Constantinopl creed to be said at every assembly of the church.

** The first five centuries marks end of the liturgical development that the Order of Centurions recongizes as "early church" and emulates **

511 - Timotheos of Constanstinople orders Nicene-Constantinopl creed to be said in liturgy

589 - Coucil of Toledo orders Nicene-Constantinople creed for every assembly

1014 - The church of Rome orders Nicene-Constantinople creed for every assembly

1054 - (or pehaps earlier) The Great schism over the addtion to the Creed by the west.

MIDDLE AGES

The Apostles Constitution, c380, had a tag on the end of the Sanctus, "Blessed be thou forever", but the Bendictus in the prayers of most churches, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," did not appear in western liturgies until the Middle Ages.

The Agnes Dei did not appear until the end of the 7th century, thought to have been into the liturgy Sergius I (687-701)

The issue of leavened vs. unleavened bread came up in the 11th century [Ladd]

The first Eucharists were of joy, lost in the Middle Ages. [Ladd]

Early style Crucifix showed the living Lord - Christi rex, later the sorrowful Christ [Ladd] Prayers of the faithful. The deacon would announce the topic of the prayer, people would individually pray, and the President would conclude with a short collect, then on to the next prayer topic. [Ladd 64]

No prayers were made to Christ, all directed to God in the name of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Even if we dismiss the evidence of the early dating of the Diatesseron as evidence of the earliest lectionary system, the year 411 AD is without question the date of a calendar system upon which the lessons are ordered (British Museum ms. 12150). The arrangement of the scripture lessons as we know them today (see the Order's Lessons and Homilies that use the old Prayer Book lectionary) with few modifications was arranged by Daniel, a monk of the Monastery of Beth Batin and his disciple Benjamin, Bishop of Edessa. The latter was assisted by the monk Isaac, an industrious pupil of the Bishop. It is believed that Daniel used lessons from the Diatesseron and Peshitto readings from the four Gospels. see more here

Tidy 1:03 PM 6/2/2006