I don't think there is a more ancient form of the mass, it feels more like you are projecting ideas from the 1960s onto the early Church. What would this "rite of Thanksgiving" be giving thanks for, except for the sacrifice of Calvary? Why indeed would anyone bother to model the Last Supper unless it were the first sacrifice made present?
I don't think there is a more ancient form of the mass, it feels more like you are projecting ideas from the 1960s onto the early Church. What would this "rite of Thanksgiving" be giving thanks for, except for the sacrifice of Calvary? Why indeed would anyone bother to model the Last Supper unless it were the first sacrifice made present?
1 Corinthians 11 is the best picture of how the early Church celebrated the Eucharist, just a few years after the Resurrection. There were some people messing it up even then, but the most important bit is Paul underlining that Jesus said to do this not in "thanksgiving" of me, but in "remembrance" - that is making present - of me. This was, is and ever shall be the Church's understanding of the Eucharist.
I don't think there is a more ancient form of the mass, it feels more like you are projecting ideas from the 1960s onto the early Church. What would this "rite of Thanksgiving" be giving thanks for, except for the sacrifice of Calvary? Why indeed would anyone bother to model the Last Supper unless it were the first sacrifice made present?
1 Corinthians 11 is the best picture of how the early Church celebrated the Eucharist, just a few years after the Resurrection. There were some people messing it up even then, but the most important bit is Paul underlining that Jesus said to do this not in "thanksgiving" of me, but in "remembrance" - that is making present - of me. This was, is and ever shall be the Church's understanding of the Eucharist.
I just want to take 30 seconds to make sure that everyone on the thread knows the etymology of "Eucharist" (carry on.)