04 — The Eucharist and Baptism
The closing chapters of Justin’s First Apology — chapter 61 on baptism and chapters 65–67 on the Eucharist and the Sunday assembly — are the earliest detailed description of Christian initiation and worship to survive, and one of the most precious texts in the whole history of the liturgy. Here, around the year 155, an eyewitness tells an emperor exactly how Christians are baptized, how they keep the Lord’s Day, and what they believe the eucharistic bread and cup to be: “not as common bread and common drink.” These files treat the liturgical witness and Justin’s eucharistic realism.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father)
This is the flagship section of the collection for the history of Christian worship. No earlier source describes the rites of baptism and the Eucharist with anything like Justin’s fullness and order; the Didache is earlier but sparer and more enigmatic, and the great liturgical texts are later. Justin gives, in plain expository prose addressed to outsiders, the shape of second-century Roman Christian worship: the catechumenate and washing of baptism, the kiss of peace, the prayers and the “Amen,” the President’s thanksgiving over bread and wine mixed with water, the distribution by deacons, the carrying of the gifts to the absent, the weekly Sunday gathering with readings, sermon, intercessions, offering, and collection for the poor. And he states, twice and emphatically, the Church’s faith that the eucharistic elements are the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus. These two files divide the description from the doctrine.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Earliest Liturgical Witness | 1 Apology 61, 65–67: the earliest detailed description of baptism, the kiss of peace, the eucharistic thanksgiving and “Amen,” the deacons’ distribution, and the Sunday synaxis with readings, sermon, intercession, offering, and collection — and its immense value for liturgical history. |
| Eucharistic Realism in Justin | “Not as common bread and common drink”: Justin’s statement that the eucharistic food is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus, the role of the word of thanksgiving, and the place of this realism in the patristic eucharistic tradition. |
See Also
- Christian Life and Worship — the conduct that frames these chapters
- The Word Made Flesh — the incarnation that grounds eucharistic realism
- The Divine Liturgy — the developed liturgy whose seed Justin describes
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem — the fourth-century mystagogy at the far end of this tradition
References
- Justin, First Apology 61, 65–67. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1; and Minns & Parvis, Apologies (OECT, 2009).
- Jasper, R. C. D., and G. J. Cuming, eds. Prayers of the Eucharist: Early and Reformed. 3rd ed. New York: Pueblo, 1987.
- Jungmann, Josef A. The Early Liturgy to the Time of Gregory the Great. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1959.