Did a priest always preside at the Eucharist?

[Pax_Tibi]

I apologize to start this way: “Somewhere in Scripture” I remember reading that the early Christians recognized each other in the Breaking of the Bread.

Was there ever a time before the Church got organized, when regular people observed the Breaking of the Bread in their own homes? Would it have been a sacrament or simply a commemoration?

Thanks.

 

[puzzleannie]

yes a priest always, from the Last Supper onward, presides at the Eucharist. no priest=no Eucharist. If lay Christians met in their homes for a shared meal without a priest, it was a shared meal, not the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the one Sacrifice of Christ instituted at the Last Supper and completed on Calvary, the priest is Christ Himself, and the priest in confecting the Eucharist acts in the person of Christ. Read Luke’s gospel of the Emmaus journey, which says the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Without Jesus, the priest, the breaking of the bread is not Eucharist, nor is the Christian community the Body of Christ with the Head present. Christ forms the community through the sacrificial action, the community does not form itself from the action of its members.

 

[anna1978]

When did the Church start ordaining priests, like we do today?

Anna x

 

[Todd_Easton]

When did the Church start ordaining priests, like we do today?

Anna x

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “like we do today,” but the Church has been ordaining priests by the imposition of hands from the beginning:

22 And when they had ordained to them priests in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, in whom they believed. (Acts 14:22 DRV)

5 For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee: (Titus 1:5 DRV)

17 Let the priests that rule well, be esteemed worthy of double honour: especially they who labour in the word and doctrine: 18 For the scripture saith: Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn: and, The labourer is worthy of his reward. 19 Against a priest receive not an accusation, but under two or three witnesses. 20 Them that sin reprove before all: that the rest also may have fear. 21 I charge thee before God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by declining to either side. 22 Impose not hands lightly upon any man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins. (1 Timothy 5:17-22 DRV)

14 Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15 DRV)

 

[puzzleannie]

When did the Church start ordaining priests, like we do today?

Anna x

at the Last Supper Christ ordained the first bishops, and Acts of the Apostles tells how they ordained priests and their successor bishops. the current rite for ordination was revised following V2.