The Antioch Community Catholic? Need help!

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As a cradle Catholic, I was challenged by an evangelical Protestant regarding the Book of Acts, specifically, the Antioch Christian community that formed approximately 45 A.D.

My Protestant friend claimed that the Antioch Community, and other early Christian Communities that St. Paul ministered to were not “Catholic”. My friend said that if Holy Communion was SOOOOO important, then how come Luke did not mention that the Antioch Community celebrated Holy Communion? My friend claimed that Holy Communion should have been mentioned about Antioch, but it was not.My friend used this to downplay the Catholic focus on the Eucharist. My friend also said that Paul mentions simple bread and wine, but never specifically mentions the Eucharist in his writings.

I responded that Antioch was a very early community, and Christ’s believers were looking forward to his coming very soon–in a matter of weeks or months. I said that they were not focused, yet, on the clebration of Holy Communion–they were focused on spreading the good news as Jesus commanded.

I said that Luke did not even write his Gospel and Acts until 70 A.D. and that Antioch MAY have celebrated Holy Communion, it just was not recorded in Acts. It may have been part of oral tradition, but that I could not prove it.

I said that Holy Communion, pursuant to Christ’s teaching, was clearly made a part of the Christian communities after it was obvious that Christ would not come again in the next few weeks and after the Gospels were written.

Am I on the right track here?? I need help/clarification.

Thanks for any clarification about the Antioch community.
 
The Scripture that we have left behind is much like the writings of the early Church. Most was written to clarify problems and misunderstandings.

I do not know the specifics of Antioch. But…

Your friend just throws out other Scripture that does talk about Holy Communion?

Are the Beatitudes any less because only one apostle spoke of them? The Gospels never mentioned them, yet Paul says they were a teaching of Christ? Did Paul lie? The Gospels don’t mention the beatitudes, or Jesus teaching them. Does that mean it didn’t happen?

The Bible must be taken as a whole. We can’t pick and choose what we want to believe just because it goes against what we want to think or believe.

God Bless,
Maria
 
Paul is being mischaracterized by your friend. Paul was zealous for the sanctity of the Eucharist. He warned that whoever eats and drinks the Eucharist unworthily eats and drinks a curse upon himself! 1 Corinthians 11:27-29.

The Eucharist of the Real Presence is heavily foreshadowed in Scripture. Your friend is dead wrong.
 
The original term for “Communion” or “Eucharist” which is Greek for “thanksgiving” was the “breaking of bread.”

Acts 2:46 States that the early Christians broke bread at home or from house to house.

The early church celebrated the Eucharist in the various homes of the believers. They had to move from house to house to avoid detection and arrest.
 
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MarkAnthonyCozy:
The original term for “Communion” or “Eucharist” which is Greek for “thanksgiving” was the “breaking of bread.”

Acts 2:46 States that the early Christians broke bread at home or from house to house.

The early church celebrated the Eucharist in the various homes of the believers. They had to move from house to house to avoid detection and arrest.
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The word eucharistein, to give thanks, is used in connection with the breaking of bread in I Cor. 11:24. “When he had given thanks *[eucharisteisas] *he broke it and said, ‘This is my body . . .’”

A lot of the New Testament writings (especially the epistles) were written to address problems and controversies within the church. A good explanation for the lack of more NT verses on the Eucharist (such as how often to celebrate) is that there was no controversy about it!
 
**I appreciate the posts and the explanations. I think another response is that though there was communiion and confession in the earliest Christian communities, the Church was not considered “Catholic” yet because it was not yet “universal”. **

I believe Ignatious was the first writer to call the Church “Catholic” in 107 A.D. Before then, the Church was not yet universal. It was a smattering a Christian communities that was working its way to a “universal” or “Catholic” status.
 
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