What are some vestiges of the early Church that we can see in every parish today?

[LilyPearls]

Here are two examples:

1. Back in the day Mass was celebrated in the catacombs. Today we have relics in our altars.
2. Back in the day the Christians would go to the synagogue to hear the readings and a sermon, then go wherever else to celebrate the Eucharist. At some point the Jews made them stop going to the synagogues and so the Christians started having their own readings and sermon at the same time and place as where they would celebrate the Eucharist. Today the Mass is still split into two. The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

What are some other examples? They don’t have to pertain to Mass.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

Deacons (although possibly not in every parish). They go back to the Book of Acts, and do many of the same things as in the early Church: bringing Eucharist to the home bound; assisting with the material needs of the faithful; literally “waiting on tables” in the form of soup kitchen and food-for-shut ins ministries. Also I believe stoles, which were symbols of authority in Rome.

 

[Cat]

The Sign of Peace. It’s mentioned in the Bible.

 

[John_Lazarus]

The Consecration and Communion, of course!

Also, the Lord’s Prayer; the Confiteor (public confession); the sermon and the Gospel (the early apostles preached); the First Reading (Jesus did that, too); baptisms.

And if the catacombs had more than one room, maybe unruly Christian babies were with their mums in a Crying Cavern!

 

[eddie_too]

the collection of alms for the needy, the magisterium, the seven sacraments.

 

[AnnArbor]

Much of the OF is similar to the earliest known texts of Mass prayers.

 

[TimothyH]

The word vestige means a small trace or small amount of the original.

Deacons, sacraments, communion and most of what else is mentioned in this thread are not there in trace amounts but in abundance.

-Tim-

 

[ProVobis]

Here are two examples:

1. Back in the day Mass was celebrated in the catacombs.

Very likely to be true. The Greco-Roman world indulged in very heavy pagan worship which became Christianized only very slowly, although by the 3rd century Christianity almost completely subsumed the Roman Empire. Those who believed in Christ’s message through St. Paul’s letters and other epistles had to go underground to practice the faith. In some corners of the world, I hear, this is still being done.