What did the early church liturgy look like?

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I think it’s interesting that in our modern day, liturgists justify changes by saying that they aren’t in the spirit of the time, but that they are being brought back because they esixted in the early Church. I can’t remember the name of the document, but there’s one document always quoted which supposedly justifies communion in the hand. The logic is that it was practiced in the early church and ought to be praticed today for that reason. But if you read the rest of the document, you see that they also practiced an elaborate and foreign ritual for cleansing their hands before hand, but I’ve never heard anyone argue that we should bring that back because it existed in teh early church. Same holds true of public penance. It was ther ein the early Church, but no one is arguing for its return. Liturgists conforming to the spirit of the times use the early Church as a more noble explanation to give their agenda some Godly weight to it.
 
mcliffor said:
I think it’s interesting that in our modern day, liturgists justify changes by saying that they aren’t in the spirit of the time, but that they are being brought back because they esixted in the early Church. I can’t remember the name of the document, but there’s one document always quoted which supposedly justifies communion in the hand. The logic is that it was practiced in the early church and ought to be praticed today for that reason. But if you read the rest of the document, you see that they also practiced an elaborate and foreign ritual for cleansing their hands before hand, but I’ve never heard anyone argue that we should bring that back because it existed in teh early church. Same holds true of public penance. It was ther ein the early Church, but no one is arguing for its return. Liturgists conforming to the spirit of the times use the early Church as a more noble explanation to give their agenda some Godly weight to it.
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Another often well always, overlooked aspect to the receiving in the hand in the early Church was that in many if not most cases the Eucharist wasn’t totally consumed, if consumed at all at the altar. Rather it was taken home for consumption during the week or back to the seating area to consume with the family. When taking it home Churches had specific guidelines on how to wrap the Eucharist in cloth, usually white, so that mice would not eat it.👍

So receiving in the hand made perfect sense in those situations. Today, I have yet to hear a good reason for it. But, who can say, maybe there is a reason somewhere that makes sense for the practice these days.
 
I think its safe to say that the early liturgies were a lot more casual than those of later periods or today.

Considering the narrative in Acts 20, could it happen today? Young man sitting on the window ledge sleeping during the sermon.
 
Kielbasi said:
I think its safe to say that the early liturgies were a lot more casual than those of later periods or today.

Considering the narrative in Acts 20, could it happen today? Young man sitting on the window ledge sleeping during the sermon.
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A priest at my parish falls asleep and snores in the santuary during every funeral mass sermon. The last time he did it, the priest giving the homily called him out on it and embarassed him.
 
I think that two works to keep in mind are Mediator Dei by Pope Pius XII and Reform of the Roman Litugy by Msgr. Gamber.

The way things were done in the early days (or supposedly done) do not dictate what we should do today.To think that what happened after the Council of Trent was just a bunch of useless accretion is erroneous.

As to ad orientem, the big deal had usually been facing east regardless of whether you ended up facing the people or not. Even when we stopped having to face actual east, facing “liturgical east” was observed. Purposefully facing “the people” is a modernist/humanist invention.**
 
brotherhrolf said:
I was an altar boy up until the end of my junior year in high school - 1968. All I can say is that it was a radical change and IMHO not for the best. And, yes, once the baby was thrown out with the bathwater, the abuses started right quickly. Does anyone understand how much I HATED singing Simon and Garfunkle at my HS graduation Mass from a Catholic HS?
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I don’t know - we studied Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in Religion class. Seems that S&G are on a par, at least. 😛

Be that as it may, the Church is THE CHURCH and has full right and authority to change the Mass. The NO may be many things - but it is the Mass, after all. Whether the cahnges were prudent is another matter, of course.

With that understanding I nonetheless can’t stand the abuses, the terrible music and lack of the sacred in the usual Mass in the USA. There are exceptions, Deo gratias.
 
blackrobe said:
See Mike Aquilina’a book The Mass of the Early Christians.

And please, the word is altar.

JSA
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I’d also find the works of Justin Martyr, also known as Justin the Philosopher. They’re free, if you try EWTN, also Guternberg Project and a host of other free ebook sites.
 
johnnykins said:
I don’t know - we studied Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in Religion class. Seems that S&G are on a par, at least. 😛

Be that as it may, the Church is THE CHURCH and has full right and authority to change the Mass. The NO may be many things - but it is the Mass, after all. Whether the cahnges were prudent is another matter, of course.

With that understanding I nonetheless can’t stand the abuses, the terrible music and lack of the sacred in the usual Mass in the USA. There are exceptions, Deo gratias.
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i think you are spot on. it is important to distinguish between the NO itself, which has many strong characteristics and is the valid mass of the church- it can be very holy- see Benedict XVI celebrating Midnight Mass-- and the abuse of the NO which is widespread, and needs to be corrected. However, I join the many members of this forum who feel that the TLM needs to be restored as an option for all the faithful. Both liturgies are beautiful and both have their supporters. Titus.
 
The Mass of all ages
1345 As early as the second century we have the witness of St. Justin Martyr for the basic lines of the order of the Eucharistic celebration. They have stayed the same until our own day for all the great liturgical families. St. Justin wrote to the pagan emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) around the year 155, explaining what Christians did:

On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place. The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time permits.
When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things.
Then we all rise together and offer prayers* for ourselves . . .and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation.
When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss.
Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren.
He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek: eucharistian) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.
When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give voice to an acclamation by saying: ‘Amen.’
When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give to those present the “eucharisted” bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent.171
[1346](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/1346.htm’)😉 The liturgy of the Eucharist unfolds according to a fundamental structure which has been preserved throughout the centuries down to our own day. It displays two great parts that form a fundamental unity:
  • the gathering, the liturgy of the Word, with readings, homily and general intercessions;
  • the liturgy of the Eucharist, with the presentation of the bread and wine, the consecratory thanksgiving, and communion.
    The liturgy of the Word and liturgy of the Eucharist together form “one single act of worship”;172 the Eucharistic table set for us is the table both of the Word of God and of the Body of the Lord.173
    1347 Is this not the same movement as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his disciples? Walking with them he explained the Scriptures to them; sitting with them at table "he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them."174
 
Kielbasi said:
I think its safe to say that the early liturgies were a lot more casual than those of later periods or today.

Considering the narrative in Acts 20, could it happen today? Young man sitting on the window ledge sleeping during the sermon.
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😃 Now that is pretty picturesque of today as well. Somethings never change. 😉
 
johnnykins said:
I don’t know - we studied Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in Religion class. Seems that S&G are on a par, at least. 😛

Be that as it may, the Church is THE CHURCH and has full right and authority to change the Mass. The NO may be many things - but it is the Mass, after all. Whether the cahnges were prudent is another matter, of course.

With that understanding I nonetheless can’t stand the abuses, the terrible music and lack of the sacred in the usual Mass in the USA. There are exceptions, Deo gratias.
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👍 Yep! The US is imbued with the idea the church is Democartic. It isn’t…and all the whiners on all sides don’t make the Church dated or out of touch.
 
The early church liturgy was largely much like synagog worship of the day. In all the major liturgical lines we can trace it right back to the local synagog practices in various parts of the diaspora, so there was no one ‘Mass’ style anywhere. The Christians used the Psalms and the Berekoth prayers they were familiar with in synagog, added the Eucharist and told Gospel stories about Christ (from memory at first).

Even within large cities like Alexandria and Roma there were different synagog practices in separated neighborhoods, and that is believed to have influenced the worship styles of the first converts to Christianity.

The book *Eucharist *by Louis Bouyar is a very good study on the topic. It’s kind of dense though, so much so that I never finished it myself! 😛 This work was based largely on the studies of texts.

I realize that a major concern of many who post here is whether the bishop or presider consecrated Ad Orientum or not, but I don’t believe there is enough solid information available (other than the already cited archeological examples). Scholars have told us that the Eucharist (Thanksgiving) is a Jewish Table Blessing, normally done in a home (not in the synagog) as a family grouping by the eldest male. Obviously Christs command to “do this” was taken very seriously, because the Eucharist was a universal practice that defined Christian community. (Without it, the prayers were an early form of LOTH, prayed every three hours at the change of the watch.)

But we know that Jews to this very day make the table blessings and benedictions"versus populum" in their homes. I cannot imagine the Last Supper done any other way, so there is a lot of room to speculate about early Christian practice.

One thing that is fairly well attested to is the orientation of church buildings on an east-west axis and likewise for burials, but these were not ironclad rules. Especially because some old public buildings and temples were taken over for Christian use ‘as is’. Synagogs were usually sited to face toward Jerusalem, if possible, which meant the ones in Galilee usually were built on a north-south axis! But across Mediterranean Europe they were usually built with the niche toward the east.
 
I don’t think anyone knows what the first Masses were like, but I think it’s probably a safe bet that there was no leotard involvement.
 
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