In our previous post, we observed that the Pauline liturgy placed an “Amen” (1 Corinthians 14:16) between the thanksgiving (the Eucharist) and the Consecration (sometimes called the Epiclesis), and that the Scriptures and the ancient liturgies consistently place the Eucharist prior to the Consecration. We also showed that the Eucharist in the early Church consisted of the grateful prayers and the tithe offerings of the Church. These were offered during the Sunday liturgy in imitation of Christ Who gave thanks to His Father at the Last Supper. Those prayers and tithes were understood by the early writers to be the fulfillment of the “incense” and the “pure offering” prophesied by the prophet Malachi (1:11). Only Christians in good standing could participate in that tithe offering, for only in Christ could one bring “the tithes into the storehouse” (Malachi 3:10) with a pure heart and a clear conscience. The unbeliever, the catechumen and the backslider were therefore dismissed from the service at the time of the offertory. The original Sacrifice of Dismissal (oblationem missa) or what eventually came to be known as the Sacrifice of the Mass, therefore, was simply a reference to the tithe offering that occurred immediately after the Dismissal. It did not refer to an offering of consecrated bread and wine.

Continue reading The Collapse of the Eucharist, Part 1 →