As I tried to state in the last issue of this article, the Divine Liturgy can be defined as an encounter between the faithful and God – a real encounter that takes place in the present moment. In the Divine Liturgy we are transported, if we allow ourselves to be, into the very presence of our Triune God. The act of being transported into God’s presence, taking us beyond space and time, is what is meant by the anamnetic nature of the Divine Liturgy.

Liturgical scholars have traced the development of the anamnesis in the Eucharistic Prayer back to the ninth and tenth chapters of the Didache, which was written in the late and early second century of the common era. These two chapters focus on the Eucharist, yet they do not mention the command of Jesus through Paul found in first Corinthians (11:24-25): Do this in remembrance of me. In the Didache, the Eucharist is understood primarily as an act of thanksgiving. Chapter 9 of this document directs partakers in the Eucharist to “give thanks…First, concerning the cup…and [then] concerning the broken bread.” This prayer, one scholar argues, is a more likely origin of the Eucharistic Prayers of the current Roman Rite than the   Jewish Seder prayers. The Didache’s prayer of thanksgiving more closely   parallels the Eucharistic Prayer as one to be recited before the Eucharist, whereas the prayers over food in Judaism were to be said after the Seder meal. Chapter 10 contains a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s presence in salvation history. for making our hearts His tabernacle; for giving us knowledge, faith and immortality; l for creation, and for food and drink both earthly and spiritual. This is then interspersed with a doxology and ends with a prayer for the Church’s deliverance from evil and for God to gather it into His kingdom and for the Lord’s second coming: “Maranatha. Amen.” This 10th chapter includes no explicit reference to remembrance and the exclamation, “Hosanna to the God (Son) of David”. Scholars debate whether this alludes specifically to the Son of God or simply to God as the “vine of David.” The latter interpretation, namely that it refers to God and not Christ, is advanced by a majority of scholars.

So where and when did the notion of the Eucharist take on this anamnetic character? I will continue to explore this with you, my readers.