As I shared in the last issue of this article, the Eucharistic service in the early Church was often connected with and followed baptisms and also catechetical assemblies. Justin, a Father of the Church (148-155 CE) provides us with this description:

Thus, after baptizing him that professes his faith and assents to our doctrine, we lead him into the assembly of those called the brethren to say earnest prayers in common for ourselves, for the newly baptized, and for all others all over the world so that we who have come to the knowledge of the truth may also by the grace of God be found worthy to live a good life by deed and to observe the commandments by which we may gain eternal life. After finishing the prayers, we greet each other with a kiss. Then bread and a cup of wine are brought to the one presiding over the brethren. When he takes it, he gives praise and glory to the Father of all in the name of the Son and of the Holy spirit, and gives thanks at length because he considered us worthy of these gifts.

Justin also provides us with a similar description of the Eucharist being celebrated after a catechetical assembly.

The celebration of the Eucharist liturgy, as reconstructed from various writers of the next two centuries and a half, contain all the salient features described by Justin. What preceded the Eucharistic portion of the liturgy need not concern us, only that at which the initiated alone could participate: (1) Common, Intercessory Prayers of the Faithful; (2) the Kiss of Peace; (3) the Presentation of Bread and Wine or the Offertory; (4) the Eucharistic Prayer; (5) Fraction – the breaking apart of the Bread; (6) Communion; and (7) Ablutions and Dismissal.

We need to consider each of these elements to understand the structure of the Eucharistic Service. The first is the common, intercessory prayers that were said by “the brethren.” Authors tell us that these prayers were offered while the brethren stood with uplifted hands. Their content must have been similar to the petitions included in Clement of Rome’s Letter to the Corinthians: for the sick and weak, for those in need, for the erring, the faint-hearted, for peace, for princes, governors and all civil authority. As summarized by Tertullian, there were petitions for “all emperors, that they may have a long life, loyal people, a quiet territory and whatever else may be desired by men and by Caesar.”
More to follow!