When our Lord instituted the Eucharist He commanded His Apostles, "Do this in commemoration of Me." Though the last Supper took the place of the Paschal meal we find that its celebration was not restricted to once a year. On the contrary, we read in the "Acts of the Apostles," or the book which tells of the history of the Church, that the disciples were "continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house." As explained in No. 50, the "breaking of bread" meant the observance of the Lord's Supper. This frequent celebration marks the first difference between the Jewish custom and the new Christian service. The Jewish Passover was observed only once a year; the Christian Passover became a weekly if not a daily celebration. The ceremonies therefore peculiar to the Jewish Passover supper were naturally abandoned and those only retained which were closely connected with the institution of the Eucharist. In No. 142 we saw that the consecration of the bread and wine took place at the fourth cup of the paschal meal. Hence the taking of the bread and wine and the recitation of the thanksgiving are the acts that naturally prefaced it.
Instead of the prayers and ceremonies of the paschal meal proper the Apostles borrowed from the Jews a form of service to stand as an introduction to the celebration of the Eucharist. As is well known, the Jews had only one temple in which sacrifice might be offered. This temple was in Jerusalem, and to visit it at certain times was one of the obligations laid on the people. But, as they needed frequent religious instruction, every community had a building known as a "Synagogue." The word has precisely the same meaning as "ecclesia" (No. 59), and is applied both to the assembly and to the house in which the congregation met. On the Sabbath Day (No. 100) the Jews gathered in their synagogues to worship God and to listen to the reading of the Bible. The order to be observed was directed by one or more rulers or presidents, who called on fit persons to perform the various functions. The chief action was the reading of the Old Testament. The Jews divided it into three portions the Law, the Prophets and the Sacred Writings. The Law consisted of the Books of Moses; the Prophets comprehended not only the prophecies (with the exception of Daniel), but the historical books of Josue, Judges and Kings. The Sacred Writings included all the other books of the Old Testament. In the Scripture we find the expression, "the Law and the Prophets," used for the whole Bible as it existed before Christ. Now, the various books were subdivided into sections or lessons. On the Sabbath the President of the Synagogue called on one of the members to read a lesson; when he had finished, another followed with another lesson. These lessons were begun and ended with short prayers or blessings. Afterwards a sermon was delivered, explaining what had been read. In the fourth chapter of Saint Luke's Gospel we find this ritual set forth:
"And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he was brought up; and He went into the synagogue, according to His custom, on the Sabbath Day; and He rose up to read. And the book of Isaias, the prophet, was delivered unto Him, and as He opened the book He found the place where it was written:"The spirit of the Lord is upon me,And when He had closed the book He restored it to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them: 'This day is fulfilled this Scripture in your ears':
Wherefore He hath anointed me to Preach the Gospel to the poor;
He hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart,
To preach deliverance to the captives
And sight to the blind;
To set at liberty them that are bruised;
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of reward.
When the Apostles were preaching the Gospel they imitated the practice of our Lord and took occasion at the reading of the Scriptures to preach His doctrine.
"Now, Paul and they that were with him came to Antioch, in Pisidia, and, entering into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, they sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying: Ye men, brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation to make to the people, speak. Then, Paul, rising up and with his hand bespeaking silence, said: Ye men of Israel and ye that fear God, give ear, etc." (Acts 13)
Hence it is not surprising that when the Christians were cast out of the synagogues, and had assemblies of their own, they still held to the old practice of reading and explaining the Scriptures before the breaking of the bread. When the books of the New Testament were written extracts from them also were recited. The four Gospels or the four accounts of our Lord's life and sayings were held in especial honor, and a reading from them always formed part of this introductory service among the Christians. The blessings which were said in the synagogue before and after the lessons appear as psalms or prayers recited between the readings. Hence we have the order of the first portion of the Christian Liturgy, namely, one or more lessons from the Old and New Testaments, followed by an extract from the Gospels, with psalms interspersed, and a sermon explaining the Scripture.
If you have a Holy Week Book, that is, a manual containing the Church services for the week before Easter, and if you study what is known as the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday, you will see how the early Christians adopted the Synagogue service to their own needs. Without any preliminary other than a silent prayer by the ministers, a selection from the Prophet Osee is read, followed by a responsive hymn called the Tract. Then a prayer is said with another selection from the Old Testament, followed by a similar hymn. Then comes the recitation of the Passion from the Gospel of Saint John, after which the "bidding prayers are recited. Bid, here means to ask, and bidding prayers are prayers in which the congregation is asked to pray for a certain intention. Thus on Good Friday the priest begins:
"Let us pray, beloved brethren, for the holy Church of God; that our God and our Lord may deign to give it peace and concord and protection throughout the earth, subjecting to it principalities and powers; and that He may grant us a quiet and peaceful life to glorify God, the Father Almighty. Let us pray."
The Deacon: "Let us bend our knees."
The Sub-deacon: "Arise."
There is a set form of prayers for Good Friday, but in the beginning the priest used his own words and regulated the number of prayers by the varying needs of the congregation, much the same as is done now before the sermon on Sundays, when we pray for the dead, the sick and such other intentions as may be asked or needed.
In Rome, besides the prayers said after the Readings, there was also a prayer said when the people were collected in the Church, and the priest, so to speak, gathered all their intentions into one petition and offered them to God. This prayer is naturally called the Collect. It is usually very short, compressed and pithy, after the manner of the Romans, whose ancient manner of speech was to say much in few words.
We may call the old synagogue service the ancient Sunday school, as its primary object was instruction. In its structure it follows the natural lines of any school.
- Opening Prayer or Collect.
- First Lesson or Reading.
- Hymn and Prayer.
- Second Lesson or Reading.
- Hymn.
- Third Lesson or Reading.
- Discourse.
- Closing or Bidding Prayer.
It is to be understood, however, that the number of lessons varied according to circumstances; there were as many as twelve, but never less than two.
- taken from The Mass, by Father Peter Christopher Yorke