Today is the feast of St. Justin Martyr, one of Christianity’s earliest apologists. He lived from 100-165 AD and was put to death under Emperor Marcus Aurelius for being a Christian.

 

I remember first learning about him while I was a novice, and it was part of his First Apology that made me come to a deeper appreciation of my Catholic faith, especially the way we celebrate the Eucharist.

 

“Chapter 67: Weekly Worship of Christians”–…And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as timepermits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wineand water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours theorphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.”

 

I was so surprised to see that the pattern of the Mass, for the most part, has not changed at least since the time St. Justin wrote this to Emperor Antoninus Pius around the year 150 AD, give or take a decade! We still gather in one place–a church, cathedral, chapel, basilica–and being (after some prayers and admitting our sinfullness first of course!) with the Liturgy of the Word, listening to “the memoirs of the apostles and/or the writings of the prophets.” Then the presider–the priest–gives the homily. We all then stand of offer the Prayers of the Faithful, and when this has ended we have the Offertory, during which time the bread, wine and water for Eucharist is brought forward. The priest offers prayers in thanksgiving for these gifts from God and so begins the Liturgy of the Eucharist, at the end of which is the Great Amen that, at least on Sundays, is sung by all the people. We usually have the offering not after the Amen as Justin has it above, but rather during the Offertory. 

Earlier in his Apology when Justin is speaking about Baptism he offers some more details that reminded me of the way we still celebrate:

“But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.”

 

Here St. Justin talks about the kiss of peace after the prayers, though we usually offer the sign of peace after the Our Father and before we receive the Eucharist, after the Great Amen. I thought it was neat, though, that even in St. Justin’s time it was the deacons and the priests who were the “ordinary” ministers of Holy Communion, as it still is today, and that there was even in those days an effort to bring the Eucharist to the sick and others who otherwise could not attend Mass.

 

I remember being especially heartened by his words on the Eucharist in this Apology. At the time my understanding of and love for the Eucharist was just beginning to grow; I had not been taught very well at all while growing up. To read the words of a Christian who was practicing his faith hardly a century after Christ and to find that his understanding of the Eucharist and mine were the same was so encouraging.

“And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, This do in remembrance of Me,  this is My body; (Luke 22:19) and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, This is My blood; and gave it to them alone.”

This helped me to see, too, that not permitting non-believers to participate in Holy Communion has been a practice of the Church since the very beginning; even the first Christians saw the importance of a communion of hearts and minds being necessary for a Sacramental Communion as well. Also the importance of the Eucharist being received only after one has been baptized and is “living as Christ has enjoined”–in other words, they are not living in serious sin–was seen so early on…all these new things I was learning about my Catholic faith, I realized, are not arbitrary or by any means a recent development, but they were ancient practices and beliefs taught the early Christians by the apostles themselves and handed down through the centuries until that learning reached a somewhat naive Jesuit novice in St. Paul, Minnesota.

 

I was reminded of all of this today when I was reading the Office of Readings for the feast today before Mass. It is an account of St. Justin’s trial and in it he says, “In the time of the lawless partisans of idolatry, wicked decrees were passed against the godly Christians in town and country, to force them to offer libations to vain idols; and accordingly the holy men, having been apprehended, were brought before the prefect of Rome, Rusticus by name. And when they had been brought before his judgment-seat, said to Justin, Obey the gods at once, and submit to the kings. Justin said, To obey the commandments of our Saviour Jesus Christ is worthy neither of blame nor of condemnation. Rusticus the prefect said, What kind ofdoctrines do you profess? Justin said, I have endeavoured to learn all doctrines; but I have acquiesced at last in the true doctrines, those namely of the Christians, even though they do not please those who hold false opinions.Rusticus the prefect said, Are those the doctrines that please you, you utterly wretched man? Justin said, Yes, since I adhere to them with right dogma. Rusticus the prefect said, What is the dogma? Justin said, That according to which we worship the God of the Christians, whom we reckon to be one from the beginning, the maker and fashioner of the whole creation, visible and invisible; and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had also been preached beforehand by the prophets as about to be present with the race of men, the herald of salvation and teacher of good disciples. And I, being a man, think that what I can say is insignificant in comparison with His boundless divinity, acknowledging a certain prophetic power, since it was prophesied concerning Him of whom now I say that He is the Son of God. For I know that of old the prophets foretold His appearance among men.

I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t noticed this earlier, but I realized this morning that already in St. Justin’s time the basic tenets of the Creed I profess at Mass every week (at least) were already starting to coalesce! His response to Rusticus’ question on dogma is so similar, “…we worship God…whom we reckon to be one from the beginning, maker and fashioner of the whole creation, visible and invisible; and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had also been preached beforehand by the prophets as about to be present with the race of men, the herald of salvation and the teacher of good disciples…”

The Nicene Creed begins: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible…I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages…” It continues to profess, “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”

 

I am so grateful that I was blessed to have born and raised in the Church that this great saint and martyr lived in and died for, along with so many others. To think that if St. Justin showed up at Mass today, even though he wouldn’t understand English, he’d still know what was going on and he’d still recognize it as the same worship he participated in 1,847 years ago! I suppose, too, that if I went back in a time machine to his day I’d have the same blessing to know what was going on, too, even if I didn’t understand the Latin! 

 

Have you ever come across the writings of a saint or Church Father that has helped you come to love Christ and your Christian faith more? Has your Christian community maintained any of the ancient traditions of the Early Christians in its weekly/daily worship?