First Euchuristic Liturgy

What was the very First Euchuristic Liturgy celebrated by Christians?

That's hard to pin down, because it is difficult to know when a source is giving an outline, a partial text, or a complete text.

We have several early liturgies. There's reference to them in St. Paul's letter to Corinthians. There's a referance in Acts 2 of the "breaking of bread" being a regular occurance amongst the early Christians (and this is a common early euphimism for Eucharist). The earliest Eucharistic prayers are found in the Didache, from the mid-late 1st century AD (I generally say 70s AD). Those prayers are modeled very closely on Jewish thanksgiving prayers for a meal.

The earliest one that is recognizably continuous with our liturgy today is reported to us by St. Hyppolitus of Rome in the early 3rd century, though he's pulling from a source that is probably from the mid 2nd century. His text includes the lines "Let us lift up our hearts, we lift them up unto the Lord," etc etc as the core of the Eucharistic prayers. These words survived to show up in EO, OO, RCC and Anglican liturgical celebrations of the Eucharist. They may be in other celebrations, too. I'm not sure.

EDIT: There is also a strong tradition of considering the words of Christ at the Last Supper as being the words of institution and, therefore the model of early liturgies. They are mirrored in St. Paul's account of the Eucharist, giving credence to that tradition.

Hope that helps!

In Christ,
Macarius

St. Justin Martyr gives a good outline in about 150 AD as well.

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"Acquire a peaceful spirit and 1000s around you will be saved"--St. Seraphim

”For as it is not yet six thousand years since the first man, who is called Adam, are not those to be ridiculed rather than refuted who try to persuade us of anything regarding a space of time so different from, and contrary to, the ascertained truth?” St. Augustine

The Divine Liturgy of St James

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lex orandi, lex credendi

It depends on how you define "Liturgy"...

I would tend to believe that it was the first Eucharist celebrated after the crucifiction. (Whenever and wherever that might have been.)

Christ celebrated the First Eucharist with His Twelve Apostles just before His Holy Passion and Death.

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Virgin Theotokos, rejoice!
O Mary, Full of Grace;
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
For thou hast borne the Savior of our souls.

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Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory Forever!
O Giver of Life, Glory to Thee!


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