Why do ancient churches have an altar as the centre of their worship, at the front of the building, in the middle of the front, on an elevated platform as the most prominent feature in the sanctuary of the church? Well, it could be because of things like this, written by the earliest churches members who had church buildings.
But every Lord’s day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving [lit. Eucharist] after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure (Didache, Chap 14).
For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth ] the unity of His blood; one altar (Ignatius, Philadelphians, Chap 4).
‘I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord; and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands: for, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, My name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord: but you profane it.’ Malachi 1:10-12 [So] He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name, and that you profane [it] (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chap 41).
And modern scholars know that the first Christians, the new testament, and the old testament all unite in speaking of the remembrance/memorial as a sacrifice.
It was natural for early Christians to think of the Eucharist as a sacrifice. The fulfillment of prophecy demanded a solemn Christian offering, and the rite itself was wrapped in the sacrificial atmosphere with which our Lord invested the Last Supper. The words of institution, ‘Do this’ (touto poieite), must have been charged with sacrificial overtones for second-century ears; Justin at any rate understood them to mean, ‘Offer this.’ . . . The bread and wine, moreover, are offered ‘for a memorial (eis anamnasin) of the passion,’ a phrase which in view of his identification of them with the Lord’s body and blood implies much more than an act of purely spiritual recollection (J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, p. 196–7).
And the scriptures themselves have much to say about the altar to which we come as Christians,
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those [sacrifices] a reminder [ἀνάμνησιν, i.e. “memorial sacrifice”] of sins year by year (Heb 10:1-3).
Also in the days of gladness and in your feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your whole burnt offerings and the sacrifices of your peace offerings, and they shall be a remembrance [ἀνάμνησις, i.e. memorial sacrifice] for you before your God (Num 10:10).
You shall put pure frankincense with salt on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial [ἀνάμνησιν, i.e. memorial sacrifice], even an offering made by fire to the Lord (Lev 24:7).
Saint Chrysostom preached of the sacrifice on the alter in his sermons.
He is our High Priest, who offered the sacrifice [on Calvary] that cleanses us. That [sacrifice on Calvary] we offer now also, which was then offered, which cannot be exhausted. This is done in remembrance of what was then done. For (says He) do this in remembrance of Me. It is not another sacrifice, as the High Priest, but we offer always the same, or rather we perform a remembrance [lit. ἀνάμνησιν, i.e. “memorial sacrifice”] of a Sacrifice.
But since I have mentioned this [memorial] sacrifice, I wish to say a little in reference to you who have been initiated; little in quantity, but possessing great force and profit, for it is not our own, but the words of Divine Spirit . What then is it? Many partake of this [memorial] sacrifice once in the whole year, others twice; others many times (Homily 17 on Hebrews, Paragraphs 6 and 7).
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