Saint Justin Martyr describing a Christian Church / Worship Service in 100-165 A.D.

[Jude1:3Contendforthefaith]

Enjoy :

How We Christians Worship | Christian History Magazine

Logos Virtual Library: Saint Justin Martyr: First Apology, 67


"On the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a given city or rural district. The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then when the reader ceases, the president in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things. Next we all rise together and send up prayers.

When we cease from our prayer, bread is presented and wine and water. The president in the same manner sends up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people sing out their assent, saying the “Amen.” A distribution and participation of the elements for which thanks have been given is made to each person, and to those who are not present they are sent by the deacons.

Those who have means and are willing, each according to his own choice, gives what he wills, and what is collected is deposited with the president. He provides for the orphans and widows, those who are in need on account of sickness or some other cause, those who are in bonds, strangers who are sojourning, and in a word he becomes the protector of all who are in need.

We all make our assembly in common on Sunday, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and matter and made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturn’s day, and on the day after (which is the day of the Sun) he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught these things, which we have offered for your consideration."


—First Apology, 67

• Saint Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.)

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[Jude1:3Contendforthefaith]

Bonus :

Here's Pliny The Younger describing a Christian service (63-113 A.D). :


“They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, When They Sang In Alternate Verses A Hymn To Christ, As To A God, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”


• PLINY THE YOUNGER (63 - 113 A.D)

Pliny the Younger - Wikipedia

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[Carl Emerson]

Nice thanks...

I note offerings were to assist the poor and needy - tithing as such is not mentioned.

 

[Jude1:3Contendforthefaith]

Here's Tertullian describing Early Church Services / Practices (160-220 A.D.) :


• Apology 39:1-5
CHURCH FATHERS: Apology (Tertullian)

• On The Soul 9:4
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/an...www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.xi.ix.htmlv

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[Root of Jesse]

I believe all these describe the Catholic Mass. @Carl Emerson , You're right, no mention of tithing. IT was 'give what you can.' And it was usually farm goods, animals, etc.

 

[Daniel Marsh]

Nice thanks...

I note offerings were to assist the poor and needy - tithing as such is not mentioned.

Didache
Chapter 13. Support of Prophets
But every true prophet that wills to abide among you is worthy of his support. So also a true teacher is himself worthy, as the workman, of his support. Matthew 10:10; cf. Luke 10:7 Every first-fruit, therefore, of the products of wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and of sheep, you shall take and give to the prophets, for they are your high priests. But if you have not a prophet, give it to the poor. If you make a batch of dough, take the first-fruit and give according to the commandment. So also when you open a jar of wine or of oil, take the first-fruit and give it to the prophets; and of money (silver) and clothing and every possession, take the first-fruit, as it may seem good to you, and give according to the commandment.

 

[obscura]

The early Christian life was definitely a liturgical one from the sounds of it.

 

[miamited]

Here's Tertullian describing Early Church Services / Practices (160-220 A.D.) :


• Apology 39:1-5
CHURCH FATHERS: Apology (Tertullian)

• On The Soul 9:4
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/an...www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.xi.ix.htmlv
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I looked over the offered text on Tertullian, but didn't really see a description of a worship service in his day. Could you provide a more concise detail of how Tertullian describes it?

God bless,
Ted

 

[GreekOrthodox]

I looked over the offered text on Tertullian, but didn't really see a description of a worship service in his day. Could you provide a more concise detail of how Tertullian describes it?

God bless,
Ted

Tertullian doesnt provide a detailed description but rather a lengthy refutation against the accusations of treason from the Apologies chapter 39

We meet together in an assembly and congregation that we may besiege God like a marshalled corps with our prayers. This violence is pleasing to Him. We pray for emperors, for their ministers, and those in authority, for the state of the world, for general quietude, and for the delay of the end. We assemble together to call to remembrance the divine writings, if the aspect of affairs requires us to be forewarned or reminded of anything.

Certain approved elders preside, who have obtained this honour not by purchase but by testimony; for no divine privilege is obtainable by money.

If the reason for our feast is an honourable one, you can estimate what the rest of our disciplinary regulations are with respect to religious duties: nothing disgraceful, nothing immodest is admissible; no one reclines at the feast without first tasting beforehand of prayer to God: sufficient is eaten to satisfy hunger; so much only is drunk as becomes the chaste.

He concludes with
This assembly of the Christians would, indeed, have been deservedly made illegal, if it resembled illegal meetings; and it ought deservedly to be condemned, if it were not unlike assemblies that merit condemnation,

 

[Root of Jesse]

Didache
Chapter 13. Support of Prophets
But every true prophet that wills to abide among you is worthy of his support. So also a true teacher is himself worthy, as the workman, of his support. Matthew 10:10; cf. Luke 10:7 Every first-fruit, therefore, of the products of wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and of sheep, you shall take and give to the prophets, for they are your high priests. But if you have not a prophet, give it to the poor. If you make a batch of dough, take the first-fruit and give according to the commandment. So also when you open a jar of wine or of oil, take the first-fruit and give it to the prophets; and of money (silver) and clothing and every possession, take the first-fruit, as it may seem good to you, and give according to the commandment.

But not tithing, per se.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Great thread guys!!

 

[JM]

Which church is closer to the original church based on the op...Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Which one abandoned the faith? Which one is the true church with full and true expression of apostolic faith?

Thanks.

 

[tz620q]

Which church is closer to the original church based on the op...Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Which one abandoned the faith? Which one is the true church with full and true expression of apostolic faith?

Thanks.

Or perhaps that is a false dichotomy and they both are; but just in schism.

 

[public hermit]

Which church is closer to the original church based on the op...Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Which one abandoned the faith? Which one is the true church with full and true expression of apostolic faith?

Thanks.

It doesn't matter. The tree and it's branches come from the same root, Jesus Christ. The only thing that matters at this point is not driving more wedges between members of the same body that's already, foolishly, separated.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

The Oriental Orthodox churches would say that both Rome and Constantinople messed up at the Council of Chalcedon.

 

[anna ~ grace]

Or perhaps that is a false dichotomy and they both are; but just in schism.

This kind of how I see it now, too. Both have Saints. Even modern ones. Both have apparitions of Our Lady; and so does Oriental Orthodoxy (Zeitun). Both have valid Sacraments, believe in the Real Presence, and in Salvation as a synergy of God saving us and man cooperating with God through his will, faith, and life. Both have Tradition to help us to live out, understand, and apply the Scriptures. Both are deeply and innately Sacramental.

 

[The Liturgist]

The Oriental Orthodox churches would say that both Rome and Constantinople messed up at the Council of Chalcedon.

I myself am of that opinion to the extent that I believe there was no justification for Pope Dioscorus of Alexandria to be deposed; he had sought to maintain the faith of his immediate predecessor St. Cyril the Great, he was lied to by Eutyches, who he excommunicated after the disastrous Second Council of Ephesus, and he was really the victim of a power plot involving Ibas, who was obviously a crypto-Nestorian. I do not object to the Tome of Leo, however.

Indeed, although I am not Roman Catholic, I agree with the decision of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, taken when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was in charge of it, prior to becoming Pope (he is an excellent theologian, unlike his successor), that the Chalcedonian Christology is compatible with the Miaphysite (not Monophysite*) of the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Christology of the Assyrian Church of the East, which contrary to popular opinion is not that of Nestorius, but was rather a translation of Chalcedonian Christology into Syriac terminology made by the Catholicos Mar Babai the Great in the early 6th century, and this Christology was further tweaked by the late Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, memory eternal, in the 1970s, to be closer to the Chalcedonian model.

 

[JM]

Doctrine divides and when doctrine is pushed by the State for political ends the divisions as we have seen often becomes permanent.

 

[Thatgirloncfforums]

It seems like neither and both.

Which church is closer to the original church based on the op...Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Which one abandoned the faith? Which one is the true church with full and true expression of apostolic faith?

Thanks.

 

[rjs330]

From the OP it appears that chruch services haven't changed much of the centuries as far as the basics are concerned. Singing (worship), Teaching, Giving, Communion and fellowship.

Kind of the standard.