(bread): We give thee thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which thou hast shown us by thy son Jesus; glory be to thee for ever. As this broken (bread) was scattered over the mountains[1] and is now joined together and made one, so may thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth to thy kingdom; for thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever. But no one may eat or drink of your thanksgiving, except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord, for about this the Lord said: Do not give the holy thing to dogs."[2]
St. Clement of Rome († 104) quotes a very beautiful prayer for all sorts and conditions of men, ending in a doxology, which, although it contains no allusion to the Holy Eucharist, has always been supposed to be an early liturgical prayer.[3] St. Justin Martyr († 166) gives in his first Apology a much more detailed account of what Christians do on "the day of the Sun." They kiss each other and pray. "Then to him who presides over the brethren bread is brought and a cup of water and wine, and he receives them and gives praise and glory to the Father of all through the name of the Son and Holy Ghost and performs the Eucharist." St. Justin then describes how the deacons give people Holy Communion. He says, "This food we call the Eucharist … for we do not receive it as common bread nor as common wine; but, just as by the word of God Jesus Christ our Saviour, being made man, had flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we are taught that the food made a Eucharist by his prayer of thanksgiving, by which our blood and flesh are nourished, is the body and blood of Jesus made man." He then quotes our Lord's words at the Last Supper, and adds an interesting note: "And the wicked demons have imitated this, teaching it to be done in the mysteries of Mithra. For you know, or may learn, that bread and a cup of water are brought with certain words in the mysteries of the initiated."[4]
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