The Early Eucharist - A. D. 30 180 #262864

The Eucharist in the First Two Centuries, but no writer later than Irenaeus is used, and this has led to the change of title. My plan has been to collect the significant passages which were to be found in writers earlier than Irenaeus, as well as in Irenaeus himself. They are first analysed, and then combined to illustrate aspects of the Eucharist. The analysis has been revised before publication, and the synthesis added. The authorities are reproduced with translations, and attention has been strictly confined to them. The earliest citations are from the Gospels and S. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians; the latest are taken from Justin Martyr's Apologies and Irenaeus' work against Heresies. The beginning is thus made in Canonical Scripture; the end is reached in apologetic works addressed to the Pagan, the Jew and the Christian.