Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

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Chur ch Mat ter s : Ret r i ev i ng the Great Trad i t i on

win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

C. The Great Tradition communicated its allegiance to Christ and his Kingdom through a vitality displayed in the liturgy, the Eucharist, and the Catechumanate .

1. The liturgy helped early Christians experience the presence of Christ through the Word and the Table.

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place. And the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs us and exhorts us to imitate these good things. Then we all rise together and pray. And, as we said before, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought. Then, the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability. And the people assent, saying ‘Amen.’ Then, [the Eucharist] is distributed to everyone, and everyone participates in [the bread and wine], over which thanks has been given. And a portion of it is sent by the deacons to those who are absent.

~ Justin Martyr, c. 160 (cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, p. 404).

2. The Lord’s Supper was the centerpiece of early Christian worship and devotion.

3. New believers were strenuously trained and tested through the process of the Catechumanate.

It is good that learners desire baptism, but do not hastily receive it. For he who desires it, honors it. He who hastily receives it, disdains it. . . . Hasty reception is the portion of irreverence. It inflates the seeker; it despises the Giver. And thus it sometimes deceives, for it promises itself the gift before it is due. ~ Tertullian, c. 203 (cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, p. 87).