The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus: Translated into English with Introduction and NotesHippolytus, Antipope
Religion
The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus: Translated into English with Introduction and Notes
Hippolytus, Antipope
Canon law -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Church orders, Ancient
The various Jewish blessings in their oldest literary forms are
collected in the Mishnah tractate _Berakhoth_;[166] this was finally
compiled in the third century, but most of its contents are much
earlier; note in chapter 8 the account of the pre-Christian
controversy between the schools of Hillel and Shammai. The form of all
the blessings is the same; after the opening words of praise the
worshipper recites the particular act of God for which thanksgiving is
due. So over bread the formula is:
Blessed be thou, O God, King of the universe, who hast brought forth
bread from the ground;
and over wine:
Blessed be thou, O God, King of the universe, who hast created the
fruit of the vine.
There is no real reason to doubt that these were the words used by
Christ at the Last Supper when he “gave thanks”; Mark 14. 25 takes up
the blessing used over the cup.
To eat without thanksgiving was a sin, and he who did so at least
violated God’s law commanding thankfulness. But most Jews would also
have held that unblessed food is unfit for consumption, and that
pronouncing the benediction removes this quasi-uncleanness, i.e.,
“hallows” it: “Nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with
thanksgiving; for it is sanctified through the word of God[167] and
prayer”.[168] In other words, the act of thanksgiving was construed as
having a consecratory effect, potent even for ordinary food and
therefore especially potent for sacred food. So St Paul writes in 1
Corinthians 10. 16: “The cup of thanksgiving over which we give
thanks, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?” In Hippolytus
the same conception appears unambiguously in 21. 6 and 23, but it also
underlies his use of “thanksgiving” in 4. 2 and 10. 4.
Accordingly, since at the Christians’ greatest liturgical service the
essential formula was a solemn thanksgiving, the service itself and
food consecrated at the service both came to be called simply “The
Thanksgiving” or (in Greek) “The Eucharist”.[169] And—certainly in the
second century, since Hippolytus gives the formula—the eucharistic
prayer was prefaced by the invitatory, “Let us make our thanksgiving
to the Lord”, and this in turn by the appropriate words, “Lift up your
hearts”.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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