Accounts of the Last Supper of Jesus, found in the Christian New Testament, have been central to the faith of all Christians since the ancient Church. Despite the importance of partaking in such a tradition, early Christians varied in their belief and practice of the Lord’s Supper, a fact that remains today. While some early Christians emphasized the idea that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Christ, others held that it was more symbolic in nature and acted as a mere representation. Further, across the three sources analyzed in this presentation, there is a variation
in the order of the Lord’s Supper and the prayers that are prayed over the eucharistic meal. Yet, despite these differences, each of the texts used here indicates that practice of the Lord’s Super in proto-orthodoxy was done with the utmost respect and meant to only be partaken in by a spiritually worthy individual. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the diversity of early Church interpretations of the Eucharist, while also acknowledging shared fundamental aspects.
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