The Mass of the Early Christians [Paperback]

Mike Aquilina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2007

What did the first Christians believe about the Eucharist? How did they follow Jesus' command, Do this in remembrance of me? How did they celebrate the Lord's Day? What would they recognize in today's Mass? The answers may surprise you.

In The Mass of the Early Christians, author Mike Aquilina reveals the Church's most ancient Eucharistic beliefs and practices. Using the words of the early Christians themselves -- from many documents and inscriptions -- Aquilina traces the Mass s history from Jesus' lifetime through the fourth century. The Mass stood at the center of the Church's life, evident in the Scriptures as well as the earliest Christian sermons, letters, artwork, tombstones, and architecture. Even the pagans bore witness to the Mass in the records of their persecutions.

In these legacies from the early Church, you ll hear and taste and see the same worship Catholics know today: the altar, the priests, the chalice of wine, the bread, the Sign of the Cross...the Lord, have mercy ...the Holy, holy, holy ...and the Communion.

You ll see vividly how Jesus followed through on his promise to be with us always, until the end of time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

All Christians from liturgical traditions can read this book with profit and find comfort in the firm historical basis of their own worship. Those who have shunned liturgical worship might after reading this book reconsider their position and wonder what they have been missing. --Christian Book Review

"The Mass we know on Sunday -- the Mass you encounter in this book --- is where Tradition lives, where the Church's memory reigns 'in the Spirit." Read this book, then, and remember." --Scott Hahn, Professor of Scripture and Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville

About the Author

Vice-president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, Mike Aquilina
has authored or edited more than a dozen books on Catholic history, doctrine, and devotion,
including the best-selling What Catholics Believe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor; 2nd edition (June 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592763200
• ISBN-13: 978-1592763207
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts > Ritual

More About the Author

Mike Aquilina is author or editor of more than thirty books, including The Fathers of the Church, The Mass of the Early Christians, and A Year with the Church Fathers. He has co-hosted eight series that air on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He has co-authored books with Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and theologian Scott Hahn. He is past editor of New Covenant magazine and The Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper. He appears weekly on Sirius Radio's "Sonrise Morning Show." Mike and his wife, Terri, have six children, who are the subject of his book Love in the Little Things.

In 2011 Mike was a featured presenter of the U.S. Bishops' Diocesan Educational/Catechetical Leadership Institute. He also wrote the USCCB's theological reflection for Catechetical Sunday in 2011.

His reviews, essays and journalism have appeared in many journals, including First Things, Touchstone, Crisis, Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Register, and Catholic Heritage. He contributed work on early Christianity to the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought.

Mike is a also poet whose works have appeared in U.S. literary journals and have been translated into Polish and Spanish. He shared songwriting credits with Grammy Award-winner Dion DiMucci on the forthcoming album "Tank Full of Blues."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

209 of 212 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lift Up Your Hearts July 12, 2003

By Labarum VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Among the most important developments for the Church in the last decade has been the rediscovery of the liturgical forms of the ancient Christianity. While much of the worship of Protestant Evangelicalism has become increasingly trite by appropriating the ethos of the popular culture, there has been a counter movement to find a more authentic worship by studying patterns of the early Church. This examination has been an enlightening experience to many thoughtful Evangelicals as they came to realize their own worship styles were of fairly recent vintage. Even more shocking, the worship of the early Church was liturgical in form, Catholic in outlook, and centered upon the Eucharist. As a result, many have either left the Evangelical movement for the historic Churches or sounded a call to return to more traditional patterns of worship within their own traditions.

The final piece of the puzzle is for those in the liturgical Churches to realize the treasures in their own midst and correct abuses that have detrimentally affected their own worship traditions. For those in the Roman Catholic Church who are unfamiliar with the history of early Christian worship, there may be no better starting point than The Mass of the Early Christians by Mike Aquilina. Written for a general audience, Aquilina manages to tie together liturgical styles from disparate sources of the early Church as they reflected on the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Although the book is primarily aimed at Roman Catholics, all Christians from liturgical traditions can read this book with profit and find comfort in the firm historical basis of their own worship. Those who have shunned liturgical worship might after reading this book reconsider their position and wonder what they have been missing. At no point does Aquilina force the Roman Catholic position but to his credit allows the ancient Church to speak for itself.

The first section of the book is a description of the origin and early development of the worship of the Church. Aquilina carefully examines the Jewish roots of the Mass and how the liturgy of the Church is a development of the ancient Jewish worship with the focus now placed on Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and the establishment by Jesus of a new and everlasting covenant. The exposition of the Eucharist doctrine and liturgical forms used in the early Church is among the best introductory treatments of the subject as the reader is skillfully brought into contact with the thought of the early Church. After careful consideration of the discussion, readers who have had little exposure to the historical evidence may now see the worship of the Church with new eyes.

In the second part of the book, Aquilina provides primary evidence from the patristic period to support the veracity of his earlier exposition. Of particular interest are liturgical texts used in the early Church. It might be claimed the statements of certain patristic writers are not necessarily representative of the Church as a whole, but when the same themes are echoed in distinct liturgies used in areas separated by great distances, the weakness of this argument is exposed. If one belongs does not worship as the early Church worshipped and does not pray as the early Church prayed, it is also likely they do not believe what the early Church believed.

The book concludes with a fictional reconstruction by Aquilina of what it was probably like to worship in the early Church. This approach is quite compelling as the hard historical evidence provided earlier in the book is fleshed out in this hypothetical account of a Christian family at worship.

Many Christians from traditions not sympathetic to formal liturgy are now taking the historical witness of the early Church seriously. As a basic introduction to the richness of early Christian liturgy, The Mass of the Early Christians is a fine starting point. It is an inspiring account of the patristic mass that calls to the Church, as in the liturgy itself, to "lift up your hearts."

72 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The roots of the Church and the Eucharist exposed in glory. January 27, 2005

By CDS

Format:Paperback

There are those who would have us believe that the Mass as we have it today, is not what the early Christians, an certainly not what Jesus had in mind. Protestant Evangelical Christians may even go so far as to make you believe that the Mass is some form of pagan worship at best, and that it is not Christian in the least. Mike Aquilina here does us a great favor. In a very well documented book, he takes us through the writings of many of the early Church fathers (the first theologians in the first generations after Christ, who knew the apostles, and thus got their teachings straight from the best sources), and he shows us how the Mass came to be. He also shows us how things have really not changed too much over two millenia, in fact some of the very prayers we use at Mass today, were penned in the 2nd century or earlier. For those of you, especially Catholics who have held seeds of doubt as to the validity of the Mass, who have wondered as to whether the Eucharist is really the body and blood of Christ, this book helps to show that those teachings aren't some new fangled invention of later generations, they are rather what Christ taught, and what his body, the Church, has taught since then. The reading can be a little dry at times, but I highly recommend it.

74 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Early Worship of Christians WAS Catholic November 11, 2005

By Laurence A. Gonzaga

Format:Paperback

This is one of the first books I read on Catholicism. I wanted to understand what the Mass was, and how it was developed. Of course the easy answer was that: it is Biblical. This book digs real deep into not just the Bible, but heavily into the early Christian writings of the Early Church Fathers (ECF's) as well as early Christian documents such as the Didache and the Didascalia. It goes over some very interesting tidbits as well as the heavy stuff. Some items which I have flagged on the side of my book include:

1. Origin of the term "Eucharist"
2. The Word and Eucharistic "rites" were separate
3. Eucharist was practiced at home
4. Bethlehem is "House of bread"
5. Unworthiness to receive
6. The Didache
7. St. Ignatius coined term "Catholic"
8. St. Justin Martyr was 1st Apologist
9. Hypocrisy
10. Charlatan
11. Hyppolytus "The Lord is With You"
12. The testimony of 14 ECF's
13. The testimony of Non-Christians

It proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the early Church was essentially "Catholic" in worship, practice, theology, ecclesiology, eschatology, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks were converted by this book!
Great book! Very informative!

-Laurence