The Mass of the Early Christians (Paperback)

~ (Author) "How did the first Christians experience the Mass?..." (more)
Key Phrases: place incense, pure offering, heavenly bread, Jesus Christ, New Testament, Old Testament (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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

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 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

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. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879739428
• ISBN-13: 978-0879739423
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #619,754 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

168 of 171 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Christian Book Reviews "www.christianbookrevi... (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

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."

51 of 51 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 "C" (Boston,MA) - See all my reviews

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.

95 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Opening up the Treasures of Catholic History, December 28, 2002

By	Oswald Sobrino "CatholicAnalysis.blogspot.com" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

By opening up the works of the early Church Fathers on the Mass, Mike Aquilina demonstrates the astounding continuity of the Mass celebrated today and the Mass of the early Christians. The extensive excerpts from the Church Fathers also show us the tenacity of the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. By reading this book, Catholics will view their attendance at Mass in a different light as they realize how they are in direct continuity with our ancient ancestors in the faith. Non-Catholics will see how the Mass celebrated today is the direct legacy of those early Christians.