Views During the Second Period (300-750 A.D.): The Doctrine of the Church (31): The Lord’s Supper: The Celebration of the Eucharist.

The celebration of the eucharistic sacrifice and of the communion was the centre and summit of the public worship of the Lord's Day, and all other parts of worship served as preparation and accompaniment. The old liturgies are essentially, and almost exclusively, eucharistic prayers and exercises; they contain nothing besides, except some baptismal formulas and prayers for the catechumens. The word liturgy (leitourgia), which properly embraces all parts of the worship of God, denotes in the...