RT Article
T1 Kitchens and Communion: The Eucharist and Communal Meals in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries
JF Ex fonte
VO 3
SP 217
OP 295
A1 Chase, Nathan P. 1990-2025
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1909170682
AB Early Christian Eucharists were meals that consisted not only of the token bits of bread and wine that we normally associate with the Christian Eucharist, but also other food stuffs like cheese, olives, milk, honey, etc. They were not just for ritual purposes but also for provisioning. By the end of the third century, the Eucharist appears to have shifted, in most places, from a meal to a token distribution of bread and wine. As a result, most scholars assume that the Eucharist stopped being celebrated in a meal context by the end of the third century, leading to the “normative” Eucharist of the fourth century. However, remnants of the once Eucharistic meal can be seen beyond the third and fourth centuries in: the archeological evidence; the church orders; legislative texts; and memorial and funerary customs known broadly as refrigeria. This article looks at this evidence to argue for a broader understanding of Eucharistic practice in the fourth and fifth centuries.
K1 Early Christian
K1 Agape
K1 Refrigeria
K1 Liturgy
K1 Christian Meals
K1 Eucharist
K1 Kellis
K1 ʿAin el-Gedida
DO 10.25365/exf-2024-3-7