The Liturgy in the Early Church Conception
The Mystery of Thanksgiving "Eucharist "
Eucharist and Eucharistic Life
When the German materialistic philosopher Feuerbach wanted to deprive man from his humanity and his feelings, he said, "Man is what he eats." And we say that the Bible itself declares that man is a hungry being. God offers him everything in the world to eat and to give thanks.
Man, as a priest, receives the world as a divine gift, illustrating God's fatherhood and God's love for him, and offers his whole life as a Eucharistic sacrifice, i.e. a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. But man loved the world and got attached to it, forgetting his God. He accepted the gift and gave no attention to the Giver. He considered himself as the center of the world and was occupied with his "ego," seeking the pleasures of the world and losing his relationship with his God and his Eucharistic life. He can't practice the Eucharistic life although he learns the hymns of the Eucharist and of praise. For this reason, the True Priest, the Son of God, incarnated. As the Creator, the world cannot affect Him nor capture His heart, nor can it separate Him from His Father. He alone can offer the Sacrifice of the Eucharist on our behalf, not only by prayers but also by deed, offering His Holy Body and Blood as a sacrifice of the Eucharist to the Father. That explains why on the night when He was betrayed, "He took bread and gave thanks... and He took a cup and gave thanks... 2"
By entrusting this sacrament to His Church, which will remain forever grateful, He bestows upon her His life, to live with her. In this way, the hungry man's wounds of ingratitude are healed, and he returns to the Eucharistic life. For this reason, during the first and the second centuries, the favorite name of the Christian celebration was well
known as "Eucharist."
In the writings of the Early Fathers 2 and in the texts of the ancient liturgies, we notice that the prayers of the liturgies concentrated on "giving thanks to God the Father, through His Son."
In all the liturgies, the "Eucharist" governs the whole rite from the beginning to the end. For example, the prayers of the Eucharist often begin by this statement, "Let us give thanks (Evkharistomen) to the Lord" and the congregation gives its consent, saying, "It is worthy and right."
Fr. Schmemann comments, "when man stands before the throne of God... all joy is restored, then there is nothing else for him to offer but to give thanks. Hence, the Eucharist or "thanksgiving" is the state of the perfect man. The Eucharist is the life of Paradise."
Through the Eucharist we put on Christ, the Perfect One alone, and return to Paradise with joy, singing - in Him - the hymn of thanksgiving.
From the sayings of the Fathers
When I call it "thanksgiving" I unfold the treasures of God's goodness and call the mind to meditate on those mighty gifts.
We are not people with ungrateful hearts... The sign of our gratitude towards God is the bread called the "Eucharist."
Eucharist and Chaboura
Fr. Dix says that the Christian Eucharist is carried over from the very roots of the Eucharist of the old Chaboura supper, but in a new meaning and shape. God permitted this old tradition "Chaboura supper" as a symbol, through which we can understand the Christian Eucharist.
Jungmann: The Early Liturgy, p.
There is a great difference between the Chaboura supper and the Lord's Supper. In the Chaboura a prayer called "Beraka " is offered. It is a prayer of giving thanks and praise to God, for the Jews' redemption from bondage, for the Law which God bestowed upon them, and for the food wherewith He fed them. But our Lord instituted the Eucharist meal, not as something to be said, but as an action and deed, for He offered His life as a sacrifice of Eucharist for us.
And the Church, in the Eucharist, not only offers hymns of Eucharist, but also offers her life to be crucified with her Bridegroom and to be raised again with Him. At the same time she receives from her Father the Holy Body and Blood of her Bridegroom as a divine gift, so that in Him she can live His own life, that is the life of "Thanksgiving."
Thus, the Church feels that this Eucharist itself has increased her debt to God beyond measure. For while she gives thanks to God, through this un-bloody sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son, she accepts Him as her life.