The first source for the history of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist is obviously the account of the Last Supper in the New Testament. It was because Our Lord told us to do what He had done, in memory of Him, that Christian liturgies exist. Despite the differences in the various Eucharistic liturgies they all obey His command to do "this," namely what He Himself had done. A definite pattern for the celebration of the Eucharist had developed within decades of the death of Our Lord, a pattern which was carried on well past the conclusion of the 1st century, and which can still be discerned clearly in the finalized Roman Mass of 1570.
The earliest and most detailed account of the Eucharist is found in St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, which, of course, predates the Gospels, and was written in Ephesus between 52-55 A.D. Scholars agree that the Consecration formula used by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 11, quotes verbatim from a stylized formula already in use in the Apostolic liturgy. St. Paul's account reads:
"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you,
that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took
bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: This is
My Body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the
commemoration of Me. In like manner also the chalice, after He had
supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in My Blood: this do
ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of Me. For as
often as you shall eat this Bread, and drink the Chalice, you shall
show the death of the Lord, until He come.
Therefore whosoever shall eat this Bread, or drink the Chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood
of the Lord." [1 Cor: 11: 23-27].
Throughout the first century or so after St. Paul's description of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist there can be found written fragmented accounts of how the early liturgical celebrations developed. Most of these accounts are the testimonial fruits of of religious intolerance and/or persecution.
One account comes from Pliny (C. Plinius Caecilius, c. 62-113). About the years 111-113 he writes as the young governor of Bithynia to his master, the Emperor Trajan, to ask about what he should do to Christians. He describes what he has learned about them from Christians who had apostatized under torture. Referring to his apostate informers, he recounts what the apostates revealed about Christian worship:
“They assert that this is the whole of their fault or error, that they
were accustomed on a certain day to meet together before daybreak and
to sing a hymn alternately to Christ as a god, and that they bound
themselves by an oath (sacramento) not to do any crime, but only not
to commit theft nor robbery nor adultery, not to break their word nor
to refuse to give up a deposit. When they had done this, it was their
custom to depart, but to meet again to eat food - ordinary and
harmless food however.”
The earliest account of a finalized liturgy is given to us by St. Justin Martyr (100–165). In his apologetic account of Christian life to the Roman hierarchy he describes the Christian liturgy of the Early Church in his First Apology (ca. 150) (Chapter 65):
“But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has
assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are
called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty
prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized person, and for
all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we
have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens
and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an
everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another
with a kiss. There is then brought to the president (i.e. presiding
Presbyter) of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water;
and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the
universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and
offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to
receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the
prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent
by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to
γένοιτο (so be it). And when the president has given thanks, and all
the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us
deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine
mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to
those who are absent they carry away a portion.”
Although the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist has has somewhat changed extrinsically since the Last Supper, its basic components and movements have remained very similar to the liturgy described above in Justin Martyr’s apologetic account – especially in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. The current ordinary form of the Latin Mass is synonymous to his liturgy in almost every aspect.
