EARLY
WRITERS IN
THE CHURCH
This change can also be verified by looking at the testimony of the
early church. SAINT BASIL : LETTER 93
372 AD "It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake
of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, ‘He that
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.’ And who
doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold
life. I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord's day, on Wednesday,
on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration
of any Saint." (This is another example of "the Lord’s
day" referring to the first day of the week.) THE DIDASCALIA
225 AD TERTULLIAN : AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS
206 AD "It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal
circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated
at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated
to have been temporary… He predicts through Isaiah: ‘And there shall be,’
He says, ‘month after month, and day after day, and sabbath after sabbath;
and all flesh shall come to adore in Jerusalem, saith the Lord;’
which we understand to have been fulfilled in the times of Christ, when
‘all flesh’--that is, every nation—‘came to adore in Jerusalem’ God the
Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, as was predicted through the prophet…But
the Jews are sure to say, that ever since this precept was given through
Moses, the observance has been binding. Manifest accordingly it is, that
the precept was not eternal nor spiritual, but temporary, which would one
day cease…" JUSTIN MARTYR : THE FIRST APOLOGY
155 AD "…And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in
the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles
or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then,
when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts
to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray,
and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water
are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings,
according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there
is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks
have been given (Eucharistic elements)... And they who are well to do,
and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited
with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who,
through sickness or any other cause, are in want, … and in a word takes
care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold
our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought
a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ
our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on
the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of
Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and
disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you
also for your consideration." THE EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS TO THE MAGNESIANS 107 AD
"Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which
are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we
acknowledge that we have not received grace… If, therefore,
those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come
to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath,
but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our
life has sprung up again by Him and by His death…" THE DIDACHE (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)
70 AD "But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread,
and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that
your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow
come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may
not be profaned. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: ‘In every
place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says
the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.’ " THE KEYS We look to the Bible for the understanding of the keys and what Jesus was referring to. The keys refer to the passage from Isaiah 22. Isaiah 22:15-25 15 "Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: What have you to do here and whom have you here, that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a tomb on the height, and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you, and whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots, you shame of your master’s house. 19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a
sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the
burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken."
Isaiah 36:1-3 The key of the house of David implies succession because King David
had been dead for hundreds of years at the time of King Hezekiah’s rule.
Just as the king had a successor so did the head of the household, the
master of the palace, or in today’s language the ‘prime minister" or even
better "the king’s regent", "viceroy", or "vicar" since he had absolute
authority under the king. His office was one of being a father
to the people.
MARY - MORAL ISSUES - PRO-LIFE SACRAMENTS - SAINTS - MISC. |