The Eucharistic prayer : structure and content

Abstract

The Eucharist is the central act of Christian worship, practised by almost all denominations of Christians. Though varying in form from the very austere to the very elaborate, the Eucharist has as its essential elements the breaking and sharing of the bread and the pouring and sharing of wine among the worshippers in commemoration of the actions of Jesus Christ on the eve of his death. The word eucharist is taken from the Greek eucharistia, which means ''thanksgiving" or "gratitude" and which was used by the early Christians for the Hebrew berakhah, meaning "a blessing" such as a table grace. Because Christ offered a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing when he consecrated the bread and wine at the Last Supper, the word has always been connected with the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. In the history of salvation and the history of mankind, the few hours of Christ's passion, and in particular the moment when he instituted the Eucharist in the upper room during the Passover Meal, are unique. It was not an ordinary meal, it was a Passover celebration. It celebrated the dramatic exodus from Egypt. The children of Israel were protected by the blood of the lamb they had slain and whose blood they had been told to smear on their doorposts so that the exterminating angel would pass them over. Inside their houses they, with their loins girded, were preparing to set out across the desert for the promised land and escape from their captivity in Egypt. [...]