Page:Orthodox Eastern Church (Fortescue).djvu/148

112 different liturgies in different places. Nor did any one feel any need of uniformity in rites. The faith was the same everywhere, and the essence of the liturgy was the same. For the rest, for the particular ceremonies that grew up, the prayers, and the language used, each Church was content to let the others follow their own customs.

And the Church of Rome was no exception. When her own use was at last definitely formed, she never thought of imposing it on sister-Churches in the East. It is true that the Roman rite at last became almost the only one used throughout the West; that is the result of the very close union of all Western Churches in her patriarchate. But the Eastern Churches before the schism, the Uniate Churches now, keep their own liturgies without challenge. In modern times the Popes have repeatedly ordered that these Eastern uses shall be respected, they forbid any priest to leave his own rite in order to use ours. These rites have changed very little since they were first formed. We may leave a more exact description of the actual service till we come to the Byzantine Church in modern times (p. 412) and now only trace the rise and spread of the chief liturgies.

During the first three centuries we have only a few allusions to the liturgy, too vague, or, if quotations, too short for us to be able to reconstruct the service from them. Three such allusions are famous. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (about the end of the 1st century) tells Christians "to come together on the Lord's Day, to break bread and give thanks, having confessed your sins, that your sacrifice be pure." To "give thanks"  is already the technical word for, as we still say, the Eucharist. It also tells how to celebrate this service: "Concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), you shall thus give thanks. First over the cup: We give thee thanks, our Father, for the holy vine of thy son David, which thou hast shewn us by thy son Jesus; glory be to thee for ever. And over the broken