The sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, as it is variously called, has its origin in our Lord's words at the Last Supper, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22.19). Although its significance lies in the realm of our relationship to the Lord and His sacrifice on our behalf, the ceremony as such is one of remembrance or a memorial. The fact that its institution arose out of the celebration of the Jewish Passover is a further pointer in this direction. The Last Supper stands in relation to the Christian very much as the Passover does to the Jew, and is also a festival of remembrance.

The annual celebration of the Passover is itself called a Memorial. In giving Moses His instructions for the institution of the Passover the Lord commanded that the day in which it occurred should be remembered or memorialized throughout all subsequent generations. "This day shall be for you a memorial day: and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever" (Exodus 12.14 RSV). When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into what we call the Septuagint, they used the Greek word that appears as "remembrance" in Luke 22.19 and 1 Cor. 11. 4-25 to translate the Hebrew word appearing as "memorial" in Ex. 12. 14. In other words, "memorial" in the OT and "remembrance" in the NT have the same meaning. When Jesus said "this do in remembrance of me" as a memorial of me, He was saying just what God had said to Moses fifteen centuries previously.

Unlike Passover, the Christian celebration of the Last Supper is practiced by most communities at varied and irregular intervals - monthly, weekly, upon special occasions, and so on. It tends to lose sight of the element of commemoration and expression of faith in an event that happened two thousand years ago, stressing more the aspect of personal communion with God and with Christ and the re-affirmation of union with Christ and dedication to His service. Even this latter factor appears to be increasingly overlooked in these prosaic days and this may be one side effect of the customary comparative frequency of celebration. The solemnity and significance of a sacrament is likely to be blurred by frequent repetition.

The New Testament does not give much guidance on the frequency of observance. The story of the Last Supper is narrated by the three synoptic evangelists. Paul refers to it twice in his first letter to the Corinthians. Nowhere else is there any mention of the subject. Luke's preservation of the Lord's request "this do in remembrance of me" indicates His wish that the simple ceremony of shared bread and wine which He had instituted following the Passover meal was to be repeated periodically, after He had left them. It was to be celebrated to re‑invigorate their faith and hope, to preserve in their minds and hearts the meaning and implication of the broken body and shed blood, and to keep alive the consciousness of their living union with Him. All these things had their birth around that table that night and each subsequent celebration was intended to revive their memory and confirm their faith in the things that were said and done then. Paul offers the only attempt to define the repetition of the Supper. Writing to the Corinthians, he says, "For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said this is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup also, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me". Paul's record of Jesus' words is more complete than that of Luke, and Luke's is more complete than that of the other two evangelists. After Paul quoted the Lord's words, he concludes "for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim (demonstrate, witness to) the Lord's death till he comes" (1 Cor. 11. 23‑26 (NRSV).

This introduces another purpose in the celebration. It is not intended solely for the inward stimulus and communion of the celebrant but also as an outward witness to others of the reality of the faith. This continual repetition of the original Supper is a lasting demonstration of faith in our Lord's promised Second Coming at the end of the Age to receive His own to Himself and to convert the world. No matter how long the time, each successive celebration of the ceremony, in whatever place and in whatever circumstances, is an additional testimony that His own are waiting and watching.

"As often as you drink it" does not define any particular interval between successive celebrations. It could apply equally well to once a week or once a year. It could also be argued that the matter is left quite open so that every Christian and every Christian community may order the matter according to their sense of what is fitting and what it means to them. It could well be that this is one of the provinces in which Paul's dictum "let every man be persuaded in his own mind" can be held to apply. There is no instance of any particular celebration by any particular church of the Apostolic Age recorded in the Book of Acts, or alluded to in any part of the New Testament, from which the original practice could be discerned. In Christian literature of the first two centuries the subject is somewhat beclouded, since the Early Church instituted a number of different festivals commemorating various aspects of the faith and happenings connected therewith, and nothing definite can be gleaned. Additionally it was a long time before observance of the purely Jewish festivals such as Passover died out in the Jewish section of the Church. Not until much later does the evidence of monthly or weekly celebrations emerge, and by then it is fairly obvious that remembering our Lord's death had become confused and identified with a completely different custom of the Early Church, the Agape or "Love-feast".

The beginning of this custom was in Apostolic days and was called by the early believers the "breaking of bread". One reference is in Acts 2. 42‑46 and the other in Acts 20.7. The custom was to meet early on the Lord's day and share a simple meal together, with prayer and praise, in symbol of their fellowship and brotherhood in Christ. The expression "love feast" occurs in Jude 12 and an evident allusion to the same in 2 Pet. 2.13. This custom persisted for several centuries and is still to be found in some Christian communions today. Despite the impression of some to the contrary, it has nothing to do with the ceremonial of the Last Supper. One very clear description of the procedure is left on record by Tertullian, (A.D. 217) in his "Apologia", ch. 39, where he says "its object is evident from its name, which signifies love, in these testify our love towards our poorer brethren, by relieving their wants. We commence the entertainment" (this word has the sense of hospitality in this context) "by offering up a prayer to God, and after eating and drinking in moderation, we wash our hands, and lights being introduced. Each individual is invited to address God in a Psalm, either taken from the Scriptures or the produce of his own meditations. The feast concludes as it began, with prayer". This ceremonial feast has nothing in common with the celebration of the Lord's death as represented in the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion. In other places Tertullian refers to the "Eucharist" or the "Sacrament of the Eucharist" in terms which leave no doubt that here he is talking about an entirely different thing although even so he gives no clear lead as to the frequency of its celebration.

The meeting addressed by Paul at Troas (Acts 20. 7‑12) was commenced by a "love-feast", and from the description it would appear that this was a weekly celebration at Troas. In the face of this total absence of information as to how often the Apostolic Church celebrated the Memorial we can only put ourselves in the place of those first believers and ask ourselves what would we have done in like circumstances. All their lives they had been accustomed to keep the Passover, once every year, on the precise anniversary of the night of the Exodus, the 14th day of the first month, Nisan. That celebration was a memorial of a past event, looking backward over the centuries to a great deliverance. That ceremony, so far as they were concerned, was at an end, to be replaced by another ceremonial which was also a memorial, one not only looking back to the central principle of their faith but also forward to another and greater deliverance. Israel had kept Passover year by year continually in witness to their faith in the past deliverance that made them the covenant nation, the chosen people of God. So now Christians keep this Supper in witness to their faith in that salvation which came to them at the Cross and in that deliverance for all the world which is yet future. As with Israel the essence of the ceremony was the slain lamb whose blood delivered them from death when the destroying angel passed over the land, so in this later one the essence is the slain Lamb by whose blood all who believe and participate are redeemed from death. In the Passover ritual Israel recognized their utter separation from the rest of the world and their consecration to, and union with, God. So now the occasion of the Lord's Supper is a time of more than usual recognition of our dedication to God and our union with Him. It is truly a time of holy communion. To some it is natural to celebrate such a ceremony once every year, like the Passover it has superseded. The Apostolic Church quite spontaneously and naturally may have accepted the habit of annual observance and no one would question it. Its infrequency may be a partial explanation of the fact that so little reference is made to it in Early Church records.

Our Lord enjoined only two ceremonies upon His followers; baptism and the supper remembering His death. The fact that He commanded these, testifies to the importance that He placed upon both. Baptism is a solemn and uplifting experience for the participant; it occurs only once in a lifetime but its influence remains throughout life. Baptism repeated more frequently would lose its solemn significance. So in remembering His death, it may well be that those who observe the ceremony less frequently find it a more deeply spiritual and life-enriching experience than if it were observed often. Yet there are many for whom their personal communion with the Lord in this service means so much more than the remembrance of the event that is past that to lose this weekly time of intimate union with Him would be a loss indeed. Perhaps Jesus knew all this, and in His wisdom and compassion left the mandate wide open to suit the varied spiritual needs of all who in after days would become His. "As often as you drink it" He said "do it in remembrance of Me".

AOH