Wine, Water and the Missing Symposium in Justin’s First Apology

Justin’s First Apology contains the longest extant description of an early Christian meal. This description (ch. 65-67) poses several problems, of which this short article singles out only two. On the level of textual criticism, an oft-discussed variant, rejected in all editions, suggests that the blessing is made over a cup of water, not wine. On the level of liturgical history, Justin’s Eucharist seems to contradict the view that early Christian meals resembled Graeco-Roman symposia. By combining the textual and the historical approach, this article offers a compromise. It is argued that water and not wine was indeed used during the opening ritual, but that the rest of the event did unfold as a symposium and hence included wine

Art · Biblical studies · Blessing · Compromise · Criticism · Early Christianity · Eucharist · Extant taxon · Literature · Political science · Textual criticism · Theology · Visual arts · Wine · Byzantine Studies and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Philosophy

• Ascetic Eucharists. Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals

  Gerard Rouwhorst, Addie Mcgowan et al.•Vigiliae Christianae•2001

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