While
reading Prayers of the Eucharist: Early
and Reformed (trans. R.C.D. Jasper and G.J. Cuming; Glasgow: Wm Collins
Sons & Co., 1975), it struck me as interesting that some early Christian
liturgical texts understood τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν (Luke 22:19; 1
Cor 11:24-25), not as “do this in memory of me” but “do this as my memorial”
(cf. Joachim Jeremias’ discussion of αναμνησις in The
Eucharistic Words of Jesus and Fritz Chenderlin, “Do This as My Memorial”: The Semantic and Conceptual Background of
Αναμνησις in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25):
He took bread and gave thanks to you, saying,
‘Take, eat; this is my body, which shall be broken for you.’ Likewise also the
cup, saying, ‘This is my blood, which is shed for you; when you do this, you make my remembrance.’ (Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition 4:9-10 [p. 22])
For our Lord and Saviour and King of all,
Jesus Christ, in the night when he was betrayed and willingly underwent death,
took bread in his holy and undefiled (and) blessed hands, looked up to heaven
to you, the Father of all, blessed, gave thanks over it, sanctified, broke
(and) gave it to his disciples (and) apostles, saying, ‘Take and eat of this,
all of you; this is my body, which is given for you for the forgiveness of your
sins. Do this for my remembrance.’
Likewise, after supper, he took a cup,
blessed, sanctified, (and) gave it to them, saying, ‘Take this and drink of it,
all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for
the forgiveness of their sins. Do this
for my remembrance. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim my death (and) confess my resurrection.’ (The British Museum
Tablet, 54036 [p. 39])
For (our Lord Jesus) Christ himself, (in the
night when) he handed (himself) over . . . his disciple (and) apostles, saying,
‘Take . . . form it; this (is) my body, which is given for you for the
forgiveness of sins.’ Likewise, after supper he took the cup, blessed, drank,
and gave it to them, saying, ‘Take, drink; this is my blood, which is shed for
you for forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim my death, you make my
remembrance.’ (The Deir Balyzeh Papyrus Oxford, MS Gr. Lit. d 2-4 P [p. 40;
ellipsis in original])
God the Lord and eternal redeemer, who, the
day before he suffered, took bread, gave thanks, blessed, and broke it, and
gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body, which shall
be betrayed for you. As often as you eat it, do this for my remembrance.’ Amen. Likewise the cup also, after
supper, saying, ‘This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which shall
be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink
it, do this for my remembrance.’
Amen. (The Mozarabic Liturgy [pp. 96-97])
