The Prayer Of Thanksgiving

Scholars played an important role in rediscovering how central the eucharistic prayer was in the very earliest history of the church. Although the earliest texts of the eucharistic prayers often survive only in fragments embedded in later works, diligent comparison has permitted the piecing together of the model prayer of thanksgiving given by Hippolytus of Rome (c. 215). When Christians assemble to celebrate the Lord's Supper, they take the bread and cup in memory of Jesus. Just as Jesus at the Last Supper said a prayer of thanksgiving or blessing, Christians, too, have a prayer of thanksgiving, whose diverse elements are listed as follows in the Ecumenical Consensus Statement Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Faith and Order Paper 111. [Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982]; para. 27 of the Eucharist): (1) thanksgiving to the Father for the marvels of creation, redemption, and sanctification; (2) the words of Christ's institution of the sacrament according to the New Testament tr…