The Worship Of The Early Church (to A.d. 500)

From the early centuries, Christian worship has seen a continuous process of development and change in response to theological and cultural factors. Although the basic elements-the service of the Word and of the Lord's Table-have remained constant, their shape and setting have undergone modification from century to century, from region to region, and from Christian community to community within both the Eastern and Western branches of the church. The result of this process is the great variety of liturgical forms through which Christians worship the Lord across the world today. These entries begin with a survey of the evidence for Christian worship in the earliest centuries. This is followed by a description of the liturgical traditions of the Eastern churches and a discussion of the various regional rites of the Western (Catholic) church that culminated with the establishment of liturgy uniformity at the Council of Trent. Discussion of the worship in movements of the Protestant Reform…