Acts 29 - What Bible Did The Early Church Use?

300 years before Christ was born, the Hebrew bible was translated into Koine Greek, and called the Septuagint. It is the translation used by the Paul, the Apostles, the early church, and is still in use by the Orthodox Church today, however, sadly, it is rejected by most of the Protestant world.

Origin of the Septuagint
After Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in 331 BC, Greeks settled in the lands of Israel, Jew settled in Greek lands, and Greek became one of the most common languages in the entire Mediterranean world. Over time Jews outside of Jerusalem ceased to understand Hebrew, but only Greek. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC) commissioned a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible. It was translated by 72 scribes in 72 days called the Septuagint, which means "70" in Latin. It was an official document approved by the High Priest and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.

By the time of Christ, the Septuagint was the translation used throughout the Mediterranean. Both Jews in and out of Jerusalem were familiar with it as the Hebrew bible. It is evident that Jesus and the Apostles were very familiar with the Septuagint because of the 350 (approx) quotes of the Old Testament contained in the New Testament, 300 are from the Septuagint. The Apostles used the Septuagint on their missionary journeys. Greek speaking Jews were converting to Christianity because, in part, of what they were reading in the Septuagint.

The Masoretic Text
What was to be done? The Jewish faithful essentially, "went back to the drawing board", and reestablished the canon. They removed all the books that they thought were not first written in Hebrew (though modern scholarship shows that Sirach and 1 Maccabees were actually first written in Greek) and they intentionally changed verses that were in agreement with Christian doctrine.

Most of us have had the experience of reading a verse in the New Testament, looking at the footnote, and comparing it to the Old Testament verse it references. When we compare the OT verse to the NT verse, they seem barely related. That is because the footnote is referencing the right verse, but the wrong translation. Here is an example:

Psalm 40:6 (Masoretic) Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened:

Psalm 40:6 (Septuagint) Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; but thou has prepared a body for me

Isaiah 7:14 (Masoretic) The young woman will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (This is corrected to in most Protestant bibles)

Isaiah 7:14 (Septuaint) The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Psalm 151 was omitted entirely and is missing in almost all Protestant bibles! There are hundreds of these differences that don't make a lot of sense till you read them from the Septuagint.

This new form of the Hebrew canon was accepted widely by the 2nd century. Between the 6th to 11th century a group called the Masoretes would become the predominant copiest of this Hebrew canon. Out of this group would eventually become the fixed form that we now know today as the Masoretic Text. The Masoretic text would provide the basis for the majority of Old Testament translations in Protestant bibles.

Apocrypha
Why did Protestants choose to base their translation of the Old Testament off of a form that the Jewish faithful created to counteract Christians spreading the Gospel message? Martin Luther. He thought, correctly, that the bible should be in the language of the people, so he had the bible translated to German. He thought, incorrectly, the best way to get a true understanding of the Old Testament was to translate the Hebrew bible that the Jews in his community read. However, the Jews in his community were not reading the same Old Testament that Paul and the Apostles had read.

Besides, literally adding the word, "alone", to Romans 3:28, he moved what he called the Apocrypha to the back of the bible. The heading of the section read, "APOCRYPHA, that is, Books which are not to be esteemed like the Holy Scriptures, and yet which are useful and good to read." Why did Luther designate the Apocrypha as a lower form of Scripture? Because those books were not in the current Jewish canon.

Despite what Luther felt about these books, Jesus seemed to know them very well:

• Matt. 6:19-20 - Jesus' statement about laying up for yourselves treasure in heaven follows Sirach 29:11 - lay up your treasure.
• Matt.. 7:12 - Jesus' golden rule "do unto others" is the converse of Tobit 4:15 - what you hate, do not do to others.
• Matt. 7:16,20 - Jesus' statement "you will know them by their fruits" follows Sirach 27:6 - the fruit discloses the cultivation.
• Matt. 9:36 - the people were "like sheep without a shepherd" is same as Judith 11:19 - sheep without a shepherd.
• Matt. 11:25 - Jesus' description "Lord of heaven and earth" is the same as Tobit 7:18 - Lord of heaven and earth.
• Matt. 16:18 - Jesus' reference to the "power of death" and "gates of Hades" references Wisdom 16:13.
• Matt. 22:25; Mark 12:20; Luke 20:29 - Gospel writers refer to the canonicity of Tobit 3:8 and 7:11 regarding the seven brothers.
• Matt. 24:15 - the "desolating sacrilege" Jesus refers to is also taken from 1 Macc. 1:54 and 2 Macc. 8:17.
• Matt. 24:16 - let those "flee to the mountains" is taken from 1 Macc. 2:28.
• Matt. 27:43 - if He is God's Son, let God deliver him from His adversaries follows Wisdom 2:18.
• Mark 4:5,16-17 - Jesus' description of seeds falling on rocky ground and having no root follows Sirach 40:15.

Here is a longer list including all the epistles

Luther would also have this prophecy left out of the canon, which I can only imagine was used frequently by the Apostles in the Book of Wisdom 2:12-24:

Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, Because his life is not like other men's, and different are his ways. He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him." These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward. For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.

Bible translations would come out increasing frequently as the years passed and the state of the Apocrypha would get lower and lower. Occasionally, unscrupulous printers would print bibles that had the Apocrypha section in the table of contents but not in the bible itself. They knew that people would buy the bible whether they had the Apocrypha or not! This leads to our modern state where there are study bibles for every type of person or mood, claiming to present the full counsel of God, while actually missing books that the Apostles considered Holy Scripture.

When Paul is writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, and he refers to Scripture being "given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness", he would have had the Septuagint in mind, with all the books that Luther called Apocrypha included.

Protestants call these books the Apocrypha, Catholics call them Deuterocanonical (meaning second law), the Orthodox church calls them (with the rest of the Septuagint) what the early church did: Scripture.

A short video on the subject (Check out this guy's other videos. He puts out great stuff!)

Acts 29 - Eucharist (Part 3) - A Sacrifice?

Though the early church did not sacrifice bulls and goats, they did continue in a transformed todah sacrifice which is called the Eucharist, a sacrifice of Thanksgiving. But isn't the idea of a sacrifice, thanksgiving or not, at odds with the Scriptures, specifically Hebrews chapters 7 through 10:

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself (7:27)

He entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (9:12)

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins (10:10-11).

Hebrews also tells us that Christ is a high priest after the manner of Melchizedek, who was a high priest in the times of Abraham. What Melchizadek offered was bread and wine. The term sacrifice comes from the Latin word sacra. Sacra means sacred or holy. We get the words Saint, sacrament, and sanctify from this root word. Sacra and ficio means "to make holy". That is what is done in the Christian service. After the manner of Melchizadek, we also bring bread and wine which sacrificed or "made holy", and joined with the already sacrificed body of Christ.

Malachi prophesied of a time when Jewish sacrifices would be replaced by Gentile ones in Malachi 1:11, "...For from the rising of the sun, even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts." Jewish sacrifices have ceased with the destruction of the temple and the Gentiles are offerings sacrifices and have been for 2,000 years.

In the Liturgy we say, "Let us attend that we may offer the holy oblation in peace."

This oblation is referred to as clean because it does not involve blood. Christ is not re-sacrificed. Our oblation is joined with the sacrifice Christ has already made for all eternity.

In the Liturgy we say, "Again we offer unto Thee this reasonable and bloodless sacrifice"

The early church did not claim to add to or sacrifice Christ again every time they gathered. They were re-presenting Christ's original sacrifice again making it present to all Christians at all times. The sacrifice at Calvary and the sacrifice at church is the same sacrifice. Christ's sacrifice happened once in time as we understand it, but according to Revelation, Christ's sacrifice is eternally present before God: "the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world.(Revelation 13:8)" And in Revelation 5:6, "I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain". In the Liturgy, we partake of the same Lamb that is eternally slain.

In the Liturgy we say, "We offer unto Thee, Thine own of Thine own, on behalf of all and for all."

St. John Chrysostom of the 4th century said, "The sacrifice which we offer today, that which was offered yesterday, and each day's sacrifice is alike and the same as the sacrifice offered on that Sabbath . . . they are one and the same, alike filled with awe and salvation."

The church, according to Christ's directive, "Do this in remembrance of Me", does just that. But the phrase is often cited as an argument to merely think in one's mind about what happened to Christ in the past. The Greek word used here for remembrance is anamnesis and its meaning is not just the idea of recollecting in our mind something in the past. It goes further and means to recollect a reality from the past in such a way that the past reality is a present reality as well. It is used 6 times in the Old Testament and all but one is associated with sacrifice.

The Jewish faithful did this during Passover. They went beyond merely remembering what had happened to their fathers in Egypt. The wall separating the one doing the praying from the one that suffered in the past is removed, and the one doing the praying becomes the one who suffered as well (Deuteronomy 26:3-10). It is this context of anamnesis that we partake of the Eucharist. In the Liturgy, the Church does not "think" about the past. That reality is brought into the present in the form of bread and wine.

In the Liturgy we say, "Remembering ...all that has been done for us: the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting at the right hand, the second and glorious coming... We offer unto Thee, Thine own of Thine own, on behalf of all and for all."

The early church took the Apostles at their word when they taught that Christ's flesh was food indeed and His blood drink indeed. They did not sacrifice Christ again, but rather partook of the same sacrifice that stands true for all eternity as a slain Lamb which was done "once for all when He offered up Himself. (Hebrews 7:27)"

Part 1 | Part 2

Acts 29 - Eucharist (Part 2) - A Symbol?

That the Eucharist celebration was the main focus of the early church's worship service in not seriously questioned by biblical scholars from any denomination. What's more, the common notion taught in most branches of Protestantism that the Eucharist is only meant to be understood symbolically was not held by the early church. This also is not debated by many Protestant church historians.

Jesus had quite a bit to say about what the early church considered the body and blood of Christ in John 6:

Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world... I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst... This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world... Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever... The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.

Many of his dicsiples said, "This is a hard saying" and "walked with him no more." Jesus didn't try to stop them or say something like, "No. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant it symbolically." He just asked his Apostles if they would leave him too.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul explains the consequences of taking the Eucharist in an unworthily manner:

So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

These consequences are not the sort of things that one would associate with a ritual that was purely symbolic. Paul seems to take the body and blood as a very serious and very real sacrament that has very serious and very real consequences.

Jesus, Paul, and the Apostles did not teach that the Eucharist was merely symbolic. From the following quotes of those in the early church, it is clear that the early Christians believed the Eucharist to be the true body and blood of Christ.

Saint Ignatius (35-107), who was killed by lions in the Colosseum, says in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, "The eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which flesh suffered for our sins, and which in His loving-kindness the Father raised up".

Justin Martyr (100-165):

And this food is called among us the Eucharist of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them.

The list of quotes that testify to the early churches firm and unquestioned belief that the Eucharist was the very blood and body of Christ is incredibly long as it spans from the Gospels to the time of Martin Luther. Click here for an impressive sample of those quotes.

You would expect Martin Luther, the Father of the Reformation, to hold a different position than the early church, but that is not the case:

If anybody had been able to persuade me that there is nothing but bread and wine in the Sacrament, he would, I confess, have rendered me a great service. I have undergone severe struggles, and have twisted and turned to get over it (belief in the Eucharist), because I was fully aware that it would have been the most severe blow which I could have dealt against Popery. But I am in prison. I cannot escape, the text, “This is my body”, is too powerful, and no words can make it mean anything else.

Zwingli and Calvin, Luther's contemporaries, would go on to profess that the Eucharist is merely symbolic and to believe otherwise was heretical position. This is a complete reversal of 1,500 years of what Christianity, the Apostles, Paul, and Jesus Christ himself taught and believed, which in so doing implies that the previous faithful were also heretics. This leads to the modern situation where the Eucharist is so utterly symbolic that you can buy a box of communion wafers off the shelf at any Christian bookstore for less than 5 bucks. What if you don't have pre-processed communion wafers? Christian forums all over the internet discuss what to do for alternatives to bread and wine. West Coast Church of the Cross mentions in their statement of faith that graham crackers and coke will do, while at the same time having the slogan, "Building a 1st Century Church in the 21st Century".

Part 1 | Part 3

Acts 29 - Eucharist (Part 1)

Jewish rabbis taught and wrote down in the Leviticus Rabbah (compiled sometime before 450 AD), sect. 9, fol. 153, that in the time of the Messiah all sacrifice shall cease, except the sacrifice of "todah". The todah was a sacrificial meal shared with friends, and it was an offering of bread and wine. It was modeled after the sacrifice that the king-priest Melchizedek shared with Abraham in thanksgiving for the rescue of the people of Salem (see Genesis 14:18-20). Those Jewish rabbis were right. The Messiah has come; after the Temple was destroyed all sacrifice had ceased except for one. At every divine liturgy we continue to offer the sacrifice of todah, which in Hebrew means Thanksgiving and which in Greek is translated Eucharist.

In 1 Corinthians, what is sometimes called the "sacrament of sacraments" is described in three ways: The Lord's Supper, Communion, and the Greek word for thanksgiving, Eucharist. From the time Christ said, "Do this is remembrance of Me" until now this sacrament has been at the very center of the Church's life. Everything in the Church points towards the Eucharist, and all things flow from it.

Paul, when writing 1 Corinthians, may have been the first to document what Christ said regarding the Eucharist with these words, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me'."

The story would be told in all three synopotic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), which follows much along the same line as 1st Corinthians. The Eucharist would be left out of John, but he would have much to say about it in Chapter 6 of his Gospel.

When the Apostles were still allowed to attend the Jewish synagogues, the major part that changed in their liturgical cycle was the sacrificing animals. On Sunday, the Lord's day, the animal sacrifice was transformed in the light of Christ to the Eucharistic sacrifice, the sacrifice of Thanksgiving. The Eucharist itself was the focal point of the Christological synagogue that was being formed as evidenced by Justin Martyr, the Didache, and other sources.

Justin Martyr (100-165) in his First Apology, described early church services this way:

There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.

In the Didache (around 200 AD), an early document regarding the teaching of the Apostles:

Concerning the Eucharist, give thanks thus: First, concerning the cup: "We give thanks to you, our Father, For the holy vine of David your servant which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever." And concerning the fragment: "We give thanks to you, our Father, For the life and knowledge, which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant." But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord. After you have had your fill, give thanks thus: We give thanks to you holy Father for your holy Name which you have made to dwell in our hearts and for the knowledge, faith and immortality which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever. You Lord almighty have created everything for the sake of your Name; you have given human beings food and drink to partake with enjoyment so that they might give thanks; but to us you have given the grace of spiritual food and drink and of eternal life through Jesus your servant. Above all we give you thanks because you are mighty. To you be glory for ever. Remember Lord your Church, to preserve it from all evil and to make it perfect in your love. And, sanctified, gather it from the four winds into your kingdom which you have prepared for it. Because yours is the power and the glory for ever. ...

It is clear from a cursory look at church history that early Christians has at the very center of their worship the Eucharist, and it was observed every time they gathered on the Lord's day. Biblical scholars from both west and east agree with this, and for the most part, so do Protestants. This was not something just to be added to the worship practice of the early church when they gathered, but the Eucharist was the reason why they gathered.

But what did the early church think the Eucharist was?...

Part 2 - A symbol? | Part 3 - A Sacrifice?

Acts 29 - The Apostles

This is part of the Acts 29 series

After the Holy Spirit descended on Penetecost the Apostles took the Great Commission to go to the ends of the earth seriously. They reached much of southern Europe, getting as far west as Spain, Southern France, and even the British Isles. Asia was reached as far east as India and as far south as north Africa. Saint John the Evangelist was the only one to die a natural death, the rest were martyred for preaching the Gospel. Much of their lives are not written down in the Bible, but through historical evidence and the Church preserving their stories in tradition, thankfully we are able to know about their missionary journeys. These Apostles are such a tremendous part of our Christian history. They went to the ends of the known world preaching a faith that got all but one martyred, and most of us don't even know all their names.

Saint Andrew (detailed bio of St. Andrew's life) was known as the "first-called" as he was the first to become a disciple of Christ. Before becoming a disciple of Jesus, he was a disciple of John the Baptist. From that discipleship it is believed that he was a life long ascetic and because he spent 20 years living in a cave in Romania. He preached the Gospel from Jerusalem to Persia, to China, to Russia, Etheopia, possible Scotland, and back again. He was likely the last of the Apostles to die. He was martyred by crucifiction on an X shaped cross. His feast day is November 30th.

Bartholomew, who was also known as Nathanael, has the distinction of being the first apostle to declare that Jesus was both the Son of God and the King of Israel. He would later preach in India and was crucified upside down, flayed, and his head removed. He was buried in Allanum, Armenia (modern day southern Georgia). Part of his relics are in Rome. His feast day is June 11th.

James the Greater, also known as the son of Zebedee, was the brother of John the Evangelist. He was one of the three Apostles to be chosen by Jesus to view the Transfiguration. He went to Spain delivering the good news. The book of Acts records that Agrippa I had James beheaded in the year 44. His relics are in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain) and is Spain's Patron Saint. His feast day is April 30th.

James the Lesser, also known as James the son of Alphaeus, was the brother of the Evangelist Matthew. He heard the Lord's words and witnessed His miracles. After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle James, Alphaeus, and the Apostle Andrew the First-Called made missionary journeys preaching in Judea, Edessa, Gaza, Eleutheropolis, proclaiming the Gospel, healing all sorts of sickness and disease, and converting many to the path of salvation. St James finished his apostolic work in the Egyptian city of Ostrachina, where he was crucified. His feast day is October 9th.

St. John the Evangelist was one of the sons of Zebedee. He, with his older brother, St. James, the Greater, became an apostle of the Lord. St. John was surnamed the "Theologian" because of the theological brilliance of his Gospel. He was one of the three apostles to witness the Transfiguration of Christ. He was "the one whom Jesus loved." He was the youngest of the apostles and the only one not to suffer martyrdom. After the Dormition, he went to Asia Minor in Ephesus; later he was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.

St. Jerome relates that when age and weakness grew upon him at Ephesus, St. John used to be carried to the assembly of the faithful and say only this words: "My children, love one another."

Jude is referred to in the Gospel texts as "Judas not the Iscariot." His surname Thaddeus means "he who renders praise." He was the son of Salome and the brother of James, "the brother of the Lord." His mother, Salome, was the daughter of Haggai, the son of Barachiah, a brother of St. Zachariah, the father of St. John the Baptist.

St. Jude preached in Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and at Ararat in Armenia with St. Simon, the Canaanite, where they underwent martyrdom. St. Jude was crucified and pierced with arrows. His feast day is June 19th.

St. Matthias, born in Bethlehem, was a descendant of the tribe of Judah. Holy Simeon the elder guided and instructed St. Matthias in the life of virtue. According to the book of Acts (1:23-26), St. Matthias was a constant attendant on our Lord from the time of His baptism until His ascension. According to St. Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius and St. Jerome, St. Matthias was one of the seventy disciples whom the Lord had sent out during His ministry. He was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot. He would later be stoned to death. After his death, the Jews beheaded him in order to please the Romans. His feast day is August 9th.

Matthew, means "the gift of Yahweh." In his geneology of Christ, he emphasized the Lord's human nature and origin and showed that Christ was the Messiah by using Old Testament references. He composed the first Gospel in AD 42 in Aramaic in order to address Jewish converts in Palestine.

St. Matthew was the one who had invited Christ to dinner with which the Pharisees were indignant because of Christ's ritual pollution when eating with wrongdoers . Acknowledging his sinfulness, St. Matthew is said to have repayed fourfold to anyone he had overcharged, and he distributed his remaining possessions to the poor and followed after Christ. He was a witness to the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ and of His ascension.

St. Matthew preached in Palestine for eight years. Then he traveled to Syria, Media, Persia, and Ethiopia, and he died as a martyr by being burned alive. His feast day is November 16th.

Saint Peter was from Bethsaida of Galilee. He was the son of Jonas and the brother of Andrew the First-called. He was a fisherman by trade, unlearned and poor, and was called Simon; later he was renamed Peter by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who looked at him and said, "Thou art Simon the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which is , Peter)".

On be coming an Apostle, he followed Jesus from the beginning of his preaching up until the He was crucified, when, in the court of Caiaphas the high priest, he denied Jesus three times because of his fear of the Jews and of the danger at hand. After the Resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit, he preached in Judea, Antioch, and certain parts of Asia, and finally came to Rome, where he was crucified upside down by Nero. His feast day is June 29th.

St. Philip, an apostle from Bethsaida, obeyed the call of Christ and led Nathaniel to Him. He had a sister called Marianne, a virgin, who helped him in his preaching.

St. Philip preached the Gospel in Asia and suffered crucifixion (head downward). According to tradition, a grapevine grew at the place where he shed his blood. In the 6th century, his relics were transferred to Rome. His feast day is April 30th.

Saint Simon was from Cana in Galilee, and was known to the Lord and His Mother. Tradition says that he was the bridegroom at the wedding where the Savior performed His first miracle. After witnessing the miracle of the water which had been turned into wine, he became a zealous follower of Christ. For this reason, he is known as St Simon the Zealot.

He traveled to many places from Britain to the Black Sea, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. After winning many pagans to the Lord, St Simon suffered martyrdom by crucifixion. His feast day is May 10th.

St. Thomas was a Galilean by birth and a fisherman by trade. Upon hearing the good tidings of Christ, he left all and followed after Him, becoming one of the twelve apostles.

Claiming he would never believe that the Lord had risen from the dead unless he could actually touch the Lord’s wounds, he later confessed his faith in Him by exclaiming, "My Lord and my God." In so exclaiming, St. Thomas became the first to confess so explicitly the Lord's divinity.

According to tradition, the Spirit fell upon him to preach in India. The Syrian Christians of Malabar call themselves "Christians of St. Thomas" and claim to have been evangelized by him. He was martyred by being pierced with five spears. His tomb was known by St. John Chrysostom to be at Edessa in Syria.

St. John Chrysostom remarks of him: "Thomas, being once weaker in faith than the other apostles, toiled through the grace of God more bravely, more zealously and tirelessly than them all, such that he went preaching almost over nearly all the earth, not fearing to announce the Word of God to savage nations." His feast day is October 6th.

Acts 29 - Part 4 (House Churches)

This is part of the Acts 29 series

Faithful Jews born and raised in Temple and synagogue worship, were to go out and "be the church" that Jesus said the very gates of Hell would not prevail against. The church they built was based on the patterns of worship that were given to Moses from God. According to Acts they attended Temple and the synagogue observing the daily liturgical prayers they were raised with. They attended Sabbath services and kept it holy, but on Sunday they went to one of the faithful's homes to celebrate the Lord's Supper or Eucharist as commanded by Jesus. This cycle they repeated every week, until right around the time of Acts 7 with the stoning of St. Stephen. At this time, and surely before, it had become quiet clear that this transformed understanding of Judaism was not welcome. By Acts 21 it had reached the point that Paul was not welcome in the Temple and a mob attacked him. These persecutions forced Christians out of the Temple and resulted in a distinct form of Judaism, a "Christological Synagogue", that would be called Christianity or the Way.

When the Scripture refer to a "house church" it is something very different than the 20th century notion of people hanging out on couches, playing guitar, eating munchies, and having a bible study. When Christians gathered in a house they were forming a synagogue. In fact James, when writing to "the twelve tribes scattered abroad", called their gathering in James 2:2 just that-a synagogue. They gathered to perform the liturgical services they learned in the synagogues in which they were no longer welcome. They did not abandon the synagogue, the synagogue abandoned them. Like the synagogues of old, they started in homes and over time were able to build what we would recognize as churches. But in the mean time, they worshiped in houses. From archeological evidence we are able to learn that "house" might not always be the right word. Mansions would be better. They were locations that were big enough to hold a large congregation and some of these house churches had baptismal fonts built into their structure.

Added to the core synagogue structure (called the Liturgy of the Word), was the transformed and fulfilled Temple worship, the Eucharist, which was inserted prior to the benediction. At this "Christological Synagogue" the Bishop would be seated on the bema. The ark would go from containing the Torah to enthroning the Gospel narratives which would be proclaimed from the bema. After the prayers and Scripture readings, the Liturgy of the Eucharist would be celebrated. This image of worship is what Paul has in mind in Colossians 3:16, "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts."

By the time we get to Acts 15, the Church in Jerusalem had quickly become the "Mother Church" for the early Christians. We learn that James is the leader (Bishop) of the church, and when a issue arises that affects all the other churches, it is brought before this church to make a ruling. After the ruling was received, a letter was sent to the other churches with the expectation that it would be obeyed (Acts 15:30). It is clear that even during the time of Acts, a structure of church authority was well established. The 20th century notion of someone just starting up their own church without being in connection with the "mother church" would have been viewed as clear heresy.

This Christological form of synagogue worship was taken with Paul and the rest of the Apsotles as they went on his missionary journeys. Those newly forming churches, both Jewish and Gentile, adopted both the pattern of worship and the structure of authority exemplified by the Jerusalem Church with universal acceptance.

From what we know about the life of early Christians, their worship was not spontaneous and they did not decide by themselves how they would worship. Rather it was based on the patterns of worship given by God of what Heavenly worship is like. There was and is a foundation of order and structure as we are encouraged to do in 1 Corinthians 14:40, "Let all things be done decently and in order." There also was and is a hierarchy of church authority which we are required to be submissive to, as in Hebrews 13:17, "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account".

These patterns of heavenly worship in both structure and authority are still to be found in Orthodox churches worldwide. You can walk into any Orthodox church or monastery and see parishioners living out this Heavenly worship. From the time Christ said it, until the present, the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. The church of Acts 29 is still here, alive and well.

After attending a Divine Liturgy in the Hagia Sophia Catherdral in Constantinople, envoys of Prince Vladimir of Russia gave this report:

We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendor or beauty anywhere on earth. We cannot describe it to you; only this we know, that God dwells there among humans, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. For we cannot forget that beauty.

Find the time to visit an Orthodox church and see it for yourself.

Map of Orthodox Churches in America.

Acts 29 - Part 3 (The Synagogue)

This is part of the Acts 29 series

There is a common assumption that worship in the early church was spontaneous, but it is clear from Scripture, archealogical evidence, and history that early Christians retained the pattern of worship inherited from the Jewish faith. Early on on the book of Acts it is evident that the Apostles were continuing to worship in the Temple amongst other faithful Jews. And why wouldn't they? They were good Jews who had found the Messiah. They wouldn't be known as Christians till they reached Antioch.

By this time, worship in the synagogue had been well established since the captivity in Babylon. When the Jews were in captivity, there was no Temple in which to worship and offer sacrifice, so they assembled around the elders to hear the Hebrew Scriptures and perform the daily cycle of prayers. When the Jews returned from captivity, they rebuilt the Temple, and retained the worship in the Synagogue. Synagogues would later become ornate houses of worship as we know them now, but early on would have been in someone's house, usually someone wealthy with a large house to provide space for all the worshipers.

A typical synagogue building was an open hall, with no seats for the standing congregation (many Orthodox churches still retain this feature). At one end (facing Jerusalem if possible) there was a centrally located raised platform called the bema. At the back of the bema, there was the seat for the ruling elder or rabbi, with seats on either side of him for his council of elders. These seats collectively representative the "seat of Moses" in the Temple which Christ refers to in Matthew 23:2. In the middle of the bema was a table upon which sat the ark and before it burned a seven-branched candlestick. The ark would have a copy of the Scriptures, spiritually pointing to the Ark in the Temple. The focus of worship in the Temple was towards the Holy of Holies and the focus of worship in the synagogue was also towards the Holy of Holies, so whenever possible, synagogues are orientated towards Jerusalem.

Worship in the synagogue would be performed at the same time as it was also going on in the Temple. It would focus on the reading of the word of God, and communion with God in the form of prayer and praise. There were 6 major components: The Litany, the Confession, Intercessory Prayer, Scripture Readings, Preaching, and the Benediction. "As was his custom", this is the pattern that Jesus would have followed when he read from Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4:16-30). Jesus would have ascended the bema and begun the service with the following two prayers:

Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King of the world, Who formest the light and createst the darkness, Who makest peace, and createst everything; Who, in mercy, givest light to the earth, and to those who dwell upon it, and in Thy goodness, day by day, and every day, renewest the works of creation. Blessed be the Lord our God for the glory of His handiworks, and for the light-giving lights which He has made for His praise. Blessed be the Lord our God, Who has formed the lights.

With great love has Thou loved us, O Lord our God, and with much overflowing pity has Thou pitied us, our Father and our King. For the sake of our fathers who trusted in Thee, and Thou taughtest them the statutes of life, have mercy upon us, and teach us. Enlighten our eyes in Thy Law; cause our hearts to cleave to Thy commandments; unite our hearts to love and fear Thy Name, and we shall not be put to shame, world without end. For Thou art a God Who preparest salvation, and hast in truth brought us hear to Thy great Name that we may lovingly praise Thee and Thy Unity. Blessed be the Lord, Who in love chose His people Israel.

After this would be the Shema (what could be considered the Jewish Creed), which consisted of three passages from the Torah. He would have then taken His place before the Ark and would have said a benediction. Then He would have added formal prayers suitable for the day. The chief rabbi would approach the ark and bring out the Scriptures. On the Sabbath, seven portions from the Law would be read, then a section from the Prophets. In this instance it was Isaiah, which was read and was immediately followed by Christ's sermon. There would have been a benediction, but according to Luke, the congregation wasn't very happy with Jesus's sermon.

This is the structure of worship Jesus and the Apostles were born into. They grew up worshiping in the Temple (where the sacrifices were offered) and in the synagogues of Israel (where "services of the word" were celebrated). After the Resurrection they continued to worship and keep the hours of prayer as they always had in the Temple and the synagogue, but on Sunday they went to their homes to celebrate the Lord's Supper on the Lord's Day...

Acts 29 - Part 2 (Pattern of Heaven)

This is part of the Acts 29 series.

The author of Hebrews tells us that the instructions given to Moses in Exodus were a pattern of what Heavenly worship is like. After the completion of Christ's sacrifice, which was the fulfillment of all needed sacrifices, Christians still kept to this Heavenly pattern, with the unnecessary sacrifices removed.

What did this Heavenly pattern look like? After the instructions were given, the Isrealites built what was called the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was made to be an elaborate tent-like structure that was portable enough to go with the people of Isreal wherever they wandered. The Tabernacle was always placed in the center of their encampment and thus was the center of their worship.

By the time of David, the Jewish were people more or less unified and living in one location. They had moved from living in tents and started living in permanent houses. So it was time for a permanent Tabernacle: the Temple. It would be built to the same pattern as the Tablernacle, but on a larger scale and used the famous cedars of Lebanon. It was completed by David's son Solomon in 957 BC and survived for about 500 years. The Temple was later destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzer of the Babylonians in 586 BC, and the Israelites were put into captivity.

During their captivity, the notion of Synagogue began forming. Synagogue means "the place for meeting together" and they usually met at someone's house-the bigger the better. At the Synagogue, Jews would gather to pray and to hear and be taught the (Old Testament) Scriptures. While there could be only one Temple, there could be Synagogues in every town. Many Jews would later worship in the Synagogue daily then make a pilgrimage to the Temple once a year always keeping a connection the central location of their faith.

When the Isrealites had returned from captivity, construction for the second Temple began 48 years later in 538 BC and was completed in 515. This second temple would later begin to be completely renovated in 19 BC by Herod the Great. Herod had it torn down piece by piece and rebuilt on a larger scale to leave as a legacy among other pagan temples he was also rebuilding, but it was done in such a way that sacrifices were able to continue daily. The temple itself was made from white marble that was a sharp contrast to all the other stone, making it quite a site for visiting pilgrims. This is the Temple Jesus and His Apostles would have known. Later this temple, as predicted by Christ in the Gospels, would also be destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans in "The Siege of Jerusalem".

The structure of worship from the time of the Tabernacle up until the destruction of second Temple remained, for the most part, unchanged. This is generally what took place:

When entering the Tabernacle, you would be in the court area which would contain the Altar of Sacrifice, the Laver, and Holy Place. The animal that was being sacrificed would be taken into the Holy Place after the priest had washed his hands and feet in the Laver. The Holy Place was the inner court and only a priest was allowed into this section. Inside the Holy Place, on the right (north side) would be the alter of Showbread which was 12 loaves of bread baked daily as an offering to God and on the southside was a 7 branched lampstand. The priest would walk between the two and approach the alter of Incense. A coal from the altar of sacrifice would be used for the incense as prayer and worship. Past the altar of Incense was a heavy veil dividing the room. Behind the veil was the Holy of Holies in a perfect cube of 15 feet. This is where the Israelites physically directed their faith because over the Ark was God's presence. Inside the Holy of Holies was housed the Ark of the Covenant which contained the 10 Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron's rod. Only the high priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer annually the blood of a sacrifice.

The church adapted this pattern to retain the Jewishness of our faith and reflect the light of Jesus onto our worship service. The structures of early churches are clearly modeled after the pattern of Heavenly worship given to Moses. The court area symbolizes the created universe and corresponds with the Narthax of the church. Prior to entering the Holy Place (which corresponds to the nave of a church and symbolizes the people of God) are the Altar of Sacrifice, (which is Christ) and the Laver (which is baptism). And since we have been made priests by Christ, we are allowed entry to the Holy Place. The altar of showbread represents the Eucharist. Incense would have filled the Holy Place as it does in churches worldwide. The Holy of Holies corresponds with the altar of the church where we mystically offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

It was this pattern of worship combined with the fulfillment of Christ's sacrifice that provided the foundation for the early Christians transformation of synagogue worship...

Acts 29 - Part 1

This is part of the Acts 29 series.

The book of Acts tells the story of what the Apostles did after the resurrection up until Paul's imprisonment at Rome. There are 28 chapters in the book of Acts. What happens after that last chapter? A relatively new movement, the Acts 29 Network, has popped up in Protestantism that claims to embody the answer to that question. The name would imply that they are in touch with the roots of the early church that continued on from Acts 28 till this day. And because of the rather quick success of the Acts 29 Network, it would be safe to assume that many people are very interested to know what happened after chapter 28. Would this new movement hold the same beliefs that those Christians in the book of Acts held? Does there exist today a church that would be recognizable to a Christian from the book of Acts? What do we know about church life in and after Acts?

The Jewish faith was a liturgical faith and the Christian faith that followed remained liturgical. In Judaism there was a cycle of prayers, blessings and meals that took place daily, weekly, monthly and annually. This included daily hours of prayers and the annual High Feast Days. Meals included the "breaking of bread" and the "blessing of the cup", which we see Jesus doing with his Apostles in the Gospels. Sacrifices took place in the Temple. All of the other liturgical practices of prayer, scripture reading, and teaching took place in the synagogues. This combination of liturgical services in both the Temple and synagogue was part of the daily life of Jesus and His disciples and is the foundation for Christian worship.

In Acts 2:46 we read that the disciples met daily in the Temple. They were not just hanging out, they were participating in the Jewish service after Penetecost. In Acts 3:1 we learn that Peter and John were going to the Temple at regularly scheduled times of prayer. Not only were they partcipating in Jewish worship practices, but they were keeping the daily cycle of litugical prayers. It becomes clear when reading through Acts that after Pentecost, Christians still held to the Jewish form of liturgical worship.

But hasn't Christ's sacrifice done away with all that? I suppose that depends on what you mean by "all that". There are two parts of Jewish worship: Sacrifice and Communion (the daily life of the liturgical cycle). Christ's sacrifice fulfilled all the sacrifices required of the Jewish people. It was complete and no further sacrifice is needed. But what of the rest? What of communion? What of the liturgical patterns?

Instructions were given to Moses to build the Tabernacle (Exodus 25-27). These instructions are detailed information about the nature of Temple worship, including its physical structure and dimensions, instructions for the Ark, the internal decor of the Tabernacle, details of the priests' vestments, the use of incense, the presence of an altar, the daily offerings, the use of anointing oil, and the use of images. Hebrews 8:5 refers to these very detailed instructions and we are told they are a pattern of worship in Heaven. Since these instructions are a pattern of heaven, which is timeless, why would expect these instructions to be altered? Part of these worship patterns were fulfilled by Christ's sacrifice, but the rest remains Heavenly worship.

There are a few other places in Scripture where we see examples of Heavenly worship. In Isaiah 6, the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah is given a glimpse of worship in the Heavenly Temple. The Lord is on a throne, six-winged seraphim are repeating, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts", the Temple is full of smoke (incense), and there is an altar. From this altar the seraphim takes a coal, touches it to Isaiah's mouth and says, "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." The church has always understood this to be an image of the Eucharist.

In Revelation 4 and 5 the Apostle John is given a vision of Heaven. Revelation 1:10 informs us that is occurred on the Lord's day while he was in the Spirit. The church has always took this to mean John was in the middle of celebrating a liturgy. In this vision of Heaven he sees the Lord on a throne. Twenty four elders sit on 24 thrones surrounding the one throne, wearing white robes and golden crowns and in their hands are bowls of incense, which are the prayers of God's people. In front of the throne is a lamp stand with seven branches. In the center of the throne, surrounded by creatures with six wings which repeat, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty", is a lamb looking as if it has been slain.

From Exodus to Isaiah to Revelation, heavenly worship follows a pattern. This pattern, though only a shadow of the Heavenly pattern, was followed by the Jewish people and continued to be followed by the early church to this day. The Heavenly Temple in Revelation resembles both the Jewish synagogue and later Christian churches. The worship service depicted there includes liturgical components still universal in the Orthodox Church — a throne, white-robed elders gathered around the throne, seven burning lamps, prostrations, incense, and more. "Holy, Holy, Holy..." is sung in every church and prayed by the faithful every morning and night. You can enter any Orthodox church around the globe and you will see this liturgical pattern of worship on Earth as it is in Heaven...