by Bishoy Dawood, B.A., M.T.S., Th.D. student (St. Michael’s College)
In the twentieth century, many liturgical scholars studied the origins of the Christian liturgical rites, but the majority of these studies focused on how the words of the known Anaphora prayers were derived from earlier Jewish prayers. It is rare to find works that focus on the ritualistic actions of liturgical rites from a historical-developmental perspective. This presentation will focus on presenting a Eucharistic tradition that consists of ritualistic action and will argue that the Coptic rite of the “Offertory," which is still in use in the Coptic churches today and prayed before all the Anaphoras, is a primitive and complete Eucharistic rite.
