It will be observed that here the references to the Old Testament are almost non-existent and that there is no mention of high-priestly functions.
4-6
THE EUCHARIST
Fundamental for any comprehension of the first liturgical history of the eucharist is the fact that among Jews a “blessing” of food is without exception a “thanksgiving”; a Jew never says “Bless this food”, but always “Blessed be God”. So in the New Testament, when such a blessing is in question, εὐχαριστέω and εὐλογέω are used without distinction; compare, e.g., Mark 8. 6-7.
The various Jewish blessings in their oldest literary forms are collected in the Mishnah tractate Berakhoth;[166] this was finally compiled in the third century, but most of its contents are much earlier; note in chapter 8 the account of the pre-Christian controversy between the schools of Hillel and Shammai. The form of all the blessings is the same; after the opening words of praise the worshipper recites the particular act of God for which thanksgiving is due. So over bread the formula is:
Blessed be thou, O God, King of the universe, who hast brought forth bread from the ground;
and over wine:
Blessed be thou, O God, King of the universe, who hast created the fruit of the vine.
There is no real reason to doubt that these were the words used by Christ at the Last Supper when he “gave thanks”; Mark 14. 25 takes up the blessing used over the cup.
To eat without thanksgiving was a sin, and he who did so at least violated God’s law commanding thankfulness. But most Jews would also have held that unblessed food is unfit for consumption, and that pronouncing the benediction removes this quasi-uncleanness, i.e., “hallows” it: “Nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified through the word of God[167] and prayer”.[168] In other words, the act of thanksgiving was construed as having a consecratory effect, potent even for ordinary food and therefore especially potent for sacred food. So St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10. 16: “The cup of thanksgiving over which we give thanks, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ?” In Hippolytus the same conception appears unambiguously in [21. 6] and [23], but it also underlies his use of “thanksgiving” in [4. 2] and [10. 4].
Accordingly, since at the Christians’ greatest liturgical service the essential formula was a solemn thanksgiving, the service itself and food consecrated at the service both came to be called simply “The Thanksgiving” or (in Greek) “The Eucharist”.[169] And—certainly in the second century, since Hippolytus gives the formula—the eucharistic prayer was prefaced by the invitatory, “Let us make our thanksgiving to the Lord”, and this in turn by the appropriate words, “Lift up your hearts”.