After trying various pagan philosophies, Justin embraced the Christian faith of his day. He composed his First Apology in Rome about AD 155 to the Roman Emperor. The document defended the Christian faith against attacks on legal and moral grounds. Justin was later put to death for his faith and is therefore known to history as Justin Martyr.
In his First Apology, Justin describes both a Lord’s Supper after a baptism of one who has confessed Christ and a gathering on Sunday. After baptism, the new Christian is then led to the assembly of “brethren.” Only those who accept the faith and have “received the washing” for the forgiveness of sins and live by Christ’s principles are allowed to partake of the supper.
They begin with common prayers for the assembly: for themselves, for the new convert, and for others. Then the worshipers greet one another with a kiss. (We should probably understand that men and women were in separate parts of the assembly, so that this greeting was not “coeducational.”) Bread, wine, and water are then brought to the presiding server, who offers the prayer of thanksgiving before partaking. The prayer begins by ascribing glory to the Father in the name of the Son and Spirit and continues with thanksgiving that worshipers have been judged worthy to receive the bread and wine. Toward the end, the congregation says the Amen.
Deacons then give to those present a portion of the bread, wine and water that have been “eucharistized” (offered thanks over). Justin’s account adds, “For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus.” Justin then repeats Jesus’ words in delivering the bread and cup at the Last Supper. At the conclusion of the service, the Eucharist is also taken to those members of the Christian community who were absent. Justin goes on to mention the ongoing common life of the Christian community, in which “those who have more come to the aid of those who lack,” and God is blessed for his gifts.
The other event Justin describes is the Sunday gathering “in one place.” He explains that the community gathers on Sunday, or the first day, both because it was the first day of creation and because on it Jesus rose from the dead. Their time begins with readings from the “memoirs of the apostles” (the Gospels) or writings of the prophets, as long as time allows. Then the president teaches from the Scriptures. The speaker was probably seated while the people stood, as was customary in the synagogues (see Matt. 5:1). Prayers and the celebration of the supper follow. At the end, those who have prospered voluntarily bring their gifts to the president, who will distribute them to those in need.
The gathering Justin describes reveals a further development beyond the ceremony described in the Didache. There is a formal offering for the elements of bread and wine, which are now associated with the body and blood of Christ. They do not here signify the gathering of the church, although the corporate solidarity of the community is evident in the setting for the supper. The Sunday assembly combines the service of the Word, or reading and teaching from Scripture, with the supper (Eucharist) or “service of the Lord’s table”; this was to become the historic sequence of “Christian worship”. There is a greater role and responsibility for the president and deacons, while the prophets of the Didache are not mentioned. The description of the post-baptismal Eucharist makes it clear that the unbaptized were not present for the Eucharist. They may have been present for the readings and the president’s discourse.