The Lord's Supper

The prayer of praise and thanksgiving at the Jewish Passover meal was transferred to the Christian celebration of the Lord's Supper, which is why the Holy Communion was given the name Eucharist.
In the first century, by the way, there were very few customs in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. The sign of the cross over bread and wine in the Lord's Supper was used with great reverence.
As early as the third century, longer prayers were held during Holy Communion, as well as love feasts now and then. These ceased, however, when the congregations became more numerous, and Holy Communion was now held at least every Sunday and feast day, in which all the baptized present took part, but at the beginning of which all catechumens and non-Christians had to leave.
In the fourth century it was held here and there during the week.
In the fifth century, love feasts were abolished, but the Lord's Supper was increasingly regarded as a sacrifice for the living and the dead, and was even served to underage children, often with the bread dipped.
In the sixth century the celebration of the Lord's Supper was increased with magnificent ceremonies.
In the ninth century among the Occidentals the prayers before the Lord's Supper were said in Latin.
In the tenth century the Communio praesanctificatorum came into great use among the Latins, namely, on Holy Thursday they consecrated bread alone. Of this, in the following days, one threw a little into the wine, and then considered it also consecrated and fit for the use of Holy Communion. Likewise, a little consecrated wine was poured among other wine and given to the laity. This seems to be a beginning of communion under one form. This consecrated wine is called "rinsing wine," because it washes away the remains of the host that may have stuck to the palate.
In the eleventh century, people began to prepare the bread for the Lord's Supper in a very peculiar way, by separating out the grains of the grain, cleaning the mill, and having everything done at the baker's by holy persons.
In the twelfth century, consecrated bread and wine were increasingly attributed a physical power.
In the fifteenth session of the Council of Constance in 1415, the following words were written: "Although Christ instituted Holy Communion in both forms, the Council deems it good to leave it at one form.
Already in the earlier centuries, the consecrated bread and wine began to be considered more than bread and wine, claiming that the bread was changed into the body and the wine into the blood of Christ through priestly consecration. This doctrine brought Paschasius Radbertus on the track. He maintained that the consecrated elements retained their form, but that the substance and essence of the body and blood of Christ became other. At first this doctrine met with great opposition, but it was solemnly confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1215.
Paschasius was contradicted by the monk Satrenus or Bertram, who did not deny the transformation of bread and wine, but did not admit a physical, but only a spiritual one. In the eleventh century Berenger also subscribed to this opinion, but had to recant it if he wished to escape danger to his life. His most ardent opponent was Landfrank, Bishop of Canterbury in England, and his reputation gave him great superiority. At the. At the Council of Trent, the doctrine of the transubstantiation of bread was confirmed anew. From this arose the worship of the consecrated host.
Luther and his fellow confessors renewed the complaint that the church, in the manner in which it celebrated the Lord's Supper, had departed far from the purposes of Christ and the example of the apostolic church.
Karlstedt was the first to give a different explanation to the words, "This is my body. He separated the preceding words, "Take, eat," from the following ones and claimed that the two were not connected at all, but that Christ, after distributing the bread and wine and encouraging them to take and eat and drink, pointed to his body and said anew that he would pass it over and shed his blood, and that they should remember this from then on whenever they shared the bread and wine.
Zwingli understood the words of institution inauthentically. He assumed that Christ meant to say, "This bread and this wine signify my body and my blood," and thus declared bread and wine to be mere signs of the body and blood of Christ. Calvin's conception, according to which a spiritual presence of the body and blood of Christ is assumed, and that the same are spiritually enjoyed with the mouth, seems to come closer to the Lutheran doctrine, but in essence it is the doctrine of Zwingli.
Luther took the words as they read. He taught that in a mysterious, sacramental way the true body of Christ unites with the blessed bread and his true blood with the blessed wine, so that the communicant receives Christ's body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine.
Hosts, which are used in the administration of Holy Communion, are called the small, round, thin, white slices baked from unleavened white flour, which in the Lutheran Church are used instead of bread at Holy Communion. In former times ordinary bread was used for the Lord's Supper, but then a special bread prepared especially for this purpose was used, until in the fourth century large wafers appeared which, after consecration, were broken into as many pieces as were necessary according to the number of communicants. Since the twelfth century, the hosts described here, also called wafers, were introduced because they melt easily in the mouth and are more convenient for all persons to eat. By the Catholic Church, therefore, the bread in the Lord's Supper is called a host, because it assumes the transformation into the body of Christ, and makes use of the expression that the body of Christ is presented by the priest as an unbloody sacrifice. On the same is placed either the cross of Christ, or a lamb, or the initial Latin letters of the heading of the cross: J. N. R. J. (Jesus Nazrenus Rex Judaeorum - JEsus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). The Reformed Church uses cut strips of wheat bread instead of the host, which are broken and given into the hands of each communicant.
Communion is administered by Catholics in the following manner: The priest or chaplain distributes the sacrament. The sacristan prays the Confiteor, the general confession, after which the priest gives the public absolution; then he takes a consecrated host in his hands, turns to the people, raises it above the chalice, and cries: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, and repeat after me the words of true humility: 'O Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof, but speak but one word, and my soul shall be healed.'" Then the communicants, with uplifted hands and downcast eyes, go to the altar and receive the Host. What the sacristan gives is mere wine, the rinsing wine, to wash down, as noted above, the remnants of the Host still clinging to the palate. On the way back, one makes one's reverence before the Most Reverend.
Among Lutherans, Communion is held as follows: Before the act a Communion exhortation is read, in most churches the preface is sung or spoken, the thrice holy is sung by the congregation, and consecrated by the pastor by singing or saying the Lord's Prayer and the words of institution . The communicants then receive the bread on the right side of the altar and the chalice on the left, or they kneel around the altar. Communion hymns are sung during the consecration. The whole act is concluded with the thanksgiving collection and the Aaronic blessing.
Among the Reformed, the pastor gives each communicant a small piece of the broken bread in his hand, saying, "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ, etc." In like manner the cup is placed in the hand. The action is also concluded with a prayer of thanksgiving and with the blessing.