Sursum Corda and Eucharistic Prayer
Early Christians treated the Eucharist as a prayer of thanksgiving over bread and cup, and they spoke of the bread and cup in relation to Christ’s body and blood. The Didache, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions all point in the same direction. Commodianus also gives an early witness to the priest saying “sursum corda” before prayer. The evidence is strong for Eucharistic prayer and the lift-up-your-hearts call, though the exact fixed form is clearer in later liturgical texts.
138 early-church witnesses · 242 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Sursum Corda and Eucharistic Prayer?
Early Christian writings tie the Eucharist to a spoken prayer of thanksgiving, and they also link the bread and cup to Christ’s body and blood. The strongest witnesses here are the Didache, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions, with a separate witness from Commodianus for the words “sursum corda” before prayer. The evidence is broad across the 1st to 3rd centuries, though some later liturgical texts repeat the same themes rather than add new teaching.
The topic is well supported for Eucharistic prayer and the lift-up-your-hearts call, but it is thinner for a single fixed universal formula in the earliest period. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- The Eucharist was prayed as thanksgiving, not treated as a bare meal.
- Early writers connect the bread and cup with Christ’s body and blood.
- Commodianus gives an early witness to “sursum corda” before prayer.
- Later liturgical texts preserve a more developed dialogue and thanksgiving prayer.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians say “lift up your hearts” before the Eucharistic prayer?
Yes. Commodianus gives an early witness to the priest saying “sursum corda” before prayer, and Cyprian also says the priest prepares the minds of the brethren by saying, “Lift up your hearts.” The Apostolic Constitutions preserves the same liturgical dialogue in a fuller form.
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
For this reason also the priest, by way of preface before his prayer, prepares the minds of the brethren by saying, Lift up your hearts, that so upon the people's response, We lift them up unto the Lord, he may be reminded that he himself ought to think of nothing but the Lord.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...t, be with you all.” And let all say with one voice, “And with your spirit.” The high priest says, “Lift up your mind.” All the people say, “We lift it up to the Lord.” The high priest says, “Let us give thanks to the Lord.” All the people say, “It is right and proper to do so.” Then let the high priest say: “It is most right and proper, before all things, to sing a hymn to You, the true God, who is before all beings, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, Ephesians 3:15 who alone is unbegotten, without beginning, without ruler, and without master; who needs nothing; who gives everything good; who is beyond all cause and generation; who is always and unchangeably the same; from whom all things came into being as from their proper source. For You are eternal knowledge, everlasting sight, unbegotten hearing, untaught wisdom, first by nature, the measure of being, and beyond all number. You brought all things out of nothing into being by Your only begotten Son, and You begot Him before all ages by Your will, Your power, and Your goodness, without any instrument: the only begotten Son, God the Word, the living Wisdom, the First-born of every creature, the angel of Y
How did early Christians pray the Eucharistic prayer?
They prayed the Eucharist as thanksgiving to the Father, with blessings over the cup and broken bread. The Didache gives an early prayer form, and Justin Martyr, the Apostolic Constitutions, and related liturgical texts describe the president or priest giving thanks before communion.
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Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Direct teaching
Now about the Thanksgiving, or Eucharist, give thanks in this way. First, about the cup: "We thank You, our Father, for the holy vine of David Your Servant, which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant. To You be the glory forever." And about the broken bread: "We thank You, our Father, for the life and knowledge that You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant. To You be the glory forever." Just as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and then was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom. For Yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever. But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving, or Eucharist, except those who have been baptized into the name of the Lord. For about this also the Lord has said, "Do not give what is holy to dogs." Matthew 7:6
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
Always be thankful, as faithful and honest servants. And concerning the Eucharistic thanksgiving, say this: “We thank You, our Father, for the life that You have made known to us through Jesus Your Son. Through Him You made all things, and You take care of the whole world. You sent Him to become man for our salvation. You allowed Him to suffer and to die. You raised Him up, were pleased to glorify Him, and set Him at Your right hand. Through Him You have promised us the resurrection of the dead. O Lord Almighty, everlasting God, gather Your Church together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom, just as this grain was once scattered and has now become one loaf. We also thank You, our Father, for the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us, and for His precious body, of which we celebrate this representation, just as He Himself appointed us, to show His death. 1 Corinthians 11:26 For through Him glory is to be given to You forever. Amen.” Let no one eat of these things unless he is initiated, but only those who have been baptized into the death of the Lord. But if anyone who is not initiated hides himself and partakes of them, he eats eternal damnation, because,
More related quotations from this section 5 shown
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background
...cience is seared, forbidding marriage, and abstaining from foods which God created for sharing with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have known the truth, because every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer”? Therefore it is certainly not right to forbid marriage, or the eating of meats, or the drinking of wine. For it is written, “It is good not to eat meat, nor drink wine, if anyone eats to another’s stumbling,” Romans 14:21. And, “It is good to remain as I am,” 1 Corinthians 7:8. But the one who uses does so with thanksgiving, and the one who does not use, he also does so with thanksgiving, and lives with moderate and self-controlled restraint, in a way fitting to reason. And, to say it briefly, all the Apostles’ Epistles that teach moderation and self-control, while containing countless commands about marriage, the begetting of children, and the management of a household, nowhere forbid or abolish honorable and moderate marriage. Rather, keeping the agreement of the law with the Gospel, they allow both: the one who uses marriage moderately with thanksgiving t
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background
And the form of his prayer is thanksgiving for the past, for the present, and for the future as already through faith present.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background
We are to rise from our slumbers with the Lord, and retire to sleep with thanksgiving and prayer —
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Tertullian, On Prayer Background
the commemoration of hope in the Kingdom; the petition for life in the Bread;
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Tertullian, On Prayer Background
Does, then, the Eucharist cancel a service devoted to God, or bind it more to God?
Did early Christians believe the bread and cup became Christ’s body and blood?
Yes. Justin Martyr says the blessed food is not common bread and drink, but flesh and blood of Jesus; Irenaeus says the bread is the body of Christ and the cup the blood of Christ; and Cyprian repeats that the Lord offered bread and a mixed cup and taught the new oblation of the new covenant. Origen also says the bread becomes by prayer a sacred body.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
...d renewal, and live as Christ instructed, are allowed to partake. We do not receive these as common bread and drink, but in the same way that Jesus Christ our Savior became flesh by the Word of God and had flesh and blood for our salvation, we have been taught that the food blessed by His word and prayer, which nourishes our blood and flesh through transformation, is the flesh and blood of Jesus who became flesh. The apostles, in the writings they composed, which are called Gospels, have passed down to us what Jesus instructed them: that He took bread, gave thanks, and said, "Do this in remembrance of Me, this is My body;" and in the same way, after taking the cup and giving thanks, He said, "This is My blood;" and gave it to them alone. The wicked devils have imitated this in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same actions. You either know or can learn that bread and a cup of water are used with certain incantations in the mystical rites of someone being initiated.
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Irenaeus, Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus Direct teaching
And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these antitypes may obtain remission of sins and life eternal.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching
5. Again, giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits of His own, created things—not as if He stood in need of them, but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor ungrateful—He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, “This is My body.” And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His blood, and taught the new oblation of the new covenant;
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Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching
and this bread becomes by prayer a sacred body, which sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it.
Did the early Church see the Eucharist as a remembrance of Jesus’ death?
Yes. Bible passages in Luke, Matthew, and 1 Corinthians say, “Do this in remembrance of me,” and “you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Justin Martyr, Cyprian, and the later liturgical texts echo that same remembrance language.
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Tertullian, On Prayer Supporting witness
When I was scrupulously making a thorough investigation of this practice, and searching into the reason of it, I ascertained it to be a commemorative act, bearing on the surrender of our Lord.
Did early Christians mix water and wine in the cup?
Yes, Cyprian is explicit that the cup should be mixed with wine and water, and he argues against offering water alone. Justin Martyr also says the deacons gave the bread and wine mixed with water after the thanksgiving.
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
...ns the people, and the wine shows the blood of Christ. But when the water is mixed with wine in the cup, the people are made one with Christ, and the assembly of believers is joined and united with Him in whom it believes. This union and joining of water and wine is so mixed in the Lord's cup that the mixture can no longer be separated. Therefore, nothing can separate the Church—that is, the people established in the Church, faithfully and firmly continuing in what they have believed—from Christ, so as to keep their undivided love from always remaining and clinging to Him. Thus, in consecrating the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, just as wine alone cannot be offered. For if anyone offers only wine, the blood of Christ is separated from us. But if the water is alone, the people are separated from Christ. But when both are mixed and joined to one another in close union, a spiritual and heavenly sacrament is completed. Thus the cup of the Lord is not water alone, nor wine alone, unless each is mixed with the other. In the same way, the body of the Lord cannot be flour alone or water alone, unless both are united and joined together and formed into the mass of one br
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
... that, against gospel and apostolic discipline, in some places water is offered alone in the Lord's cup. By itself, water cannot represent the blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit also is not silent in the Psalms about the sacrament of this matter, when He mentions the Lord's cup and says, "Your inebriating cup, how excellent it is!" Now the cup that causes intoxication is certainly mixed with wine, for water cannot intoxicate anyone. And the Lord's cup intoxicates in the same way that Noah also was intoxicated by drinking wine, in Genesis. But the intoxication of the Lord's cup and blood is not like the intoxication of the wine of this world. Since the Holy Spirit said in the Psalm, "Your inebriating cup," He added, "how excellent it is," because without doubt the Lord's cup so intoxicates those who drink it that it makes them sober. It restores their minds to spiritual wisdom. Each one is brought back from that worldly taste to the understanding of God. And just as, by ordinary wine, the mind is loosened, the soul is relaxed, and all sadness is put away, so also, when the blood of the Lord and the cup of salvation have been drunk, the memory of the old man is put away. There arise
Common Questions
Did early Christians pray before the Eucharist?
Yes. The Didache, Justin Martyr, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions all describe thanksgiving and prayer over the bread and cup.
What does “sursum corda” mean in early Christian worship?
It is the call to lift up the heart to the Lord before prayer. Commodianus gives an early witness to that wording.
Did early Christians connect the Eucharist with Jesus’ body and blood?
Yes. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Cyprian all speak of the bread and cup in that way.
Source Index for the Sursum Corda and Eucharistic Prayer
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 242 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 138
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Ignatius, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (Short Version)
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Didache, Connection to Luke 22:19
Bible Passages 80 shown of 104
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.