At the conclusion we all rise
up together and pray; and, as we have said, when we have ceased from
prayer, the bread and wine and water are brought forward, and the
presider sends up prayer and thanksgiving alike, to the utmost of his
power. And the people respond, saying, Amen. And then is made to each
the distribution and participation of the consecrated elements ([Greek:
eucharistauthenton]). And of those who have the means and will, each
according to his disposition gives what he will; and the collected sum
is deposited with the presider, and he aids the orphans and widows, and
those who through sickness or other cause are in need, and those in
bonds, and strangers; and, in a word, he becomes the reliever of all who
are in want." [Sect. 67. p. 83.]
* * * * *
In Justin Martyr I am unable to find even a single vestige of the
invocation of Saints. With regard to Angels, however, there is a very
celebrated passage, to which Bellarmin and others appeal, as conclusive
evidence that the worship of them prevailed among Christians in his
time, and was professed by Justin himself.
Justin, in his first Apology, having stated that the Christians could
never be induced to worship the demons, whom the heathen worshipped and
invoked, proceeds thus[33]: "Whence also we are called Atheists, {107}
[men without God]; and we confess that with regard to such supposed gods
we are atheists, but not so with regard to the most true God, the Father
of justice and temperance, and of the other virtues without any mixture
of evil.
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