The article presents the sacrament of the Eucharist in the perspective of Sunday, because this sacrament is the source of the whole Christian life, and the Church lives thanks to the Eucharist (Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit). It presents an overview of the major changes in the liturgy and the theology of the Holy Mass on Sunday, as well as the value of Sunday for the People of God. The liturgy, especially the Sunday liturgy, is not a theological treatise or a scientific lecture, but a celebration of the mystery of Christ, that is, the action of God himself together with the gathered People of God. It is an authentic confession of faith and a sign of belonging to the Church of God and union with him. The faithful, when they do not understand the spirit and meaning of the rites, withdraw, sometimes looking for other forms of religiosity. Therefore, there is a need to encourage, educate and prepare them for a fuller participation in the Sunday liturgy, which is, after all, of fundamental importance for the life of the Church and its individual members. It is the liturgy that effectively creates communion and educates to communion. The liturgy, especially the Sunday liturgy, lived in the full communion of the Church, reveals the entire mystery of Christ, from the Incarnation and Nativity to the Ascension and Pentecost, and the expectation of the blessed hope and coming of Christ. It is the realization of God’s plan of salvation and the continuation of the history of salvation to which all are called.
Human time, no matter to what culture or religion a man belongs, is filled with celebrations that give rhythm to his life and help him capture the essence of his existence. Also Christianity over the centuries worked out various forms of specific celebration. The goal of this text is to look at the character of celebrate in the fourth and fifth centuries and to determine how the Christian writers wrote about the celebration. The first sources that author considered are two ancient texts of Socrates of Constantinople (Socrates Scholasticus) and Sozomen (Salminius Hermias Sozomenus) with the same names: Historia Ecclesiastica. In both works there are little chapters, in which appear the mention of the celebration, the majority of them is associated with Feast of the Passover and The First Council of Nicaea, others occur mainly on the margins of the narrative. This is because the history of the Church is here treated primarily as ‘political’ history, shaped by the decisions of great personages of the Church. The most important conclusion that emerges from these two texts is the observation that the differences in the way of celebration are not a source of division, but most of all divisions for doctrinal reasons manifest themselves in a separate celebration. The second source is The Travels of Egeria, also called The Pilgrimage of Aetheria (Itinerarium Egeriae), a letter describing the author’s travel to the holy places. In her report Egeria devotes much attention to the description of those involved in the celebration of subsequent festivals. The modern reader is struck by the generosity of crowds gathered in prayer and their vivid faith that motivates them to make long prayers going for hours. Celebration of Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries was an expression of a vivid faith. Their religion permeated life in all dimensions, and determined the essence of who they were. It was touching the inexpressible, the main aim was above all communion with Christ and the Church. Originally Christians celebrated entirely in the community of the Church, which gives a more or less clear framework to all that can be considered for celebration.
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