While it is true to say that the origin of 'a Christian service' is lost in the fog of history, there is can be little doubt where the buck stops – or, rather, starts: the Fathers. After all, it was the Fathers who started the ruinous process of bringing the old covenant into the new, thereby setting in train fearful and lasting changes in the ekklēsia which culminated in the monstrosity of Christendom.1 And it was not only the old covenant that the Fathers drew on; they even incorporated pagan ideas and practices into ekklēsia life.2 But, as with so many corruptions of the ekklēsia, it was Rome who took these 'novelties' and developed them to their current level. The gangrene, alas, has spread much further than Rome. Anglicans, for instance, are unashamedly patristic. And nonconformist 'church services', even though most of those who attend do not realise it, are infected with the errors brought in by the Fathers.3 Christendom, not Scripture, sets the pattern, and has done so for 1800 years. |