Please provide a scripture that says that there must be a Priest involved in order to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Our Lord clearly established a hierarchy among his followers, distinguishing between disciples and apostles. (I hope that you are not going to dispute this.) As my earlier quote from Acts shows this was an office that survived the death of its first holders and was passed on to others. At the Last Supper our Lord gave the command "Do this in commemoration of me" only to the apostles. Your reference to Acts 20:7 only shows that the Christians gathered on Sunday for the breaking of the bread, not that any believer could preside over such an assembly without holding the office of priest. I will now turn the tables on you and ask you to pleas provide Scripture that shows any Christian believer can preside over the Eucharist.
Unfortunately this myth that the early Church had a non-hierarchical congregationalist organization is purely a self-serving product of the Protestant imagination. As early as A.D. 110 we find St. Ignatius of Antioch writing:
You must follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that by considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop, or by one whom he appoints. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. Nor is it permitted without the bishop either to baptize or the celebrate the agape; but whatever he approve, this too is pleasing to God, so that whatever is done will be secure and valid.Now I know that you will object that this is not Scripture, but it is testimony of what the early Church believed. It must also be pointed out St. Ignatius was only the second bishop of Antioch after St. Peter and that he had been a hearer of the Apostle John himself. The seven letters of St. Ignatius were written within twenty years (perhaps as few as fifteen) of the death of St. John. Thus this congregationalist style of church that you imagine must have last but a very short time.
That would be eighty years after the fact and by then many congregations had indeed turned from the truth.
The seven letters of St. Ignatius were written within twenty years (perhaps as few as fifteen) of the death of St. John. Thus this congregationalist style of church that you imagine must have last but a very short time.
Once again you go to the writings of a man rather than the Bible and letters written 80 years after the facr. But you still got that right. Maybe you are starting to see the truth. Just to help you along in your search try reading Gal. 3:1, written in approximately AD49 and also the letters to the seven churches in Rev. Chap.2-3.
Still waiting for you to provide a scripture that says that there must be a Priest involved in order to celebrate the Lord's Supper or are you unable to do so?