[american colleen]

Actually, Luther was not the initiator of Communion in the hands. Arianism (300 AD) denied Our Lord's full Godhead combined with an admission of all His other attributes, and thus making Him a creature. Arianists instituted the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand, so as to be a method of publicly exercising the heresy w/o actually speaking the heresy.

No, I'm sorry, you are wrong here. You might want to read "The Mass of the early Christians" by Mike Aquilina. It is extensively researched and footnoted and was written using all available early Christian writings. The early Christians actually took consecrated loaves of bread HOME for consumption during the week. I doubt they carried entire loaves of bread in their mouths.

The other day I was reading my "Magnificat" missal for May 19th, and found a prayer written by Joseph the Visionary who was a monk (not an ordained priest) @ 750AD. Here is a little piece of it:
To You be praise
First-born of Being,
exalted and full of awe,
for, by the sacrifice of your body,
you have effected salvation for the world.

0 Christ, Son from the Holy Father,
to you do I pray in awe at this time;
of you, Lord, do I ask your will
and beseech your compassion,
that my whole person may be made holy
through your grace,
and that the enemy's constraint upon me
may be rendered ineffective.

Purify my understanding
in your compassion,
so that my hands may stretch out in purity
to receive your holy and fearful Body and Blood.

FWIW. I take Communion on the tongue, but do not look at those who do not as Arianists or worse.

[SoothingDave]

FWIW. I take Communion on the tongue, but do not look at those who do not as Arianists or worse.

Don't try to confuse them with the fact, Colleen. Vatican II is the root of all evil. Anything that was true the day before was set in stone, always done, rock solid tradition, and everything after is the work of the devil.

SD

[jt8d]

No, American Colleen, you are quite mistaken. Read Hillare Belloc, a noted Catholic historian of significant prominance. Read his work 'The Great Heresies.'

"Joseph the Visionary who was a monk (NOT AN ORDAINED PRIEST [emphasis, my own])..." A rather important distinction to ponder.

"...so that my hands may stretch out in purity
to receive your holy and fearful Body and Blood."

This verse does not explicitly prove your contention; and moreover, there are many things that "early Christians" did, however, depending on the merit and adherence to sound theology, not all of their practices were codified in the Canon of the Mass. That is one of the salient points where the Novus Ordo diverges from The Sacred Liturgy of the Tridentine: the idea that we must do exactly as the "early Christians" did, which is wrong on its face. There were probably a great many practices performed by the "early Christians" that would not be considered legitimate representations of what Christ instituted. Do not forget that this was a time of flux, as the gospel of Christ was being promulgated throughout the Roman Empire--and different sects would have naturally emerged with their own interpretations, influenced by what was the cultural norms of the period. That is why the Mass was codified through the three major doctrinal Councils: Hippo, Nicaea, and Trent.