Eucharistic Prayers and their Background in the Apocryphal Act. In Memory of János Harmatta

In the following study we intend to give an overall description of the Eucharistic prayers of the Apocryphal Acts that had been missing from the contemporary literature up till today. First we will consider the Eucharistic character of the so called “Hymn of the Dancing Christ” in AJ ch. 94-96, which has been a debated question. After a detailed analysis a synthesis is to be given, of the six or seven prayers, with the help of narrative, religious-historical and philological approaches. It is also intended to examine docetic and gnostic influences in them. Then we will cast a glance at the complexity of the trajectories (or trends of thought) of the tradition of Eucharistical rites. It also seems necessary to compare them with the Eucharistic prayers of the ancient church (Didaché, Justinos Martyr). Of course we could not omit a theological interpretation of their main concepts