Abstract
Cyprian's Epistula LXIII indicates that the use of water in the eucharistic cup was quite mainstream and widespread in third-century Christianity. From the arguments that Cyprian refutes, it appears that the advocates of this practice looked to the Johannine references to Jesus' gift of `living water' as a scriptural warrant. Justin not only mentions water in the eucharistic cup, but frequently portrays Christians as water-drinkers, using the same Johannine passages and the Old Testament motifs that these echo. This suggests that his writings reflect concrete ritual practice of at least some circles in the second-century Church whose traditions may well be traced back to Johannine Christianity. Awareness of this feature of the diversity of early eucharistic understanding and practice could be an important resource today for a richer theology of the eucharist, for ecumenism, for liturgical inculturation, and for a Christian ecology.
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