This work provides a critical analysis which concentrates on structure as it traces the evolution of the Eucharistic prayer (anaphora) from its origins in the ancient Jewish rites and its Christian beginnings in the Didache. The book then examines the larger anaphoric families (Alexandrian, Roman, Antiochene) showing the influence of the Jewish rites on the formation of the Christian texts before arriving finally at the classical anaphoras of the 4th century.