Cyprian was a bishop of Carthage in the third century and was a prolific writer. One of his treatises was on the Lord’s Prayer. In this passage from that treatise, we get a sense of how some early Christians understood both prayer and community.
For we say not “My Father, which art in heaven,” nor “Give me this day my daily bread;” nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation, and delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common; and when we pray, we pray not for one, but for the whole people, because we the whole people are one.
