In the Old World, the sacrament was instituted as part of a private meal and later celebrated as part of a public meal. In the New World, the Savior established the ritual in front of the entire assembly, and the apostles delivered the emblems to the people. This New World rite thus prefigures the passing of the sacrament by priesthood holders to the gathered congregation.
In early Christianity, the presentation of the bread and wine was a symbolic part of the communal meal. (See commentary accompanying Moroni 4:1.) In the New World, in contrast, it seems to have been separate from such a meal. In the Old World, these communal meals (“love feasts”) were important times of horizontal social redistribution of food. Both those who had and those who lacked food benefited from the Christian principle of charity and during these meals.
But in the New World, as already noted (see commentary accompanying 3 Nephi 12:3), the people were not separated from the land and, hence, from the ability to grow their own food. The Book of Mormon contains no suggestion that a communal meal became part of Nephite liturgical practice, but the ritual of the sacrament certainly continued in Nephite religious practice. (See commentary on Moroni 4–5.)