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The 'Eucharist'[1] is a rite, or ceremonial act of worship, that traces its origins to the meals Jesus participated in during his ministry. Traditionally, Christians perform this rite in fulfillment of Jesus' instruction to his disciples at their last meal together (reported in and )[2] to give thanks and share bread, a meal, and a memorial cup, which he referred to as his body[3] and his blood.[3] The word "Eucharist" is also applied to the bread and wine, or their substitutes, consecrated in the course of the rite.
The word "Eucharist" comes from the Greek noun (transliterated, "Eucharistia"), meaning ''thanksgiving.''[5] This noun or the corresponding verb (I give thanks) is found in 55 verses of the New Testament. (, the uncontracted form, given in some aids for students, is not used in the New Testament.) Four of these verses[6] recount that Jesus "gave thanks" while presenting to his followers either the bread or the cup.
Names for the Eucharist
★ "Eucharist" (from Greek ''Eucharistia,'' "thanksgiving") is the term with the earliest established historical use. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who was martyred in Rome in about 110, used the term "Eucharist", referring to both the rite and the consecrated elements; for example "The Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ."[7] Justin Martyr, writing around 150, gave a detailed description of the rite, and stated that "Eucharist" was the name that Christians used: "This food is called among us the Eucharist...we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word...is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."[8] Today, the term "Eucharist" is used by Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox, Anglicans, United Methodists, and Lutherans. Most other Protestant traditions rarely use this term, using instead either "Communion". "Lord's Supper". or "Breaking of Bread".
★ "Communion" (from Latin ''communio,'' "sharing in common") is a term used, with different meanings, by Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, and many Protestants, including Lutherans; "Holy Communion" is also prevalent. Catholics and Orthodox apply this term not to the Eucharistic rite as a whole, but only to the partaking of the consecrated bread and wine, and to these consecrated elements themselves. In their understanding, it is possible to participate in the celebration of the Eucharistic rite without necessarily "receiving Holy Communion" (partaking of the consecrated elements).[9] On the contrary, groups that originated in the Protestant Reformation usually apply this term to the whole rite. Many, especially Anglicans, prefer the fuller term "Holy Communion" rather than just "Communion". The meaning of the term ''Communion'' here is multivocal in that it also refers to the relationship of Christians, as persons or as a Church, with God and with other Christians (see Communion (Christian)), and refers, as well, to the relationship between the Three Divine Persons within the Trinity, a relationship known as perichoresis and which is considered the archetype of the other forms of communion.
★ "The Lord’s Supper" and "the Breaking of Bread" are terms that the New Testament (; , ) applies to celebration of the Eucharist. Besides the mention in 1 Corinthians, the word "meal" or "supper" was not used to describe the Eucharist (apart from direct quotes of 1 Corinthians) in history until Martin Luther's innovations of the sixteenth century.[10] The term "meal"or "supper" tends to be preferred by "minimalist" traditions, especially those strongly influenced by Huldrych (or Ulrich) Zwingli and the Restoration Movement. ''The Lord’s Supper'' is also a common term among Lutherans, as is "The Sacrament of the Altar". Other Churches and denominations also use these terms, but generally not as their basic, routine term. The use is predominant among Baptist groups, who generally avoid the use of the term Communion due to its use by the Roman Catholic Church. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the term The Sacrament is used.
★ Certain terms are limited to the Orthodox Christian and Catholic traditions, and are typically applied to the rite as a whole. "The Divine Liturgy" is used by Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic Churches, who also, especially for the consecrated elements, use "the Divine Mysteries". Roman Catholics use many other terms, including "the Mass", "Holy Mass", "the Memorial of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord", the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass", and the "Holy Mysteries".[11] The "Blessed Sacrament" and the "Blessed Sacrament of the Altar" are also common terms for the consecrated elements, especially when reserved in the Church tabernacle. "Mass" is also used by Anglo-Catholics and the Church of Sweden.
Other phrases also are used to describe Eucharist such as "Lord's Supper" (''Coena Domini''), "Table of the Lord" (''Mensa Domini''), the "Lord's Body" (''Corpus Domini''), and the "Holy of Holies" (''Sanctissimum''), and "the Breaking of the Bread" The following terms are also related, directly or indirectly, to the celebration of the Eucharist: ''Agape'' (Love-Feast), ''Eulogia'' (Blessing), and ''Synaxis'' (Assembly).
Eucharist in the Bible
The three synoptic Gospels (, , and ), as well as Saint Paul's first Letter to the Corinthians contain versions of the Words of Institution spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper. John 6 is also interpreted by some in connection with the Eucharist: "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" ().
One writer[12] has argued that the Book of Revelation used the Eucharistic liturgy of the early Church (with its portrayal of doctrines of the incarnation, paschal sacrifice, and second coming) to describe the heavenly liturgy.
Physical elements used in celebrating the Eucharist
In the Eastern Orthodox Church there was a dispute with the Western Church, whether the bread should be leavened or unleavened. Christians who use unleavened bread recognize that the leavened bread of other traditions is equally valid matter for the confection of the Eucharist; but some who use leavened bread consider that the use of unleavened is illegitimate.[13] (See Azymite.) The Synoptic Gospels state that the Last Supper was celebrated on "the first day of the feast of unleavened bread",[14] i.e. Passover. As the name by which these writers refer to the seven-day feast indicates, only unleavened bread was eaten and leaven was not even allowed within the house.[15] The Synoptic account thus suggests that the bread used at the Last Supper was unleavened. On the other hand, the Gospel of John says the Supper occurred "before the feast of the passover",[16] Some interpret as significant the fact that the Synoptics use the generic word for bread, '' (artos), which they see as referring specifically to ''leavened'' bread,[17] to speak of the bread used at the Supper[14] rather than the adjectival term '' (azymos), "unleavened" (bread), that they used when speaking of the feast a few verses earlier.
Those who use leavened bread see the leaven as a symbol of resurrection and new life, and concomitantly associate its lack with mourning.[19] Those who use unleavened bread see it as a symbol of sincerity and truth,[20] and freedom from sin,[21] and of the typology of the Passover, of which Christ was the fulfillment.[22] Appropriate symbolism can thus be found in both leavened and unleavened bread.
Since the nineteenth century, some Christians celebrate the Eucharist with grape juice instead of wine. The word '' (oinos), meaning "wine", is not used in the New Testament to refer to the contents of the cup Jesus distributed at the Last Supper. The only phrase used to indicate its contents is "" (genema tes ampelou), meaning "fruit, or produce, of the vine".[23] While some conclude that the three evangelists who used this phrase, rather than the word "wine", did so to indicate that the cup contained what we would call grape juice, others see the phrase only as a poetic description of wine, which was then and is still traditionally used as an essential element at the Passover meal, like unleavened bread. "Fruit of the vine" was in fact the consecrated expression by which Jews designated the wine partaken of on sacred occasions, as at the Passover and on the evening of the Sabbath.[24] If the evangelists had wished to indicate that the cup contained must (unfermented natural grape juice which contains 7–23 percent of pulp, stems, skins and seeds), they could simply have used the Greek word for it, '','' which does not appear anywhere in the New Testament.[25]
Christian theology
Many Christian denominations classify the Eucharist as a sacrament.[26] Some Protestants prefer to call it an ''ordinance'', viewing it not as a specific channel of divine grace but as an expression of faith and of obedience to Christ.
Many Christians, even those who deny that there is any real change in the bread or wafer and wine or juice used, recognize a special presence of Christ in this rite, though they differ about exactly how, where, and when Christ is present.
The ''Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry'' document of the World Council of Churches, attempting to present the common understanding of the Eucharist on the part of the generality of Christians, describes it as "essentially the sacrament of the gift which God makes to us in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit", "Thanksgiving to the Father", "Anamnesis or Memorial of Christ", "the sacrament of the unique sacrifice of Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for us", "the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, the sacrament of his real presence", "Invocation of the Spirit", "Communion of the Faithful", and "Meal of the Kingdom".
Roman Catholic Church
At a celebration of the Eucharist at Lourdes, the chalice is displayed to the people immediately after the consecration of the wine.
Main articles: Eucharist (Catholic Church)
In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eucharist is one of the seven sacraments, but is also considered the "the source and summit of the Christian life" (Lumen Gentium 11) and that "The other sacraments...are bound up with the Eucharist and are orientated toward it" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324). The institution of the Eucharist is one of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. The Eucharist is a commemoration, or, in Greek, ''anamnesis''
[4] of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ (called the Paschal Mystery), understood in the fullest sense given to it in Biblical tradition. In other words, it is a memorial which does not just bring to mind the event celebrated, but also makes it truly present. The Eucharist is therefore understood to be not simply a representation of Christ's presence, or a remembrance of his Passion and Death, but an actual participation in the Sacrifice of Christ, the manifestation, in the present, of an event that occurred once for all in time. The Eucharist makes present that one sacrifice, not a different sacrifice. The priest and victim of the sacrifice are one and the same (Christ); the only difference is in the manner in which it is offered — the Church teaches that the Mass is the sacrifice at Calvary made present in an unbloody manner.[27]
At a field Mass in 1951, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, future Pope Benedict XVI, begins a Low Mass with the "prayers at the foot of the altar"
The only minister of the Eucharist, that is, one authorized to celebrate the rite and consecrate the Eucharist, is a validly ordained priest (either bishop or presbyter) acting in the person of Christ (''in persona Christi''). In other words the priest celebrant represents Christ, who is the Head of the Church, and acts before God the Father in the name of the Church. The matter used must be wheaten bread and grape wine; this is essential for validity.[28]
According to the Roman Catholic Church, when the bread and wine are consecrated in the Eucharist, they cease to be bread and wine, and become instead the body and blood of Christ. The empirical appearances are not changed, but the reality is. The consecration of the bread (known as the host) and wine represents the separation of Jesus' body from his blood at Calvary. However, since he has risen, the Church teaches that his body and blood can no longer be truly separated. Where one is, the other must be. Therefore, although the priest (or minister) says "The body of Christ" when administering the host, and "The blood of Christ" when presenting the chalice, the communicant who receives either one receives Christ, whole and entire.[29]
The mysterious change of the reality of the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, a change to which patristic writers had given other equivalent names, began to be called "transubstantiation" in the Eleventh Century. It seems that the first text in which the term appears is of Gilbert of Savardin, Archbishop of Tours, in a sermon from 1079 (''Patrologia Latina'' CLXXI 776). The theological explanation based on Aristotle's hylemorphic theory of reality didn't appear until the Thirteenth Century, with Alexander of Hales (died 1245). The term first appeared in a papal document in the letter ''Cum Marthae circa'' to a certain
John, Archbishop of Lyon, 29 November 1202,[30] then in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)[31]and afterward in the book "Iam dudum" sent to the Armenians in the year 1341.[32]
At a Solemn Tridentine Mass, the host is displayed to the people before communion.
The definition of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, which concerns ''what'' is changed, not ''how'' the change occurs, is given in the following words of the thirteenth session of the Council of Trent, quoted in paragraph 1376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."
Though the Church sees this change as occurring "in a way surpassing understanding"[33] and so as something that can never be fully explained or understood, the Catholic Church considers that the term "transubstantiation", with its accompanying unambiguous distinction between "substance" or underlying reality, and "accidents" or humanly perceptible appearances, still best safeguards against the opposite extremes of a cannibalistic interpretation (the accidents remain real, not an illusion) or of a merely symbolic interpretation (the substance is changed from that of bread and wine to that of the body and blood of Christ) of the Eucharist.
Holy Communion, in the sense of partaking of the consecrated elements of the Eucharist, may be given to Catholics either during Mass (the Eucharist) or outside of Mass. Outside of Mass, it is normally given only under the form of bread. At Mass, it may be given in this same way ("under one kind") or "under both kinds": "Holy Communion has a fuller form as a sign when it is distributed under both kinds. For in this form the sign of the Eucharistic banquet is more clearly evident and clear expression is given to the divine will by which the new and eternal Covenant is ratified in the Blood of the Lord, as also the relationship between the Eucharistic banquet and the eschatological banquet in the Father's Kingdom … (However,) Christ, whole and entire, and the true Sacrament, is received even under only one species, and consequently that as far as the effects are concerned, those who receive under only one species are not deprived of any of the grace that is necessary for salvation."[34]
Those unable to receive Holy Communion under one or other of the two forms can thus obtain without diminution the grace necessary for salvation that, in view of , is believed to be linked with the Eucharist: coeliacs allergic to the gluten in bread may receive Christ in Holy Communion under the form of wine alone, and alcoholics under the form of bread alone.[35]
The consecrated hosts are kept in a tabernacle after the celebration of the Mass, so that they can be brought to the sick or dying during the week, and also that Jesus, present in the Eucharist, may be worshipped and adored. Occasionally, the Eucharist is exposed in a monstrance, so that it may be the focus of prayer and adoration.[36]
Eastern Christianity: true sacrifice and objective presence but pious silence on the particulars
Like Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East believe that Christ is really, fully, uniquely present in the Eucharistic elements, and that, in the Divine Liturgy, the one sacrifice of Christ is made present;[37] and that the exact means by which the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, is a mystery. They do not define any precise moment the change occurs, considering it complete only at the end of the Epiklesis.[38] As in the Roman Catholic Church, any of the consecrated elements, or "holy gifts", that remain at the end of the Divine Liturgy are normally consumed by a priest or deacon.
The holy gifts reserved for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts or communion of the sick are specially consecrated as needed, especially on Holy Thursday, and are not simply leftovers from the Divine Liturgy. They are kept in an elaborately decorated tabernacle, which is a container placed on the altar and is often in the shape of a church. Eucharistic adoration is unknown outside the Liturgy itself, except among more latinised Eastern Catholics and those Orthodox Christians who worship according to a Western Rite.
Anglicans/Episcopalians: Real Presence with opinion
Main articles: Anglican Eucharistic theology
The historical position of the Anglican Communion is found in the ''Thirty-Nine Articles'' of 1571, which state "the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ"; and likewise that "the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ" (Articles of Religion, Article XXVIII: Of the Lord's Supper). The fact that the terms "Bread" and "Wine" and the corresponding words "Body" and "Blood" are all capitalized may reflect the wide range of theological beliefs regarding the Eucharist among Anglicans. However, the Articles also state that adoration, or worship ''per se,'' of the consecrated elements was not commanded by Christ and that those who receive unworthily do not actually receive Christ but rather their own condemnation.
Anglicans generally and officially believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but the specifics of that belief range from transubstantiation, sometimes with Eucharistic adoration (mainly Anglo-Catholics), to something akin to a belief in a "pneumatic" presence, which may or may not be tied to the Eucharistic elements themselves (almost always "Low Church" or Evangelical Anglicans). The normal range of Anglican belief ranges from Objective Reality to Pious Silence, depending on the individual Anglican's theology. There are also small minorities on the one hand which affirm transubstantiation, or on the other hand, reject the doctrine of the Real Presence altogether. The classic Anglican aphorism with regard to this debate is found in a poem by John Donne (sometimes attributed to Elizabeth I):
: He was the Word that spake it;
: He took the bread and brake it;
: and what that Word did make it;
: I do believe and take it.[39]
Anglican belief in the Eucharistic Sacrifice ("Sacrifice of the Mass") is set forth in the response ''Saepius officio'' of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to Pope Leo XIII's Papal Encyclical ''Apostolicae curae''.
Anglicans and Roman Catholics declared that they had "substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist" in the Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation and the Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement.
Lutherans — the sacramental union: "in, with, and under the forms"
Disagreement exists across the various Lutheran bodies regarding the appropriateness of the term ''Eucharist.'' Some Lutherans, particularly those who reject high church theology, object to the term because it ostensibly puts the emphasis on human response (i.e., thanksgiving), which they argue is inconsistent with Lutheran theology. They note that this point is presented in Article XXIV.66 of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. Lutheran groups that accept the term note its use throughout the Lutheran Confessions in the Book of Concord.
In the Lutheran Book of Concord, Apology XXIV.1 it is asserted that among Lutherans Holy Communion is celebrated weekly: "In our churches Mass is celebrated every Sunday and on other festivals, when the sacrament is offered to those who wish for it after they have been examined and absolved." This was their response to those who accused them of abolishing the Eucharist. Strict adherence to this assertion varies in present day Lutheranism.
Lutherans believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are "truly and substantially present in, with and under the forms" of the consecrated bread and wine (the elements), so that communicants eat and drink both the elements and the true Body and Blood of Christ Himself (for example, Augsburg Confession, Article 10) in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The Lutheran doctrine of the Real Presence is more accurately and formally known as "the sacramental union". A detailed defense of and an agreement concerning this doctrine was the subject of the Wittenberg Concord of 1536. It has been called "consubstantiation" by some, but this term is rejected by Lutheran Churches and theologians as it creates confusion with an earlier doctrine of the same name.
For Lutherans, there is no sacrament unless the elements are used according to Christ's institution (consecration, distribution, and reception). This was articulated in the Wittenberg Concord's formula: ''Nihil habet rationem sacramenti extra usum a Christo institutum'' ("Nothing has the character of a sacrament apart from the use instituted by Christ"). As a consequence of their belief in this principle, some Lutherans have opposed the reservation of the consecrated elements (also known as the ''reserve host''), private masses, Eucharistic adoration, and the belief that the presence of Christ's body and blood continue in the reliquæ (what remains of the consecrated elements after all have communed in the worship service). This interpretation is not universal among Lutherans.
A variety of practices exist regarding the handling of bread and wine that remain after the communion service. In high church congregations, the practice tends to be similar to that of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions — the host is stored in a place of honor such as a tabernacle, consumed by those leading the service or (in the case of wine) poured into the earth. In less formal congregations, the elements receive no special treatment. They may be used again for another service or the remaining bread may be taken home and eaten by those in attendance.
Most Lutheran congregations have some mechanism to provide communion to those who are too ill or infirm to receive the sacrament at worship services. A pastor or a congregational member who is "called" for this role may consecrate the bread in the presence of the person being visited. Some congregations also send individuals or families directly from the communion service to deliver the elements to the ill or home-bound.
Lutherans use the terms "in, with and under the forms of [consecrated] bread and wine" and "sacramental union" to distinguish their understanding of the Lord's Supper from those of the Reformed and other traditions. More liberal Lutheran churches tend to practice open communion, inviting all who are baptized to participate. Conservative Lutheran churches are more likely to practice closed communion (or "close communion"), restricting participation to those, who are in doctrinal agreement with them. This might involve the formal declaration of "altar and pulpit fellowship", another term for Eucharistic sharing coupled with the acceptance of the ministrations of one another's clergy. (Some argue that this is not simply a matter of ''liberal'' and ''conservative,'' but is complicated by high church and low church understandings of authority and ontology.)
Methodism — Real Presence as "Holy Mystery"
According to the Articles of Religion in the ''Book of Discipline of the Methodist Church,''
A United Methodist Elder presides at the Eucharist
Methodists typically kneel at the altar to receive, but based on individual need or preference, may stand or be served in the pew. Most Methodist Churches use grape juice for "the Cup", and either leavened yeast bread or unleavened bread. The juice may be distributed in small cups, but the use of a common cup and the practice of communion by intinction (where the bread is dipped into the common cup and both elements are received together) is becoming more common among many Methodists.
The Methodist Church believes in the real presence of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion:[40]
::Jesus Christ, who "is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (Hebrews 1:3), is truly present in Holy Communion. Through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, God meets us at the Table. God, who has given the sacraments to the church, acts in and through Holy Communion. Christ is present through the community gathered in Jesus' name (Matthew 18:20), through the Word proclaimed and enacted, and through the elements of bread and wine shared (). The divine presence is a living reality and can be experienced by participants; it is not a remembrance of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion only.[40]
The followers of John Wesley, himself an Anglican clergyman, have typically affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Communion is an instrumental Means of Grace through which the real presence of Christ is communicated to the believer,[42] but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery.[40]
In particular, Methodists reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (''see "Article XVIII" of the Articles of Religion, Means of Grace''). In 2004, the United Methodist Church reaffirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the Real Presence in an official document entitled ''This Holy Mystery.'' Of particular note here is the Church's unequivocal recognition of the anamnesis as more than just a memorial but, rather, a ''re-presentation'' of Christ Jesus:
::Holy Communion is remembrance, commemoration, and memorial, but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling. "Do this in remembrance of me" (; ) is ''anamnesis'' (the biblical Greek word). This dynamic action becomes re-presentation of past gracious acts of God in the present, so powerfully as to make them truly present now. Christ is risen and is alive here and now, not just remembered for what was done in the past.
This affirmation of Real Presence — of what is sometimes called ''anamnetical real presence'' — can be seen clearly illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Eucharistic Liturgy (for example: Word and Table 1) where, in the epecletical portion of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements:
A United Methodist Elder consecrates the elements
For most United Methodists — and, indeed, for much of Methodism as a whole — this reflects the furthest extent to which they are willing to go in defining Real Presence. They will assert that Jesus is really present, and that the means of this presence is a "Holy Mystery"; the celebrating minister will pray for the Holy Spirit to make the elements "be the body and blood of Christ", and the congregation will even sing, as in the third stanza of Charles Wesley's hymn ''Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast'':
: Come and partake the gospel feast,
: Be saved from sin, in Jesus rest;
: O taste the goodness of our God,
: and eat his flesh and drink his blood.[5]
Methodists believe that Holy Communion should not only be available to the clergy in both forms (the Bread and the Cup), but to the layman as well. According to Article XIX of the Articles of Religion in the ''Book of Discipline of the Methodist Church,''
Calvinist Reformed: spiritual feeding, "pneumatic" presence
Many Reformed Christians, who follow John Calvin hold that Christ's body and blood are not locally present in the Eucharist,[44] but that "the Spirit truly unites things separated in space" (Calvin).
Following a phrase of Augustine, the Calvinist view is that "no one bears away from this Sacrament more than is gathered with the vessel of faith." "The flesh and blood of Christ are no less truly given to the unworthy than to God's elect believers", Calvin said; but those who partake by faith receive benefit from Christ, and the unbelieving are condemned by partaking. By faith (not a mere mental apprehension), and in the Holy Spirit, the partaker beholds God incarnate, and in the same sense touches him with hands, so that by eating and drinking of bread and wine Christ's actual presence penetrates to the heart of the believer more nearly than food swallowed with the mouth can enter in.
Calvin specifically rejected adoration of the Eucharistic bread and wine as "idolatry", however. Leftover elements may be disposed of without ceremony (or reused in later services); they are unchanged, and as such the meal directs attention toward Christ's bodily resurrection and return.
Latter Day Saint movement
Main articles: Sacrament (Latter Day Saints)
To Latter Day Saints (or Mormons), the Eucharist (in LDS theology it is "The Sacrament") is viewed as a renewal of the covenant made at baptism. As such, it is considered efficacious only for baptized members in good standing. However, the unbaptized are not forbidden from communion, and it is traditional for children not yet baptized (baptism occurs only after the age of eight) to participate in communion in anticipation of baptism. According to the Sacrament prayers, a person eats and drinks in remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus, and promises always to remember him and keep his commandments. In return the prayer promises that the participant will always have the Spirit to be with them.
The Sacrament is considered to be a weekly renewal of a member's commitment to follow Jesus Christ, and a plea for forgiveness of sins.
Like most Restorationist sects of Christianity, the Latter Day Saints do not believe in any kind of literal presence. They view the bread and wine as symbolic of the body and blood of Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints choose to use water instead of wine following the Doctrine and Covenants where a believed revelation from the Lord says "it mattereth not what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink when ye partake of the sacrament, if it so be that ye do it with an eye single to my glory — remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you, and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins" (see D&C 27:2).
Zwinglian Reformed: no Real Presence
Some Protestant groups (also called the Lord's Supper or the Lord's Table) as a symbolic meal, a memorial of the Last Supper and the Passion in which nothing miraculous occurs. This view is known as the Zwinglian view, after Huldrych Zwingli, a Church leader in Zurich, Switzerland during the Reformation. It is commonly associated with Baptists and the Disciples of Christ. As with the Reformed view, elements left over from the service may be discarded without any formal ceremony, or if feasible may be retained for use in future services.
Some of the Reformed hold that Calvin actually held this view, and not the ''Spiritual feeding'' idea more commonly attributed to him; or that the two views are really the same.
The successor of Zwingli in Zurich, Heinrich Bullinger, came to an agreement theologically with John Calvin. The Consensus Tigurinus lays out an explanation of the doctrine of the Sacraments in general, and specifically, that of Holy Communion, as the view embraced by John Calvin and leaders of the Church of Zurich who followed Zwingli. It demonstrates that at least the successors of Zwingli held to the real spiritual presence view most commonly attributed to Calvin and Reformed Protestantism.
Some Christian denominations that hold this view include the Baptist Church, Disciples of Christ, and Church of the Nazarene.
Summary of views
Because Jesus Christ is a person, theologies regarding the Eucharist involve consideration of the way in which the communicant's personal relationship with God is fed through this mystical meal. However, debates over Eucharistic theology in the West have centered not on the personal aspects of Christ's presence but on the metaphysical. The opposing views are summarized below.
★ "Transubstantiation" — the substance (fundamental reality) of the bread and wine is transformed in a way beyond human comprehension into that of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ, but the accidents (physical traits, including chemical properties) of the bread and wine remain; this view is that taught by the Roman Catholic Church and by the Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem, and is held by many Anglicans, especially in Anglo-Catholic circles.
★ "In, with and under the forms" — the body and blood of Jesus Christ are substantially present in, with and under the substance of the bread and wine, which remain. This is the view held by most Lutherans, and some Anglicans. Lutherans and non-Lutherans refer to this view as 'consubstantiation'. Although, for some, this term is difficult to understand, it remains the confessed understanding of the Lutheran faith.
★ "Objective reality, but pious silence about technicalities" — the view of all the ancient Churches of the East, including the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Catholic Churches) and the Assyrian Church of the East as well as perhaps most Anglicans. These, while agreeing with the Roman Catholic belief that the sacrament is not merely bread and wine but truly the body and blood of Christ, and having historically employed the "substance" and "accidents" terminology to explain what is changed in the transformation,[45] usually avoid this terminology, lest they seem to scrutize the technicalities of the manner in which the transformation occurs.
★ "Real Spiritual presence", also called "pneumatic presence", holds that not only the Spirit of Christ, but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ (hence "real"), are received by the sovereign, mysterious, and miraculous power of the Holy Spirit (hence "spiritual"), but only by those partakers who have faith. This view approaches the "pious silence" view in its unwillingness to specify how the Holy Spirit makes Christ present, but positively excludes not just symbolism but also trans- and con-substantiation. It is also known as the "mystical presence" view, and is held by most Reformed Christians, such as Presbyterians, as well as some Methodists and some Anglicans, particularly Low Church Reformed Anglicans. See Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 29. This understanding is often called "receptionism". Some argue that this view can be seen as being suggested — though not by any means clearly — by the "invocation" of the Anglican Rite as found in the American Book of Common Prayer, 1928 and earlier and in Rite I of the American BCP of 1979 as well as in other Anglican formularies:
:: ''And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and of thy almighty goodness, vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy Word and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine; that we, receiving them according to thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ's holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood.''
★ "Symbolism" — the bread and wine are symbolic of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and in partaking of the elements the believer commemorates the sacrificial death of Christ. This view is also known as "memorialism" and "Zwinglianism" after Ulrich Zwingli and is held by several Protestant and Latter-day Saint denominations, including most Baptists.
★ "Suspension" — the partaking of the bread and wine was not intended to be a perpetual ordinance, or was not to be taken as a religious rite or ceremony (also known as ''adeipnonism,'' meaning "no supper" or "no meal"). This is the view of Quakers and the Salvation Army, as well as the hyperdispensationalist positions of E. W. Bullinger, Cornelius R. Stam, and others.
Ritual and liturgy
The Agape feast
"ὁ θεòς ἀγάπη ἐστίν" God Is Love on a stele in Mount Nebo.
The Eucharistic celebrations of the early Christians were embedded in, or simply took the form of, a meal. While centered on the ritual of the bread and wine, it also included various other actions, including sometimes elements of the Passover seder and of Mediterranean banquets, funerary and otherwise. These were often called ''Agape Feasts'', although terminology varied in the first few centuries along with other aspects of practice. ''Agape'' is one of the Greek words for ''love,'' specifically meaning selfless love, or God's love for mankind, and so "agape feasts" are also referred to in English as "love-feasts".
This ritual was apparently a full meal, with each participant bringing a contribution to the meal according to their means. Perhaps predictably enough, it could at times deteriorate into merely an occasion for eating and drinking, or for ostentatious displays by the wealthier members of the community. This was criticized by Saint Paul in .
Soon after the year 100, Ignatius of Antioch refers to the agape or love-feast.[46] Letter 96 from Pliny the Younger to Trajan in about 112 suggests that the meal was taken after at least that part of the Eucharistic rite that is now called the Mass of the Catechumens or Liturgy of the Word. Tertullian too writes of these meals.[47] Clement of Alexandria (c.150-211/216) distinguished so-called "Agape" meals of luxurious character from the ''agape'' (love) "which the food that comes from Christ shows that we ought to partake of".[48] Accusations of gross indecency were sometimes made against the form that these meals sometimes took.[49] Referring to Clement of Alexandria, ''Stromata'' III,2, Philip Schaff commented: "The early disappearance of the Christian ''agapæ'' may probably be attributed to the terrible abuse of the word here referred to, by the licentious Carpocratians. The genuine ''agapæ'' were of apostolic origin (2 Pet. ii. 13; Jude 12), but were often abused by hypocrites, even under the apostolic eye (1 Corinthians 11:21). In the Gallican Church, a survival or relic of these feasts of charity is seen in the ''pain béni''; and, in the Greek churches. in the or ''eulogiæ'' distributed to non-communicants at the close of the Eucharist, from the loaf out of which the bread of oblation is supposed to have been cut."[50]
Augustine of Hippo also objected to the continuance in his native North Africa of the custom of such meals, in which some indulged to the point of drunkenness, and he distinguished them from proper celebration of the Eucharist: "Let us take the body of Christ in communion with those with whom we are forbidden to eat even the bread which sustains our bodies."[51] He reports that even before the time of his stay in Milan, the custom had already been forbidden there.[52]
Canons 27 and 28 of the Council of Laodicea (364) restricted the abuses.[53] The Third Council of Carthage (393) and the Second Council of Orleans (541) reiterated this legislation, which prohibited feasting in churches, and the Trullan Council of 692 decreed that honey and milk were not to be offered on the altar (Canon 57), and that those who held love feasts in churches should be excommunicated (Canon 74).
There have been various survivals and revivals, however. In the 18th century, ''Pietist'' Christians began to hold ''Love Feasts'' that looked back to the ancient ''Agape''. Many Christians today after celebrating the Eucharist or another liturgy, now routinely participate in an informal sharing of light refreshments and conversation. This post-Eucharistic gathering is often called "fellowship hour" or "coffee hour" and is regarded by many clergy as a particularly opportune time for engaging adults in Christian education. Others hold ritual Agape meals.[54]
See also Agape feast.
Anglican
In the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA), the Eucharist is designated as the principal service of the Church. The service for Holy Eucharist is found in the Book of Common Prayer for each national Church in the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church holds the Eucharist as the highest form of worship, the Church's main service. Daily celebrations are now the case in most cathedrals and many parish churches, and there are few churches where Holy Communion is not celebrated at least once every Sunday. The nature of the ritual with which it is celebrated, however, varies according to the churchmanship of the individual parish.
See Book of Common Prayer and Ritualism.
Baptist
The bread and "fruit of the vine" indicated in Matthew, Mark and Luke as the elements of the ''Lord's Supper''[14] are interpreted by Baptists as unleavened bread and, in line with their historic stance against partaking of alcoholic beverages, grape juice, which they commonly refer to simply as "the Cup".[56]
Eastern Christianity
Main articles: Divine Liturgy
Among Eastern Christians, the Eucharistic service is called the ''Divine Liturgy.'' It comprises two main divisions: the first is the ''Liturgy of the Catechumens'' which consists of introductory litanies, antiphons and scripture readings, culminating in a reading from one of the Gospels and often, a sermon; the second is the ''Liturgy of the Faithful'' in which the Eucharist is offered, consecrated, and received as Holy Communion. Within the latter, the actual Eucharistic prayer is called the ''anaphora,'' literally: "offering" or "carrying up" (). In the Byzantine Rite, two different anaphoras are currently used: one is attributed to St. John Chrysostom, and the other to St. Basil the Great. Among the Oriental Orthodox, a variety of anaphoras are used, but all are similar in structure to those of the Byzantine Rite. In the Byzantine Rite, the Anaphora of St. John Chrysostom is used most days of the year; St. Basil's is offered on the Sundays of Great Lent, the eves of Christmas and Theophany, Holy Thursday, Holy Saturday, and upon his feast day (January 1). At the conclusion of the Anaphora the bread and wine are held to be the Body and Blood of Christ.
Conventionally this change in the elements is understood to occur at the ''Epiklesis'' (Greek: "invocation") by which the Holy Spirit is invoked and the consecration of the bread and wine as the Body and Blood of Christ is specifically requested, but since the anaphora as a whole is considered a unitary (albeit lengthy) prayer, no one moment within it can be readily singled out.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses commemorate Christ's death as a ransom or propitiatory sacrifice by observing The Lord's Evening Meal, or Memorial, each year on Nisan 14 according to the ancient Jewish calendar. They believe that this is the only celebration commanded for Christians in the Bible. Of those who attend the Memorial a small minority worldwide will partake of the eating of the unleavened bread and the drinking of the wine.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people can receive salvation and thus spend eternity with God in heaven. They are called the "anointed" and are the only ones who can partake of the bread and wine.
The celebration of the Memorial of Christ's Death proceeds as follows: In advance of the Memorial, Jehovah's Witnesses invite anyone that may be interested to attend this special night. The week of the Memorial is generally filled with special activity in the ministry, such as door-to-door work. A suitable hall, for example a Kingdom Hall, is prepared for the occasion. The Memorial begins with a song and a prayer. The prayer is followed by a discourse on the importance of the evening. A table is set with wine and unleavened bread. Jehovah's Witnesses believe the bread stands for Jesus Christ's body which he gave on behalf of mankind, and that the wine stands for his blood which redeems from sin. They do not believe in transubstantiation or consubstantiation. Hence, the wine and the bread are merely symbols (sometimes referred to as "emblems"), but they have a very deep and profound meaning for Jehovah's Witnesses. A prayer is offered and the bread is circulated among the audience. Only those who are "anointed" partake. Then another prayer is offered, and the wine is circulated in the same manner. After that, the evening concludes with a final song and prayer.
It is common for the bread and wine to be passed and have no partakers.
Latter Day Saint movement
In the Latter Day Saint movement (also known as Mormonism), the Sacrament is the Lord's Supper, in which participants eat bread and drink wine (or water, in the case of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since the late 1800s). It is essentially the same as the Eucharist, Communion in some other Christian denominations. Normally in Mormon congregations, the Sacrament is provided every Sunday as part of the Sacrament meeting.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the word "ordinance" is used approximately as the word Sacrament is used in Christianity in general.
In the Community of Christ, the word "sacrament" is also used in the more common, generic sense used by most of Christianity, meaning a rite or "ordinance".
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Sacrament is performed on a weekly basis during Sacrament meeting with exceptions arising during General and Stake conferences). As most males in the Church age 16 years and older are able to perform the ordinance, it is common for wards to send men to the homes of sick (usually homebound) members of the congregation, and administer the sacrament to them. Also, fathers of families occasionally perform it with their families during times of illness or travel, but this requires the approval of the bishop, as it should not replace the regular attendance of congregation meetings.
Lutheran
The "Lutheran Eucharistic service" is similar in form to the Roman Catholic and "high" Anglican services. Administration of the bread and wine varies between congregations. The bread can be a thin wafer, or leavened or unleavened bread. The wine may be administered via a common cup (the "chalice"), or through individual cups that may be either prefilled or filled from the chalice during the communion. Intinction is acceptable, but rarely used. Some congregations that use wine make grape juice available for those who are abstaining from alcohol, and some will accommodate those with an allergy to wheat or grapes.
Reformed/Presbyterian
In the Reformed Churches the Eucharist is variously administered. Acknowledging that the bread at the Passover celebration was almost certainly unleavened, some Churches use bread without any raising agent (whether leaven or yeast).[57] The Presbyterian Church (USA), for instance, prescribes "bread common to the culture". The wine served might be true alcoholic red wine or grape juice, usually served not from a chalice, but from individual cups. Hearkening back to the regulative principle of worship, the Reformed tradition had long eschewed coming forward to receive communion, preferring to have the elements distributed throughout the congregation by the presbyters (elders) more in the style of a shared meal, but some Churches have reappropriated a High Church liturgy in the spirit of Philip Schaff's Mercersburg theology, which held ancient traditions of the Church in higher esteem than did much of the Reformed world. The elements may be found served separately with "consecration" for each element or together. Communion is usually open to all baptized believers, and although often it is reserved for those who are members in good standing of a Bible-believing Church, participation is left as a matter of conscience.
Roman Catholicism
Main articles: Eucharist (Catholic Church)
See Mass (Catholic Church) for Catholic worship in the Latin Rite and Divine Liturgy for worship in the Eastern Catholic Churches.
In the Western Church, the administration of the Most Holy Eucharist to children requires that they have sufficient knowledge and careful preparation so that they understand the mystery of Christ according to their capacity and are able to receive the body of Christ with faith and devotion.
Open and closed communion
Main articles: Open communion, Closed communion, Full communion
Christian denominations differ in their understanding of whether they may receive the Eucharist together with those not in full communion with them. Closed communion was the universal practice of the early Church. The famed apologist St. Justin Martyr (c. 150) wrote: "No one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true...." For the first several hundred years of Church history, non-members were forbidden even to be present at the sacramental ritual; visitors and catechumens (those still undergoing instruction) were dismissed halfway through the liturgy, after the Bible readings and sermon but before the Eucharistic rite. The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, used in the Byzantine Churches, still has a formula of dismissal of catechumens (not usually followed by any action) at this point.
The ancient Churches, such as the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox exclude non-members from Communion under normal circumstances, though they may allow exceptions, e.g., for non-members ''in danger of death'' who share their faith in the reality of the Eucharist and who are unable to have access to a minister of their own religion. Many conservative Protestant communities also practice closed communion, including conservative Lutheran Churches like the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod practices "close" communion, which means that while membership in a Lutheran church is expected, individual pastors may use their discretion, meaning that many LC-MS churches have a more relaxed attitude. The Mennonites and the Landmark Baptist Churches also practice closed communion, as a symbol of exclusive membership and loyalty to the distinctive doctrines of their fellowship.
Most Protestant communities practice open communion, including some Anglican, Reformed, Evangelical, Methodist, and more-liberal Lutherans (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Church of Sweden). Some open communion communities adhere to a symbolic or spiritual understanding of the Eucharist, so that they have no fear of sacrilege against the literal body and blood of Christ if someone receives inappropriately. Others feel that Christ calls ''all'' of his children to his table, regardless of their denominational affiliation. Many Churches that practice open communion offer it only to baptized Christians (regardless of denomination), although this requirement is typically only enforced by the recipients' honesty.
Views of two hundred leading historical scholars
“The purely symbolic meal of modern Christianity, restricted to a bit of bread and a sip of wine or juice, is tacitly presupposed for the early church, an assumption so preposterous that it is never articulated or acknowledged.” [58] [6]Contemporary non-doctrinal scholarship, led by the Jesus Seminar, "a research team of about 200 New Testament scholars founded in 1985 by the late Robert Funk and John Dominic Crossan under the auspices of the Westar Institute,"[7], has analyzed the historical record of the Eucharist. Their research concludes that the rite of the last supper "had its origins in a pagan context." [59] It concludes also that the last supper as it is depicted in Mark was not a historical event. And since Matthew and Luke copy Mark, adding a touch here and there, Luke even adding a mysterious second cup, their accounts also cannot be held to be historical.
Crossan suggests that there are two traditions "as old as we can trace them" of the Eucharist, that of Paul, reflecting the Antioch Church's tradition, and that of the Didache, the first document to give explicit instruction regarding the celebration of the "Eucharist.".
The cup/bread liturgy of the Didache, from the older Jerusalem tradition, does not mention Passover, or Last Supper, or Death of Jesus/blood/body, and the sequence is meal + thanksgiving ritual. For Crossan, it is dispositive that
[Syrian Christians] could celebrate a Eucharist of bread and wine with absolutely no hint of Passover meal, Last Supper or passion symbolism built into its origins or development. I cannot believe that they knew about those elements and studiously avoided them. I can only presume that they were not there for everyone from the beginning, that is, from solemn formal and final institution by Jesus himself.[60]
Paul's letter, in the context of correcting the eating habits of the Corinthians serves to reestablish "the Pre-Pauline tradition, ritual of bread/body + meal + ritual of cup/blood." [61] Hellenized Jew Paul references a Greek Lord's Supper which is not a Passover meal, and does not have the participants giving thanks, rather the purpose is to proclaim Jesus' death until he comes again, in the manner of Hellenic societies formed "to hold meals in remembrance of those who had died and to drink a cup in honor of some god."[62]
Both sequences underline the primary importance of the Shared Meal to historical First Century Christian ritual. In the Jerusalem tradition, of James and Peter, the ''meal'' is of higher importance than blood and body since the Didache fails to mention them. Both traditions reflect the pitfalls of a shared meal among social unequals, namely ''freeloading''. The Didache says in 12:3-4, if you work, you eat. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says if you don't work, you don't eat. "Both stipulations must presume a communal share-meal or they make no sense."[63] The administrative difficulties of communal meals, easily glossed over in a small congregation of Jewish peasants, become more intractable as the church succeeds and grows and adds Gentile adherants, foreshadowing the eventual reduction to symbolism over substance. Crossan asks "why symbolize divinity through a medium of food that is non-food? Maybe non-food symbolizes a non-Jesus and a non-God?"
Crossan proposes that "those meals were real meals as share-meals. The community shared together whatever food it had available, which both symbolized and ritualized but also actualized and materialized the equal justice of the Jewish God."
The Eucharist trajectory went from Jewish communal thanksgiving meals to somber Greek memorial toasts. "It is necessary to calculate very carefully what was lost and what gained in moving from Jesus' real meal with open commensality to its continuance in a ritual meal with Christian commensality."[64]
Theories about Greco-Roman pre-Christian connection
Professor Stephen L Harris declared that "long before Jesus linked wine and bread as part of the Christian liturgy (; ) the two tokens of divine favor were associated in the Dionysian tradition. In the ''Bacchae'' (worshippers of Bacchus, another name for Dionysus), the Athenian playwright Euripides (c. 485–406 BC) has the prophet Tiresias observe that Demeter and Dionysus, respectively, ''gave humanity two indispensable gifts: grain or bread to sustain life and wine to make life bearable.'' Harris claimed, in line with Academy Award nominated Greek screenwriter and director Michael Cacoyannis's free translation of the play [65] that Tiresias urges his hearers to see in Dionysus's gift of wine a beverage that brings into communion with the divine.[66]
Others have expanded on Harris's theory by declaring that an idea of theophagy (eating one's god), or at least of feeding on the life-force of a mystical entity, was characteristic of the central rites of some Greco-Roman and Near-Eastern mystery religions and claiming that the acts and ordinances of Jesus and his apostles were "memorialized" in that context. According to them, the Eucharist conveyed the purported mystical benefits of flesh-eating and blood-drinking that were proclaimed by the proponents of animal sacrifices and of cannibalism, and can be seen to translate the vestiges of ancient animal sacrifice and/or ritualistic cannibalism into the current age.
Another theory that attributes a pre-Christian connection to the Eucharist is that of John Allegro and Carl Ruck, who claim that Jesus was seen as a vegetation god incarnated, like Dionysus and Osiris, not as a human but as an entheogenic plant or fungus or both. [67]
See also
★ Baptism
★ Eucharistic discipline
★ Eucharistic miracle
★ Eucharistic theologies contrasted
★ Eucharistic theology
★ Intinction
★ Mithraism — Similarities to Christianity
★ Open communion
★ Osiris — The Osirian Sacrament
★ Sacrament (Latter Day Saints)
★ Sacrament
★ Sacramental wine
★ Thanksgiving after Communion
★ Year of the Eucharist
References
1. As will be explained, names other than "Eucharist" are also used.
2.
20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
11:27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
3. , , ,
4. , , ,
5. Definition of "Eucharist" in The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon at crosswalk.com
6. 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
27 And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.
29 But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is my body.
23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they all drank of it.
24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
25 Verily I say unto you, I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
, 17 And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18 for I say unto you, I shall not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you.
,
7. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch referred to the Eucharist three times in his ''Letter to the Smyrnaeans'' [1] and once in his ''Letter to the Philadelphians'' [2]
8. ''Apology,'' 66 [3])
9. "Even in cases where it is not possible to receive sacramental communion, participation at Mass remains necessary, important, meaningful and fruitful" (Pope Benedict XVI, ''Sacramentum caritatis,'' 55)
10. J. A. Jungmann, ''Missarum sollemnia,'' 2 vols. (Freiburg 1948-), I:327ff.
11. For example, Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, , , USCCB, 2006, , and Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholic Church, , , , 200, ISBN 0–385–50819–0
12. see Scott Hahn, ''The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth,'' Doubleday, 1999
13.
14. , ,
15. and
16.
17. Yeast in the Lord's Supper?
18. , ,
19. Leavened versus Unleavened Bread: What's the difference?
20. For example,
21. What Does the Feast of Unleavened Bread Mean for Christians?
22. The Lord's Supper and the Use of Leavened Bread
23. and uses the same phrase in relation to a cup distinct from the cup that says Jesus took "after supper" and linked with his blood.
24. Mishna, De Bened., chap.6, par. 1, quoted in Wine in Communion
25. Lutheran Theological Review XVI (2003–04)
26. For example, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglo-Catholics, Old Catholics; and cf. the presentation of the Eucharist as a sacrament in the ''Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry'' document of the World Council of Churches
27. ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', 1367; Council of Trent: Session XXII, chapter 2
28. ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', 1412; ''Code of Canon Law'', canon 924; ''Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'', canon 705
29. Council of Trent, Session XIII, canon 3;''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', 1390; ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', Communion under Both Kinds
30. [http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma5.html Denzinger 416
31. [http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma5.html Denzinger 430
32. [http://www.catecheticsonline.com/SourcesofDogma6.html Denzinger 544
33. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1333
34. , 281–282
35. [http://www.adoremus.org/CDF_Lowgluten-mustum2003.html Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Norms for Use of Low-gluten Bread and Mustum}; The Use of Mustum and Low-Gluten Hosts at Mass
36. ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', 1378-1380, 1418
37. In the Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn, the liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church says: (For thou art he that offereth and is offered, that accepteth and is distributed, Christ our God)
38. The Orthodox Church, , Timothy, Ware, The Penguin Group, 1993,
39. Donne, John. Divine Poems — On the Sacrament, (Flesher's Edition) http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/topics/doctrine_t001.htm
40. This Holy Mystery: Part Two
41. This Holy Mystery: Part Two
42. This Holy Mystery: Part One
43. This Holy Mystery: Part Two
44. This is also the belief of the Catholic Church, as witnessed by Thomas Aquinas in ''Summa Theologica,'' III, 76, 5
45. "after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, there no longer remaineth the ''substance'' of the bread and of the wine, but the Body Itself and the Blood of the Lord, under the species and form of bread and wine; that is to say, under the ''accidents'' of the bread" (Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem); "the word ''transubstantiation'' is not to be taken to define the manner in which the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Lord; for this none can understand but God; but only thus much is signified, that the bread truly, really, and ''substantially'' becomes the very true Body of the Lord, and the wine the very Blood of the Lord" (''The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church''); the Catechism of the Eastern Orthodox Church also uses the term ''transubstantiation.''
46. Smyrnaeans, 8:2
47. Apology, 39; De Corona Militis, 3.
Yet about the modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado is made. Our feast explains itself by its name. The Greeks call it agapè, i.e., affection. Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of piety is gain, since with the good things of the feast we benefit the needy; not as it is with you, do parasites aspire to the glory of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment,—but as it is with God himself, a peculiar respect is shown to the lowly. If the object of our feast be good, in the light of that consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious service, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution, and the bringing in of lights, each136136 [Or, perhaps—“One is prompted to stand forth and bring to God, as every one can, whether from the Holy Scriptures, or of his own mind”—i.e. according to his taste.] is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing,—a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed.
48. Paedagogus II, 1
49. "Sed majoris est Agape, quia per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt, appendices scilicet gulae lascivia et luxuria" (Tertullian, ''De Jejuniis'', 17, quoted in Gibbons: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire).
50. Elucidations
51. Letter 22, 1:3
52. Confessions, 6.2.2
53. The Council of Laodicea in Phrygia Pacatiana
54. Sample services can be consulted at An Agape for Easter and A Pentecost Agape
55. , ,
56. See, e.g., {{cite book | first=J. R. | last=Graves | year=1928 | title=What is It to Eat and Drink Unworthily | publisher=Baptist Sunday School Committee | id=
57. "Do the Elements of Communion Matter?" by Ra McLaughlin
58. Robert Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Pauline Love Feasts,” Quarterly Review 14 [1994]: 44
59. Funk, Robert, and the Jesus Seminar, "The Acts of Jesus" Harper Collins, 1998, p. 139
60. Crossan, John Dominic, "The Historical Jesus" HarperCollins 1992 p 364
61. Crossan, John Dominic "The Birth of Christianity, Harper/Collins, 2002, p. 436
62. Funk, ibid. at 139-140
63. Crossan, Ibid.
64. Crossan, The HishtoricalJesus, at 367
65.
: ''Next came the son of the virgin, Dionysus,''
: ''bringing the counterpart to bread, wine''
: ''and the blessings of life's flowing juices.''
: ''His blood, the blood of grape, ''
: ''lightens the burden of our mortal misery...''
: ''it is his blood we pour out''
: ''to offer thanks to the gods. And through him.''
: ''we are blessed.'' Euripides, ''The Bacchae.'' (Plume Publishers, 1982.) ''Translated by Michael Cacoyannis.'' p 18
66. Stephen L. Harris, ''Understanding the Bible.'' (McGraw Hill, 2002) p 362–3
67. Allegro, John, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross 1970
Books
★ 1963 edition of ''The New Saint Joseph: First Communion Catechism'', Baltimore Catechism
★ Anderson, S. E. ''The First Communion''
★ Chemnitz, Martin. ''The Lord's Supper''. J. A. O. Preus, trans. St. Louis: Concordia, 1979. ISBN 0–570–03275-X
★ Dix, Dom Gregory. ''The Shape of the Liturgy''. London: Continuum International, 2005. ISBN 0–8264–7942–1
★ Elert, Werner. ''Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries''. N. E. Nagel, trans. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1966. ISBN 0–570–04270–4
★ Felton, Gayle. ''This Holy Mystery''. Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2005. ISBN 0–88177–457-X
★ Father Gabriel. ''Divine Intimacy''. Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1996 reprint ed. ISBN 0–89555–504–2
★ Grime, J. H. ''Close Communion and Baptists''
★ Hahn, Scott. ''The Lamb's Supper — Mass as Heaven on Earth''. Darton, Longman, Todd. 1999. ISBN 0–232–52500–5
★ Henke, Frederick Goodrich ''A Study in the Psychology of Ritualism''. University of Chicago Press 1910
★ Jurgens, William A. ''The Faith of the Early Fathers''. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1970. ISBN 0–8146–0432–3
★ Kolb, Robert and Timothy J. Wengert, eds. ''The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church''. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. (ISBN 0–8006–2740–7)
★ Lefebvre, Gaspar. ''The Saint Andrew Daily Missal''. Reprint. Great Falls, MT: St. Bonaventure Publications, Inc., 1999
★ Macy, Gary. ''The Banquet's Wisdom: A Short History of the Theologies of the Lord's Supper''. (2005, ISBN 1–878009–50–8)
★ Magni, JA ''The Ethnological Background of the Eucharist'' — Clark University. ''American Journal of Religious Psychology and Education'', IV (No. 1–2), March, 1910.
★ McBride, Alfred, O.Praem. ''Celebrating the Mass''. Our Sunday Visitor, 1999.
★ Neal, Gregory. ''Grace Upon Grace'' 2000. ISBN 0–9679074–0–3
★ Nevin, John Williamson. ''The Mystical Presence: A Vindication of the Reformed or Calvinistic Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist''. 1846; Wipf & Stock reprint, 2000. ISBN 1–57910–348–0.
★ Oden, Thomas C. ''Corrective Love: The Power of Communion Discipline''. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995. ISBN 0–570–04803–6
★ Sasse, Hermann. ''This Is My Body: Luther's Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar''. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001. ISBN 1–57910–766–4
★ Schmemann, Alexander. ''The Eucharist''. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1997. ISBN 0–88141–018–7
★ Stoffer, Dale R. ''The Lord's Supper: Believers Church Perspectives''
★ Stookey, L.H. ''Eucharist: Christ's Feast with the Church''. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993 ISBN 0–687–12017–9
★ Tissot, The Very Rev. J. ''The Interior Life''. 1916, pp. 347–9.
★ Wright, N. T. ''The Meal Jesus Gave Us''
External links
★ [8] — Network of Eucharistic Adoration
★ http://www.savior.org/ — Live Video Stream of the Eucharist
★ Eucharist — A Word Not Found in the Bible
★ The Lord's Supper: What Is Its Scriptural Extent?
★ [9] — Eucharistic Miracles
★ http://www.revneal.org/onlinecommunion.html — Streaming Video of a United Methodist Celebration of the Holy Eucharist
★ Jewish Encyclopedia: Lord's Supper
Liturgical texts & services
★ The Ordinary of the Mass, Roman Rite according to current edition of the Roman Missal
★ The Ordinary of the Sacred Liturgy according to the Roman Missal of 1962
★ The Priest's Service Book Orthodox Divine Liturgy.
★ The Book of Common Prayer, used by the Episcopal Church (ECUSA). Contains the liturgy for the Eucharist and other rites.
★ Word and Table I, The Eucharistic Liturgy of The United Methodist Church.
History, theology, practice, etc.
★ Eucharist @ the Catholic Encyclopedia and @ the Catholic Dictionary
★ EWTN — The Holy Eucharist — Easy yet comprehensive website with Catholic Teaching on the Eucharist
★ Paragraph 1376 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
★ This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion
★ The Duty of Constant Communion by John Wesley
★ Holy Communion as a Means of Grace by Gregory S. Neal
★ Online Holy Communion: Theological Reflections Regarding The Internet and The Means of Grace by Gregory S. Neal
★ Typology and the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion by Gregory S. Neal
★ Christians and Alcohol by Hermano Cisco of babylonfalls.org. Considers the symbolism of the wine.
★ The Lord's Supper — by Ralph Waldo Emerson, rejecting the Lord's supper as a perpetual rite.
★ My Brethren — Studies — The Lord's Supper and the Service of God
★ A Baptist viewpoint
★ A Church of Christ viewpoint
★ A Mennonite viewpoint
★ A Reformed (Presbyterian) viewpoint
★ Pilgram Marpeck's defense of continuing to practice Lord's Supper (1531)
★ Scholarly articles on the Lord's Supper from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library
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