Lutherans
confess the catholic (universal) belief that in the Sacrament of the Altar
Jesus Christ works a miracle as he gives us his true body and blood to eat and drink.
The Church has believed this because all the biblical texts that deal with the Sacrament
say this. Jesus says “This is my body. This is my blood” (Matthew 26:26-28). Paul says that the Lord’s Supper is a
participation in the body and blood of
Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). He
says that those who eat and drink in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord (1
Corinthians 11:27). The apostle teaches that those who receive the Sacrament
unworthily can receive bodily harm (1 Corinthians 11:30). And in words that Christians throughout the history
of the Church have viewed as fulfilled in the Sacrament of the Atlar, Christ
says that the one who eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal
life (John 6:54). The catholic position does not have to try
and explain away what these texts are quite clearly saying.
The
texts “just say it.” And because Scripture says it, the early Church believed
it. Below is an extensive list of statements from the first five hundred years
of the Church (both East and West). In reading this, the majority of Christians
who have been raised in a Protestant tradition are in for a surprise. For the most
part, Protestants have been taught that the Sacrament of the Altar is a symbol
(for the background on how this view arose at the time of the Reformation see:
Why do they believe the Sacraments are only symbols?). This means that the
bread and wine are never anything more than bread and wine, because nothing
actually happens. Instead, the function of the Sacrament is purely something that
takes place in the mind of believers. It is something that makes them think about
Jesus and his saving death.
This
was never the confession of the early Church.
Instead, these texts show that the early Church unanimously believed that
Christ actually does something in the Sacrament of the Altar. He works a
miracle as he gives us his true body and blood to eat and drink.
In
reading this there are four things to observe. First, the early Church believed
this from the very beginning. In fact, it was such an established fact of the
faith that Irenaeus in the second century used the body and blood of Christ in
the Sacrament as the basis for his argument against Gnostics about the resurrection
of the body and the goodness of the material creation.
Second,
note how often the early Church used the word “flesh” to describe what Christ
gives in the Sacrament. This word is an even stronger assertion about what
Christ gives than “body” because it permits no misunderstanding. Third, observe
how many of these texts derive from the catechesis and preaching of the Church.
We see here what Christians were taught to believe about the Sacrament.
Finally, notice how often the early Church connects the nature of the
incarnation and the nature of the Sacrament. The Church confessed that Jesus Christ
is true God and true man, and so she believed that the bread and wine are the body and blood
of the Son of God.
The early Church often uses the language of “figure,” “type,” and “symbol” in describing the Sacrament. This is seen below in Tertullian’s statement from Against Marcion 4.40. To the modern ear this sounds like the confession of the absence of Christ’s body and blood (the Protestant view noted above). But as noted patristics scholar J.N.D. Kelly explains:
According to the ancient modes of thought a mysterious relationship existed between the thing symbolized and its symbol, figure, or type; the symbol in some sense was the thing symbolized. Again, the verb repraesentare, in Tertullian’s vocabulary , retained its original significance of “to make present.” All that his language really suggests is that, while accepting the equation of the elements with the body and blood, he remains conscious of the sacramental distinction between them. In fact, he is trying, with the aid of the concept of figura, to rationalize to himself the apparent contradiction between (a) the dogma that the elements are now Christ’s body and blood, and (b) the empirical fact the for sensation they remain bread and wine. (Early Christian Doctrines, 212; emphasis original)
Kelly’s comment about Tertullian describes the same reality about the use of “figure,” “type,” and “symbol” throughout the early Church.
One
final comment must be made about St. Augustine because of his significance for
theology in the western Church. The texts cited below from Augustine provide a clear
demonstration that along with the rest of the early Church he confessed that Christians
eat and drink the true body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament. However, Neoplatonism
was the path that helped lead Augustine to active confession of Christ. This
continued to influence his thought and so in his complex use of the term sacramentum
Augustine often emphasized the invisible reality which underlies the visible
sign.
This
language would later be used by some to say that Augustine held a “symbolic” view.
Yet for Augustine they existed side by side. As Hermann Sasse commented: “Augustine
was never able to reconcile his older spiritual views of the sacraments with
his Catholic practice and with corresponding utterances of his later years. His
thinking on the sacraments and especially on the Eucharist lacks that clarity
which we often miss in the theological thought of that great thinker” (This
is My Body, 30). For a very helpful discussion of Augustine’s thought, see
James T. O’Connor, The Hidden Manna: A Theology of the Eucharist; 2nd
ed., 48-68).
Ignatius
of Antioch (ca. 105 A.D.)
Take
great care to keep one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of your Lord Jesus
Christ, and one cup to unite us by his blood. (Philadelphians, 4)
They
stay away from the Eucharist and prayer, because they do not admit that the
Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins,
which the Father raised up by his goodness. (Smyrnaeans, 6)
Justin
Martyr (ca. 155)
We
do not receive these gifts as ordinary food or ordinary drink. But as Jesus
Christ our Savior was made flesh through the word of God, and took flesh and
blood for our salvation; in the same way the food over which thanksgiving has
been offered through the word of prayer which we have from him – the food by
which our blood and flesh are nourished through its transformation – is, we are
taught, the flesh and blood of Jesus who was made flesh. (First Apology, 66)
Irenaeus
(ca. 130-200)
How
can they consistently suppose that the bread over which thanks have been given
is the body of their Lord, and that the cup is the cup of his blood, if they
allege that he is not the Son of the Creator of the world – that is, his Word,
through whom the tree bears fruit, the springs flow, and earth yields ‘first
the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear’? Again, how can they
say that the flesh passes to corruption and does not share in life, seeing that
flesh is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord? Let them either change
their opinion, or refrain from making those oblations of which we have been
speaking. But our opinion is congruous with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist
supports our opinion. We offer to him what is his own, suitably proclaiming the
communion and unity of flesh and spirit. For as the bread, which comes from the
earth receives the invocation of God, and then it is no longer common bread but
Eucharist, consists of two things, an earthly and a heavenly; so our bodies,
after partaking of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of
the eternal resurrection. (Against Heresies 4.18.4-5)
But
vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God, and
disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration,
maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed do not
attain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is
the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we
break the communion of His body. For blood can only come from veins and flesh,
and whatsoever else makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was
actually made. By His own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle declares,
“In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins.” And
as we are His members, we are also nourished by means of the creation (and He
Himself grants the creation to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends
rain when He wills). He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the
creation) as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and the bread (also
a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives
increase to our bodies. (Against Heresies 5.2.2)
When,
therefore, the mingled cup and the bread receives the word of God, and the
Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made, from which things the
substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the
flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which
[flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of
Him?—even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that
“we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” He does not speak
these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor
flesh; but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an
actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones,—that [flesh] which is
nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread
which is His body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground
fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling into the earth and
becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who
contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of
men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the
body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and
deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their
appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God
(Against Heresies 5.2.3)
Tertullian
(ca. 160-225)
He remembers his Father,
God; he returns to Him when he has been satisfied; he receives again the
pristine garment,— the condition,
to wit, which Adam by transgression had lost. The ring also he is then
wont to receive for the first time, wherewith, after being interrogated, he
publicly seals the agreement of faith, and thus thenceforward feeds upon the fatness of the Lord's
body — the Eucharist to wit. (On Modesty, 9)
The
flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ that the soul may be fattened on
God (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 8.3)
“Give
us this day our daily bread” we should understand in a spiritual sense. Christ
is our bread because Christ is our life and bread is life. “I am the bread of
life,” he says; and a little before, “The word of the living God which
descended from heaven, that is bread.” Moreover, his body is acknowledged as
being in the bread: “This is my body.” (On Prayer, 6)
He
took the bread and distributed it to the disciples, making it his own body by
saying, “This is my body”; that is the symbol of my body that is, the figure of
my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first
a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. (Against
Marion 4.40)
Clement of Alexandria (ca.
150-215)
And
the blood of the Lord is twofold. For there is the blood of His flesh, by which
we are redeemed from corruption; and the spiritual, that by which we are
anointed. And to drink the blood of Jesus, is to become partaker of the Lord's
immortality; the Spirit being the energetic principle of the Word, as blood is
of flesh. (Paedagogus, 2.2)
Origen
(ca. 185-254)
But
if someone celebrates with Jesus, he is in a great room above, in a furnished
room made clean, in a furnished room adorned and prepared. But if you go up
with him in order to celebrate the Passover, he gives to you the Cup of the
New Covenant, he gives to you the Bread of blessing, he makes a gift
of his Body and his Blood. (Homilies on Jeremiah, 19.13)
I
wish to admonish you with examples from your religious practices. You who are
accustomed to take part in divine mysteries know, when you receive the body of
the Lord, how you protect it with all caution and veneration lest any small
part fall from it, lest anything of the
consecrated
gift be lost. For you believe, and correctly, that you are answerable if
anything falls from there by neglect. But if you are so careful to preserve his
body, and rightly so, how do you think that there is less guilt to have
neglected God's word than to have neglected his body? (Homilies on Exodus,
13.3)
He
took no thought of either the love of the teacher for the good things
pertaining to the body or his teaching on spiritual matters which were always
delivered without ill-will. Such are all those in the church who plot against
their brothers with whom they have frequently shared the same table of the body
of Christ and the same cup of his blood. (Commentary on Matthew, Ser. 82)
For
this reason, then, let Celsus, as one who knows not God, give thank-offerings
to demons. But we give thanks to the Creator of all, and, along with
thanksgiving and prayer for the blessings we have received, we also eat the
bread presented to us; and this bread becomes by prayer a sacred body, which
sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it. (Against Celsus, 8.33)
Cyprian
(died 258)
All
these warnings being scorned and contemned — before their sin is expiated,
before confession has been made of their crime, before their conscience has
been purged by sacrifice and by the hand of the priest, before the offense of
an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, violence is done to His body
and blood; and they sin now against their Lord more with their hand and mouth
than when they denied their Lord. (On the Lapsed, 16)
When,
however, the solemnities were finished, and the deacon began to offer the cup
to those present, and when, as the rest received it, its turn approached, the
little child, by the instinct of the divine majesty, turned away its face,
compressed its mouth with resisting lips, and refused the cup. Still the deacon
persisted, and, although against her efforts, forced on her some of the
sacrament of the cup. Then there followed a sobbing and vomiting. In a profane
body and mouth the Eucharist could not remain; the draught sanctified in the
blood of the Lord burst forth from the polluted stomach. So great is the Lord's
power, so great is His majesty. The secrets of darkness were disclosed under
His light, and not even hidden crimes deceived God's priest. (On the Lapsed,
25)
Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260-340)
We
of the new covenant, on the other hand, who celebrate our own Pascha
each Lord's day, always take our fill of the Savior's body, always partake of
the blood of the Lamb; we have always girded the loins of our souls with
chastity and self-control, we have always prepared our feet in readiness for
the Gospel. (On the Celebration of the Pascha, 7)
Athanasius
(ca. 296-373)
You
shall see the Levites bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on
the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been
made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers
have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood,
of our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘And again:’ Let us approach the celebration of the
mysteries. This bread and this wine, so long as the prayers and supplications
have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But after the great prayers
and holy supplications have been sent forth, the Word comes down into the bread
and wine – and thus His Body is confected. (Fragment from Sermon to the Newly
Baptized)
Cyril
of Jerusalem (ca. 315-387)
The
teaching of blessed Paul is in itself sufficient to give you complete assurance
about the divine mysteries, the admission to which makes us “of the same body”
and blood with Christ. For he proclaimed, with emphasis and precision, “That
our Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and
when He had given thanks He brake it, and gave to His disciples, saying, Take,
eat, this is My Body: and having taken the cup and given thanks, He said,
Take, drink, this is My Blood.” Since Christ himself in his own words asserted
of the bread, “This is my body,” who will dare any longer to have doubts? And
since in his own words he insisted, “This is my blood,” who will have any
doubts or say that it is not his blood? Once, in Cana of Galilee, he changed
water into wine (and wine is akin to blood); is it incredible that he should
change wine into blood? When called to a bodily marriage, he miraculously
wrought that wonderful work; and on the children of the bride-chamber, shall he
not much rather be acknowledged to have bestowed the fruition of his body and
blood? Therefore with complete assurance let us partake of those elements as
being the body and blood of Christ. For in the symbol of bread his body is
given to you, and in the symbol of wine his blood; so that by partaking of the
body and blood of Christ you may be made of the same body and blood with him.
For in this way we become Christ-bearers, since his body and blood is
distributed in the parts of our body. Thus as blessed Peters says, we “become
partakers of the divine nature.” (On the Mysteries 4, Catechetical Lecture.
22.1-3)
Therefore
think of the bread and wine not as merely that, for they are in fact according
to the Lord’s express statement, the body and blood of Christ. For though sense
suggests the mere elements, let faith assure you otherwise, without hesitation,
that you have been granted the body and blood of Christ. (On the Mysteries 4,
Catechetical Lecture. 22.6)
You
have been instructed and assured that what appears as bread is not (mere) bread
(though it is thus perceived by taste) but the body of Christ; and that what
seems wine is not (mere) wine (though the taste have it be so) but the blood of Christ… (On the
Mysteries 4, Catechetical Lecture. 22.9)
For
if in truth the Word has been made flesh and we in very truth receive the Word
made flesh as food from the Lord, are we not bound to believe that He abides in
us naturally, Who, born as a man, has assumed the nature of our flesh now
inseparable from Himself, and has conjoined the nature of His own flesh to the
nature of the eternal Godhead in the sacrament by which His flesh is
communicated to us? For so are we all one, because the Father is in Christ and
Christ in us. Whosoever then shall deny that the Father is in Christ naturally
must first deny that either he is himself in Christ naturally, or Christ in
him, because the Father in Christ and Christ in us make us one in Them. Hence,
if indeed Christ has taken to Himself the flesh of our body, and that Man Who
was born from Mary was indeed Christ, and we indeed receive in a mystery the
flesh of His body—(and for this cause we shall be one, because the Father is in
Him and He in us),—how can a unity of will be maintained, seeing that the
special property of nature received through the sacrament is the sacrament of a
perfect unity? The words in which we speak of the things of God must be used in
no mere human and worldly sense, nor must the perverseness of an alien and
impious interpretation be extorted from the soundness of heavenly words by any
violent and headstrong preaching. Let us read what is written, let us
understand what we read, and then fulfil the demands of a perfect faith. For as
to what we say concerning the reality of Christ’s nature within us, unless we
have been taught by Him, our words are foolish and impious. For He says
Himself, My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that
eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him. As to
the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For now both
from the declaration of the Lord Himself and our own faith, it is verily flesh
and verily blood. And these when eaten and drunk, bring it to pass that both we
are in Christ and Christ in us. Is not this true? Yet they who affirm that
Christ Jesus is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He therefore
Himself is in us through the flesh and we in Him, whilst together with Him our
own selves are in God. (On the Trinity 8.13-14)
Gregory
of Nyssa (ca. 330-395)
For
that which is peculiar to all flesh is acknowledged also in the case of that
flesh, namely, that that Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by
the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to the dignity of Godhead.
Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by
the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was
once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of
the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that
by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine
potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in that case, too, the grace
of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the
bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as
says the Apostle “is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer”; not that it
advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the
Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word
itself said, “This is My Body.” Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by
what is moist (for without this combination our earthly part would not continue
to live), just as we support by food which is firm and solid the solid part of
our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the kindred element;
and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed to
blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of being
transmuted into heat. Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its
substance and support of this particular nourishment also, and since the God
who was manifested infused Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose,
viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might at the same time be
deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace, He disseminates
Himself in every believer through that flesh, whose substance comes from bread
and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, to secure that, by
this union with the immortal, man, too, may be a sharer in incorruption. He
gives these gifts by virtue of the benediction through which He transelements
the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing (Great
Catechetical Oration, 37)
The
bread again is at first common bread; but when the mystery sanctifies it, it is
called and actually becomes the Body of Christ. (Sermon on the Day of Lights)
Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 329-390)
Now
the Law prescribes to you the staff to lean upon, that you may not break down
in your mind when you hear of God's Blood, and His Passion, and His death; and
that you may not be carried away to heresy in your defense of God; but without
shame and without doubt may eat the Flesh and drink the Blood, if you are
desirous of true life, neither disbelieving His words about His Flesh, nor
offended at those about His Passion. (Oration 45.19)
John
Chrysostom (ca. 347-407)
Let us then in everything believe God, and gainsay Him in
nothing, though what is said seem to be contrary to our thoughts and senses,
but let His word be of higher authority than both reasonings and sight. Thus
let us do in the mysteries also, not looking at the things set before us, but
keeping in mind His sayings. For His word cannot deceive, but our senses are
easily beguiled. That has never failed, but this in most things goes wrong.
Since then the word says, This is my body, let us both be persuaded and
believe, and look at it with the eyes of the mind.
For Christ has given nothing sensible, but though in
things sensible yet all to be perceived by the mind. So also in baptism, the
gift is bestowed by a sensible thing, that is, by water; but that which is done
is perceived by the mind, the birth, I mean, and the renewal. For if you had
been incorporeal, He would have delivered you the incorporeal gifts bare; but
because the soul has been locked up in a body, He delivers you the things that
the mind perceives, in things sensible.
How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark,
His clothes, His shoes. Lo! You see Him, Thou touchest Him, you eat Him. And
thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He gives Himself to you not to see
only, but also to touch and eat and receive within you. (Homilies on St.
Matthew, 82.4)
The works set before us are not of man’s power. He that
then did these things at that supper, this same now also works them. We occupy
the place of servants. He who sanctifies and changes them is the same. Let then
no Judas be present, no covetous man. If anyone be not a disciple, let him
withdraw, the table receives not such. For I keep the passover, He says, with
my disciples. This table is the same as that, and has nothing less. For it is
not so that Christ wrought that, and man this, but He does this too. (Homilies
on St. Matthew, 82.5)
Christ
is now also present. He who adorned that table is he who now also adorns this.
It is not man who makes the gift of the oblation to become the body and blood
of Christ, but Christ himself, who was crucified for us. The priest stands
fulfilling the original pattern, and speaks those words: but the power and
grace come from God. “This is my body,” he says. This statement transforms the
oblations: and as the command, “increase and multiply,” spoke once, extends
through all time, and gives to one human nature the power of reproduction; so
the statement, “This is my body,” uttered once makes complete the sacrifice at
every table in the churches from that time until now, and even till Christ’s
coming. (On the Betrayal of Judas, 1.6)
The
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the Blood of Christ? Very
persuasively spoke he, and awfully. For what he says is this: This which
is in the cup is that which flowed from His side, and of that do we partake. But he called it
a cup of blessing, because holding it in our hands, we so exalt Him in our
hymn, wondering, astonished at His unspeakable gift, blessing Him, among other
things, for the pouring out of this self-same draught that we might not abide
in error: and not only for the pouring it out, but also for the imparting
thereof to us all. (Homilies on 1 Corinthians, 24.3)
For this belongs to them
who love strongly; this, for instance, Job implied, speaking of his servants,
by whom he was beloved so exceedingly, that they desired to cleave unto his
flesh. For they said, to show the strong love which they felt, Who would give
us to be satisfied with his flesh? Wherefore this also Christ has done, to lead
us to a closer friendship, and to show His love for us; He has given to those
who desire Him not only to see Him, but even to touch, and eat Him, and fix
their teeth in His flesh, and to embrace Him, and satisfy all their love. Let
us then return from that table like lions breathing fire, having become
terrible to the devil; thinking on our Head, and on the love which He has shown
for us. (Homilies on John 46.3)
Sarapion (ca. 359)
Let
your holy Word come on this bread, O God of truth, that the bread may become
the body of the Word; and on this cup, that the cup may become the blood of the
Truth; and make all who partake to receive a medicine of life for the healing
of every disease, and for the empowering of all advancement and virtue; not for
condemnation, O God of truth, nor for censure and reproach. (Prayers of
Sarapion)
Basil
the Great (ca. 330-379)
"To
communicate each day and to partake of the holy Body and Blood of Christ is
good and beneficial; for He says quite plainly: 'He that eats My Flesh and
drinks My Blood has eternal life' [John 6:55] Who can doubt that to share
continually in life is the same thing as having life abundantly? (Letter
93)
Ambrose
(ca. 339-397)
He
added: “For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink.” You hear of “flesh” and “blood”: you
recognize the sacraments of the Lord’s death, and you dishonor his Godhead.
Hear his own words: “A spirit does not have flesh and bones.” Now we, whenever
we take the sacraments, which though the mystery of the sacred prayers are
transfigured into his flesh and blood, “proclaim the Lord’s death.” (On the
Christian Faith, 4.125)
First
of all, I told you about he saying of Christ, whose effect is to change and
convert the established kinds of nature. Then came the saying of Christ, that
he gave his flesh to be eaten, and his blood to be drunk. His disciples could
not stand this, and they turned away from him.
Only Peter said: “You have the words of eternal life; how can I take
myself away from you?” And so, to prevent others from saying that they are
going away, because of a horror of actual blood, and so that the grace of
redemption should continue, for that reason you receive the sacrament in a
similitude, to be sure, but you obtain the grace and virtue of the reality. “I
am,” he says, “the living bread who came down from heaven.” But the flesh did
not come down from heaven; that is to say, he took flesh on earth from a
virgin. How, then, did bread come down from heaven – and bread that is “living
bread”? Because our Lord Jesus Christ share both in divinity and in body; and
you, who receive the flesh, partake of his divine substance in that bread. (On
the Sacraments, 6.3.4)
Who
the day before he suffered, he says, in his holy hands took bread. Before it is
consecrated, it is bread, but when the words of Christ have been added, it is
the body of Christ. Therefore hear him saying : Take and eat ye all of this ;
for this is my body. And before the words of Christ it is a cup full of wine
and water. When the words of Christ have operated then and there it is made to
be the blood of Christ which redeemed the people. Therefore, see in how many
ways the word of Christ is mighty to change all things. There the Lord Jesus
himself testifies to us that we receive his body and blood. Ought we to doubt
of his trustworthiness and testimony? (On the Sacraments 4.5.23)
Who
then is the author of the sacraments but the Lord Jesus? From heaven those
sacraments came ; for all counsel is from heaven. But it was truly a great and
divine miracle that God rained down manna from heaven, and the people ate
without toiling. Thou sayest perhaps, "My bread is of the usual
kind." But that bread is bread before the words of the sacraments ; when
consecration has been added, from bread it becomes the flesh of Christ. Let us
therefore prove this. How can that which is bread be the body of Christ? By
consecration. But in what words and in whose language is the consecration ?
Those of the Lord Jesus. For all the other things which are said in the earlier
parts of the service are said by the priest — praises are offered to God,
prayer is asked for the people, for kings, and the rest ; when it comes to the
consecration of the venerable sacrament, the priest no longer uses his own
language, but he uses the language of Christ. Therefore, the word of Christ
consecrates this sacrament. What is the word of Christ? That, to be sure,
whereby all things are made. The Lord commanded, and the heaven was made ; the
Lord commanded, and the earth was made ; the Lord commanded, and the seas were
made; the Lord commanded, and every creature was produced. Thou seest,
therefore, how effective is the word of Christ. If, therefore, there is such
power in the word of the Lord Jesus, that the things which were not began to
be, how much more is it effective, that things previously existing should, without
ceasing to exist, be changed into something else?3 The heaven
was
not, the sea was not, the earth was not; but hear David saying, “He spake, and
they were made: he commanded, and they were created.” Therefore, that I may
answer thee, it was not the body of Christ before consecration ; but after
consecration, I tell thee, it is now the body of Christ. He spake, and it was
made : he commanded, and it was created. Thou thyself didst formerly exist, but
thou wast an old creature; after thou wast consecrated, thou didst begin to be
a new creature. Wilt thou know how thou art a new creature? Everyone, it says,
in Christ is a new creature. (On the Sacraments 4.4.13-16)
From
all these examples, then, dost thou not understand how effectual is the
heavenly word ? If the heavenly word was effectual in the earthly spring, if it
was effectual in other things, is it not effectual in the heavenly sacraments?
Therefore thou hast learnt that what was bread becomes the body of Christ, and
that wine and water are put into the chalice, but become blood by the
consecration of the heavenly word. But perhaps thou sayest, “I do not see the
appearance of blood.” But it has the likeness; for as thou hast taken the
likeness of the death, so also thou drinkest the likeness of the precious
blood, that there may be no shrinking from actual blood, and yet the price of
redemption may effect its work. Thou hast learnt, therefore, that what thou
receivest is the body of Christ. (On the Sacraments 4.4.19-20)
Before
it is consecrated, it is bread, but when the words of Christ have been added,
it is the body of Christ. Therefore hear him saying: Take and eat ye all of it;
for this is my body. And before the words of Christ it is a cup full of wine
and water. When the words of Christ have operated, then and there it is made to
be 1 the blood of Christ which redeemed the people. Therefore, see in how many
ways the word of Christ is mighty to change all things. There the Lord Jesus
himself testifies to us that we receive his body and blood. Ought we to doubt
of his trustworthiness and testimony? (On the Sacraments 4.5.23)
We
observe, therefore, that grace is of greater power than nature; and yet it is
only the grace of a prophet’s blessing of which we are so far taking account.
But if a human blessing was powerful enough to change nature, what do we say of
the divine consecration itself where the very words of the Lord and Saviour
act? For the sacrament which thou receivest, is consecrated by the word of
Christ. But if the word of Elijah was powerful enough to bring down fire from
heaven, will not the word of Christ be powerful enough to change the characters
of the elements? Thou hast read of the works of the whole creation that he
spake the word, and they were made; he commanded and they were created. The
word of Christ could make out of nothing that which was not; cannot it then
change the things which are into that which they were not? For to give new
natures to things is quite as wonderful as to change their natures. But why do
we employ arguments? Let us employ the proper examples, and by the example of
the incarnation let us prove the truth of the mystery. Did the usage of nature
precede when the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we look to the order of
generation, it usually results from the union of a woman with a man. It is
clear, therefore, that the Virgin gave birth contrary to the order of nature.
And this body which we consecrate is from the Virgin; why do you seek the
natural order here in the case of the body of Christ, when the Lord Jesus
himself was born of the Virgin contrary to nature? It was certainly the true
flesh of Christ which was crucified, which was buried; truly, therefore, the
sacrament is a sacrament of that flesh. The Lord Jesus himself cries, This
is my body. Before the blessing of the heavenly words
another kind of thing is named, after consecration it is designated “body.” He
himself speaks of his blood. Before consecration it is spoken of as something
else, after consecration it is named “blood.” And thou sayest, “Amen,” that is,
it is true. What the mouth speaks let the mind within confess; what the speech
utters let the affections feel. (On the Mysteries, 52-54)
Apostolic
Constitutions (ca. 375-380)
Again
we give thanks to your, our Father, for the precious blood of Jesus Christ
which was poured out for us, and the precious body of which we also perform
these symbols, for he commanded us to proclaim his death…. (Book VII)
And
we beseech you to look graciously upon these gifts set before you, O God who
need nothing, and accept them in honor of your Christ, and to send down your
Holy Spirit upon this sacrifice, the witness of the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus, that he may make this bread body of your Christ, and this cup blood of
your Christ; that those who partake of it may be strengthened to piety, obtain
forgiveness of sins, be delivered from the devil and his deceit, be filled with
Holy Spirit, become worthy of your Christ, and obtain eternal life, after
reconciliation with you, almighty Master. (Book VIII)
Jerome
(ca. 345-420)
After
the figurative Passover had been fulfilled and he had eaten the flesh of the
lamb with the apostles, he took bread, which strengthens the heart of man, and
passed over to the true mystery of the Passover. Thus, just as Melchizedek had
done, the priest of the Most High God, when he offered bread and wine in the
prefiguration of him, he too would present it in the truth of his own body and
blood. (Commentary on Matthew, Bk 4, 26:26)
Far
be it from me to speak adversely of any of these clergy who, in succession from
the Apostles, confect by their sacred word the Body of Christ, and through
whose efforts also it is that we are Christian. (Letter 14.8)
Augustine
(ca. 354-430)
I am
mindful of my promise. For I had promised to you, who have been baptized, a
discourse wherein I would explain the Sacrament of the Lord's table, which you
now also see and of which you were made partakers last night. You ought to know
what you have received, what you are to receive, what you must receive daily.
That bread which you see on the altar, sanctified by the word of God, is the
body of Christ. That cup, or rather what the cup contains, sanctified by the
word of God, is the blood of Christ. By these, the Lord Christ willed to
commend his body and blood, which he shed for us for the remission of sins. If
you have received well, you are what you have received. For the Apostle says:
"We, being many, are one bread, one body." Thus did he expound the
Sacrament of the Lord's table: "We, being many, are one bread, one
body." (Sermon 227)
The
Lord Jesus wanted those whose eyes were held lest they should recognize him, to
recognize him in the breaking of the bread. The faithful know what I am saying.
They know Christ in the breaking of the bread. For not all bread, but only that
which receive the blessing of Christ becomes Christ’s body. (Sermon 234)
What
you behold now on the altar of God you saw there last night as well. But you
have not yet heard what it is, what it means, and of how great a reality is the
sacrament. What you see, then, is bread and a cup. This is what your eyes
report to you. But your faith has need to be taught that the bread is the body
of Christ, the cup the blood of Christ. (Sermon 272)
“And
he was carried in his own hands.” But, brethren, how is it possible for a man
to do this? Who can understand it? Who is it that is carried in his own hands?
A man can be carried in the hands of another; but no one can be carried in his
own hands. How this should be understood literally of David, we cannot
discover; but we can discover how it is meant of Christ. For Christ was carried
in His own hands, when, referring to His own Body, He said: “This is My Body.”
For He carried that Body in His hands. (Explanations of the Psalms 33.1.10)
He received flesh from the flesh of Mary. And because He walked
here in very flesh, and gave that very flesh to us to eat for our salvation;
and no one eateth that flesh, unless he hath first worshipped:” (Explanations
of the Psalms, 99.8)
Theodore
of Mopsuestia (ca. 350-428)
It
is with justice, therefore, that when he gave the bread he did not say: “This
is the symbol of my body,” but: “This is my body”: likewise when he gave the
cup he did not say: “This is the symbol of my blood” but: “This is my blood,”
because he wished us to look upon these (elements) after their reception of
grace and the coming of the Spirit, not according to their nature, but to
receive them as if they were the body and blood of our Lord. Indeed, even the
body of our Lord does not possess immortality and the power of bestowing
immortality in its own nature, as this was given to it by the Holy Spirit; and
at its resurrection from the dead it received close union with divine nature
and became immortal and instrumental for conferring immortality on others.
(Commentary on the Eucharist, Mingana pg. 75).
If,
therefore, the nature of the vivifying Spirit made the body of our Lord into
what its nature did not possess before, we ought, we also who have received the
grace of the Holy Spirit through the symbols of the Sacrament, not regard the
elements merely as bread and cup, but as the body and the blood of Christ, into
which they were so transformed by the descent of the Holy Spirit, by whom they
become to the partakers of them that which we believe to happen to the faithful
through the body and blood of the Lord. (Commentary on the Eucharist, Mingana
pg. 76).
It
is with great justice, therefore, that the priest offers, according to the
rules of priesthood, prayer and supplication to God that the Holy Spirit may
descend, and that grace may come therefrom upon the bread and wine that are
laid (on the altar) so that they may be seen to be truly the body and the blood
of our Lord, which are the remembrance of immortality. Indeed, the body of our
Lord, which is from our own nature, was previously mortal by nature, but
through the resurrection it moved to an immortal and immutable nature. When the
priest, therefore, declares them to be the body and the blood of Christ, he
clearly reveals that they have so become by the descent of the Holy Spirit,
though whom they have also become immortal, inasmuch as the body of our Lord,
after it was anointed and had received the Spirit, was clearly seen so to
become. In this same way, after the Holy Spirit has come here also, we believe
that the elements of bread and wine have received a kind of an anointing from
the grace that comes upon them, and we hold them to be henceforth immortal,
incorruptible, impassible, and immutable by nature, as the body of our Lord was
after the resurrection. (Commentary on the Eucharist, Mingana pg. 104).
In
saying: “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, shall live forever,” he
(our Lord) refers not to the one who offers the sacrifice but to the one who
eats (of it), and this, like the sacrifice, belongs equally to all of us. It is indeed offered so that by the coming of
the Holy Spirit it should become that which it is said to be: the body and blood of Christ. All of us
partake of them, when they become like this, because all of us believe that in
this food and in this drink of which are offered to partake, there is life,
according to the words of our Lord. (Commentary on the Eucharist, Mingana pg.
111).
When
the priest gives it he says: “The body of Christ.” He teaches you by this work
not to look at that which is visible, but to picture in your mind the nature of
this oblation, which by the coming of the Holy Spirit, is the body of Christ.
(Commentary on the Eucharist, Mingana pg. 113).
Cyril
of Alexandria (died 444)
We
proclaim the death, in the flesh, of the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus
Christ, and acknowledge his return to life from the dead and his ascension into
heaven, and as we do this we perform the bloodless sacrifice in the churches:
and thus we approach the consecrated gifts of the sacraments, and are
sanctified by partaking of the holy flesh and the precious blood of Christ.,
the Savior of us all. We do not receive it as common flesh (God forbid), not as
the flesh of a mere man, sanctified and linked with the Word in unity of
standing, or as enjoying a divine indwelling; we receive it as truly
life-giving, as the flesh that belongs to the Word himself. For as being God he
is in his own nature life, and when he became one with flesh which is his own,
he rendered it life-giving. (Epistle 17)
It
was necessary for him to be present in us in a divine manner through the Holy
Spirit: to be mixed, as it were, with our bodies by means of his holy flesh and
precious blood, for us to have him in reality as a sacramental gift which gives
life, the form of bread and wine. And so that we should not be struck down with
horror, at seeing flesh and blood displayed on the holy tables of our churches,
God adapts himself to our weakness and infuses the power of his own flesh, so
that we may have them for life-giving reception, and that the body of life may
prove to be in us a life-giving seed. (Commentary on St. Luke, 22.19)
No comments:
Post a Comment