Eucharist

August 27, 2006

If we really want to get back to the early church and to what was believed at the time of the Apostles, there is no better way to do that than to study the church fathers, those men who were chosen by the Apostles (and the Holy Spirit) for their trustworthy character and devotion to guard and pass on the Apostolic teaching. When we study the fathers, we gain a better understanding of the deposit of faith that was entrusted once for all to the Apostles and which they entrusted to faithful men. The issue I want to focus on here is the nature of the Eucharist. What did the Church fathers believe about the Eucharist?

For the fathers, the Church is the bride of Christ. As Eve was made from Adam's rib, so must Christ's bride, the Church, be made from Christ's side that was pierced, from the water (of baptism) and blood (of the Eucharist) that flowed from His side while he 'slept' in death. When discussing the Eucharist, the fathers constantly refer to John 6. And none of them takes it as merely metaphorical or symbolic. Here is the relevant section of John chapter six:

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "how can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever. . . . As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?"

When his disciples started to leave in disgust, Jesus could easily have said, "Wait, it's just a metaphor. I don't really mean that you actually have to eat my flesh and drink my blood. Its just figurative language." He didn't. Remember that John was the last Gospel written, completed in Ephesus toward the end of the first century, since John lived to about 100 AD. John was writing in part to explain to Christians the theological basis and historical support in Christ's own words for what the Church already believed and practiced in the Eucharist.

So, what do the fathers say about the Eucharist? Listen to what St. Ignatius (b. 35 AD, d. 106-116 AD), has to say:

"[The Docetics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father in His graciousness, raised from the dead. And so denying the gift of God, these men perish in their disputatiousness."

Notice that Ignatius, the second bishop of Antioch (where Christians were first called 'Christians'), a contemporary of the Apostle John, and an eventual martyr in Rome by the mouths of lions, teaches that the Eucharist really is the flesh of Christ. He distinguishes between true Christians (who recognize that the Eucharist really is the body of Christ), and Docetics (a heretical sect), who deny that the Eucharist is really and truly the body of Christ. If you read Ignatius, you know that he would never have changed or distorted the teachings of the Apostles. He was prepared to die rather than betray the Lord and His Apostles by changing or perverting what was entrusted to him by them.

St. Ignatius also says:

"Let that Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop or by one to whom the bishop has committed this charge."

If the Eucharist were a mere symbol, it would not make any sense whatsoever to talk about a "valid" Eucharist or an "invalid" Eucharist.

Listen to what Justin Martyr (b. 100 - d. 165) says, around fifty to sixty five years after the death of the Apostle John:

"There is then brought to the president [i.e. presider] of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word 'Amen' answers in the Hebrew language to "so be it". And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us 'deacons' give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which they thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion. And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing [i.e. baptism] that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."

Notice that Justin clearly says that this belief about the bread and wine being transformed into the body and blood of Christ, is something that they have been taught. It is not something they made up. It was taught to them by the Apostles, which Justin goes on to say. He also says that the "wicked devils" (sorcerers, occultists, etc.) imitate this in their mysteries (sacraments) with various incantations.

Notice also that they thank God that they are counted worthy to receive the Eucharist. They would not need to be counted worthy to receive a mere symbol. They give thanks because they believe the Eucharist to be *not* a mere symbol, but actually Christ, as Justin says. Notice also that only baptized believers are allowed to partake of the Eucharist. That has been the practice of the Church from the very beginning.  That can be also seen in the Didache, an early Christian document (most likely first century) that was widely cited by the Church fathers:

"Let no one eat or drink of the Eucharist with you except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord; for it was in reference to this that the Lord said: "Do not give that which is holy to dogs".

If the Eucharist were not holy, there would be no reason not to let unbaptized people receive it. The universal practice of the early Church in limiting reception of the Eucharist to baptized persons was grounded on the Eucharist being actually *holy*, the Body and Blood of Christ.

Listen to bishop Irenaeus (b. between 115-125), who learned under Polycarp, who learned under the Apostle John:

"For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity."

"He 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 creation) he affirmed to be his own body, from which he gives increase to our bodies.".

Listen to Tertullian (b. 160) :

"The flesh is the very condition on which salvation hinges. And since the soul is, in consequence of its salvation, chosen to the service of God, it is the flesh which actually renders it capable of such service. The flesh, indeed, is washed, in order that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed [with the cross], that the soul too may be fortified; the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of hands, that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit ; the flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may fatten on [its] God. They [body and soul] cannot then be separated in their recompense, when they are united in their service."

Listen to St. Clement of Alexandria [d. 215]:

"To drink the blood of Jesus is to participate in His incorruption".

Listen to St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who was martyred in AD 258:

"Since then He [Jesus] says that, if anyone eats of His bread, he lives forever, as it is manifest that they live who attain to His body and receive the Eucharist by right of communion, so on the other hand we must fear and pray lest anyone, while he is cut off and separated from the body of Christ, remain apart from salvation, as He Himself threatens, saying: 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you' (Jn 6:54). And so we petition that our bread, that is Christ, be given us daily, so that we, who abide and live in Christ, may not withdraw from His sanctification and body."

Notice that St. Cyprian teaches that we must fear and pray for the salvation of those who are cut off from receiving the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. The fathers all saw the Eucharist as the sacramental means by which we receive and are united to Christ's body, and so receive eternal life.

Somewhere around this time Tarsicius the acolyte was carrying the consecrated hosts (the "Sacrament of Christ") in his cloak to be given to the infirmed and elderly. He was approached by a group of pagans who demanded that he show it to them. Tarsicius refused, because he knew that he was carrying the body of Christ, and understood that it would be wrong for him to "give what is holy to dogs". So the pagans stoned him to death right there in the street. Why would Tarsicius be willing to die for what he believed to be a mere *symbol*?

Listen to St. Hilary [d. 368]:

"We speak in an absurd and godless manner about the divinity of Christ's nature in us -- unless we have learned it from Him. He Himself declares: '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' (Jn. 6:56,7). It is no longer permitted us to raise doubts about the true nature of the body and the blood, for, according to the statement of the Lord Himself as well as our faith, this is indeed flesh and blood. And these things that we receive bring it about that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Is this not the truth? Those who deny that Jesus Christ is the true God are welcome to regard these words as false. He Himself, therefore, is in us through His flesh, and we are in Him, while that which we are with Him is in God."

Listen to St. Cyril of Jerusalem [b. 315 - d. 386]:

"He once in Cana of Galilee, turned the water into wine, akin to blood, and is it incredible that He should have turned wine into blood?".

"Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man's heart, to make his face to shine with oil, 'strengthen thou thine heart,' by partaking thereof as spiritual, and "make the face of thy soul to shine."

"Then having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual Hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth His Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before Him; that He may make the Bread the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ; for whatsoever the Holy Ghost has touched, is surely sanctified and changed."

"Wherefore with full assurance let us partake as of the Body and Blood of Christ: for in the figure of Bread is given to you His Body, and in the figure of Wine His Blood; that you by partaking of this Body and Blood of Christ, may be made of the same body and the same blood with Him. For thus we come to bear Christ in us, because His Body and Blood are distributed through our members; thus it is that, according to the blessed Peter, we become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4)."

Notice that according to St. Cyril it is by way of the Eucharist that we receive into our bodies the Body and Blood of Christ, and so are united to Christ by eating Christ's body and drinking His blood.

St. Cyril says also:

"Even of itself the teaching of the blessed Paul (1 Cor 11:23) is sufficient to give you a full assurance concerning those Divine Mysteries, of which having been deemed worthy, you are become of the same body and blood with Christ. For you have just heard him say distinctly, That Our Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke 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' (Mt. 26:26ff). Since then He Himself declared and said of the bread, This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any longer? And since He has Himself affirmed and said, "This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate, saying, that it is not His Blood."

Listen to St. Athanasius (c. 293 �� 373), bishop of Alexandria

"You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made, it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wonderous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ....When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body."

Listen to St. Basil [b. 329 - d. 379], bishop of Caesarea:

"It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, 'He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life' (Jn. 6:55)."

Listen to St. Gregory of Nyssa [d. around 387 AD]:

"Since it has been shown that in no other way was it possible for our body to become immortal, but by participating in incorruption through its fellowship with that immortal Body, it will be necessary to consider how it was possible that that one Body, being for ever portioned to so many myriads of the faithful throughout the whole world, enters, through that portion, whole into each individual, and yet remains whole in itself.. . , 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.' ...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 [i.e. blessing] through which He trans-elements the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing."

Listen to St. Gregory Nazianzen [b. 325 - d. 389]:

"But cease not both to pray and to plead for me when you draw down the Word by your word, when with a bloodless cutting you sever the Body and Blood of the Lord, using your voice for the sword."

Listen to St. Jerome [b. 340 - d. 420]:

"Far be it from me to censure the successors of the apostles, who with holy words consecrate the body of Christ, and who make us Christians. Having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, they judge men to some extent before the day of judgment, and guard the chastity of the bride of Christ."

Listen to St. Ambrose [b. 340 - d. 397], bishop of Milan:

"Now we, as often as we receive the Sacramental Elements, which by the mysterious efficacy of holy prayer are transformed into the Flesh and the Blood, 'do show the Lord's Death' (1 Cor 11:26)."

"Perhaps you will say, 'I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?' And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed.... Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature."

"Then He added: 'For My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink [indeed].' Thou hearest Him speak of His Flesh and of His Blood, thou perceivest the sacred pledges, [conveying to us the merits and power] of the Lord's death, and thou dishonourest His Godhead. Hear His own words: 'A spirit hath not flesh and bones.' Now we, as often as we receive the Sacramental Elements, which by the mysterious efficacy of holy prayer are transformed into the Flesh and the Blood, "do show the Lord's Death.'"

Listen to St. John Chrysostom [b. 347 - d. 407]:

"'The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the Blood of Christ?' (1 Cor 10:16) Very persuasively spoke he [St. Paul], and with awe. 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.' . . . When you see [the Body of Christ] set before you, say to yourself: 'Because of this Body I am no longer earth and ashes, no longer a prisoner, but free: because of this I hope for heaven, and to receive the good things therein, immortal life, the portion of angels, converse with Christ; this Body, nailed and scourged, was more than death could stand against . . . . This is even that Body, the blood-stained, the pierced, and that out of which gushed the saving fountains, the one of blood, the other of water, for all the world.' . . This Body has He given to us both to hold and to eat; a thing appropriate to intense love."

"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 hath never failed, but this in most things goeth wrong. Since then the word saith, 'This is my body,' let us both be persuaded and believe, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. For Christ hath given nothing sensible, but though in things sensible yet all to be perceived by the mind...How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! Thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within thee."

"It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered."

Listen to St. Augustine [b. 354 - d. 430], bishop of Hippo:

"You ought to know what you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That Bread which you see on the altar, consecrated by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what the chalice holds, consecrated by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ. Through those accidents the Lord wished to entrust to us His Body and the Blood which He poured out for the remission of sins."

"The Lord Jesus wanted those whose eyes were held lest they should recognize him, to recognize Him in the breaking of the bread [Luke 24:16,30-35]. The faithful know what I am saying. They know Christ in the breaking of the bread. For not all bread, but only that which receives the blessing of Christ, becomes Christ's Body." (Sermons 234:2)

"What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the Body of Christ and the chalice [wine] the Blood of Christ." (Sermons 272)

"How this ['And he was carried in his own hands'] 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." (Psalms 34:1)

"Was not Christ immolated only once in His very Person? In the Sacrament, nevertheless, He is immolated for the people not only on every Easter Solemnity but on every day; and a man would not be lying if, when asked, he were to reply that Christ is being immolated." (Letters 98:9)

"Christ is both the Priest, offering Himself, and Himself the Victim. He willed that the sacramental sign of this should be the daily Sacrifice of the Church, who, since the Church is His body and He the Head, learns to offer herself through Him." (City of God 10:20)

"By those sacrifices of the Old Law, this one Sacrifice is signified, in which there is a true remission of sins; but not only is no one forbidden to take as food the Blood of this Sacrifice, rather, all who wish to possess life are exhorted to drink thereof." (Questions on the Heptateuch 3:57)

"But by the prayers of the Holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. For the whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the Sacrifice itself; and the Sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, the works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death." (Sermons 172:2)

"...I turn to Christ, because it is He whom I seek here; and I discover how the earth is adored without impiety, how without impiety the footstool of His feet is adored. For He received earth from earth; because flesh is from the earth, and He took flesh from the flesh of Mary. He walked here in the same flesh, and gave us the same flesh to be eaten unto salvation. But no one eats that flesh unless he first adores it; and thus it is discovered how such a footstool of the Lord's feet is adored; and not only do we not sin by adoring, we do sin by not adoring." (Psalms 98:9)

"'Except a man eat my flesh, he shall not have eternal life' (Jn 6:54) Some received this foolishly [the Capharnaites], they thought of it carnally, and imagined that the Lord would cut off parts from His body, and give unto them."

St. Augustine goes on to explain that we do not eat carnal parts of Christ's body; we truly eat the body of Christ and truly drink His blood by way of a spiritual mystery, in a way that exceeds our understanding.

Listen to St. Leo the Great (d. 461):

"For when the Lord says, 'unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and drunk His blood, you will not have life in you' (Jn 6:54), you ought so to be partakers at the Holy Table, as to have no doubt whatever concerning the reality of Christ's Body and Blood. For that is taken in the mouth which is believed in Faith, and it is vain for them to respond Amen who dispute that which is taken."

Why would all these fathers, spread throughout different regions of the world, without telephones or internet, be saying the very same thing about the Eucharist, unless they all received that teaching from one common source, namely the Apostles?

It is a strange moment when one realizes that what one thought all along was wrong, was actually right, and that what one thought all along was right, is actually wrong. For a while, you resist it, because you don't want to be shown wrong. But at some point, you realize that you already know that you were wrong. That is what it was like for me when I went through the transition from thinking quite confidently that the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist is a later accretion that was rightly stripped away by the Protestants, to realizing that the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist is the one that was there from the very beginning.

May the Lord open all our eyes, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.