Eucharist

The Eucharist is the rite that Christians perform in fulfillment of Jesus's instruction, as recounted in the New Testament (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25), to do in memory of him what at his Last Supper he did when he gave his disciples bread, saying: "This is my body", and wine saying:"This is my blood." The rite is classified as one of the Christian sacraments. The word Eucharist is also applied to the bread and wine consecrated in the course of the rite and in which Christians in general recognize a special presence of Christ, though they differ about the mode, locus and time of that presence.

Eucharistic theologies

The Eucharist has always been at the center of Christian worship, though theological interpretations vary. In general, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox traditions: see the Eucharist as the fulfillment of the Divine Economy (God's plan for the salvation of humanity from sin), a commemoration and making present of Jesus's Crucifixion on Calvary and his Resurrection, the means for Christians to unite with God and with each other, and the giving of thanks for all these things. Differences in Eucharistic theology tend to be related to differences in understanding of these areas.

Related Topics:
Salvation - Sin - Crucifixion - Calvary - Resurrection

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Efforts at mutual understanding of the range of theologies led in 1980s to consultations on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM) through the World Council of Churches, these including the Roman Catholic Church.

Related Topics:
World Council of Churches - Roman Catholic Church

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Roman Catholic: Sacrifice; Transubstantiation

The Eucharist, the rite that, "on the night before he died", Jesus told his followers to do in his memory, is a symbolic representation of his death on Calvary, when his blood was drained from his body. The Catholic Church sees the Eucharist as a sacrament, a sign that actually effects what the sign signifies. The Eucharist thus makes present for those who celebrate it the death of Christ, which all Christians, in view of the teaching of the Letter to the Hebrews, recognize as a sacrifice. The Eucharist makes present that one sacrifice, not a different sacrifice: the priest and victim of the sacrifice is one and the same; the only difference is in the manner, bloody or unbloody, in which it is offered.

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The Catholic Church recognizes that coming together to read Sacred Scripture, to hear sermons, to sing hymns, to offer community prayer are good things. But they are not what Christ told his followers to do. "Do this in memory of me," he said. In obedience to that command, the only act of worship that the Catholic Church imposes on all its members is the Mass (the Western term) or Divine Liturgy (the corresponding Eastern term).

Related Topics:
Sacred Scripture - Mass - Divine Liturgy

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The only minister of the Eucharist is a validly ordained priest (bishop or presbyter) acting in the person of Christ the Head of the Church and acting also before God in the name of the Church. The material used is wheaten bread and grape wine.

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When this 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. What was bread is no longer bread, but the body of Christ. What was wine is no longer wine, but the blood of Christ. Accordingly, what is now the body and blood of Christ is treated with utmost respect and, since Christ is divine, is given that special veneration reserved for God that is known as adoration. In Catholic churches, the tabernacle in which it is kept, essentially so that it can be given to the sick and dying, is the spot where people go especially for prayer to Christ.

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The bread is changed into the body of Christ, but because, since his resurrection, his blood is no longer separated from his body, his blood, his soul and his divinity are believed to be received with the body. Similarly, his blood, received under the appearance of wine, is accompanied by his body, his soul and his divinity.

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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 twelfth century. In the judgement of the Catholic Church, this term, 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 or of a merely symbolic interpretation of the Eucharist.

Related Topics:
Transubstantiation - Twelfth century - Substance - Accidents

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Partaking of what after the consecration is the body and blood of Christ is known as "Holy Communion". Priests alone are Ministers of the Eucharist, but deacons too have always been Ministers of Holy Communion, traditionally ministering the chalice, while priests distributed Holy Communion under the outward form of bread. Others, even lay people, can now be appointed as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, which in a way is a return to a very early practice, whereby the ordinary faithful took Communion to the sick and to others unable to come to the Eucharistic celebration.

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Eastern Orthodox: Objective Reality but Pious Silence on the Particulars

The Eastern Orthodox Church agrees with the Roman Catholic Church that Christ is really present in the Eucharistic elements both bodily and spiritually, but rejects any further analysis. Instead, it preserves the exact means by which the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit as a mystery, and is not particularly interested in the precise moment the change occurs. Nevertheless, the change is regarded as permanent, and any of the consecrated elements that remain at the end of the Divine Liturgy must be consumed by a priest or deacon.

Related Topics:
Eastern Orthodox - Divine Liturgy

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Gifts reserved for the communion of the sick are specially consecrated on Holy Thursday, or other times at need, and are not simply leftovers from any given Divine Liturgy. Since the Eucharist is regarded primarily as food, Eucharistic adoration is unknown.

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Anglicans/Episcopalians: Real Presence with Opinion

The official position of the Anglican Communion is found in the The Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571, which states "the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise 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 both the elements and "Body" and "Blood" are all capitalized is reflected in the wide range of theological beliefs on the Eucharist among Anglicans.

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Anglicans are required to believe in the Real Presence, which can range from Transubstantiation (mainly Anglo-Catholics to a simple Spiritual-only Presence (almost always Reformed Anglicans). Most range from Objective Reality to Pious Silence, depending on how Traditional or Reformed the individual Anglican's theology is.

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Lutherans: presence as "in, with and under": the Sacramental Union

Lutherans believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are "truly and substantially present in, with and under" the Bread and Wine (the elements), so that communicants eat and drink both, the elements and the true Body and Blood of Christ Himself (cf. Augsburg Confession, Article 10). The Lutheran doctrine of the Real Presence is also known as "the Sacramental Union." For Lutherans there is no sacrament unless the elements are used according to Christ's institution (consecration, distribution, and reception), so only bread and wine remain after the distribution and reception of the Lord's Supper and the service is concluded. The elements are treated with respect, but not "revered" or reserved as in Roman Catholic practice. Lutherans use the terms "in, with and under" and "Sacramental Union" to distinguish their understanding of the Lord's Supper from that of the Reformed as well as other traditions.

Related Topics:
Augsburg Confession - Roman Catholic

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Methodism: presence as "mystery"

There is no definitive Methodist statement on how the presence of Christ is experienced in Holy Communion. The followers of John Wesley have typically affirmed that the grace of Christ is experienced via his real presence in the sacrament, but have allowed the details to remain a mystery, rejecting the doctrine of transubstantiation (see "Article XVIII" of the Articles of Religion, Means of Grace). In 2004, the United Methodist Church more clearly defined its view of the sacrament and its belief in the Real Presence in an official document entitled This Holy Mystery.

Related Topics:
Methodist - Holy Communion - John Wesley - Transubstantiation - Articles of Religion - Means of Grace - United Methodist

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Calvinist Reformed: spiritual feeding

Many Reformed, particularly those following John Calvin hold that Christ's body and blood do not come down to inhabit the elements, but that "the Spirit truly unites things separated in space" (Calvin).

Related Topics:
Reformed - John Calvin

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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.

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The elements may be disposed of without ceremony; they are unchanged, and as such the meal directs attention toward Christ's bodily resurrection and return.

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Reformed/Congregational: non-presence

Some Protestant groups see Communion (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 Swiss leader during the Reformation. It is commonly associated with Baptists and the Disciples of Christ.

Related Topics:
Lord's Supper - Memorial - Last Supper - Passion - Huldrych Zwingli - Reformation - Baptist - Disciples of Christ

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Many of the Reformed hold that Calvin actually held this view, and not the Spiritual feeding idea attributed to him by some; or that the two views are really the same.

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Summary of contrasting views on metaphysical aspects of the eucharist

Becuase 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 -- and the opposing views are summarized below.

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• 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) of the bread and wine remain; this view is held by the Roman Catholic Church and many Anglicans, especially Anglo-Catholic Anglicans.
• Objective reality, but pious silence about technicalities - the view of all the ancient Churches of the East, whether Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, perhaps most Anglicans, or of Nestorian tradition, which, while agreeing with the Roman Catholic belief that the sacrament is not bread and wine, but really the body and blood of Christ, have not adopted the "substance" and "accidents" terminology, preferring not to scrutinize the technicalities of the transformation.
• Consubstantiation - the body and blood of Jesus Christ are substantially present alongside the substance of the bread and wine, which remain. Some Anglicans do hold this view. (This view is often inaccurately attributed to the Lutheran Church.) It was found in Lollardy
• Pious silence even about the objective reality - the Lutheran view and shared by many Anglicans.
• Real Spiritual presence - not only the spirit, 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 "mystical presence," and is held by most Reformed Christians, such as Presbyterians, as well as Methodists and some Anglicans, particularly Reformed Anglicans. See Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 19.
• 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 denominations, including most Baptists. This view is also that of Jehovah's Witnesses (in this case, they also believe that eating/drinking it is restricted to a select few, but most participate in the yearly memorial).
• 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 "ultra-dispensational" teaching of E. W. Bullinger, Cornelius R. Stam, and others