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Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist

January 01, 1970

The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically,[1] but in a true, real and substantial way.

Catholics give adoration to Christ, whom they believe to be really present, in body and blood, soul and divinity, in sacramental bread whose reality has been changed into that of his body.

There are a number of Christian denominations that teach that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, including Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East, the Moravian Church, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism, and Reformed Christianity.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The differences in the teachings of these Churches primarily concern "the mode of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper".[1]

Efforts at mutual understanding of the range of beliefs by these Churches led in the 1980s to consultations on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry by the World Council of Churches.[7][8]

The Real Presence is rejected or interpreted in light of "remembrance" (per certain translations of the New Testament) by other Christians, including General Baptists,[9][10] Anabaptists,[11] the Plymouth Brethren,[11] some non-denominational Christian churches,[12] as well as those identifying with liberal Christianity, segments of the Restoration Movement,[11] and Jehovah's Witnesses.[13][14][15][16]

History edit

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has been believed since very ancient times. Early Christian writers referred to the Eucharistic elements as Jesus's body and the blood.[17][18]

The short document known as the Teachings of the Apostles or Didache, which may be the earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament to speak of the Eucharist, says, "Let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, 'Give not that which is holy to the dogs'."[19]

 
A 3rd-century fresco in the Catacomb of Callixtus, interpreted by the archaeologist Joseph Wilpert as showing on the left Jesus multiplying bread and fish, a symbol of the Eucharistic consecration, and on the right a representation of the deceased, who through participation in the Eucharist has obtained eternal happiness[20]

Ignatius of Antioch, writing in about AD 106 to the Roman Christians, says: "I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life."[21]

Writing to the Christians of Smyrna in the same year, he warned them to "stand aloof from such heretics", because, among other reasons, "they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again."[17]

In about 150, Justin Martyr, referring to the Eucharist, wrote in his First Apology: "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."[22]

In about AD 200, Tertullian wrote: "Having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, This is 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. If, however, (as Marcion might say) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us."[23]

The Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 380) says: "Let the bishop give the oblation, saying, The body of Christ; and let him that receiveth say, Amen. And let the deacon take the cup; and when he gives it, say, The blood of Christ, the cup of life; and let him that drinketh say, Amen."[24]

Ambrose of Milan (died 397) wrote:

Perhaps you will say, "I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?" ... 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. ... For that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements? ... Why do you seek the order of nature in the Body of Christ, seeing that the Lord Jesus Himself was born of a Virgin, not according to nature? It is the true Flesh of Christ which was crucified and buried, this is then truly the Sacrament of His Body. The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: "This Is My Body." Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks.[18]

Other fourth-century Christian writers say that in the Eucharist there occurs a "change",[25] "transelementation",[26] "transformation",[27] "transposing",[28] "alteration"[29] of the bread into the body of Christ.

Augustine declares that the bread consecrated in the Eucharist actually "becomes" (in Latin, fit) the Body of Christ: "The faithful know what I'm talking about; they know Christ in the breaking of bread. It isn't every loaf of bread, you see, but the one receiving Christ's blessing, that becomes the body of Christ."[30]

In the 9th century, Charles the Bald posed two unclearly formulated questions: whether the faithful receive the body of Christ in mystery or in truth and whether the body is the same that was born of Mary and suffered on the cross. Ratramnus understood "in truth" to mean simply "what is perceptible to the senses", "plain unvarnished reality" (rei manifestae demonstratio), and declared that the consecration leaves the bread and wine unchanged in their outward appearance and thus, insofar as these are signs of the body and blood of Christ hidden under the veil of the signs, the faithful receive the body of Christ not in veritate, but in figura, in mysterio, in virtute (figure, mystery, power). Ratramnus opposed Capharnaitic tendencies but in no way betrayed a symbolist understanding such as that of 11th-century Berengarius.[31][32] Radbertus, on the other hand, developed the realism of the Gallican and Roman liturgy and the Ambrosian theology of the identity of the sacramental and historical body of the Lord. The dispute ended with Radbertus's letter to Frudiger, in which he stressed further the identity of the sacramental and historical body of Christ, but met the opposing view to the extent of emphasizing the spiritual nature of the sacramental body.[33] Friedrich Kempf comments: "Since Paschasius had identified the Eucharistic and the historical body of the Lord without more precisely explaining the Eucharistic species, his teaching could and probably did promote a grossly materialistic 'Capharnaitic' interpretation".[34]

The question of the nature of the Eucharist became virulent for a second time in the Western Church in the 11th century, when Berengar of Tours denied that any material change in the elements was needed to explain the Eucharistic presence. This caused a controversy which led to the explicit clarification of the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist.[35]

In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council used the word transubstantiated in its profession of faith, when speaking of the change that takes place in the Eucharist.

It was only later in the 13th century that Aristotelian metaphysics was accepted and a philosophical elaboration in line with that metaphysics was developed, which found classic formulation in the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas.[36] It was only then that Scholasticism cast Christian theology in the terms of Aristotelianism. The metaphysical aspects of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist were firstly described since the time of the Latin juvenile treatise titled De venerabili sacramento altaris (On the reverend sacrament of the altar).[37]

During the later medieval period, the question was debated within the Western Church. Following the Protestant Reformation, it became a central topic of division amongst the various emerging confessions. The Lutheran doctrine of the real presence, known as the "sacramental union", was formulated in the Augsburg Confession of 1530. Luther decidedly supported this doctrine, publishing The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics in 1526. Saying that "bread and body are two distinct substances", he declared that "out of two kinds of objects a union has taken place, which I shall call a 'sacramental union'".[38]

Thus, the main theological division in this question, turned out to be not between Catholicism and Protestantism, but within Protestantism, especially between Luther and Zwingli, who discussed the question at the Marburg Colloquy of 1529 but who failed to come to an agreement. Zwingli's view became associated with the term Memorialism, suggesting an understanding of the Eucharist held purely "in memory of" Christ. While this accurately describes the position of the Anabaptists and derived traditions, it is not the position held by Zwingli himself, who affirmed that Christ is truly (in substance), though not naturally (physically) present in the sacrament.[39]

The position of the Church of England on this matter (the real presence) is clear and highlighted in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion:

The supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves; but rather is a Sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to those who rightly and with faith, receive the same, the bread that we break is a partaking of the body of Christ, likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of scripture, overthroweth the nature of the Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions. The Body of Christ is given, taken and eaten in the Supper, only after an Heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up or worshipped.

— Articles of Religion No.28 "The Lord's Supper": Book of Common Prayer 1662

The Council of Trent, held 1545–1563 in reaction to the Protestant Reformation and initiating the Catholic Counter-Reformation, promulgated the view of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as true, real, and substantial, and declared that, "by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance (substantia) of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation".[40] The Scholastic, Aristotelian philosophy of substance was not included in the Council's definitive teaching, but rather the more general idea of "substance" that had predated Thomas Aquinas.[41]

Eastern Orthodoxy did not become involved in the dispute prior to the 17th century. It became virulent in 1629, when Cyril Lucaris denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, using the Greek translation metousiosis for the concept. To counter the teaching of Lucaris, Metropolitan Petro Mohyla of Kiev drew up in Latin an Orthodox Confession in defense of transubstantiation. This Confession was approved by all the Greek-speaking Patriarchs (those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem) in 1643, and again by the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem (also referred to as the Council of Bethlehem).

Views edit

Catholic edit

Main article: Eucharist in the Catholic Church
 
Ecce Agnus Dei ("Behold the Lamb of God") at Solemn Mass
 
Eucharistic celebration at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima

The Catholic Church declares that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is true, real, and substantial.[40] By saying Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, it excludes any understanding of the presence as merely that of a sign or figure. By stating that his presence in the Eucharist is real, it defines it as objective and independent of the thoughts and feelings of the participants, whether they have faith or not: lack of faith may make reception of the sacrament fruitless for holiness, but it does not make his presence unreal. In the third place, the Catholic Church describes the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as substantial, that is, involving the underlying substance, not the appearances of bread and wine. These maintain all their physical properties as before: unlike what happens when the appearance of something or somebody is altered but the basic reality remains the same, it is the teaching of the Catholic Church that in the Eucharist the appearance is quite unchanged, but the basic reality has become the body and blood of Christ.[42]

The change from bread and wine to a presence of Christ that is true, real, and substantial is called transubstantiation.[40] The Catholic Church does not consider the term "transubstantiation" an explanation of the change: it declares that the change by which the signs of bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ occurs "in a way surpassing understanding".[43]

One hymn of the Church, "Ave Verum Corpus", greets Christ in the Eucharist as follows (in translation from the original Latin): "Hail, true body, born of Mary Virgin, and which truly suffered and was immolated on the cross for mankind!"[44]

The Catholic Church also holds that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is entire: it does not see what is really in the Eucharist as a lifeless corpse and mere blood, but as the whole Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity; nor does it see the persisting outward appearances of bread and wine and their properties (such as weight and nutritional value) as a mere illusion, but objectively existing as before and unchanged.

In the view of the Catholic Church, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is of an order different from the presence of Christ in the other sacraments: in the other sacraments he is present by his power rather than by the reality of his body and blood, the basis of the description of his presence as "real".

Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian edit

 
Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, as well as the Churches of the East, believe that in the Eucharist the bread and wine are objectively changed and become in a real sense the Body and Blood of Christ.[45] Orthodoxy rejects philosophical explanations of the change that occurs in the elements during the Divine Liturgy:[46][47]

While the Orthodox Church has often employed the term transubstantiation, Kallistos Ware claims the term "enjoys no unique or decisive authority" in the Orthodox Church. Nor does its use in the Orthodox Church "commit theologians to the acceptance of Aristotelian philosophical concepts". ...Ware also notes that while the Orthodox have always "insisted on the reality of the change" from bread and wine into the body and the blood of Christ at the consecration of the elements, the Orthodox have "never attempted to explain the manner of the change." —Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger[48]

The Greek term metousiosis (μετουσίωσις) is sometimes used by Eastern Orthodox Christians to describe the change since this term "is not bound up with the scholastic theory of substance and accidents", but it does not have official status as "a dogma of the Orthodox Communion."[49][50][51] Similarly, Coptic Orthodox Christians, a denomination of Oriental Orthodox Christianity, "are fearful of using philosophical terms concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, preferring uncritical appeals to biblical passages like 1 Cor. 10.16; 11.23–29 or the discourse in John 6.26–58."[52]

While the Roman Catholic Church believes that the change "takes place at the words of institution or consecration", the Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that the "change takes place anywhere between the Proskomedia (the Liturgy of Preparation)" and "the Epiklesis ('calling down'), or invocation of the Holy Spirit 'upon us and upon these gifts here set forth'". Therefore, it teaches that "the gifts should be treated with reverence throughout the entirety of the service. We don't know the exact time in which the change takes place, and this is left to mystery."[53]

The words of the Coptic liturgy are representative of the faith of Oriental Orthodoxy: "I believe, I believe, I believe and profess to the last breath that this is the body and the blood of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, which he took from our Lady, the holy and immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God."

The Eastern Orthodox Church's Synod of Jerusalem declared: "We believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present, not typically, nor figuratively, nor by superabundant grace, as in the other Mysteries, ... but truly and really, so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, the bread is transmuted, transubstantiated, converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord, Which was born in Bethlehem of the ever-Virgin Mary, was baptised in the Jordan, suffered, was buried, rose again, was received up, sitteth at the right hand of the God and Father, and is to come again in the clouds of Heaven; and the wine is converted and transubstantiated into the true Blood Itself of the Lord, Which, as He hung upon the Cross, was poured out for the life of the world."[54]

Lutheran edit

Main article: Eucharist in the Lutheran Church
Further information: The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics and The Adoration of the Sacrament
 
A notice about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist in Mikael Agricola Church, Helsinki.[55]

Lutherans believe in the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist,[56][57] that the body and blood of Christ are "truly and substantially present in, with and under the forms"[58][59] of the consecrated bread and wine (the elements), so that communicants orally eat and drink the holy body and blood of Christ Himself as well as the bread and wine (cf. Augsburg Confession, Article 10) in this Sacrament.[60][61]

The Lutheran doctrine of the real presence is more accurately and formally known as "the Sacramental Union."[62] It has been inaccurately called "consubstantiation", a term which is specifically rejected by most Lutheran churches and theologians[63] since it creates confusion about the actual doctrine, and it subjects the doctrine to the control of an abiblical philosophical concept in the same manner as, in their view, does the term "transubstantiation".[64][65][66]

For Lutherans, there is no Sacrament unless the elements are used according to Christ's institution (consecration, distribution, and reception). This was first articulated in the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 in the formula: Nihil habet rationem sacramenti extra usum a Christo institutum ("Nothing has the character of a sacrament apart from the use instituted by Christ"). Some Lutherans use this formula as their rationale for opposing in the church the reservation of the consecrated elements, private Masses, the practice of Corpus Christi, and the belief that the reliquæ (what remains of the consecrated elements after all have communed in the worship service) are still sacramentally united to the Body and Blood of Christ. This interpretation is not universal among Lutherans. The consecrated elements are treated with reverence; and, in some Lutheran churches, are reserved as in Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican practice. The external Eucharistic adoration is usually not practiced by most Lutherans except for bowing, genuflecting, and kneeling to receive the Eucharist from the Words of Institution and elevation to reception of the holy meal. The reliquæ traditionally are consumed by the celebrant after the people have communed, except that a small amount may be reserved for delivery to those too ill or infirm to attend the service. In this case, the consecrated elements are to be delivered quickly, preserving the connection between the communion of the ill person and that of the congregation gathered in public Divine Service.

Lutherans use the terms "in, with and under the forms of consecrated bread and wine" and "Sacramental Union" to distinguish their understanding of the Eucharist from those of the Reformed and other traditions.

Moravian edit

Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a bishop of the Moravian Church, stated that Holy Communion is the "most intimate of all connection with the person of the Saviour".[67] The Moravian Church adheres to a view known as the "sacramental presence",[2] teaching that in the sacrament of Holy Communion:[68]

Christ gives his body and blood according to his promise to all who partake of the elements. When we eat and drink the bread and the wine of the Supper with expectant faith, we thereby have communion with the body and blood of our Lord and receive the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. In this sense, the bread and wine are rightly said to be Christ's body and blood which he gives to his disciples.[68]

— Lydia Veliko, Jeffrey Gross, Growing Consensus II: Church Dialogues in the United States, 1992–2004, page 90

Reformed edit

Main article: Lord's Supper in Reformed theology
 
A Scottish Sacrament, by Henry John Dobson

Those in the Reformed tradition (inclusive of Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Reformed Anglican/Reformed Episcopal and Reformed Baptist churches), particularly those following John Calvin, hold that the reality of Christ's body and blood do not come corporally (physically) to the elements, but that "the Spirit truly unites things separated in space" (Calvin). This view is known as the real spiritual presence, spiritual presence, or pneumatic presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.

Following a phrase of Saint 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 presence penetrates to the heart of the believer more nearly than food swallowed with the mouth can enter in.

This view holds that the elements may be disposed of without ceremony, as they are not changed in an objective physical sense and, as such, the meal directs attention toward Christ's "bodily" resurrection and return. Actual practices of disposing of leftover elements vary widely.

The Reformed doctrine of Holy Communion (The Lord's Supper, The Eucharist) is the belief in the Real Presence (pneumatic) in the sacrament and that it is a Holy Mystery. Reformed theology has traditionally taught that Jesus' body is seated in heaven at the right hand of God; therefore his body is not physically present in the elements, nor do the elements turn into his body in a physical or any objective sense. However, Reformed theology has also historically taught that when the Holy Communion is received, not only the Spirit, but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ are received through the Spirit, but these are only received by those partakers who eat worthily (i.e., repentantly) with faith. The Holy Spirit unites the Christian with Jesus though they are separated by a great distance. See, e.g., ; Belgic Confession, Article 35.[full citation needed]

The Congregationalist theologian Alfred Ernest Garvie explicated the Congregationalist belief regarding the pneumatic presence in The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View:[69]

He is really present at the Lord's Supper without any such limitation to the element unless we are prepared to maintain that the material is more real than the spiritual. It is the whole Christ who presents Himself to faith, so that the believer has communion with Him.[69]

The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, in which Reformed Baptists believe, affirms the Lord's Supper to be a means of "spiritual nourishment and growth", stating:[70]

The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing to all the world the sacrifice of himself in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.[70]

In 1997, three denominations which historically held to a Reformed view of the supper—the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (representative of the Continental Reformed, Congregationalist and Presbyterian traditions)—signed A Formula of Agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a document which stressed that: "The theological diversity within our common confession provides both the complementarity needed for a full and adequate witness to the gospel (mutual affirmation) and the corrective reminder that every theological approach is a partial and incomplete witness to the Gospel (mutual admonition) (A Common Calling, page 66)." Hence, in seeking to come to consensus about the real presence (see open communion), the churches have affirmed belief real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper while understanding that differences exist between the Lutheran and Reformed views on this:

In the Lord's Supper the risen Christ imparts himself in body and blood, given up for all, through his word of promise with bread and wine; ... we proclaim the death of Christ through which God has reconciled the world with himself. We proclaim the presence of the risen Lord in our midst. Rejoicing that the Lord has come to us, we await his future coming in glory. ... Both of our communions, we maintain, need to grow in appreciation of our diverse eucharistic traditions, finding mutual enrichment in them. At the same time both need to grow toward a further deepening of our common experience and expression of the mystery of our Lord's Supper.

— A Formula for Agreement

Anglican edit

Main article: Anglican eucharistic theology
 
Eucharist in an Episcopal church

Anglicans prefer a view of objective presence that maintains a definitive change, but allows how that change occurs to remain a mystery.[3][53] Likewise, Methodists postulate a par excellence presence as being a "Holy Mystery".[4] Anglicans generally and officially believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but the specific forms of that belief range from a corporeal presence (real objective presence), sometimes even with Eucharistic adoration (mainly high church Anglo-Catholics),[71][72] to belief in a pneumatic presence (mainly low church Reformed Anglicans).[73]

In Anglican theology, a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. In the Eucharist, the outward and visible sign is that of bread and wine, while the inward and spiritual grace is that of the Body and Blood of Christ. The classic Anglican aphorism with regard to the debate on the Eucharist is the poem by John Donne (1572–1631): "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" (Divine Poems. On the Sacrament).[74]

During the English Reformation the doctrine of the Church of England was strongly influenced by Continental Reformed theologians whom Cranmer had invited to England to aid with the reforms. Among these were Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Bernardino Ochino, Paul Fagius, and Jan Łaski. John Calvin was also urged to come to England by Cranmer, but declined, saying that he was too involved in the Swiss reforms. Consequently, early on, the Church of England has a strong Reformed, if not particularly Calvinistic influence. The view of the real presence, as taught in the Thirty-Nine Articles therefore bears much resemblance to the doctrine of the pneumatic presence of Christ in the Eucharist, held by Bucer, Martyr and Calvin.

The Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion contends that:

Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions. The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.

— Article XXVIII

For many Anglicans, whose mysticism is intensely incarnational, it is extremely important that God has used the mundane and temporal as a means of giving people the transcendent and eternal. Some have extended this view to include the idea of a presence that is in the realm of spirit and eternity, and not to be about corporeal-fleshiness.

During the Oxford Movement of the 19th century, Tractarians advanced a belief in the real objective presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but maintained that the details of how He is present remain a mystery of faith,[72][71] a view also held by the Orthodox Church and Methodist Church.[3][4] Indeed, one of the oldest Anglo-Catholic devotional societies, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, was founded largely to promote belief in the real objective presence of Christ in the Eucharist.[75]

From some Anglican perspectives, the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist does not imply that Jesus Christ is present materially or locally. This is in accord with the standard Roman Catholic view as expressed, for instance by St. Thomas Aquinas, who, while saying that the whole Christ is present in the sacrament, also said that this presence was not "as in a place".[76] Real does not mean material: the lack of the latter does not imply the absence of the former. The Eucharist is not intrinsic to Christ as a body part is to a body, but extrinsic as his instrument to convey Divine Grace. Some Anglicans see this understanding as compatible with different theories of Christ's presence—a corporeal presence, consubstantation, or pneumatic presence—without getting involved in the mechanics of "change" or trying to explain a mystery of God's own doing.[77][71]

Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians participating in the first Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC I) declared that they had "reached substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist".[78] This claim was accepted by the 1988 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops (Resolution 8), but firmly questioned in the Official Roman Catholic Response to the Final Report of ARCIC I of 1991.[79][80]

Methodist edit

The followers of John Wesley 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,[81] but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery.[82] In particular, Methodists reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (see Article XVIII of the Articles of Religion); the Primitive Methodist Church in its Discipline also rejects the Lollardist doctrine of consubstantiation.[83] In 2004, the United Methodist Church affirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the real presence in an official document entitled This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion.[84][full citation needed] 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 and His Love.

Holy Communion is remembrance, commemoration, and memorial, but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling. "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24–25) 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.

 
A United Methodist minister consecrates the elements

In conformity with The Sunday Service of the Methodists, Methodism's first liturgical text, in congregations of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Bethel Methodist Church, Congregational Methodist Church, Evangelical Methodist Church, Evangelical Wesleyan Church, First Bible Holiness Church, First Congregational Methodist Church, Free Methodist Church, Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church, Metropolitan Church Association, Pilgrim Holiness Church, among many other Methodist connexions, the presider says the following when delivering the Eucharistic elements to each of the faithful (which is reflective of the Methodist teachings of the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Supper being a sacramental means of grace):[85]

The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on Him in thy heart, by faith with thanksgiving.

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.

This affirmation of real presence is also illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Eucharistic Liturgy[86] where, in the epiclesis of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements:

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Methodists assert that Jesus is truly present, and that the means of His presence is a "Holy Mystery". The communion hymn Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast, by Methodist divine Charles Wesley includes the following stanza and is often sung during Methodist services of worship in which the Lord's Supper is celebrated:

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.

The distinctive feature of the Methodist doctrine of the real presence is that the way Christ manifests His presence in the Eucharist is a sacred mystery—the focus is that Christ is truly present in the sacrament.[87] The Discipline of the Free Methodist Church thus teaches:

The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death. To those who rightly, worthily, and with faith receive it, 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. The supper is also a sign of the love and unity that Christians have among themselves. Christ, according to his promise, is really present in the sacrament.

— Discipline, Free Methodist Church[88]

Many within the Holiness Pentecostal tradition, which is largely Wesleyan–Arminian in theology as are the Methodist Churches, also affirm this understanding of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.[89]

Irvingian edit

Further information: Consubstantiation

Edward Irving, who founded the Irvingian Churches, such as the New Apostolic Church, taught the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; "Irving insisted on the real presence of the humiliated humanity of Christ in the Lord's Supper."[90] The Catholic Apostolic Church has thus held to "the doctrine of the real presence of Christ with regard to the elements in the communion service".[91] In the Irvingian tradition of Restorationist Christianity, consubstantiation is taught as the explanation of how the real presence is effected in the liturgy.[92] The Catechism of the New Apostolic Church, the largest of the Irvingian denominations, teaches:[93]

Rather, the body and blood of Christ are truly present (real presence). Through the words of consecration spoken by an Apostle or a priestly minister commissioned by him, the substance of the body and blood of Christ is joined to the substance of the bread and wine.

The outward form (accidence) of the elements of Holy Communion is not changed by this act. Just as the Man Jesus was visible during His life on earth, so also the bread and wine are visible in Holy Communion. After their consecration, however, the elements of Holy Communion constitute a dual substance–like the two natures of Jesus Christ–namely that of bread and wine and that of the body and blood of Christ. The Son of God is then truly present in the elements of Holy Communion: in His divinity and in His humanity.

However, as regards the elements of Communion it is not the case that the bread alone corresponds to the body of Christ and that the wine alone corresponds to the blood of Christ. Rather, the body and blood of Christ is completely present in each of the two elements, both the bread and the wine.[93]

Zwinglian edit

Main article: Theology of Huldrych Zwingli § Eucharist
Further information: Anabaptist theology § Lord's Supper

Huldrych Zwingli, a Swiss Reformer, taught:[94]

We believe that Christ is truly present in the Lord's Supper; yea, we believe that there is no communion without the presence of Christ. (Christum credimus vere esse in coena, immo non credimus esse Domini coenam nisi Christus adsit.) This is the proof: Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. How much more is He present where the whole congregation is assembled to His honour! But that His body is literally eaten is far from the truth and the nature of faith. It is contrary to the truth, because He Himself says: I am no more in the world, and the flesh profiteth nothing, that is to eat, as the Jews then believed and the Papists still believe. It is contrary to the nature of faith, I mean the holy and true faith, because faith embraces love, fear of God, and reverence, which abhors such carnal and gross eating, as much as any one would shrink from eating his beloved son. ... We believe that the true body of Christ is eaten in the communion in a sacramental and spiritual manner by the religious, believing and pious heart, as also Chrysostom taught.[94]

Those who adhere to the Zwinglian view, do so at Jesus's words about doing this in "remembrance" rather than any transformation or any physical presence. Rather, Christ is really present at the thanksgiving, and in the memory. Zwingli's words that the "true body of Christ is eaten in a sacramental and spiritual manner" is understood in a way where the physical objects and actions are the spiritual reminder of what Jesus had done, that He has instituted. This comes from the belief that the historical understanding of the Early Church taught that sacraments are done in "contemplation of faith" as the "proclamation of salvation and the strengthening of faith in the hearts of believers".[95] General Baptists,[9][10] Anabaptists,[11] the Plymouth Brethren,[11] some non-denominational Churches[12] see Communion (also called the Lord's Supper or the Lord's Table) as signifying the body and blood of Jesus, a memorial of the Last Supper and the Passion with symbolic and meaningful elements,[96] which is done by the ordinance of Jesus. This view is known as Memorialism or the Zwinglian view, as it was taught by Zwingli, a Swiss Reformer. Those who hold to the memorial understanding deny the strong sense of Transubstantiation as articulated by Lanfranc in the 11th century, arguing more akin to Berengarius who was a symbolist. It is pointed out that while early Church Fathers used the language of real presence, this is not similar to a hard understanding of Transubstantiation. Rather, interpreting in the context of other early Church Father writings, those who emphasize the symbolic nature of the Eucharist, point out the symbolic language used by Tertullian, Cyprian, and others, noting a differentiation between the "real presence of Christ" being used to mean a bodily presence.[97][full citation needed] Further it is understood that the dispute arose much later, in the 9th and 11th centuries, about the nature of the Eucharist.[98][full citation needed]

Anabaptists affirm that communion is a memorial and locate the presence of Jesus not in the elements themselves, but teach that the "mystery of communion with the living Christ in his Supper comes into being by the power of the Spirit, dwelling in and working through the collected members of Christ’s Body".[99] As such, in celebrations of the Eucharist, "Anabaptist congregations looked to the living Christ in their hearts and in their midst, who transformed members and elements together into a mysterious communion, creating his Body in many members, ground like grains and crushed like grapes, into one bread and one drink."[99]

Consecration, presidency and distribution edit

Many Christian churches holding to a doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (for example, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Moravian, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed, and Irvingian) reserve to ordained clergy the function of consecrating the Eucharist, but not necessarily that of distributing the elements to communicants. Others do not speak of ordination but still reserve these functions to leaders who are given titles such as pastor, elder and deacon.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c R. C. Sproul (1 November 2006). "The Battle for the Table". Ligonier Ministries. Retrieved 2 August 2020. It is important to note at this point that there is major agreement among Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, the Reformed, and the Particular Baptists that Christ is truly present in the Lord's Supper. They all go beyond the view of the Supper as a bare sign or memorial ... The debate among Catholics, Lutherans, and Reformed people is one that focuses on the mode of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper. At the bottom, this debate is not so much sacramental as it is christological. [sic]
  2. ^ a b Atwood, Craig D. (1 November 2010). Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem. Penn State Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780271047508. In the eighteenth century, the Moravians consistently promoted the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence, which they described as a 'sacramental presence'.
  3. ^ a b c Losch, Richard R. (1 May 2002). A Guide to World Religions and Christian Traditions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 9780802805218. Anglicans and Orthodox do not attempt to define how [Christ is present], but simply accept the mystery of his presence.
  4. ^ a b c Neal, Gregory S. (19 December 2014). Sacramental Theology and the Christian Life. WestBow Press. p. 111. ISBN 9781490860077. For Anglicans and Methodists the reality of the presence of Jesus as received through the sacramental elements is not in question. Real presence is simply accepted as being true, its mysterious nature being affirmed and even lauded in official statements like This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion.
  5. ^ McKim, Donald K. (1998). Major Themes in the Reformed Tradition. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57910-104-6. The Westminster Confession emphatically declares that Christ is truly present in the elements and is truly received by those partaking, 'yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually' (chap. 31, par. 7). The insistence is that while Christ's presence is not physical in nature it is no less a real and vital presence, as if it were a physical presence. ... Those of us in the Reformed tradition are under strong obligation to honour the notion of the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.
  6. ^ Johnson, Maxwell E. (2015). The Church in Act: Lutheran Liturgical Theology in Ecumenical Conversation. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-9668-0. That is, as the practice of the ancient Assyrian Church of the East indicates clearly, not all churches who hold a high doctrine of Christ's real presence have reserved the Eucharist historically. Further, a lack of reserving the Eucharist in the Assyrian Church of the East has not been a factor in entering recently into a situation of shared Eucharist with the Chaldean Church.
  7. ^ Kereszty, Roch A. (2002). Rediscovering the Eucharist: Ecumenical Conversations. Paulist Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-8091-4144-9. Besides the documents produced by several joint commissions consisting of Catholic and Protestant theologians of different denominations, the most important ecumenical document was published by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches: Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry. Some form of the real presence of Christ in the eucharistic celebration has been commonly expressed in the joint text: "the eucharistic celebration is the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, the sacrament of his real presence" (#13).
  8. ^ Belcher, Kimberly Hope (15 October 2020). Eucharist and Receptive Ecumenism: From Thanksgiving to Communion. Cambridge University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-108-83956-3. Bilateral eucharistic agreements leading up to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry included enormous progress on the disputed territory of real presence, substantial progress in mutual understanding of positions on objective and subjective aspects of the Eucharist and technical terminology such as transubstantiation, and incipient progress in understanding the concept of sacrifice. The most important gains came from a shared study of history and a deepening of the understanding of the action of the whole eucharistic liturgy.
  9. ^ a b . Southern Baptist Convention. 2018. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2019. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members ... memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His Second Coming.
  10. ^ a b . National Baptist Convention. 2018. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019. We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer, into the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost; to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect, in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite ... to the Lord's Supper, in which the members of the church, by the sacred use of bread and wine, are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ; preceded always by solemn self-examination.
  11. ^ a b c d e Balmer, Randall Herbert; Winner, Lauren F. (2002). Protestantism in America. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780231111300.
  12. ^ a b . Religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu. 7 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  13. ^ What Does The Bible Really Teach?, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 2005, p. 207.
  14. ^ "Discerning What We Are—At Memorial Time", The Watchtower, February 15, 1990, p. 16.
  15. ^ "The Lord's Supper: Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Observe the Lord's Supper Differently From the Way Other Religions Do?". Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. 2018.
  16. ^ "The Eucharist: The Facts Behind the Ritual". Watchtower Online Library. 2018.
  17. ^ a b "CHURCH FATHERS: Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans". www.earlychristianwritings.com. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
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  23. ^ "CHURCH FATHERS: Against Marcion, Book IV (Tertullian)". www.newadvent.org.
  24. ^ "ANF07. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily – Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org.
  25. ^ Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Myst., 5, 7 (Patrologia Graeca 33:1113): μεταβολή
  26. ^ Gregory of Nyssa, Oratio catechetica magna, 37 (PG 45:93): μεταστοιχειώσας
  27. ^ John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the betrayal of Judas, 6 (PG 49:380): μεταρρύθμησις
  28. ^ Cyril of Alexandria, On Luke, 22, 19 (PG 72:911): μετίτησις
  29. ^ John Damascene, On the orthodox faith, book 4, chapter 13 (PG 49:380): μεταποίησις
  30. ^ Sermons (230-272B) on the Liturgical Seasons (New City Press 1994), p. 37; original text in Migne, Patrologia latina, vol. 38, col. 1116
  31. ^ Höfer, Josef; Rahner, Karl (1963). Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (in German). Herder. col. 1001.
  32. ^ McCracken, George E. (2 January 1956). Early Medieval Theology. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-664-23083-8.
  33. ^ Höfer, Josef; Rahner, Karl (1957). Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (in German). Herder. Vol. 1, col. 33.
  34. ^ Jedin, Hubert; Dolan, John Patrick (1969). Handbook of Church History: The church in the age of Feudalism, by F. Kempf, and others. Burns & Oates. p. 467.
  35. ^ "Berengar of Tours". In Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
  36. ^ "Transubstantiation". In Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
  37. ^ St Thomas Aquinas. De venerabili sacramento altaris nec non de expositione missae (in Latin). OCLC 989096548. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  38. ^ Weimar Ausgabe 26, 442.23; Luther's Works 37, 299–300.
  39. ^ Riggs, John (2015). The Lord's Supper in the Reformed Tradition. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 74.
  40. ^ a b c Trent, the Council of, "Session XII. Decree touching the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist", Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, retrieved 18 May 2023
  41. ^ Davis, Charles (1 April 1964). "The theology of transubstantiation". Sophia. 3 (1): 12–24. doi:10.1007/BF02785911. S2CID 170618935.
  42. ^ Avery Cardinal Dulles (25 August 2009). Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988–2007. Fordham Univ Press. pp. 455–. ISBN 978-0-8232-2864-5.
  43. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1333". Vatican.va. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  44. ^ "Ave verum corpus natum /de Maria Virgine; /vere passum, immolatum /in cruce pro homine!" (late-fourteenth-century hymn)
  45. ^ "Oblation". Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East – Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  46. ^ Džalto, Davor (11 May 2016). Religion and Realism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-4438-9410-4. In general, Orthodox theologians reject transubstantiation in the way this doctrine was developed in the Roman Catholic Church.
  47. ^ Harvey, Graham (8 April 2016). Religions in Focus: New Approaches to Tradition and Contemporary Practices. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-93690-8. Orthodoxy rejects transubstantiation but contends that something real takes place. However, what happens is a mystery and hence does not admit of precise explanation.
  48. ^ Harper, Brad; Metzger, Paul Louis (1 March 2009). Exploring Ecclesiology. Brazos Press. pp. 312–. ISBN 9781587431739. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  49. ^ Moss, Claude B. (11 April 2005). The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology. Wipf & Stock Publishers. p. 363. ISBN 9781597521390. Retrieved 4 March 2015. The Greek term corresponding to transubstation is metousiosis, which, however is not bound up with the scholastic theory of substance and accidents. It was accepted by the Synod of Bethlehem, 1672, during the reaction against the Calvinizing movement of the Patriarch Cyril Lucaris, but it was never accepted formally by the Russian Church, and it is not a dogma of the Orthodox Communion.
  50. ^ McGuckin, John Anthony (9 December 2010). The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture. John Wiley & Sons. p. 360. ISBN 9781444393835. But it does not care to dwell much on the scholastic theories of 'transubstantiation'.
  51. ^ Azkoul, Michael (1994), Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, The Orthodox Christian Witness, Vol. XXVII (48), Vol. XXVIII (6) and (8), At the same time, the Latins interpret the Sacraments in a legal and philosophical way. Hence, in the Eucharist, using the right material things (bread and wine) and pronouncing the correct formula, changes their substance (transubstantiation) into the Body and Blood of Christ. The visible elements or this and all Sacraments are merely "signs" of the presence of God. The Orthodox call the Eucharist "the mystical Supper." What the priest and the faithful consume is mysteriously the Body and Blood of Christ. We receive Him under the forms of bread and wine, because it would be wholly repugnant to eat "real" human flesh and drink "real" human blood.
  52. ^ Houlden, James Leslie (2003). Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 185. ISBN 9781576078563. The Copts are fearful of using philosophical terms concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, preferring uncritical appeals to biblical passages like 1 Cor. 10.16; 11.23–29 or the discourse in John 6.26–58.
  53. ^ a b Martini, Gabe (14 August 2013). "The Doctrine of Transubstantiation in the Orthodox Church". Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy. Retrieved 3 March 2015. In other words, Roman Catholics believe that transubstantiation is the 'change' that occurs in the 'whole substance' of the bread and wine set apart for the Eucharistic mystery. This is a change that takes place at the words of institution or consecration (i.e. 'This is My Body,' etc.). There's some Scholastic language here, of course, but that's the basic gist. In the Orthodox tradition, you will find it taught variously that this change takes place anywhere between the Proskomedia (the Liturgy of Preparation)—which is now a separate service prior to both Orthros and the Divine Liturgy on a typical Sunday, though traditionally it is done during Orthros—and the Epiklesis ('calling down'), or invocation of the Holy Spirit 'upon us and upon these gifts here set forth' (as in Chrysostom's liturgy). As such, the gifts should be treated with reverence throughout the entirety of the service. We don't know the exact time in which the change takes place, and this is left to mystery. As Orthodox Christians, we must be careful to balance and nuance our claims, especially with regards to the Latins or 'the West.' The last thing we want to do is oversimplify matters to the extent of seeming deceptive or—perhaps worse—misinformed. After all, this is typically what gets thrown our way from those unfamiliar with Orthodoxy (beyond literature), often justly putting us on the 'defensive' (an important distinction from 'triumphalism') in response to such misrepresentations.
  54. ^ Decree XVII of the Synod of Bethlehem
  55. ^ The notice reads: "Christ is present here. This box is used for storing blessed sacrificial breads. According to the belief of the Church, Christ is really present (real presence) in the blessed bread and in wine. Please do not put anything on the box that does not belong there. Thank you."
  56. ^ "1 Corinthians 10:16 – Meaning of "Participation". WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  57. ^ "Beliefs of other Church". WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2015. As Confessional Lutherans we believe in baptismal regeneration, the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper, and infant baptism.
  58. ^ Brug, John F. (PDF). Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015. Lutherans have always emphasized that Christ's true body and blood are really present 'in, with, and under' the bread and wine and that Christ's true body and blood are received by all who receive the elements, either to their blessing or to their condemnation…Lutherans emphasize that although the presence of Christ in the Sacrament is a supernatural presence, which is beyond our understanding and explanations, it is a real, substantial presence. Jesus simply says, 'This is my body. This is my blood,' and Lutherans confess this when they say, 'The bread and wine we receive are Christ's body and blood.' They also combine the words 'in and under' from the Catechism and the word 'with' from the Formula of Concord into the expression 'Christ's body and blood are received in, with, and under the bread and wine.'
  59. ^ Jensen, Robin Margaret; Vrudny, Kimberly J. (2009). Visual Theology: Forming and Transforming the Community Through the Arts. Liturgical Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-8146-5399-9.
  60. ^ "The Augsburg Confession". bookofconcord.org. Article X. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  61. ^ Article X: Of the Holy Supper 31 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, 1531
  62. ^ VII. The Lord's Supper: Affirmative Theses 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Epitome of the Formula of Concord, 1577, stating that: "We believe, teach, and confess that the body and blood of Christ are received with the bread and wine, not only spiritually by faith, but also orally; yet not in a Capernaitic, but in a supernatural, heavenly mode, because of the sacramental union..."
  63. ^ "Real Presence Communion – Consubstantiation?". WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Although some Lutherans have used the term 'consbstantiation' [sic] and it might possibly be understood correctly (e.g., the bread & wine, body & blood coexist with each other in the Lord's Supper), most Lutherans reject the term because of the false connotation it contains...either that the body and blood, bread and wine come together to form one substance in the Lord's Supper or that the body and blood are present in a natural manner like the bread and the wine. Lutherans believe that the bread and the wine are present in a natural manner in the Lord's Supper and Christ's true body and blood are present in an illocal, supernatural manner.
  64. ^ Schuetze, A.W., Basic Doctrines of the Bible, Chapter 12, Article 3
  65. ^ "Real Presence: What is really the difference between "transubstantiation" and "consubstantiation"?". WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2015. We reject transubstantiation because the Bible teaches that the bread and the wine are still present in the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16, 1 Corinthians 11:27–28). We do not worship the elements because Jesus commands us to eat and to drink the bread and the wine. He does not command us to worship them. {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  66. ^ "Real Presence: Why not Transubstantiation?". WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  67. ^ Knouse, Nola Reed (2008). The Music of the Moravian Church in America. University Rochester Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1580462600. Holy Communion, of course, is a central act of worship for all Christians, and it should come as no surprise that it was also highly esteemed in the Moravian Church. Zinzendorf referred to it as the 'most intimate of all connection with the person of the Saviour'. The real presence of Christ was thankfully received, though, typically, the Moravians refrained from delving too much into the precise way the Savior was sacramentally present
  68. ^ a b Veliko, Lydia; Gros, Jeffrey (2005). Growing Consensus II: Church Dialogues in the United States, 1992–2004. Bishop's Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. p. 90. ISBN 978-1574555578.
  69. ^ a b Garvie, Alfred Ernest (1920). The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View, namely, the One Church in the Many Churches. London: Faith Press.
  70. ^ a b Cross, Anthony R.; Thompson, Philip E. (1 January 2007). Baptist Sacramentalism. Wipf & Stock Publishers. p. 182. ISBN 9781597527439.
  71. ^ a b c Lears, T. J. Jackson (1981). Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880–1920. University of Chicago Press. p. 202. ISBN 9780226469706. Many folk tale enthusiasts remained vicarious participants in a vague supernaturalism; Anglo-Catholics wanted not Wonderland but heaven, and they sought it through their sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Though they stopped short of transubstantiation, Anglo-Catholics insisted that the consecrated bread and wine contained the 'Real Objective Presence' of God.
  72. ^ a b Herbert Stowe, Walter (1932). "Anglo-Catholicism: What It Is Not and What It Is". Church Literature Association. How the bread and wine of the Eucharist become the Body and Blood of Christ after a special, sacramental and heavenly manner and still remain bread and wine, and how our Lord is really present (real as being the presence of a reality), is a mystery which no human mind can satisfactorily explain. It is a mystery of the same order as how the divine Logos could take upon himself human nature and become man without ceasing to be divine. It is a mystery of the Faith, and we were never promised that all the mysteries would be solved in this life. The plain man (and some not so plain) is wisest in sticking to the oft-quoted lines ascribed to Queen Elizabeth, but probably written by John Donne: 'Christ was the Word that spake it; He took the bread and brake it; And what the Word did make it, That I believe and take it.' The mysteries of the Eucharist are three: The mystery of identification, the mystery of conversion, the mystery of presence. The first and primary mystery is that of identification; the other two are inferences from it. The ancient Fathers were free from Eucharistic controversy because they took their stand on the first and primary mystery—that of identification—and accepted our Lord's words, 'This is my Body', 'This is my Blood', as the pledge of the blessings which this Sacrament conveys. We have since the early Middle Ages lost their peace because we have insisted on trying to explain unexplainable mysteries. But let it be repeated, Anglo-Catholics are not committed to the doctrine of Transubstantiation; they are committed to the doctrine of the Real Presence.
  73. ^ Farris, Joshua R.; Hamilton, S. Mark; Spiegel, James S. (25 February 2016). Idealism and Christian Theology: Idealism and Christianity, Volume 1. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1628924039. Advocates of the pneumatic presence might point to the efficacy of the Holy Spirit as somehow applying the virtues or power of the body of Christ to the faithful. Some within this camp might emphasize an instrumental manner by which the Holy Spirit uses the elements as a means of communicating the efficacy of the body of Christ. This view might be best associated with John Calvin. Others within this camp focus on a parallelism by which as the mouth feeds on the consecrated elements so does the heart feed on the body of Christ. This seems to be the emphasis of the Anglican divine Thomas Cranmer.
  74. ^ "Quotes - Donne". www.classicsnetwork.com. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  75. ^ B. Talbot Rogers, ed. (1914). The Works of the Rt. Rev. Charles C. Grafton. Vol. 7. Longman. pp. 296–300. Instances of this service, and also of carrying the Blessed Sacrament in procession, are brought up to arouse the prejudice of party spirit that is opposed to belief in the Real Objective Presence. It is, therefore, my judgment, poor as it may be, that it would be wise to cease these two forms of devotion. We cannot claim for Benediction that it was a pre-Reformation service, to which we have inherited a right, and there is no legal ground on which to stand in favor of its introduction. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  76. ^ "Summa Theologica". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  77. ^ Vogan, Thomas Stuart Lyle (1871). The True Doctrine of the Eucharist. Longmans, Green. p. 54.
  78. ^ See "Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission" and "Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement". Accessed 15 October 2007.
  79. ^ Hill, Christopher and Yarnold, Edward (eds), Anglicans and Roman Catholics: The Search for Unity, London SPCK/CTS, 1994, pp.18–28; pp.153–155 and pp.156–166
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  82. ^ . The United Methodist Church GBOD. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  83. ^ Discipline of the Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America. Primitive Methodist Church. 2013. We reject the doctrine of transubstantiation: that is, that the substance of bread and wine are changed into the very body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. We likewise reject that doctrine which affirms the physical presence of Christ's body and blood to be by, with and under the elements of bread and wine (consubstantiation).
  84. ^ "This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion". 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  85. ^
  86. ^ For example, . Grace Incarnate Ministries. 2010. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  87. ^ Neal, Gregory S. (19 December 2014). Grace Upon Grace. WestBow Press. p. 107. ISBN 9781490860060.
  88. ^ Oden, Thomas C. (2008). Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition: Revised Edition. Abingdon Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780687651115.
  89. ^ Chai, Teresa (12 February 2015). A Theology of the Spirit in Doctrine and Demonstration: Essays in Honor of Wonsuk and Julie Ma. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 97. ISBN 9781498217644.
  90. ^ Lee, David Y. T. (11 June 2018). A Charismatic Model of the Church: Edward Irving's Teaching in a 21st-century Chinese Context. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-5275-1208-5.
  91. ^ Bennett, David Malcolm (4 November 2014). Edward Irving Reconsidered: The Man, His Controversies, and the Pentecostal Movement. Wipf and Stock. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-62564-865-5.
  92. ^ "The Catechism of the New Apostolic Church: 8.2.12 The real presence of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion". New Apostolic Church. 18 December 2020. Rather, the substance of Christ's body and blood is joined to them (consubstantiation).
  93. ^ a b "8.2.12 The real presence of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion". The Catechism of the New Apostolic Church. New Apostolic Church. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  94. ^ a b Gerhart, Emanuel Vogel (1894). Institutes of the Christian Religion. Funk & Wagnalls. p. 618.
  95. ^ "Zwingli on the Lord's Supper". 12 February 2008.
  96. ^ Balmer, Randall Herbert; Winner, Lauren F. (2002). Protestantism in America. Columbia University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780231111300.
  97. ^ "Did the Early Church Teach Transubstantiation?".
  98. ^ "Doctrine of the Church (Part 5) | Reasonable Faith".
  99. ^ a b Snyder, Arnold (2006). . Conrad Grebel University College. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.

External links edit

Anglican

  • – from Anglican Journal

Eastern Orthodox

  • Orthodoxy and Transubstantiation/Metousiosis 13 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine

Lutheran

  • The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
  • by Tom G.A. Hardt
  • WELS Topical Q&A: Real Presence Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
  • WELS Topical Q&A: Real Presence – Holy Communion Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
  • WELS Topical Q&A: Matthew 26:26 – This is/This represents? Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Catholic

  • The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist Article from the Catholic Encyclopedia
  • Christ's Presence in the Eucharist: True, Real and Substantial 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  • The Real Presence Association
  • The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist – Eucharist Index

United Methodist

  • A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion (Official)
  • "Holy Communion and the Real Presence" by Charles Duncan
  • "Holy Communion as a Means of Grace" 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Gregory S. Neal
  • "Typology and the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion" 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Gregory S. Neal

January 01, 1970
real, presence, christ, eucharist, real, presence, christ, eucharist, christian, doctrine, that, jesus, christ, present, eucharist, merely, symbolically, metaphorically, true, real, substantial, catholics, give, adoration, christ, whom, they, believe, really, . The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist not merely symbolically or metaphorically 1 but in a true real and substantial way Catholics give adoration to Christ whom they believe to be really present in body and blood soul and divinity in sacramental bread whose reality has been changed into that of his body There are a number of Christian denominations that teach that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist including Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy the Church of the East the Moravian Church Lutheranism Anglicanism Methodism and Reformed Christianity 1 2 3 4 5 6 The differences in the teachings of these Churches primarily concern the mode of Christ s presence in the Lord s Supper 1 Efforts at mutual understanding of the range of beliefs by these Churches led in the 1980s to consultations on Baptism Eucharist and Ministry by the World Council of Churches 7 8 The Real Presence is rejected or interpreted in light of remembrance per certain translations of the New Testament by other Christians including General Baptists 9 10 Anabaptists 11 the Plymouth Brethren 11 some non denominational Christian churches 12 as well as those identifying with liberal Christianity segments of the Restoration Movement 11 and Jehovah s Witnesses 13 14 15 16 Contents 1 History 2 Views 2 1 Catholic 2 2 Eastern Orthodox Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian 2 3 Lutheran 2 4 Moravian 2 5 Reformed 2 6 Anglican 2 7 Methodist 2 8 Irvingian 2 9 Zwinglian 3 Consecration presidency and distribution 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory editThe Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has been believed since very ancient times Early Christian writers referred to the Eucharistic elements as Jesus s body and the blood 17 18 The short document known as the Teachings of the Apostles or Didache which may be the earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament to speak of the Eucharist says Let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord for concerning this also the Lord has said Give not that which is holy to the dogs 19 nbsp A 3rd century fresco in the Catacomb of Callixtus interpreted by the archaeologist Joseph Wilpert as showing on the left Jesus multiplying bread and fish a symbol of the Eucharistic consecration and on the right a representation of the deceased who through participation in the Eucharist has obtained eternal happiness 20 Ignatius of Antioch writing in about AD 106 to the Roman Christians says I desire the bread of God the heavenly bread the bread of life which is the flesh of Jesus Christ the Son of God who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham and I desire the drink of God namely His blood which is incorruptible love and eternal life 21 Writing to the Christians of Smyrna in the same year he warned them to stand aloof from such heretics because among other reasons they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins and which the Father of His goodness raised up again 17 In about 150 Justin Martyr referring to the Eucharist wrote in his First Apology 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 22 In about AD 200 Tertullian wrote Having taken the bread and given it to His disciples He made it His own body by saying This is 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 If however as Marcion might say He pretended the bread was His body because He lacked the truth of bodily substance it follows that He must have given bread for us 23 The Apostolic Constitutions compiled c 380 says Let the bishop give the oblation saying The body of Christ and let him that receiveth say Amen And let the deacon take the cup and when he gives it say The blood of Christ the cup of life and let him that drinketh say Amen 24 Ambrose of Milan died 397 wrote Perhaps you will say I see something else how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ 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 For that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements Why do you seek the order of nature in the Body of Christ seeing that the Lord Jesus Himself was born of a Virgin not according to nature It is the true Flesh of Christ which was crucified and buried this is then truly the Sacrament of His Body The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims This Is My Body Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of after the consecration the Body is signified He Himself speaks of His Blood Before the consecration it has another name after it is called Blood And you say Amen that is It is true Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters let the soul feel what the voice speaks 18 Other fourth century Christian writers say that in the Eucharist there occurs a change 25 transelementation 26 transformation 27 transposing 28 alteration 29 of the bread into the body of Christ Augustine declares that the bread consecrated in the Eucharist actually becomes in Latin fit the Body of Christ The faithful know what I m talking about they know Christ in the breaking of bread It isn t every loaf of bread you see but the one receiving Christ s blessing that becomes the body of Christ 30 In the 9th century Charles the Bald posed two unclearly formulated questions whether the faithful receive the body of Christ in mystery or in truth and whether the body is the same that was born of Mary and suffered on the cross Ratramnus understood in truth to mean simply what is perceptible to the senses plain unvarnished reality rei manifestae demonstratio and declared that the consecration leaves the bread and wine unchanged in their outward appearance and thus insofar as these are signs of the body and blood of Christ hidden under the veil of the signs the faithful receive the body of Christ not in veritate but in figura in mysterio in virtute figure mystery power Ratramnus opposed Capharnaitic tendencies but in no way betrayed a symbolist understanding such as that of 11th century Berengarius 31 32 Radbertus on the other hand developed the realism of the Gallican and Roman liturgy and the Ambrosian theology of the identity of the sacramental and historical body of the Lord The dispute ended with Radbertus s letter to Frudiger in which he stressed further the identity of the sacramental and historical body of Christ but met the opposing view to the extent of emphasizing the spiritual nature of the sacramental body 33 Friedrich Kempf comments Since Paschasius had identified the Eucharistic and the historical body of the Lord without more precisely explaining the Eucharistic species his teaching could and probably did promote a grossly materialistic Capharnaitic interpretation 34 The question of the nature of the Eucharist became virulent for a second time in the Western Church in the 11th century when Berengar of Tours denied that any material change in the elements was needed to explain the Eucharistic presence This caused a controversy which led to the explicit clarification of the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist 35 In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council used the word transubstantiated in its profession of faith when speaking of the change that takes place in the Eucharist It was only later in the 13th century that Aristotelian metaphysics was accepted and a philosophical elaboration in line with that metaphysics was developed which found classic formulation in the teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas 36 It was only then that Scholasticism cast Christian theology in the terms of Aristotelianism The metaphysical aspects of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist were firstly described since the time of the Latin juvenile treatise titled De venerabili sacramento altaris On the reverend sacrament of the altar 37 During the later medieval period the question was debated within the Western Church Following the Protestant Reformation it became a central topic of division amongst the various emerging confessions The Lutheran doctrine of the real presence known as the sacramental union was formulated in the Augsburg Confession of 1530 Luther decidedly supported this doctrine publishing The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ Against the Fanatics in 1526 Saying that bread and body are two distinct substances he declared that out of two kinds of objects a union has taken place which I shall call a sacramental union 38 Thus the main theological division in this question turned out to be not between Catholicism and Protestantism but within Protestantism especially between Luther and Zwingli who discussed the question at the Marburg Colloquy of 1529 but who failed to come to an agreement Zwingli s view became associated with the term Memorialism suggesting an understanding of the Eucharist held purely in memory of Christ While this accurately describes the position of the Anabaptists and derived traditions it is not the position held by Zwingli himself who affirmed that Christ is truly in substance though not naturally physically present in the sacrament 39 The position of the Church of England on this matter the real presence is clear and highlighted in the Thirty nine Articles of Religion The supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves but rather is a Sacrament of our redemption by Christ s death insomuch that to those who rightly and with faith receive the same the bread that we break is a partaking of the body of Christ likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but is repugnant to the plain words of scripture overthroweth the nature of the Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after an Heavenly and spiritual manner And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith The Sacrament of the Lord s Supper was not by Christ s ordinance reserved carried about lifted up or worshipped Articles of Religion No 28 The Lord s Supper Book of Common Prayer 1662 The Council of Trent held 1545 1563 in reaction to the Protestant Reformation and initiating the Catholic Counter Reformation promulgated the view of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as true real and substantial and declared that by the consecration of the bread and of the wine a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance substantia of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood which conversion is by the holy Catholic Church suitably and properly called Transubstantiation 40 The Scholastic Aristotelian philosophy of substance was not included in the Council s definitive teaching but rather the more general idea of substance that had predated Thomas Aquinas 41 Eastern Orthodoxy did not become involved in the dispute prior to the 17th century It became virulent in 1629 when Cyril Lucaris denied the doctrine of transubstantiation using the Greek translation metousiosis for the concept To counter the teaching of Lucaris Metropolitan Petro Mohyla of Kiev drew up in Latin an Orthodox Confession in defense of transubstantiation This Confession was approved by all the Greek speaking Patriarchs those of Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem in 1643 and again by the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem also referred to as the Council of Bethlehem Views editCatholic edit Main article Eucharist in the Catholic Church nbsp Ecce Agnus Dei Behold the Lamb of God at Solemn Mass nbsp Eucharistic celebration at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima The Catholic Church declares that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is true real and substantial 40 By saying Christ is truly present in the Eucharist it excludes any understanding of the presence as merely that of a sign or figure By stating that his presence in the Eucharist is real it defines it as objective and independent of the thoughts and feelings of the participants whether they have faith or not lack of faith may make reception of the sacrament fruitless for holiness but it does not make his presence unreal In the third place the Catholic Church describes the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as substantial that is involving the underlying substance not the appearances of bread and wine These maintain all their physical properties as before unlike what happens when the appearance of something or somebody is altered but the basic reality remains the same it is the teaching of the Catholic Church that in the Eucharist the appearance is quite unchanged but the basic reality has become the body and blood of Christ 42 The change from bread and wine to a presence of Christ that is true real and substantial is called transubstantiation 40 The Catholic Church does not consider the term transubstantiation an explanation of the change it declares that the change by which the signs of bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ occurs in a way surpassing understanding 43 One hymn of the Church Ave Verum Corpus greets Christ in the Eucharist as follows in translation from the original Latin Hail true body born of Mary Virgin and which truly suffered and was immolated on the cross for mankind 44 The Catholic Church also holds that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is entire it does not see what is really in the Eucharist as a lifeless corpse and mere blood but as the whole Christ body and blood soul and divinity nor does it see the persisting outward appearances of bread and wine and their properties such as weight and nutritional value as a mere illusion but objectively existing as before and unchanged In the view of the Catholic Church the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is of an order different from the presence of Christ in the other sacraments in the other sacraments he is present by his power rather than by the reality of his body and blood the basis of the description of his presence as real Eastern Orthodox Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian edit nbsp Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy The Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches as well as the Churches of the East believe that in the Eucharist the bread and wine are objectively changed and become in a real sense the Body and Blood of Christ 45 Orthodoxy rejects philosophical explanations of the change that occurs in the elements during the Divine Liturgy 46 47 While the Orthodox Church has often employed the term transubstantiation Kallistos Ware claims the term enjoys no unique or decisive authority in the Orthodox Church Nor does its use in the Orthodox Church commit theologians to the acceptance of Aristotelian philosophical concepts Ware also notes that while the Orthodox have always insisted on the reality of the change from bread and wine into the body and the blood of Christ at the consecration of the elements the Orthodox have never attempted to explain the manner of the change Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger 48 The Greek term metousiosis metoysiwsis is sometimes used by Eastern Orthodox Christians to describe the change since this term is not bound up with the scholastic theory of substance and accidents but it does not have official status as a dogma of the Orthodox Communion 49 50 51 Similarly Coptic Orthodox Christians a denomination of Oriental Orthodox Christianity are fearful of using philosophical terms concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist preferring uncritical appeals to biblical passages like 1 Cor 10 16 11 23 29 or the discourse in John 6 26 58 52 While the Roman Catholic Church believes that the change takes place at the words of institution or consecration the Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that the change takes place anywhere between the Proskomedia the Liturgy of Preparation and the Epiklesis calling down or invocation of the Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here set forth Therefore it teaches that the gifts should be treated with reverence throughout the entirety of the service We don t know the exact time in which the change takes place and this is left to mystery 53 The words of the Coptic liturgy are representative of the faith of Oriental Orthodoxy I believe I believe I believe and profess to the last breath that this is the body and the blood of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ which he took from our Lady the holy and immaculate Virgin Mary the Mother of God The Eastern Orthodox Church s Synod of Jerusalem declared We believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present not typically nor figuratively nor by superabundant grace as in the other Mysteries but truly and really so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine the bread is transmuted transubstantiated converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord Which was born in Bethlehem of the ever Virgin Mary was baptised in the Jordan suffered was buried rose again was received up sitteth at the right hand of the God and Father and is to come again in the clouds of Heaven and the wine is converted and transubstantiated into the true Blood Itself of the Lord Which as He hung upon the Cross was poured out for the life of the world 54 Lutheran edit Main article Eucharist in the Lutheran Church Further information The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ Against the Fanatics and The Adoration of the Sacrament nbsp A notice about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist in Mikael Agricola Church Helsinki 55 Lutherans believe in the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist 56 57 that the body and blood of Christ are truly and substantially present in with and under the forms 58 59 of the consecrated bread and wine the elements so that communicants orally eat and drink the holy body and blood of Christ Himself as well as the bread and wine cf Augsburg Confession Article 10 in this Sacrament 60 61 The Lutheran doctrine of the real presence is more accurately and formally known as the Sacramental Union 62 It has been inaccurately called consubstantiation a term which is specifically rejected by most Lutheran churches and theologians 63 since it creates confusion about the actual doctrine and it subjects the doctrine to the control of an abiblical philosophical concept in the same manner as in their view does the term transubstantiation 64 65 66 For Lutherans there is no Sacrament unless the elements are used according to Christ s institution consecration distribution and reception This was first articulated in the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 in the formula Nihil habet rationem sacramenti extra usum a Christo institutum Nothing has the character of a sacrament apart from the use instituted by Christ Some Lutherans use this formula as their rationale for opposing in the church the reservation of the consecrated elements private Masses the practice of Corpus Christi and the belief that the reliquae what remains of the consecrated elements after all have communed in the worship service are still sacramentally united to the Body and Blood of Christ This interpretation is not universal among Lutherans The consecrated elements are treated with reverence and in some Lutheran churches are reserved as in Orthodox Catholic and Anglican practice The external Eucharistic adoration is usually not practiced by most Lutherans except for bowing genuflecting and kneeling to receive the Eucharist from the Words of Institution and elevation to reception of the holy meal The reliquae traditionally are consumed by the celebrant after the people have communed except that a small amount may be reserved for delivery to those too ill or infirm to attend the service In this case the consecrated elements are to be delivered quickly preserving the connection between the communion of the ill person and that of the congregation gathered in public Divine Service Lutherans use the terms in with and under the forms of consecrated bread and wine and Sacramental Union to distinguish their understanding of the Eucharist from those of the Reformed and other traditions Moravian edit Nicolaus Zinzendorf a bishop of the Moravian Church stated that Holy Communion is the most intimate of all connection with the person of the Saviour 67 The Moravian Church adheres to a view known as the sacramental presence 2 teaching that in the sacrament of Holy Communion 68 Christ gives his body and blood according to his promise to all who partake of the elements When we eat and drink the bread and the wine of the Supper with expectant faith we thereby have communion with the body and blood of our Lord and receive the forgiveness of sins life and salvation In this sense the bread and wine are rightly said to be Christ s body and blood which he gives to his disciples 68 Lydia Veliko Jeffrey Gross Growing Consensus II Church Dialogues in the United States 1992 2004 page 90 Reformed edit Main article Lord s Supper in Reformed theology nbsp A Scottish Sacrament by Henry John Dobson Those in the Reformed tradition inclusive of Continental Reformed Presbyterian Congregationalist Reformed Anglican Reformed Episcopal and Reformed Baptist churches particularly those following John Calvin hold that the reality of Christ s body and blood do not come corporally physically to the elements but that the Spirit truly unites things separated in space Calvin This view is known as the real spiritual presence spiritual presence or pneumatic presence of Christ in the Lord s Supper Following a phrase of Saint 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 presence penetrates to the heart of the believer more nearly than food swallowed with the mouth can enter in This view holds that the elements may be disposed of without ceremony as they are not changed in an objective physical sense and as such the meal directs attention toward Christ s bodily resurrection and return Actual practices of disposing of leftover elements vary widely The Reformed doctrine of Holy Communion The Lord s Supper The Eucharist is the belief in the Real Presence pneumatic in the sacrament and that it is a Holy Mystery Reformed theology has traditionally taught that Jesus body is seated in heaven at the right hand of God therefore his body is not physically present in the elements nor do the elements turn into his body in a physical or any objective sense However Reformed theology has also historically taught that when the Holy Communion is received not only the Spirit but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ are received through the Spirit but these are only received by those partakers who eat worthily i e repentantly with faith The Holy Spirit unites the Christian with Jesus though they are separated by a great distance See e g Westminster Confession of Faith ch 29 Belgic Confession Article 35 full citation needed The Congregationalist theologian Alfred Ernest Garvie explicated the Congregationalist belief regarding the pneumatic presence in The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View 69 He is really present at the Lord s Supper without any such limitation to the element unless we are prepared to maintain that the material is more real than the spiritual It is the whole Christ who presents Himself to faith so that the believer has communion with Him 69 The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in which Reformed Baptists believe affirms the Lord s Supper to be a means of spiritual nourishment and growth stating 70 The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed to be observed in his churches unto the end of the world for the perpetual remembrance and showing to all the world the sacrifice of himself in his death confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof their spiritual nourishment and growth in him their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe to him and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him and with each other 70 In 1997 three denominations which historically held to a Reformed view of the supper the Reformed Church in America the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church U S A representative of the Continental Reformed Congregationalist and Presbyterian traditions signed A Formula of Agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America a document which stressed that The theological diversity within our common confession provides both the complementarity needed for a full and adequate witness to the gospel mutual affirmation and the corrective reminder that every theological approach is a partial and incomplete witness to the Gospel mutual admonition A Common Calling page 66 Hence in seeking to come to consensus about the real presence see open communion the churches have affirmed belief real presence of Christ in the Lord s Supper while understanding that differences exist between the Lutheran and Reformed views on this In the Lord s Supper the risen Christ imparts himself in body and blood given up for all through his word of promise with bread and wine we proclaim the death of Christ through which God has reconciled the world with himself We proclaim the presence of the risen Lord in our midst Rejoicing that the Lord has come to us we await his future coming in glory Both of our communions we maintain need to grow in appreciation of our diverse eucharistic traditions finding mutual enrichment in them At the same time both need to grow toward a further deepening of our common experience and expression of the mystery of our Lord s Supper A Formula for Agreement Anglican edit Main article Anglican eucharistic theology nbsp Eucharist in an Episcopal church Anglicans prefer a view of objective presence that maintains a definitive change but allows how that change occurs to remain a mystery 3 53 Likewise Methodists postulate a par excellence presence as being a Holy Mystery 4 Anglicans generally and officially believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist but the specific forms of that belief range from a corporeal presence real objective presence sometimes even with Eucharistic adoration mainly high church Anglo Catholics 71 72 to belief in a pneumatic presence mainly low church Reformed Anglicans 73 In Anglican theology a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace In the Eucharist the outward and visible sign is that of bread and wine while the inward and spiritual grace is that of the Body and Blood of Christ The classic Anglican aphorism with regard to the debate on the Eucharist is the poem by John Donne 1572 1631 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 Divine Poems On the Sacrament 74 During the English Reformation the doctrine of the Church of England was strongly influenced by Continental Reformed theologians whom Cranmer had invited to England to aid with the reforms Among these were Martin Bucer Peter Martyr Vermigli Bernardino Ochino Paul Fagius and Jan Laski John Calvin was also urged to come to England by Cranmer but declined saying that he was too involved in the Swiss reforms Consequently early on the Church of England has a strong Reformed if not particularly Calvinistic influence The view of the real presence as taught in the Thirty Nine Articles therefore bears much resemblance to the doctrine of the pneumatic presence of Christ in the Eucharist held by Bucer Martyr and Calvin The Anglican Thirty Nine Articles of Religion contends that Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions The body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner And the means whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith Article XXVIII For many Anglicans whose mysticism is intensely incarnational it is extremely important that God has used the mundane and temporal as a means of giving people the transcendent and eternal Some have extended this view to include the idea of a presence that is in the realm of spirit and eternity and not to be about corporeal fleshiness During the Oxford Movement of the 19th century Tractarians advanced a belief in the real objective presence of Christ in the Eucharist but maintained that the details of how He is present remain a mystery of faith 72 71 a view also held by the Orthodox Church and Methodist Church 3 4 Indeed one of the oldest Anglo Catholic devotional societies the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament was founded largely to promote belief in the real objective presence of Christ in the Eucharist 75 From some Anglican perspectives the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist does not imply that Jesus Christ is present materially or locally This is in accord with the standard Roman Catholic view as expressed for instance by St Thomas Aquinas who while saying that the whole Christ is present in the sacrament also said that this presence was not as in a place 76 Real does not mean material the lack of the latter does not imply the absence of the former The Eucharist is not intrinsic to Christ as a body part is to a body but extrinsic as his instrument to convey Divine Grace Some Anglicans see this understanding as compatible with different theories of Christ s presence a corporeal presence consubstantation or pneumatic presence without getting involved in the mechanics of change or trying to explain a mystery of God s own doing 77 71 Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians participating in the first Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission ARCIC I declared that they had reached substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist 78 This claim was accepted by the 1988 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops Resolution 8 but firmly questioned in the Official Roman Catholic Response to the Final Report of ARCIC I of 1991 79 80 Methodist edit The followers of John Wesley 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 81 but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery 82 In particular Methodists reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation see Article XVIII of the Articles of Religion the Primitive Methodist Church in its Discipline also rejects the Lollardist doctrine of consubstantiation 83 In 2004 the United Methodist Church affirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the real presence in an official document entitled This Holy Mystery A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion 84 full citation needed 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 and His Love Holy Communion is remembrance commemoration and memorial but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling Do this in remembrance of me Luke 22 19 1 Corinthians 11 24 25 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 nbsp A United Methodist minister consecrates the elements In conformity with The Sunday Service of the Methodists Methodism s first liturgical text in congregations of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Bethel Methodist Church Congregational Methodist Church Evangelical Methodist Church Evangelical Wesleyan Church First Bible Holiness Church First Congregational Methodist Church Free Methodist Church Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church Metropolitan Church Association Pilgrim Holiness Church among many other Methodist connexions the presider says the following when delivering the Eucharistic elements to each of the faithful which is reflective of the Methodist teachings of the real presence of Christ in the Lord s Supper and the Lord s Supper being a sacramental means of grace 85 The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on Him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy soul and body unto everlasting life Drink this in remembrance that Christ s blood was shed for thee and be thankful This affirmation of real presence is also illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Eucharistic Liturgy 86 where in the epiclesis of the Great Thanksgiving the celebrating minister prays over the elements Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood Methodists assert that Jesus is truly present and that the means of His presence is a Holy Mystery The communion hymn Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast by Methodist divine Charles Wesley includes the following stanza and is often sung during Methodist services of worship in which the Lord s Supper is celebrated 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 The distinctive feature of the Methodist doctrine of the real presence is that the way Christ manifests His presence in the Eucharist is a sacred mystery the focus is that Christ is truly present in the sacrament 87 The Discipline of the Free Methodist Church thus teaches The Lord s Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ s death To those who rightly worthily and with faith receive it 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 The supper is also a sign of the love and unity that Christians have among themselves Christ according to his promise is really present in the sacrament Discipline Free Methodist Church 88 Many within the Holiness Pentecostal tradition which is largely Wesleyan Arminian in theology as are the Methodist Churches also affirm this understanding of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist 89 Irvingian edit Further information Consubstantiation Edward Irving who founded the Irvingian Churches such as the New Apostolic Church taught the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist Irving insisted on the real presence of the humiliated humanity of Christ in the Lord s Supper 90 The Catholic Apostolic Church has thus held to the doctrine of the real presence of Christ with regard to the elements in the communion service 91 In the Irvingian tradition of Restorationist Christianity consubstantiation is taught as the explanation of how the real presence is effected in the liturgy 92 The Catechism of the New Apostolic Church the largest of the Irvingian denominations teaches 93 Rather the body and blood of Christ are truly present real presence Through the words of consecration spoken by an Apostle or a priestly minister commissioned by him the substance of the body and blood of Christ is joined to the substance of the bread and wine The outward form accidence of the elements of Holy Communion is not changed by this act Just as the Man Jesus was visible during His life on earth so also the bread and wine are visible in Holy Communion After their consecration however the elements of Holy Communion constitute a dual substance like the two natures of Jesus Christ namely that of bread and wine and that of the body and blood of Christ The Son of God is then truly present in the elements of Holy Communion in His divinity and in His humanity However as regards the elements of Communion it is not the case that the bread alone corresponds to the body of Christ and that the wine alone corresponds to the blood of Christ Rather the body and blood of Christ is completely present in each of the two elements both the bread and the wine 93 Zwinglian edit Main article Theology of Huldrych Zwingli Eucharist Further information Anabaptist theology Lord s Supper Huldrych Zwingli a Swiss Reformer taught 94 We believe that Christ is truly present in the Lord s Supper yea we believe that there is no communion without the presence of Christ Christum credimus vere esse in coena immo non credimus esse Domini coenam nisi Christus adsit This is the proof Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them How much more is He present where the whole congregation is assembled to His honour But that His body is literally eaten is far from the truth and the nature of faith It is contrary to the truth because He Himself says I am no more in the world and the flesh profiteth nothing that is to eat as the Jews then believed and the Papists still believe It is contrary to the nature of faith I mean the holy and true faith because faith embraces love fear of God and reverence which abhors such carnal and gross eating as much as any one would shrink from eating his beloved son We believe that the true body of Christ is eaten in the communion in a sacramental and spiritual manner by the religious believing and pious heart as also Chrysostom taught 94 Those who adhere to the Zwinglian view do so at Jesus s words about doing this in remembrance rather than any transformation or any physical presence Rather Christ is really present at the thanksgiving and in the memory Zwingli s words that the true body of Christ is eaten in a sacramental and spiritual manner is understood in a way where the physical objects and actions are the spiritual reminder of what Jesus had done that He has instituted This comes from the belief that the historical understanding of the Early Church taught that sacraments are done in contemplation of faith as the proclamation of salvation and the strengthening of faith in the hearts of believers 95 General Baptists 9 10 Anabaptists 11 the Plymouth Brethren 11 some non denominational Churches 12 see Communion also called the Lord s Supper or the Lord s Table as signifying the body and blood of Jesus a memorial of the Last Supper and the Passion with symbolic and meaningful elements 96 which is done by the ordinance of Jesus This view is known as Memorialism or the Zwinglian view as it was taught by Zwingli a Swiss Reformer Those who hold to the memorial understanding deny the strong sense of Transubstantiation as articulated by Lanfranc in the 11th century arguing more akin to Berengarius who was a symbolist It is pointed out that while early Church Fathers used the language of real presence this is not similar to a hard understanding of Transubstantiation Rather interpreting in the context of other early Church Father writings those who emphasize the symbolic nature of the Eucharist point out the symbolic language used by Tertullian Cyprian and others noting a differentiation between the real presence of Christ being used to mean a bodily presence 97 full citation needed Further it is understood that the dispute arose much later in the 9th and 11th centuries about the nature of the Eucharist 98 full citation needed Anabaptists affirm that communion is a memorial and locate the presence of Jesus not in the elements themselves but teach that the mystery of communion with the living Christ in his Supper comes into being by the power of the Spirit dwelling in and working through the collected members of Christ s Body 99 As such in celebrations of the Eucharist Anabaptist congregations looked to the living Christ in their hearts and in their midst who transformed members and elements together into a mysterious communion creating his Body in many members ground like grains and crushed like grapes into one bread and one drink 99 Consecration presidency and distribution editThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Many Christian churches holding to a doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist for example Catholic Eastern Orthodox Lutheran Moravian Anglican Methodist Oriental Orthodox Reformed and Irvingian reserve to ordained clergy the function of consecrating the Eucharist but not necessarily that of distributing the elements to communicants Others do not speak of ordination but still reserve these functions to leaders who are given titles such as pastor elder and deacon See also edit nbsp Christianity portal Consubstantiation usually attributed to Lutheran theology Eucharistic miracle any miracle involving the Eucharist such as where the host and the wine have visibly changed into flesh and blood sometimes while celebrating the Liturgy Eucharistic theology Sacramental union official Lutheran position Trinitarian indwelling Triune God s entering and real presence within the human heart Sacramentarians the name given to those who during the Reformation controversies denied transubstantiation and Sacramental Union Stercoranism attributed belief in real presence of Christ in physically excreted consecrated host and wine Transignification theory of some twentieth century Roman Catholic theologiansReferences edit a b c R C Sproul 1 November 2006 The Battle for the Table Ligonier Ministries Retrieved 2 August 2020 It is important to note at this point that there is major agreement among Roman Catholics Lutherans Anglicans the Reformed and the Particular Baptists that Christ is truly present in the Lord s Supper They all go beyond the view of the Supper as a bare sign or memorial The debate among Catholics Lutherans and Reformed people is one that focuses on the mode of Christ s presence in the Lord s Supper At the bottom this debate is not so much sacramental as it is christological sic a b Atwood Craig D 1 November 2010 Community of the Cross Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem Penn State Press p 165 ISBN 9780271047508 In the eighteenth century the Moravians consistently promoted the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence which they described as a sacramental presence a b c Losch Richard R 1 May 2002 A Guide to World Religions and Christian Traditions Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 90 ISBN 9780802805218 Anglicans and Orthodox do not attempt to define how Christ is present but simply accept the mystery of his presence a b c Neal Gregory S 19 December 2014 Sacramental Theology and the Christian Life WestBow Press p 111 ISBN 9781490860077 For Anglicans and Methodists the reality of the presence of Jesus as received through the sacramental elements is not in question Real presence is simply accepted as being true its mysterious nature being affirmed and even lauded in official statements like This Holy Mystery A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion McKim Donald K 1998 Major Themes in the Reformed Tradition Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN 978 1 57910 104 6 The Westminster Confession emphatically declares that Christ is truly present in the elements and is truly received by those partaking yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually chap 31 par 7 The insistence is that while Christ s presence is not physical in nature it is no less a real and vital presence as if it were a physical presence Those of us in the Reformed tradition are under strong obligation to honour the notion of the real presence of Christ in the Lord s Supper Johnson Maxwell E 2015 The Church in Act Lutheran Liturgical Theology in Ecumenical Conversation Fortress Press ISBN 978 1 4514 9668 0 That is as the practice of the ancient Assyrian Church of the East indicates clearly not all churches who hold a high doctrine of Christ s real presence have reserved the Eucharist historically Further a lack of reserving the Eucharist in the Assyrian Church of the East has not been a factor in entering recently into a situation of shared Eucharist with the Chaldean Church Kereszty Roch A 2002 Rediscovering the Eucharist Ecumenical Conversations Paulist Press p 253 ISBN 978 0 8091 4144 9 Besides the documents produced by several joint commissions consisting of Catholic and Protestant theologians of different denominations the most important ecumenical document was published by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches Baptism Eucharist and Ministry Some form of the real presence of Christ in the eucharistic celebration has been commonly expressed in the joint text the eucharistic celebration is the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ the sacrament of his real presence 13 Belcher Kimberly Hope 15 October 2020 Eucharist and Receptive Ecumenism From Thanksgiving to Communion Cambridge University Press p 22 ISBN 978 1 108 83956 3 Bilateral eucharistic agreements leading up to Baptism Eucharist and Ministry included enormous progress on the disputed territory of real presence substantial progress in mutual understanding of positions on objective and subjective aspects of the Eucharist and technical terminology such as transubstantiation and incipient progress in understanding the concept of sacrifice The most important gains came from a shared study of history and a deepening of the understanding of the action of the whole eucharistic liturgy a b Basic Beliefs Baptism amp the Lord s Supper Southern Baptist Convention 2018 Archived from the original on 12 March 2013 Retrieved 5 January 2019 The Lord s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His Second Coming a b What We Believe Baptism amp the Lord s Supper National Baptist Convention 2018 Archived from the original on 7 August 2019 Retrieved 5 January 2019 We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer into the name of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified buried and risen Savior with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life that it is prerequisite to the Lord s Supper in which the members of the church by the sacred use of bread and wine are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ preceded always by solemn self examination a b c d e Balmer Randall Herbert Winner Lauren F 2002 Protestantism in America New York Columbia University Press p 26 ISBN 9780231111300 a b University of Virginia Library Religiousmovements lib virginia edu 7 September 2006 Archived from the original on 30 October 2007 Retrieved 29 July 2010 What Does The Bible Really Teach Watch Tower Bible amp Tract Society 2005 p 207 Discerning What We Are At Memorial Time The Watchtower February 15 1990 p 16 The Lord s Supper Why Do Jehovah s Witnesses Observe the Lord s Supper Differently From the Way Other Religions Do Watchtower Bible amp Tract Society 2018 The Eucharist The Facts Behind the Ritual Watchtower Online Library 2018 a b CHURCH FATHERS Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans www earlychristianwritings com Retrieved 12 November 2017 a b Church Fathers On the Mysteries St Ambrose New Advent The Didache www earlychristianwritings com Retrieved 12 November 2017 CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Early Symbols of the Eucharist Retrieved 31 May 2017 Ignatius to the Romans www earlychristianwritings com Retrieved 12 November 2017 Saint Justin Martyr First Apology Roberts Donaldson www earlychristianwritings com Retrieved 12 November 2017 CHURCH FATHERS Against Marcion Book IV Tertullian www newadvent org ANF07 Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries Lactantius Venantius Asterius Victorinus Dionysius Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions Homily Christian Classics Ethereal Library www ccel org Cyril of Jerusalem Cat Myst 5 7 Patrologia Graeca 33 1113 metabolh Gregory of Nyssa Oratio catechetica magna 37 PG 45 93 metastoixeiwsas John Chrysostom Homily 1 on the betrayal of Judas 6 PG 49 380 metarry8mhsis Cyril of Alexandria On Luke 22 19 PG 72 911 metithsis John Damascene On the orthodox faith book 4 chapter 13 PG 49 380 metapoihsis Sermons 230 272B on the Liturgical Seasons New City Press 1994 p 37 original text in Migne Patrologia latina vol 38 col 1116 Hofer Josef Rahner Karl 1963 Lexikon fur Theologie und Kirche in German Herder col 1001 McCracken George E 2 January 1956 Early Medieval Theology Westminster John Knox Press p 92 ISBN 978 0 664 23083 8 Hofer Josef Rahner Karl 1957 Lexikon fur Theologie und Kirche in German Herder Vol 1 col 33 Jedin Hubert Dolan John Patrick 1969 Handbook of Church History The church in the age of Feudalism by F Kempf and others Burns amp Oates p 467 Berengar of Tours In Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978 0 19 280290 3 Transubstantiation In Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978 0 19 280290 3 St Thomas Aquinas De venerabili sacramento altaris nec non de expositione missae in Latin OCLC 989096548 Retrieved 26 November 2020 Weimar Ausgabe 26 442 23 Luther s Works 37 299 300 Riggs John 2015 The Lord s Supper in the Reformed Tradition Louisville Kentucky Westminster John Knox Press p 74 a b c Trent the Council of Session XII Decree touching the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent retrieved 18 May 2023 Davis Charles 1 April 1964 The theology of transubstantiation Sophia 3 1 12 24 doi 10 1007 BF02785911 S2CID 170618935 Avery Cardinal Dulles 25 August 2009 Church and Society The Laurence J McGinley Lectures 1988 2007 Fordham Univ Press pp 455 ISBN 978 0 8232 2864 5 Catechism of the Catholic Church 1333 Vatican va Retrieved 16 April 2018 Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine vere passum immolatum in cruce pro homine late fourteenth century hymn Oblation Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Archdiocese of Australia New Zealand and Lebanon Retrieved 18 May 2023 Dzalto Davor 11 May 2016 Religion and Realism Cambridge Scholars Publishing p 52 ISBN 978 1 4438 9410 4 In general Orthodox theologians reject transubstantiation in the way this doctrine was developed in the Roman Catholic Church Harvey Graham 8 April 2016 Religions in Focus New Approaches to Tradition and Contemporary Practices Routledge ISBN 978 1 134 93690 8 Orthodoxy rejects transubstantiation but contends that something real takes place However what happens is a mystery and hence does not admit of precise explanation Harper Brad Metzger Paul Louis 1 March 2009 Exploring Ecclesiology Brazos Press pp 312 ISBN 9781587431739 Retrieved 4 March 2015 Moss Claude B 11 April 2005 The Christian Faith An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology Wipf amp Stock Publishers p 363 ISBN 9781597521390 Retrieved 4 March 2015 The Greek term corresponding to transubstation is metousiosis which however is not bound up with the scholastic theory of substance and accidents It was accepted by the Synod of Bethlehem 1672 during the reaction against the Calvinizing movement of the Patriarch Cyril Lucaris but it was never accepted formally by the Russian Church and it is not a dogma of the Orthodox Communion McGuckin John Anthony 9 December 2010 The Orthodox Church An Introduction to its History Doctrine and Spiritual Culture John Wiley amp Sons p 360 ISBN 9781444393835 But it does not care to dwell much on the scholastic theories of transubstantiation Azkoul Michael 1994 Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism The Orthodox Christian Witness Vol XXVII 48 Vol XXVIII 6 and 8 At the same time the Latins interpret the Sacraments in a legal and philosophical way Hence in the Eucharist using the right material things bread and wine and pronouncing the correct formula changes their substance transubstantiation into the Body and Blood of Christ The visible elements or this and all Sacraments are merely signs of the presence of God The Orthodox call the Eucharist the mystical Supper What the priest and the faithful consume is mysteriously the Body and Blood of Christ We receive Him under the forms of bread and wine because it would be wholly repugnant to eat real human flesh and drink real human blood Houlden James Leslie 2003 Jesus in History Thought and Culture An Encyclopedia ABC CLIO p 185 ISBN 9781576078563 The Copts are fearful of using philosophical terms concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist preferring uncritical appeals to biblical passages like 1 Cor 10 16 11 23 29 or the discourse in John 6 26 58 a b Martini Gabe 14 August 2013 The Doctrine of Transubstantiation in the Orthodox Church Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy Retrieved 3 March 2015 In other words Roman Catholics believe that transubstantiation is the change that occurs in the whole substance of the bread and wine set apart for the Eucharistic mystery This is a change that takes place at the words of institution or consecration i e This is My Body etc There s some Scholastic language here of course but that s the basic gist In the Orthodox tradition you will find it taught variously that this change takes place anywhere between the Proskomedia the Liturgy of Preparation which is now a separate service prior to both Orthros and the Divine Liturgy on a typical Sunday though traditionally it is done during Orthros and the Epiklesis calling down or invocation of the Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here set forth as in Chrysostom s liturgy As such the gifts should be treated with reverence throughout the entirety of the service We don t know the exact time in which the change takes place and this is left to mystery As Orthodox Christians we must be careful to balance and nuance our claims especially with regards to the Latins or the West The last thing we want to do is oversimplify matters to the extent of seeming deceptive or perhaps worse misinformed After all this is typically what gets thrown our way from those unfamiliar with Orthodoxy beyond literature often justly putting us on the defensive an important distinction from triumphalism in response to such misrepresentations Decree XVII of the Synod of Bethlehem The notice reads Christ is present here This box is used for storing blessed sacrificial breads According to the belief of the Church Christ is really present real presence in the blessed bread and in wine Please do not put anything on the box that does not belong there Thank you 1 Corinthians 10 16 Meaning of Participation WELS Topical Q amp A Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Beliefs of other Church WELS Topical Q amp A Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 4 February 2015 As Confessional Lutherans we believe in baptismal regeneration the real presence of Christ s body and blood in the Lord s Supper and infant baptism Brug John F The Real Presence of Christ s Body and Blood in The Lord s Supper Contemporary Issues Concerning the Sacramental Union PDF Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Archived from the original PDF on 4 February 2015 Retrieved 9 February 2015 Lutherans have always emphasized that Christ s true body and blood are really present in with and under the bread and wine and that Christ s true body and blood are received by all who receive the elements either to their blessing or to their condemnation Lutherans emphasize that although the presence of Christ in the Sacrament is a supernatural presence which is beyond our understanding and explanations it is a real substantial presence Jesus simply says This is my body This is my blood and Lutherans confess this when they say The bread and wine we receive are Christ s body and blood They also combine the words in and under from the Catechism and the word with from the Formula of Concord into the expression Christ s body and blood are received in with and under the bread and wine Jensen Robin Margaret Vrudny Kimberly J 2009 Visual Theology Forming and Transforming the Community Through the Arts Liturgical Press p 85 ISBN 978 0 8146 5399 9 The Augsburg Confession bookofconcord org Article X Retrieved 18 May 2023 Article X Of the Holy Supper Archived 31 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine The Defense of the Augsburg Confession 1531 VII The Lord s Supper Affirmative Theses Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine Epitome of the Formula of Concord 1577 stating that We believe teach and confess that the body and blood of Christ are received with the bread and wine not only spiritually by faith but also orally yet not in a Capernaitic but in a supernatural heavenly mode because of the sacramental union Real Presence Communion Consubstantiation WELS Topical Q amp A Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Although some Lutherans have used the term consbstantiation sic and it might possibly be understood correctly e g the bread amp wine body amp blood coexist with each other in the Lord s Supper most Lutherans reject the term because of the false connotation it contains either that the body and blood bread and wine come together to form one substance in the Lord s Supper or that the body and blood are present in a natural manner like the bread and the wine Lutherans believe that the bread and the wine are present in a natural manner in the Lord s Supper and Christ s true body and blood are present in an illocal supernatural manner Schuetze A W Basic Doctrines of the Bible Chapter 12 Article 3 Real Presence What is really the difference between transubstantiation and consubstantiation WELS Topical Q amp A Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 4 February 2015 We reject transubstantiation because the Bible teaches that the bread and the wine are still present in the Lord s Supper 1 Corinthians 10 16 1 Corinthians 11 27 28 We do not worship the elements because Jesus commands us to eat and to drink the bread and the wine He does not command us to worship them a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code quote code help Real Presence Why not Transubstantiation WELS Topical Q amp A Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 4 February 2015 Knouse Nola Reed 2008 The Music of the Moravian Church in America University Rochester Press p 34 ISBN 978 1580462600 Holy Communion of course is a central act of worship for all Christians and it should come as no surprise that it was also highly esteemed in the Moravian Church Zinzendorf referred to it as the most intimate of all connection with the person of the Saviour The real presence of Christ was thankfully received though typically the Moravians refrained from delving too much into the precise way the Savior was sacramentally present a b Veliko Lydia Gros Jeffrey 2005 Growing Consensus II Church Dialogues in the United States 1992 2004 Bishop s Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs United States Conference of Catholic Bishops p 90 ISBN 978 1574555578 a b Garvie Alfred Ernest 1920 The Holy Catholic Church from the Congregational Point of View namely the One Church in the Many Churches London Faith Press a b Cross Anthony R Thompson Philip E 1 January 2007 Baptist Sacramentalism Wipf amp Stock Publishers p 182 ISBN 9781597527439 a b c Lears T J Jackson 1981 Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture 1880 1920 University of Chicago Press p 202 ISBN 9780226469706 Many folk tale enthusiasts remained vicarious participants in a vague supernaturalism Anglo Catholics wanted not Wonderland but heaven and they sought it through their sacraments especially the Eucharist Though they stopped short of transubstantiation Anglo Catholics insisted that the consecrated bread and wine contained the Real Objective Presence of God a b Herbert Stowe Walter 1932 Anglo Catholicism What It Is Not and What It Is Church Literature Association How the bread and wine of the Eucharist become the Body and Blood of Christ after a special sacramental and heavenly manner and still remain bread and wine and how our Lord is really present real as being the presence of a reality is a mystery which no human mind can satisfactorily explain It is a mystery of the same order as how the divine Logos could take upon himself human nature and become man without ceasing to be divine It is a mystery of the Faith and we were never promised that all the mysteries would be solved in this life The plain man and some not so plain is wisest in sticking to the oft quoted lines ascribed to Queen Elizabeth but probably written by John Donne Christ was the Word that spake it He took the bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it The mysteries of the Eucharist are three The mystery of identification the mystery of conversion the mystery of presence The first and primary mystery is that of identification the other two are inferences from it The ancient Fathers were free from Eucharistic controversy because they took their stand on the first and primary mystery that of identification and accepted our Lord s words This is my Body This is my Blood as the pledge of the blessings which this Sacrament conveys We have since the early Middle Ages lost their peace because we have insisted on trying to explain unexplainable mysteries But let it be repeated Anglo Catholics are not committed to the doctrine of Transubstantiation they are committed to the doctrine of the Real Presence Farris Joshua R Hamilton S Mark Spiegel James S 25 February 2016 Idealism and Christian Theology Idealism and Christianity Volume 1 Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978 1628924039 Advocates of the pneumatic presence might point to the efficacy of the Holy Spirit as somehow applying the virtues or power of the body of Christ to the faithful Some within this camp might emphasize an instrumental manner by which the Holy Spirit uses the elements as a means of communicating the efficacy of the body of Christ This view might be best associated with John Calvin Others within this camp focus on a parallelism by which as the mouth feeds on the consecrated elements so does the heart feed on the body of Christ This seems to be the emphasis of the Anglican divine Thomas Cranmer Quotes Donne www classicsnetwork com Retrieved 18 May 2023 B Talbot Rogers ed 1914 The Works of the Rt Rev Charles C Grafton Vol 7 Longman pp 296 300 Instances of this service and also of carrying the Blessed Sacrament in procession are brought up to arouse the prejudice of party spirit that is opposed to belief in the Real Objective Presence It is therefore my judgment poor as it may be that it would be wise to cease these two forms of devotion We cannot claim for Benediction that it was a pre Reformation service to which we have inherited a right and there is no legal ground on which to stand in favor of its introduction a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help Summa Theologica www ccel org Retrieved 18 May 2023 Vogan Thomas Stuart Lyle 1871 The True Doctrine of the Eucharist Longmans Green p 54 See Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine from the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission and Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement Accessed 15 October 2007 Hill Christopher and Yarnold Edward eds Anglicans and Roman Catholics The Search for Unity London SPCK CTS 1994 pp 18 28 pp 153 155 and pp 156 166 The Catholic Church s Response to the Final Report of the ARCIC I 1991 Archived from the original on 30 October 2015 This Holy Mystery Part One The United Methodist Church GBOD Archived from the original on 7 August 2007 Retrieved 10 July 2007 This Holy Mystery Part Two The United Methodist Church GBOD Archived from the original on 7 July 2009 Retrieved 10 July 2007 Discipline of the Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America Primitive Methodist Church 2013 We reject the doctrine of transubstantiation that is that the substance of bread and wine are changed into the very body and blood of Christ in the Lord s Supper We likewise reject that doctrine which affirms the physical presence of Christ s body and blood to be by with and under the elements of bread and wine consubstantiation This Holy Mystery A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection Original Allegheny Conference Salem Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection 2014 p 137 The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church 2012 ISBN 978 1 4969 5704 7 Discipline of the Bethel Methodist Church Bethel Methodist Church 2014 p 83 Book of Discipline 18 ed Florence Congregational Methodist Church 2013 p 66 Discipline of the Evangelical Methodist Church Indianapolis Evangelical Methodist Church 2018 pp 193 194 The Discipline of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church Evangelical Wesleyan Church 2015 p 183 Book of Discipline Indianapolis Free Methodist Church 2015 p 183 Manual First Bible Holiness Church Muncie First Bible Holiness Church 1956 Constitution and Government of the First Congregational Methodist Church of the U S A 14 ed Boaz First Congregational Methodist Church 1996 p 49 Sanderson Jimmy Scott Stanley Hunt Elton B Belcher Dianne B Woods James H 2011 Doctrines and Discipline of the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church p 33 The Discipline of the Metropolitan Church Association Metropolitan Church Association 15 November 1930 p 21 Discipline Pilgrim Holiness Church of New York 2007 pp F7 F8 For example United Methodist Communion Liturgy Word and Table 1 Grace Incarnate Ministries 2010 Archived from the original on 17 April 2009 Retrieved 23 September 2011 Neal Gregory S 19 December 2014 Grace Upon Grace WestBow Press p 107 ISBN 9781490860060 Oden Thomas C 2008 Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition Revised Edition Abingdon Press p 184 ISBN 9780687651115 Chai Teresa 12 February 2015 A Theology of the Spirit in Doctrine and Demonstration Essays in Honor of Wonsuk and Julie Ma Wipf and Stock Publishers p 97 ISBN 9781498217644 Lee David Y T 11 June 2018 A Charismatic Model of the Church Edward Irving s Teaching in a 21st century Chinese Context Cambridge Scholars Publishing p 167 ISBN 978 1 5275 1208 5 Bennett David Malcolm 4 November 2014 Edward Irving Reconsidered The Man His Controversies and the Pentecostal Movement Wipf and Stock p 292 ISBN 978 1 62564 865 5 The Catechism of the New Apostolic Church 8 2 12 The real presence of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion New Apostolic Church 18 December 2020 Rather the substance of Christ s body and blood is joined to them consubstantiation a b 8 2 12 The real presence of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion The Catechism of the New Apostolic Church New Apostolic Church 18 December 2020 Retrieved 8 February 2021 a b Gerhart Emanuel Vogel 1894 Institutes of the Christian Religion Funk amp Wagnalls p 618 Zwingli on the Lord s Supper 12 February 2008 Balmer Randall Herbert Winner Lauren F 2002 Protestantism in America Columbia University Press p 26 ISBN 9780231111300 Did the Early Church Teach Transubstantiation Doctrine of the Church Part 5 Reasonable Faith a b Snyder Arnold 2006 Was the Bread Only Bread and the Wine Only Wine Sacramental Theology in Five Anabaptist Hymns Conrad Grebel University College Archived from the original on 7 July 2022 Retrieved 28 April 2022 External links editAnglican Dean of Christ Church Cathedral explains Church of Ireland belief in the real presence Dealing with eucharistic leftovers can cause deep offence from Anglican Journal Eastern Orthodox Orthodoxy and Transubstantiation Metousiosis Archived 13 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine The First Part of the Orthodox Catechism questions 338 340 Lutheran The Lord s Supper The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod The Use of the Means of Grace A Statement on the Practice of Word and Sacrament The Sacrament of the Altar by Tom G A Hardt WELS Topical Q amp A Real Presence Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod WELS Topical Q amp A Real Presence Holy Communion Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod WELS Topical Q amp A Matthew 26 26 This is This represents Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Catholic The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist Article from the Catholic Encyclopedia Christ s Presence in the Eucharist True Real and Substantial Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Real Presence Association The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist Eucharist Index United Methodist This Holy Mystery A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion Official Holy Communion and the Real Presence by Charles Duncan Holy Communion as a Means of Grace Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Gregory S Neal Typology and the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Gregory S Neal Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist amp oldid 1220921954, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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