Eucharist
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The Eucharist, also called holy communion, the sacrament, or the Lord's supper, is a kind of religious ritual in many Christian churches. It started when Jesus Christ told his followers to eat bread (His body) and drink wine (His blood) in memory of him, at the Last Supper.
In the Roman Catholic Church
According to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eucharist is the true presence of Jesus Christ, the son of God. During a Mass, through the act of transubstantiation, the bread and wine offered change, and are no longer bread and wine. They become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The bread and wine do not change appearance, but they are the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, which Catholics in good standing (not in the state of mortal sin) come and receive Christ—they consume Him. This follows what was said by Christ, "whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:54). Most Protestant denominations believe that this was meant as a symbol, while the Catholic Church believes in the real presence of Jesus in the body and blood.
First century St. Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of the beloved disciple John, in speaking of "the heretics plaguing the church" in their day, wrote: "They abstain from the Eucharist because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ" (Smyrnaeans, 7).
From the second century, St. Justin Martyr wrote: "This food we call Eucharist, which no one is allowed to share except the one who believes that our teaching is true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and so lives as Christ has handed down. For we do not receive these as common bread and common drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise we have learned that the food over which thanks has been given by the prayer of the word which comes from him, and by which our blood and flesh are nourished through a change, is the Flesh and Blood of the same incarnate Jesus" (The First Apology).
In other churches
In most Protestant churches, the sacrament of communion involves eating small wafers or Matzos and drinking wine or grape juice, and not believing that it is the actual body and blood of Jesus, but as a very important symbolic observance, and fulfillment of what Christ commanded. Some churches offer it daily, some weekly, some monthly, and some a few times a year.
Like the Catholic teaching, Lutherans teach that the bread and wine is Jesus' physical, true body and blood.[1][2][3] Unlike the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation, Lutherans teach that the bread is joined with Christ's body and that the wine is joined with Christ's blood.[4] This view is called sacramental union, commonly confused with consubstantiation, which teaches that the bread and wine are "side by side" with Jesus' body and blood.[5][6]
In the Latter Day Saints or "Mormon" Church, followers eat small pieces of bread and drink water. They believe that this is a symbol of the body and blood of Jesus, and they call it the Sacrament. They also believe that it helps them to make the promises of baptism all over again.
- ↑ Confident.Faith (2020-10-21). "Part VI | Book of Concord". thebookofconcord.org. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ↑ "Lord's Supper". WELS. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ↑ Pahl04/01/2019, Jon. "An Economic Reading of Luther on the Eucharist, or How a Sacramental Economics Made Matter Matter in New Ways". elca.org. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ↑ "Sacramental Union". Pastor Zach's Blog. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ↑ thegardensofboxwoodmanor; October 9, on; Said, 2013 at 11:29 Am (2013-09-09). "Some misrepresentation and confusion: Lutherans and Consubstantiation". Pastor Reeder's Blog. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- ↑
Eucharist Media
A Kremikovtsi Monastery fresco (15th century) depicting the Last Supper celebrated by Jesus and his disciples. The early Christians too would have celebrated this meal to commemorate Jesus' death and subsequent resurrection.
Eucharistic window (1898–1900) by Józef Mehoffer
Christ with the Eucharist, Vicente Juan Masip, 16th century.
Early Christian painting of an Agape feast.
At a Solemn Tridentine Mass, the Host is displayed to the people before Communion.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates a Mass.
Eucharistic elements prepared for the Divine Liturgy
Illuminated title of "The Holy Communion" from the 1845 illustrated Book of Common Prayer.
Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States, Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States (1888). Lectures on the Augsburg Confession : on the Holman Foundation. University of Wisconsin - Madison. Philadelphia : Lutheran Publication Society.
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