The Eucharist
Definition of Terms:
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The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is central to early Christian theology, rooted in both Scripture and tradition, and was formally articulated through centuries of Church teaching. At the heart of this belief is the doctrine of transubstantiation, which holds that during the Mass, the bread and wine become the actual Body and Blood of Christ, even though their outward appearances remain unchanged. This understanding of the Eucharist is not a symbolic or metaphorical presence but a substantial and real one, affirmed by Christ’s own words, biblical typology, and the testimony of the early Church.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, and declares, “This is my body,” and similarly with the wine, “This is my blood” (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20). These statements are direct and unequivocal; Jesus does not say, “This symbolizes my body,” but rather identifies the bread and wine with His very person. The intensity of this claim is reinforced in John 6, where Jesus teaches about the Bread of Life. In a lengthy discourse, He tells His followers;
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
When the Jews challenge Him, He does not retreat or explain His words metaphorically but intensifies them:
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54).
Many disciples, unable to accept this hard teaching, abandon Him. Jesus lets them go, which suggests that His teaching was literal and not symbolic; had it been the latter, He could have clarified the misunderstanding, but He did not. This is the only time when disciples leave him over one of His teachings.
The early Church also saw a deep connection between the Old and New Testament in the Eucharistic theology. The Eucharist is prefigured in the Old Testament by various types and symbols. The Passover meal is one of the clearest types, where a lamb is sacrificed, and its flesh is eaten in order for the Israelites to be saved (Exodus 12). Christ is the true Paschal Lamb, whose sacrifice on the cross redeems humanity. Just as the Israelites had to eat the flesh of the lamb, so too do Christians partake of the true Lamb in the Eucharist. Another significant foreshadowing is the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16), which sustained the Israelites during their journey. In John 6, Jesus compares Himself to the manna, saying, “Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). This emphasizes that the Eucharist is not merely spiritual sustenance but the true Bread from Heaven that gives eternal life.
The depiction of Christ as both the High Priest in the Letter to the Hebrews and the Lamb in the Book of Revelation reveals the profound mystery of His eternal self-offering to the Father, and it is this continual offering that enables Christians to participate in the same sacrifice as Calvary through the Eucharist. These theological images together illuminate how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, though a historical event, transcends time and space and is made present perpetually in the life of the Church.
In the Letter to the Hebrews, Christ is identified as the eternal High Priest, one who surpasses the priesthood of the Old Covenant. The author writes,
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12).
Christ’s priesthood is unique because, unlike the priests of the Old Covenant who offered repeated sacrifices of animals, Christ offers Himself once for all, but that offering is eternally present. He does not need to offer Himself again and again, because His single offering is perfect and eternal, not bound by time. Hebrews 7:24-25 underscores the eternal nature of His priesthood:
“He holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”
The role of Christ as High Priest is inseparable from His role as the sacrificial victim, the Lamb of God. In Revelation, Christ is portrayed as the Lamb who was slain but is now victorious, seated at the right hand of the Father. John describes his vision of heaven: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne” (Revelation 5:6). The fact that Christ is depicted as eternally slain yet standing signifies that His sacrificial death, although it happened once in history, has perpetual efficacy. He continues to offer Himself before the Father in His glorified humanity as both the Priest and the Lamb. This eternal self-offering is central to the Christian understanding of the Eucharist, where the same sacrifice of Christ on Calvary is made present for the faithful to partake.
Because Christ’s sacrifice is perpetual, Christians can mystically participate in it through the Eucharist. In the Catholic understanding, the Mass is not a new sacrifice but a re-presentation of the one sacrifice of Calvary. The Council of Trent articulated this truth, stating that Christ
“left to His beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice… by which the bloody sacrifice which was once to be accomplished on the cross might be represented, and the memory of it might remain until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the remission of the sins which we daily commit” (Council of Trent, Session 22, Chapter 1).
Thus, when Catholics participate in the Eucharist, they are not simply recalling or memorializing Christ’s death, but they are truly entering into the one eternal sacrifice, made present through the liturgy. This understanding is rooted in the words of Christ at the Last Supper. When Jesus said, “This is my body, which is given for you” and “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20), He was instituting the Eucharist as the means by which His followers would share in His sacrifice. The Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the faithful are united with Christ’s offering to the Father. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different’” (CCC 1367).
Therefore, in the Eucharist, Christians are united not only with Christ’s Body and Blood but also with His eternal act of self-offering to the Father. This unity with Christ is also reflected in St. Paul’s teaching on the Church as the Body of Christ. Paul writes;
“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
The Eucharist not only unites the faithful with Christ but also with one another, making the Church truly the Body of Christ. Through communion, Christians participate in Christ’s priestly offering and, as a body, offer themselves along with Christ as a “spiritual sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). This sacrificial dimension of the Christian life is beautifully summarized by St. Augustine, who wrote;
“The whole Church, redeemed by the blood of Christ, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice” (City of God, Book 10, Chapter 6).
Thus, by partaking in the Eucharist, Christians are drawn into Christ’s sacrifice, offering themselves in union with Him to the Father.
St. Thomas Aquinas further explores this mystery, emphasizing that the Eucharist not only re-presents Christ’s sacrifice but also transforms those who receive it into members of His Body. In his Summa Theologica, he writes,
“The effect of this sacrament is the unity of the mystical body, without which there can be no salvation” (Summa Theologica, III, Q. 73, Art. 3).
For Aquinas, the Eucharist is the means by which the Church is made one in Christ and through which believers are incorporated into His eternal offering. Aquinas also emphasizes that the Eucharist, as a sacrament of Christ’s Passion, “contains in itself Christ who suffered” and that it “has an infinite power for the remission of sins” (Summa Theologica, III, Q. 79, Art. 5).
In this sense, Christ’s role as High Priest and sacrificial Lamb is not merely an event in the past but an ongoing reality in which Christians are invited to participate. Every time the Eucharist is celebrated, the faithful enter into the same mystery of Christ’s self-offering, sharing in His sacrifice and receiving the grace of His redemption. This allows Christians to continually offer themselves in union with Christ, as St. Paul urges:
“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).
The Church Fathers, Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote in his letter to the Smyrnaeans (circa 110 AD),
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised up again” (Smyrnaeans 7:1).
This unequivocal statement from one of the earliest Christian leaders confirms that the Real Presence was not a later invention but part of the apostolic faith. Similarly, Justin Martyr, in his First Apology (circa 155 AD), explains,
“For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word…is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh” (First Apology, 66).
These writings demonstrate that the early Christians held a belief in the Real Presence, understanding the Eucharist as a mystery in which Christ truly became present. This understanding was developed further by Thomas Aquinas, who articulated the doctrine of transubstantiation with philosophical precision. In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas writes, “Since Christ’s true body and blood are in this sacrament, it follows that the whole Christ is under each species of the sacrament” (Summa Theologica, III, Q. 76, Art. 2). He explains that the substance of the bread and wine is changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, while the accidents (or appearances) remain. For Aquinas, this is a miracle that cannot be fully comprehended by human reason but is accepted on the authority of Christ’s words: “This is my body.” He also reflects on the spiritual fruit of the Eucharist, writing, “The proper effect of this sacrament is the conversion of man into Christ” (Summa Theologica, III, Q. 79, Art. 1). For Aquinas, the Eucharist is not only Christ’s real presence but also a means of transformation for the believer.
Belief in the Eucharist faced significant challenges during the Protestant Reformation. Reformers like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin developed differing views on the Eucharist. Luther maintained a belief in the Real Presence, but in a modified form known as consubstantiation. He argued that Christ’s body and blood are present “in, with, and under” the bread and wine, but that the substances of bread and wine remain. Luther rejected transubstantiation but retained the conviction that the Eucharist involved more than a mere symbol. In contrast, Zwingli completely rejected the Real Presence, viewing the Eucharist as a symbolic memorial. For Zwingli, Christ’s words at the Last Supper were metaphorical, and the Eucharist served to commemorate Christ’s sacrifice rather than making it present. Calvin took a middle position, rejecting transubstantiation and consubstantiation but affirming a “spiritual presence” of Christ in the Eucharist. He believed that the faithful receive Christ spiritually through faith when they partake of the Eucharist. The Catholic Church responded to these challenges most definitively at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), where it reaffirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation.
Bible Verses:
John 6:50-68
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” 66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Luke 22:19-20
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
1 Corinthians 11:23-29
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.
Church Father Quotes:
The Didache (Written ca 50-70 A.D.)
“And concerning the Eucharist, hold Eucharist thus: First concerning the Cup, “We give thanks to thee, our Father, for the Holy Vine of David thy child, which, thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child; to thee be glory for ever. And concerning the broken Bread: “We give thee thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child. To thee be glory for ever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains, but was brought together and became one, so let thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into thy kingdom, for thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.” –Didache Chapter 9:1-4
“But let none eat or drink of your Eucharist except those who have been baptised in the Lord’s Name. For concerning this also did the Lord say, “Give not that which is holy to the dogs.” –Didache Chapter 9:5
Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 A.D.)
“Let no one be deceived: even the heavenly beings and the angels in their glory, and rulers both visible and invisible, -even for these there will be judgment, if they do not believe in the Blood of Christ.” –Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:1
(Written 107 A.D.)
“Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of his blood; one altar, as there is one bishop. with the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons.” –Letter to the Philadelphians 4:1 (Written 110 A.D)
“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God which is the flesh of Jesus Christ.” – Letter to the Romans (Written in 107 A.D.)
“Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God… They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ. Flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes.” – Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Ch 6:2 (Written 107 A.D.)
“Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude of the people also be; even as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” –Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Ch 8:1
Written in 107 A.D.)
Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.)
“For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).
Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 A.D.)
“He took bread, gave thanks, saying. ‘This is my body.’ The cup likewise, he confessed to be his blood. He taught the new sacrifice of the new covenant, of which the prophet Malachi signified beforehand… he makes it plain that the former people will cease to make offerings to God; but that, in every place, sacrifice will be offered to him, and indeed a pure one, for his name is glorified among the Gentiles.” –Against Heresies 4:17:5
“If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly take bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his body and affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood?” –Against Heresies 4:33.2
“He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies.” –Against Heresies 5:2:2
“For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.” –Against Heresies, book 4:18:5
“When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receive the word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?” –Against Heresies 5:2:2
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 A.D.)
“Eat my flesh, he says, and drink my blood (John 6:53-5). Such is the suitable food which the Lord ministers, and he offers his flesh and pours forth his blood, and nothing is wanting for the children’s growth. O, amazing mystery! We are enjoined to cast off the old and carnal corruption, as also the old nutriment, receiving in exchange another new regimen, that of Christ, receiving him if we can, to hide him within; and that, enshrining the Savior in our souls, we may correct the affections of our flesh.” –Paedagogus 1:6:43:3
Hippolytus of Rome (170-235 A.D.)
“‘And she [Wisdom] has furnished her table’ [Prov. 9:2] . . . refers to his [Christ’s] honored and undefiled body and blood, which day by day are administered and offered sacrificially at the spiritual divine table, as a memorial of that first and ever-memorable table of the spiritual divine supper [i.e., the Last Supper]” (Fragment from Commentary on Proverbs [A.D. 217]).
Tertullian of Carthage (155-240 A.D.)
“[T]here is not a soul that can at all procure salvation, except it believe whilst it is in the flesh, so true is it that the flesh is the very condition on which salvation hinges. And since the soul is, in consequence of its salvation, chosen to the service of God, it is the flesh which actually renders it capable of such service. The flesh, indeed, is washed [in baptism], in order that the soul may be cleansed . . . the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of hands [in confirmation], that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit; the flesh feeds [in the Eucharist] on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may be filled with God” (The Resurrection of the Dead 8 [A.D. 210]).
Origen of Alexandria (184-253 A.D.)
“Formerly, in an obscure way, there was manna for food; now, however, in full view, there is the true food, the flesh of the Word of God, as he himself says: ‘My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink’ [John 6:55]” (Homilies on Numbers 7:2 [A.D. 248]).
Cyprian of Carthage (200-258 A.D.)
“He [Paul] threatens, moreover, the stubborn and forward, and denounces them, saying, ‘Whosoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. All these warnings being scorned and contemned—[lapsed Christians will often take Communion] before their sin is expiated, before confession has been made of their crime, before their conscience has been purged by sacrifice and by the hand of the priest, before the offense of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, [and so] violence is done to his body and blood; and they sin now against their Lord more with their hand and mouth than when they denied their Lord” (The Lapsed 15–16 [A.D. 251]).
“In the priest Melchisedech we see the Sacrament of the Sacrifice of the Lord prefigured. . . where it says; ‘And Melchisedech, the King of Salem, brought out bread and wine, for he was a priest of the most High God, and he blessed Abraham.’ (Gen. 14:18-19). The Psalms declare that Melchisedech is a type of Christ… ‘Before the daystar I begot You. You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchisedech.’ (Ps. 109:3-4). The order is certainly that which comes from his sacrifice and that which comes down from it: because Melchisedech was a priest of the Most High God; because he offered bread; and because he blessed Abraham. Who is more a priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ, when He offered sacrifice to God, offered the same as Melchisedech, namely bread and wine, which is in fact His Body and Blood!” –Letter to Cecil 63:4. (Written in 252 A.D.)
“If Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, is himself the high priest of God the Father; and if he offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father; and if he commanded that this be done in commemoration of himself, then certainly the priest, who imitates that which Christ did, truly functions in place of Christ.” –Letters 63:14 (Written 253 A.D.)
“‘Give us this day our daily bread’. . . We ask this bread be given us daily so that we who are in Christ and daily receive the Eucharist as the food of salvation, may not, by falling into some more grievous sin and then abstaining from communicating, be withheld from the heavenly Bread and be separated from Christ’s Body. . . He Himself warns us, saying, ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you shall not have life within you.’” –The Lords Prayer 18 (Written 252 A.D.)
Aphrahat the Persian Sage (280-345 A.D.)
“After having spoken thus [at the Last Supper], the Lord rose up from the place where he had made the Passover and had given his body as food and his blood as drink, and he went with his disciples to the place where he was to be arrested. But he ate of his own body and drank of his own blood, while he was pondering on the dead. With his own hands the Lord presented his own body to be eaten, and before he was crucified he gave his blood as drink” (Treatises 12:6 [A.D. 340]).
Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373 A.D.)
“So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and wonderful prayers have been completed, then the bread is become the Body, and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: Let us approach the celebration of the mysteries. This bread and this wine, so long as the prayers and supplications have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But after the great prayers and holy supplications have been sent forth, the Word comes down into the bread and wine – and thus is His Body confected.” –Sermon to the Newly Baptized (Written 372 A.D.)
Hilary of Poitiers (310-367 A.D.)
“When we speak of the reality of Christ’s nature being in us, we would be speaking foolishly and impiously -had we not learned it from Him. For He Himself says; ‘My flesh is truly food and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.’ (John 6:55-56) As to the reality of His flesh and blood, there is no room left for doubt, because now, by both the declaration of the Lord and by our own faith, it is truly Flesh and truly Blood. These Elements, when taken and consumed, bring about that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.” –The Trinity, Against the Arians 8:14 (Written 355 A.D.)
Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386 A.D.)
“The bread and the wine of the Eucharist before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity were simple bread and wine, but the invocation having been made, the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ” (Catechetical Lectures 19:7 [A.D. 350]).
“Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that; for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by the faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the body and blood of Christ. . . . [Since you are] fully convinced that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so, . . . partake of that bread as something spiritual, and put a cheerful face on your soul” (ibid., 22:6, 9).
“Let us then, in full confidence, partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. For in the figure of bread, His Body is given unto you, and in the figure of wine, His Blood is given to you, so that by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, you might become united with Him. For this do we become Christ-bearers, His Body and Blood distributed through our members. And thus it is that we become, according to the blessed Peter, sharers of the divine nature.” –Catechetical Lectures 22:3
“Do not approach the Body of Christ with your wrists extended or your fingers spread, but make your left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a king. Having received the Body of Christ, saying over it ‘Amen’, and having blessed your eyes by the touch of the holy Body, consume it -carefully, lest you lose any portion.” -Catechetical Lectures 23:21
“Then, after you have taken communion of the Body of Christ, come forward also to the cup of His Blood, not reaching out with your hands, but bowing; and in an attitude of worship and reverence say Amen, and sanctify yourself by partaking of the Blood of Christ.” –Catechetical Lectures 23:22
“Once when Christ was discoursing with the Jews, He said, ‘If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have life within you.’ Not hearing His words in a spiritual way, they left scandalized, believing He exhorted them to eat flesh. Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that; for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by the faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the body and blood of Christ. . . . [Since you are] fully convinced that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so, . .” –Catechetical Lectures 22:4-6
Optatus of Milevis (320-385 A.D.)
“What is so profane as to break, scrape, remove the altars of God, on which you yourselves had once offered, on which both the prayers of the people and the members of Christ have been borne, where God Almighty has been invoked, where the Holy Ghost has been asked for and has come down, from which by many has been received the pledge of eternal salvation and the safeguard of faith and the hope of resurrection? … For what is an altar but the seat of the Body and Blood of Christ?” -Against the Donatists 5:1 (Written 367 A.D.)
Basil the Great (330-379 A.D.)
“To communicate each day and to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ is good and beneficial; for He says quite plainly: ‘He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.’ We ourselves communicate four times a week, on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and on other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint.” –Letter to a Patrician Lady Caesaria 93 (Written 372 A.D.)
“‘What is the fear with which the Body and Blood of Christ are to be received by us? A kind of certainty, or a kind of feeling?’ The Apostle teaches us this fear when he says: ‘Anyone who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment upon himself’ (1 Cor. 11:27-29) Certainty is effected be faith in the words of the Lord when He says: ‘This is my Body, given for you; Do this in remembrance of me.’” –Faith 172 (Written 370 A.D.)
Gregory of Nyssa (335-395 A.D.)
“The bread again is at first common bread; but when the mystery [the Eucharistic prayer] sanctifies it, it is called and actually becomes the Body of Christ. So too the mystical oil, so too the wine;…after their sanctification by the Spirit each of them has their superior operation.” –Sermon on the Day of Lights [A.D. 383]
“Since it has been shown that it is not possible for our body to become immortal except by being in participation in incorruption through Communion with the Immortal, it is necessary to consider the possibility of that One Body, which is distributed to the myriads of the faithful throughout the world, to be whole in its appropriation to each individual, while yet remaining whole in itself.” –The Great Catechism 37. (Written in 383 A.D.)
“Rightly, then, do we believe that the bread consecrated by the word of God has been made over into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was, as to its potency, bread, but it has been consecrated by the indwelling of the Word there, who lives in the flesh.” –The Great Catechism 37. (Written in 383 A.D.)
“As in the former case, in which the grace of the Word made holy that substance which was bread, and in a certain sense is itself bread, so in this case too, that bread which the Apostle said: ‘is consecrated by God’s word’ (1 Tim 4:5), does not become the Body of the Word by being eaten, but is immediately made into the Body, just as the Word stated, ‘This is my Body!’… He spreads Himself to every believer by means of that Flesh, the substance of which is bread and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, so that by this union with the Immortal, man too may become a participant in incorruption.” –The Great Catechism 37. (Written in 383 A.D.)
John Chrysostom
“Christ is present. The One who prepared that table on Holy Thursday is the very One who now prepares this altar. For it is not man that makes the sacrificial gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ, but He that was crucified for us, Christ Himself. The priest stands there carrying out the action, but the power and grace is of God. ‘This is my Body,’ He says and transforms the gifts.” –Homilies on the Treachery of Judas 1:6 (388 A.D.)
“‘Because the Bread is one, we, the many, are in one Body’ [1 Cor. 10:17]. . . What is the bread? The Body of Christ! What do they become who are partakers therein? The Body of Christ! Not many bodies, but one Body.” –Homilies on First Corinthians 24:2 (written 392)
Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 A.D.)
“When [Christ] gave the bread he did not say, ‘This is the symbol of my body,’ but, ‘This is my body.’ In the same way, when he gave the cup of his blood he did not say, ‘This is the symbol of my blood,’ but, ‘This is my blood’; for he wanted us to look upon the [Eucharistic elements] after their reception of grace and the coming of the Holy Spirit not according to their nature, but receive them as they are, the body and blood of our Lord. We ought . . . not regard [the elements] merely as bread and cup, but as the body and blood of the Lord, into which they were transformed by the descent of the Holy Spirit” (Catechetical Homilies 5:1 [A.D. 405]).
“In our receiving of the Eucharist, each of us takes a small portion, but we believe that in that small portion, we receive all of Him.” –Catechetical Homilies Chapter 6 (Written 405 A.D.)
“When our Lord said: ‘He that eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life’ and saw that the Jews were murmuring and doubting, thinking it impossible to receive immortality from mortal flesh, He added immediately to remove doubt: ‘If you see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before.’ It is as if He were saying: the thing that is being said about my body does not appear now true to you, but when you see Me rising up from the dead and ascending into heaven, it will be made manifest to you that what was said was not harsh and unseemly, but that I have moved to an immortal nature. And He added: ‘It is the Spirit that lives, the flesh profits nothing,’ as if He were saying: these things will come from the nature of the vivifying Spirit, and it is through Him that it will be given to the flesh to become immortal and to confer also immortality on others. ” –Commentary on the Lords Prayer, Baptism and the Eucharist, Chap. 5:9 (Written 405 A.D.) Translated by Alphonse Mingana
“At first the offering is laid upon the altar as mere bread, and wine mixed with water; but by the coming of the Holy Spirit it is transformed into the Body and the Blood, and thus it is changed into the power of a spiritual and immortal nourishment.” –Catechetical Homilies, Chapter 16 (Written 405 A.D.)
“In this world we exist by two acts: birth and food -in birth we receive our existence and in feeding ourselves we maintain our existence- so also is the case with the next world. . . As we received the second birth in water, which is useful and necessary to life in this world, so also we take our food in bread and in wine mixed with water, as they eminently fit this life and sustain us to live in it. . . it is from this food that we are expecting to become immortal and remain forever. These are the things in the hope of which we partake of this holy food of the Sacrament.” –Commentary on the Lords Prayer, Baptism and the Eucharist. Chap. 5:2.7 (Written 405 A.D.) Translated by Alphonse Mingana
Ambrose of Milan (340-397 A.D.)
“Perhaps you may be saying, ‘I see something else; how can you assure me that I am receiving the body of Christ?’ It but remains for us to prove it. And how many are the examples we might use! . . . Christ is in that sacrament, because it is the body of Christ” (The Mysteries 9:50, 58 [A.D. 390]).
“We have proved the sacraments of the Church to be the more ancient, now recognize that they are superior. In very truth it is a marvelous thing that God rained manna on the fathers, and fed them with daily food from heaven; so that it is said, ‘So man ate angels’ food’. But yet all those who ate that food died in the wilderness, but that food which you receive, that living Bread which came down from heaven, furnishes the substance of eternal life; and whosoever shall eat of this Bread shall never die, and it is the Body of Christ.” -On the Mysteries 8:47 (Written 382A.D.)
Gaudentius of Brescia (Died 410 A.D.)
“One man has died for all, and now in every church in the mystery of bread and wine he heals those for whom he is offered in sacrifice, giving life to those who believe and holiness to those who consecrate the offering. This is the flesh of the Lamb; this is his blood. The bread that came down from heaven declared: The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” –St. Gaudentius of Brescia’s post-baptismal instruction on the sacraments, aka mystagogia, (Tract. 2: CSEL 68, 26, 29-30)
“It is significant, too, that his blood should be given to us in the form of wine, for his own words in the gospel, I am the true vine [John 15:1], imply clearly enough that whenever wine is offered as a representation of Christ’s passion, it is offered as his blood.” –St. Gaudentius of Brescia’s post-baptismal instruction on the sacraments, aka mystagogia, (Tract. 2: CSEL 68, 26, 29-30)
“This means that it was of Christ that the blessed patriarch Jacob prophesied when he said: ‘He will wash his tunic in wine and his cloak in the blood of the grape.’ The tunic was our flesh, which Christ was to put on like a garment and which he was to wash in his own blood.” –St. Gaudentius of Brescia’s post-baptismal instruction on the sacraments, aka mystagogia, (Tract. 2: CSEL 68, 26, 29-30)
“Creator and Lord of all things, whatever their nature, he brought forth bread from the earth and changed it into his own body. Not only had he the power to do this, but he had promised it; and, as he had changed water into wine, he also changed wine into his own blood.” –St. Gaudentius of Brescia’s post-baptismal instruction on the sacraments, aka mystagogia, (Tract. 2: CSEL 68, 26, 29-30)
“It is the Lord’s Passover, Scripture tells us, that is, the Lord’s passing. We are no longer to look upon the bread and wine as earthly substances. They have become heavenly, because Christ has passed into them and changed them into his body and blood. What you receive is the body of him who is the heavenly bread, and the blood of him who is the sacred vine; for when he offered his disciples the consecrated bread and wine, he said: This is my body, this is my blood. We have put our trust in him. I urge you to have faith in him; truth can never deceive.” –St. Gaudentius of Brescia’s post-baptismal instruction on the sacraments, aka mystagogia, (Tract. 2: CSEL 68, 26, 29-30)
“When Christ told the crowds that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, they were horrified and began to murmur among themselves: This teaching is too hard; who can be expected to listen to it? As I have already told you, thoughts such as these must be banished. The Lord himself used heavenly fire to drive them away by going on to declare: It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” –St. Gaudentius of Brescia’s post-baptismal instruction on the sacraments, aka mystagogia, (Tract. 2: CSEL 68, 26, 29-30)
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.)
“Christ was carried in his own hands when, referring to his own body, he said, ‘This is my body’ [Matt. 26:26]. For he carried that body in his hands” (Explanations of the Psalms 33:1:10 [A.D. 405]).
“I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. . . . That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ” (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).
“What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ and the chalice is the blood of Christ” (ibid., 272).
Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 A.D.)
“He states demonstratively: ‘This is My Body, and ‘This is My Blood’, lest you might suppose the things that are seen are a figure. Rather, by some secret of the all-powerful God the things seen are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, truly offered in a
sacrifice in which we, as participants, receive the life-giving and sanctifying power of Christ.” -Commentary on Matthew 26:27 (Written post 428 A.D.)
“The Savior Himself declares, ‘Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him.’ By this statement it is to be seen that Christ does not say He will be in us only after the fashion of some relation that is solely intellectual, but also through a participation truly according to nature. Just as if someone were to entwine two pieces of wax together and melt them with a fire, so that both are made one, so too through participation in the Body of Christ and in His Precious Blood, He is united in us and we too in Him.” -Commentary on John [10, 2 on John 15:1] (Written ante 429 A.D.)
The Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.)
“We will necessarily add this also. Proclaiming the death, according to the flesh, of the only-begotten Son of God, that is Jesus Christ, confessing his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into heaven, we offer the unbloody sacrifice in the churches, and so go on to the mystical thanksgivings, and are sanctified, having received his holy flesh and the precious blood of Christ the Savior of us all. And not as common flesh do we receive it . . . but as truly the life-giving and very flesh of the Word himself.” (Session 1, Letter of Cyril to Nestorius [A.D. 431]).
Gennadius of Massilia (Died 496 A.D.)
“I neither praise nor blame those who receive the Eucharist each day. However, I recommend and encourage Communion on the Lord’s Day provided a person is not affected with sin. As I see it, the reception of the Eucharist by someone who still desires to sin burdens rather than purifies. Therefore even though a person is stung by sin, he or she may not continue to desire sinning.” –Ecclesiastical Dogmas LIT. Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources, Volumes 1-4. Lawrence J. Johnson. Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota
“Before receiving Communion, satisfaction is to be made by means of tears, prayers, and trust in the mercy of the Lord, who was accustomed to forgive sins that were piously acknowledged. Then one can calmly and without worry approach the Eucharist. Here I am speaking about those who are not burdened by mortal and capital sins. As to those who have committed mortal sins after baptism, these I exhort to do penance first, and then by the priest’s judgment they are to be reconciled and united in communion if they desire to receive the Eucharist not unto judgment and condemnation.” –Ecclesiastical Dogmas LIT. Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources, Volumes 1-4. Lawrence J. Johnson. Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota
“We do not deny that mortal sins may be forgiven by private satisfaction: first, having changed one’s secular garb and demonstrating zeal for the things of God through the correction of one’s life, a person may obtain pardon through the yoke of perpetual mourning and by means of God’s mercy. Doing the opposite of what they performed penance for, they, being suppliant and humble, may receive the Eucharist on Sundays throughout the rest of their lives.” –Ecclesiastical Dogmas LIT. Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources, Volumes 1-4. Lawrence J. Johnson. Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota
“Water alone is not to be offered when celebrating the Eucharist; this pretense of sobriety simply leads some astray. No, wine mixed with water is offered. Wine was present in the mystery of our redemption, for he said, ‘I will not drink henceforth from the fruit of the vine.’ Wine is mixed with water, not water offered after the meal but water that flowed from his side when it was pierced by a lance, wine and water expressing what came from the true vine of his body.” –Ecclesiastical Dogmas Lxxv. Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources, Volumes 1-4. Lawrence J. Johnson. Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota
Pope Leo I “the Great” (400-461 A.D.)
“When the Lord says: ‘Unless you shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and drunk His blood, you shall not have life in you’, you ought to so communicate at the Sacred Table that you have no doubt whatever of the truth of the Body and Blood of Christ. For that which is taken in the mouth is what is believed in faith; and in vain do those respond, ‘Amen’, who argue against that which is received.” –Sermon 91:3
“Participation in the Body and Blood of Christ effects nothing else but that we become that which we consume, and we carry Him everywhere both in spirit and in body, in and with whom we have died, have been buried, and have risen.” –Sermon 63:7
Faustus of Riez (400-490 A.D.)
“To be sure, there is only one perfect victim who is to be valued under the light of faith and not according to outward appearance, only one victim whose worth depends not on what is seen outwardly but on what is within. Therefore heavenly authority rightly asserts that “my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink.” And so may all uncertainty of belief be absent because the giver of the gift also witnesses its truth. For the invisible priest by his word, by his special power, converts visible created things into the substance of his Body and Blood, saying, ‘Take and eat, this is my Body’; repeating the sanctification he says, ‘Take and drink, this is my Blood.’” –Sermon 17 on the Pasch I. Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources Volumes 1-4 Lawrence J. Johnson Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota
“May no one doubt that the most excellent created things at the command of power, by the presence of majesty, can pass over into the nature of the Lord’s Body since we see mankind made into the Body of Christ by the artistry of heavenly goodness.
Just as when someone comes to the faith, before the words of baptism he or she is still bound by the old debt. Yet by recalling these things he or she is soon set free from all impurity of sin. So it is that created things, when placed on the holy altar to be blessed by the heavenly words, have the substance of bread and wine before the invocation of the divine name; yet after Christ’s words they are his Body and Blood.” –Sermon 17 on the Pasch VIN. Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources Volumes 1-4 Lawrence J. Johnson Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota
Victor of Vita (430-486 A.D.)
We know that many others were killed by arrows and javelins immediately in front of the altar. Almost all those not slain by the sword were later on treated severely at the king’s command, especially the elderly. Elsewhere, as at Tunzuda, Gales, Vicus Ammoniae, and other places, when the divine sacraments (Eucharist) were being distributed to God’s people, the Arians, raging, entered the building and, scattering Christ’s Body and Blood upon the floor, with defiled feet trampled upon it.” –A History of the African Province Persecution, in the Times of Genseric and Huneric, the Kings of the Vandals 1XLI. (I. 14).. (Written ca. 484 A.D.). Worship in the Early Church, An Anthology of Historical Sources, Volumes 1-4. Lawrence J. Johnson. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota
Narsai of Nisibis (399-502 A.D.)
“At such a time may we shun anger and hatred; may we see Jesus who is being led to death for our sake. On the paten and in the cup Jesus goes forth with the deacon to suffer. The bread on the paten and the wine in the cup are a symbol of his death, a symbol they bear in their hands; when they have set these on the altar and covered them, they symbolize his burial.” –Homily 17, an Exposition of the Mysteries. The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai, vol. 8, no. 1. Translated into English by Dom R. H. Connolly M.A. Cambridge, 1909
Jacob of Serugh (451-521 A.D.)
“Together with the priest, the whole people beseech the Father that He will send His Son, that He may come down and dwell upon the oblation. And the Holy Spirit, His Power, lights down in the bread and wine, and consecrates it and makes it the Body and the Blood. And everyone in the house bestirs himself, crying out, ‘Our Father’; and the new sons sanctify and bless Him. And by His brooding, He mingles them homily, and they become one with Him, as it is written, mystically.” –Homily on the Reception of the Holy Mysteries (written 519 A.D.) translated by Dom Hugh Connelly (O.S.B.)
Severus of Antioch (459-538 A.D.)
“For the bread that is consecrated on the holy tables and mystically transmuted is itself truly the body, the body of him in whose name it was in fact transmuted, that is of him who voluntarily died and rose for our sakes. But, if it is the body of him who rose, it is plain that it is impassible and immortal. If we do not look at the bread that is mystically transmuted, but at that which comes under the eyes of the senses, and, seeing it broken, do not confess it to be indeed immortal, it is time for us to say that neither is it God’s body: for what is seen is indeed bread. By the faith therefore by which we understand and believe it to be the body of God who became incarnate without variation for our sakes, and voluntarily suffered and rose, by the same faith we understand and confess that it is also immortal and impassible, and bestows impassibility and immortality on us. For he who allowed it to be cut and divided, because indeed it was otherwise impossible for us to partake of it, in the same mercifulness also allows God’s body which has been already transmuted to appear as bread. And for a confirmation of the transmutation that is accomplished this has been seen by many even with the eyes of their senses themselves, and they have seen bloodstained flesh being broken, not the bread that is laid upon the altar.” –Letter to the Presbyter Victor [519-21.]
Maximus the Confessor (580-662 A.D.)
“The Logos enables us to participate in divine life by making Himself our food, in a manner understood by Himself and by those who have received from Him a noetic perception of this kind. It is by tasting this food that they become truly aware that the Lord is full of virtue (cf. Ps. 34:8). For He transmutes with divinity those who eat it, bringing about their deification, since He is the bread of life and of power in both name and reality.” -On the Lord’s Prayer. The Philokalia: The Complete Text, edited by G.E.H. Palmer, P.N. Gregory, and K. Ware. Published by Faber and Faber, 1995
“If we live in the way we have promised, we will receive, as daily and life-giving bread for the nourishment of our souls and the maintenance of the good state with which we have been blessed, the Logos Himself; for it was He who said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world’, (cf. John 6:33-35).” -On the Lord’s Prayer. The Philokalia: The Complete Text, edited by G.E.H. Palmer, P.N. Gregory, and K. Ware. Published by Faber and Faber, 1995
John of Damascus (675-749 A.D.)
“Because through the Eucharist we have communion with Christ and share in His flesh and in His divinity. We do indeed have such communion thereby, that we are united with each other. For since we partake of one Bread we all become one body of Christ and one blood, and members of each other, since we become of one body with Christ. With all our strength, therefore, let us guard against receiving communion from heretics and from giving Communion to them. For the Lord says; ‘Do not give that which is holy to the dogs.’”-The Source of Knowledge 3. 4. 13 (Written in 743 A.D.)
“The Body is truly united to divinity, the Body which was from that of the Holy Virgin; not that the Body which was taken up comes back down from heaven, but that the bread itself and the wine are made over into the Body and Blood of God. If you inquire into the way in which this happens, let it suffice for you to hear that it is through the Holy Spirit, just as it was through the Holy Spirit that the Lord took on Himself from the Holy Mother of God the flesh that subsisted in Himself. More than this we do not know, except that the word of God is true and effective and all-powerful; but the manner (of the Eucharistic transformation) is inscrutable.” – The Source of Knowledge 3. 4. 13 (Written in 743 A.D.)
“For those who partake worthily and with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life everlasting, and a safeguard to soul and body.. The Bread and the Wine are not a type of the Body and Blood of Christ; -perish the thought!- but the deified Body Itself of the Lord, since the Lord Himself has said: ‘This is My Body He did not say a type of His Body, but His Body; nor a type of His Blood, but His Blood.” – The Source of Knowledge 3. 4. 13 (Written in 743 A.D.)
Non-Catholic Quotes:
J. N. D. Kelly, renowned Protestant historian of the early Church
“Eucharistic teaching, it should be understood at the outset, was in general unquestioningly realist, i.e., the consecrated bread and wine were taken to be, and were treated and designated as, the Savior’s body and blood” –Early Christian Doctrines, pg 440
“Ignatius roundly declares that . . . [t]he bread is the flesh of Jesus, the cup his blood. Clearly he intends this realism to be taken strictly, for he makes it the basis of his argument against the Docetists’ denial of the reality of Christ’s body. . . . Irenaeus teaches that the bread and wine are really the Lord’s body and blood. His witness is, indeed, all the more impressive because he produces it quite incidentally while refuting the Gnostic and Docetic rejection of the Lord’s real humanity” –Early Christian Doctrines pg. 197–98.
Martin Luther, Father of the Protestant Reformation
“Sooner than have mere wine with the fanatics, I would agree with the pope that there is only blood.” (Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper, 1528)
“[S]ince we are confronted by God’s words, ‘This is my body’ – distinct, clear, common, definite words, which certainly are no trope, either in Scripture or in any language — we must embrace them with faith … not as hairsplitting sophistry dictates but as God says them for us, we must repeat these words after him and hold to them” (Ibid.)
“There we have it! This is clear, plain, and unconcealed: ‘I am speaking of My flesh and blood.’ … There we have the flat statement which cannot be interpreted in any other way than that there is no life, but death alone, apart from His flesh and blood if these are neglected or despised. How is it possible to distort this text? … You must note these words and this text with the utmost diligence … It can neither speciously be interpreted nor avoided and evaded” (Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 6-8, 1532).
“I confess that if Karlstadt, or anyone else, could have convinced me five years ago that only bread and wine were in the sacrament he would have done me a great service. At that time I suffered such severe conflicts and inner strife and torment that I would gladly have been delivered from them. I realized that at this point I could best resist the papacy … But I am a captive and cannot free myself. The text is too powerfully present, and will not allow itself to be torn from its meaning by mere verbiage (Letter to the Christians at Strassburg in Opposition to the Fanatic Spirit, 1524).
“Even if we had no other passage than this we could sufficiently strengthen all consciences and sufficiently overcome all adversaries …“… The bread which is broken or distributed piece by piece is the participation in the body of Christ. It is, it is, it is, he says, the participation in the body of Christ. Wherein does the participation in the body of Christ consist? It cannot be anything else than that as each takes a part of the broken bread he takes therewith the body of Christ …“He could not have spoken more clearly and strongly …” (Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments, 1525).
John Calvin, Protestant Reformer
“If there is nothing in heaven or earth of greater value and dignity than the body and blood of our Lord, it is no small error to take it inconsiderately and without being well prepared.” (Calvin’s Short Treatise on the Holy Supper).
“the substance of the sacraments is the Lord Jesus . . . It is necessary, then, that the substance should be conjoined with these, otherwise nothing would be firm or certain. Hence we conclude that two things are presented to us in the Supper, viz., Jesus Christ as the source and substance of all good; and, secondly, the fruit and efficacy of his death and passion.” -John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 11. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“all the benefit which we should seek in the Supper is annihilated if Jesus Christ be not there given to us as the substance and foundation of all.” –-John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 12. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“in order to have our life in Christ our souls must feed on his body and blood as their proper food. This, then, is expressly attested in the Supper, when of the bread it is said to us that we are to take it and eat it, and that it is his body, and of the cup that we are to drink it, and that it is his blood. This is expressly spoken of the body and blood, in order that we may learn to seek there the substance of our spiritual life.” -John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 13. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“Thus it is with the communion which we have in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. It is a spiritual mystery which can neither be seen by the eye nor comprehended by the human understanding. It is therefore figured to us by visible signs, according as our weakness requires, in such manner, nevertheless, that it is not a bare figure but is combined with the reality and substance. It is with good reason then that the bread is called the body, since it not only represents but also presents it to us . . . the sacraments of the Lord should not and cannot be at all separated from their reality and substance.” –John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 16. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“We must confess, then, that if the representation which God gives us in the Supper is true, the internal substance of the sacrament is conjoined with the visible signs; and as the bread is distributed to us by the hand, so the body of Christ is communicated to us in order that we may be made partakers of it. Though there should be nothing more, we have good cause to be satisfied, when we understand that Jesus Christ gives us in the Supper the proper substance of his body and blood, in order that we may possess it fully, and possessing it have part in all his blessings.” –-John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 17. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“. . . feeding on his own substance.” -John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 18. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“. . . the reality and substance of the Supper . . . “ -John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 30. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“. . . the presence and conjunction of the reality with the sign (of which we have spoken, and will again speak) is well understood.” –-John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 43. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“Zuinglius and Œcolompadius . . . forgot to show what presence of Jesus Christ ought to be believed in the Supper, and what communion of his body and blood is `there received’ . . . Luther thought that they meant to leave nothing but the bare signs without their spiritual substance. Accordingly he began to resist them to the face, and call them heretics.” -John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 56-57. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“. . . on receiving the sacrament in faith, according to the ordinance of the Lord, we are truly made partakers of the proper substance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” -John Calvin’s ‘Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper’ 60. The 1536 and 1539 Edition. MONERGISM BOOKS: A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity by John Owen, Copyright © 2020
“The presence of Christ in the Supper we must hold to be such as neither affixes him to the element of bread, nor encloses him in bread, nor circumscribes him in any way, (this would obviously detract from his celestial glory;) and it must, moreover, be such as neither divests him of his just dimensions, nor dissevers him by differences of place, nor assigns to him a body of boundless dimensions, diffused through heaven and earth . . . But when these absurdities are discarded, I willingly admit any thing which helps to express the true and substantial communication of the body and blood of the Lord, as exhibited to believers under the sacred symbols of the Supper, understanding that they are received not by the imagination or intellect merely, but are enjoyed in reality as the food of eternal life.” –Institutes on the Christian Religion
(Beveridge translation) Book IV, 17:19.
“We say that Christ descends to us, as well by the external symbol as by his Spirit, that he may truly quicken our souls by the substance of his flesh and blood.” Institutes on the Christian Religion
(Beveridge translation) Book IV, 17:24.
“Still I am free to confess that that mixture or transfusion of the flesh of Christ with our souls which they teach I repudiate, because it is enough for us, that Christ, out of the substance of his flesh, breathes life into our souls, nay, diffuses his own life into us, though the real flesh of Christ does not enter us.” Institutes on the Christian Religion
(Beveridge translation) Book IV, 17:32.