When every Orthodox Christian prepares for communion, he understands with excitement that just about tomorrow morning, he will be reunited with our Lord Jesus Christ, having received his flesh and blood from the chalice, in the form of bread and wine. Awareness of this action does not come immediately. It takes a lot of work, including mental and spiritual work, to understand the meaning of the Eucharist. Those who, for various reasons, cannot read spiritual literature, are helped by the power of the Holy Spirit, which instills in the soul this reverent feeling of contact with God.
I. The symbolism of bread and wine
Bread is a symbol of life. And Christ Himself used this symbol when He spoke about Himself to the Jews: “Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world... I am the bread of life... I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:32, 33, 35, 48, 51).
The vine is a symbol of God's chosen people (Is. 5:1-6). “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His beloved plantings” (Is. 5:7). In the New Testament, the Lord Himself is the “true Vine,” and God the Father is the vinedresser, but all the people who are with Christ are branches of this Vine (John 15:1-6).
The cup is a symbol of unity and a symbol of salvation.
Bread and wine taken together corresponds to the Slavic “flesh and blood” and means the psychophysical nature of man...
II. Prot. Alexander Men
In ancient times, it was believed that when a person invites friends and they have a meal with prayer, the Divine is invisibly present there. Sacrifice and meal always merged. And so Christ established the table of the New Testament, He concluded the New Union of Heaven and earth through His death, which was indicated by this meal. And He said: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” This is not just remembrance and remembrance, but this is the eternally repeating Last Supper. She is always with us.
When we raise the cup and bread on the throne in the Church, it means that Christ comes again and the night of the Last Supper begins again. He connects us with each other and connects us with Himself. The sacrament of the meal is the sacrament of unity with God and people among themselves. This is what “flesh and blood” means.
III. Yuri Ruban, Ph.D. n.
From the manuscript “History of the Divine Liturgy”, St. Petersburg, 2005
Why did Christ choose a meal, eating food together, as a form of closest unity with his followers? (After all, the Liturgy is a joint meal, only extremely simplified).
This is a big topic - the theology of the Eucharist, on which there are excellent works by Archimandrite. Cypriana (Kerna), oo. John Meyendorff, Al. Schmemann and others. Now I ask you to take a break from our Americanized “way of eating,” often in a hurry, and pay attention to the following fact. Christianity appears in the East, so it is important for us to take into account the Eastern view of the meal: any meal, especially a shared one, is sacred. Christ, as the head of the community, blessed the bread and wine at every joint meal (like any head of the family). The same thing happens at the Last Supper, but now Christ breaks the bread - and calls it his Body, and the wine in the cup - his Blood. At the same time, he himself partakes of this Eucharistic bread (this is not a piece of flesh separate from Him!). And when a person eats, then, figuratively speaking, he turns this bread into his body. When people eat and drink together at a Eucharistic meeting, they become relatives in flesh and blood.
Therefore ap. Paul calls the Church (in the Greek text - Ekklesia, which means “Assembly”!) “Body” of Christ (see Eph. 1:23 and parallel passages, as well as in the texts of his other Epistles). It is important that the Greek term “soma” is used here - a living organism (a whole human personality), and not sarksili kreas (individual pieces of meat of a dismembered, dead body).
“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the Blood of the Lord? Is not the bread that we break a communion of the Body of Christ? There is one bread, and we are many - one body; For we all partake of one bread (metechomen)” (1 Cor. 10:16-17). In the latter case, the word metekhomen is used; This is a form of the verb metekho - to have a share, to take part, to participate, to be involved. We often emphasize the material form of the sacrament - “eating”; here Paul draws attention to why this is done, what happens to us behind it.
Joseph's story
The next place where the bread and cup are described is the story of Joseph, or more precisely the story of two of Pharaoh’s courtiers: the baker and the butler. They did something wrong and, by order of Pharaoh, ended up in prison, where Joseph was kept in custody. One night, the courtiers have dreams, each with a special meaning. One about the cup, and the other about the bread. Very strange dreams, but Joseph, having wisdom from God, interprets these dreams for them.
Mariano Barbasan. Joseph, son of Jacob, in prison
The cupbearer says that he saw a vine, there were three branches on the vine, the vine bore berries, which he squeezed into a bowl and gave this bowl to Pharaoh. Joseph says: “Three branches are three days...” And what does the vine mean? And indeed, after three days the cupbearer came out of prison and handed the cup into the hand of Pharaoh.
The baker saw three baskets filled with all kinds of food, the baker's wares, and the birds pecked it from the basket. Joseph interpreted this as follows: “Three baskets are three days, after three days Pharaoh will take off your head and hang you on a tree; and the birds of the air will peck your flesh from you” (Gen. 40:19).
Several questions arise here: what kind of birds are these that feed not on bread, but on meat? What does the tree on which the baker was hanged remind us? These two courtiers are two people, do we know their names? Who does the baker remind us of? After all, after a while Joseph will become a great baker. Coming out of prison, he will become a very powerful man, a man who will have all the grain of Egypt at his disposal. The lives of all nations, and even Israel, depended on him.
But before this situation, many years of suffering and bitterness await him. Let's follow, as far as possible, the path and life of Joseph: “Joseph, seventeen years old, tended cattle... Israel loved Joseph more than all their sons... and made him a coat of many colors” (Gen. 37:2-3). The brothers hated Joseph because he was loved, had beautiful clothes and had revelations from God. Joseph brought evil rumors about his brothers to his father. Apparently, people who knew Joseph's brothers discussed their behavior and their bad deeds, and Joseph heard about it.
Joseph's brothers were also shepherds, and one day their father sent them to herd cattle in Shechem. This place had about eighty springs in the area and a fruitful valley at the foot of Mount Gerizim, on which a blessing was declared for Israel (Deut. 27:12). However, when, on behalf of his father, Joseph came to Shechem to visit his brothers, he did not find them there. Someone told Joseph that they had gone to Dothan (Gen. 37:17). Dothan was located on the caravan road from Syria to Egypt, a few kilometers north of Shechem. Apparently, Joseph's brothers did not care much about their father's livestock. They were more attracted to the caravan route, where they could buy or sell something, than to the green pasture of Shechem. It was there, to Dothan, that Joseph came. His arrival was a reproof for the brothers. These are no longer rumors: Joseph himself becomes an eyewitness of their deeds. Apparently, Jacob also had this suspicion, which is why he sent his son to visit his brothers.
The biblical story tells us that when they saw Joseph approaching, the brothers began to plot against him in order to kill him. Joseph is stripped of his coat of many colors, a goat is slaughtered, and the goat's blood is stained on the garment. Joseph himself is sold for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, going along the caravan route to Egypt. Many years of separation from his father, years spent in prison, will pass before Joseph meets his brothers again. Now he is the master of the situation, he is the ruler, and the brothers need bread. Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, saying that everything that happened to him was according to the will of God, that there are still five years of famine ahead, and that he, Joseph, will feed them with bread, which is enough to save the lives of his relatives.
Francois Gerard. Joseph is recognized by his brothers
IV. "Lanchana Miracle"
It was the 8th century from the Nativity of Christ. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was celebrated in the Church of San Legontius in the ancient Italian city of Lanciano. But in the heart of one of the priests who served the Liturgy that day, doubt suddenly arose whether the Body and Blood of the Lord, hidden under the guise of bread and wine, were true. The chronicles did not bring to us the name of this hieromonk, but the doubt that arose in his soul became the cause of the Eucharistic miracle, which is revered to this day.
The priest drove away doubts, but they insistently returned again and again. “Why should I believe that bread ceases to be bread and wine becomes Blood? Who will prove this? Moreover, outwardly they do not change in any way and have never changed. Probably these are just symbols, just a memory of the Last Supper: "
On the night when He was betrayed, He took bread: He blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: “Take, taste: this is My body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins.” Likewise the cup, saying: “Drink from it, all of you: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”
The priest pronounced the holy words of the Eucharistic canon with fear, but doubts continued to torment him. Yes, He, the sacrificial lamb, could by His Divine power turn wine into blood and bread into Flesh. He, who came by the will of the Heavenly Father, could do everything. But He left a long time ago, leaving this sinful world and giving it His holy words and His blessing as consolation: And, perhaps, His Flesh and Blood? But is this possible? Didn’t the true Sacrament of Communion go with Him to the heavenly world? Hasn't the Holy Eucharist become just a ritual - and nothing more? The priest tried in vain to restore peace and faith in his soul. Meanwhile, transubstantiation took place. With words of prayer, he broke the Eucharistic Bread, and then a cry of amazement filled the small church. Under the fingers of the hieromonk, the broken Bread suddenly turned into something else - he did not immediately understand what exactly. And there was no longer wine in the cup - there was a thick scarlet Liquid that looked like blood. The stunned priest looked at the object in his hands: it was a thin slice of Flesh, reminiscent of the muscle tissue of the human body. The monks surrounded the priest, amazed by the miracle, unable to contain their amazement. And he confessed to them his doubts, which were resolved in such a miraculous way. Having finished the holy liturgy, he silently fell to his knees and plunged into long prayer. What did he pray for then? Thank you for the sign given from above? Did you ask for forgiveness for your lack of faith? We will never know. But one thing is truly known: since then, in the city of Lanciano, for twelve centuries, the miraculous Blood and Flesh, which materialized during the Eucharist in the Church of San Legontius (now San Francesco), have been preserved. The news of the miracle quickly spread around the nearby cities and regions, and lines of pilgrims reached Lanciano.
Centuries have passed - and the wonderful Gifts have become the object of attention of scientists. Since 1574, various experiments and observations have been carried out on the Holy Sacrament, and from the beginning of the 1970s they began to be carried out at an experimental level. But the data obtained by some scientists did not satisfy others. Professor Odoardo Linoldi, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Siena, a leading expert in the field of anatomy, pathological histology, chemistry and clinical microscopy, conducted research with his colleagues in November 1970 and March 1971 and came to the following conclusions. The Holy Sacrament, kept in Lanciano since the 8th century, represents authentic human Flesh and Blood. The flesh is a fragment of the muscle tissue of the heart; in cross-section it contains the myocardium, endocardium and vagus nerve. It is possible that the fragment of flesh also contains the left ventricle - this conclusion can be drawn from the significant thickness of the myocardium located in the tissues of the Flesh. Both Flesh and Blood belong to the same blood group: AB. This also includes the Blood found on the Shroud of Turin. Blood contains proteins and minerals in normal percentages for human blood. Scientists especially emphasized: what is most surprising is that Flesh and Blood has been preserved for twelve centuries under the influence of physical, atmospheric and biological agents without artificial protection or the use of special preservatives. In addition, Blood, being brought into a liquid state, remains suitable for transfusion, having all the properties of fresh blood. Ruggero Bertelli, professor of normal human anatomy at the University of Siena, carried out research in parallel with Odoardo Linoli and obtained the same results. In repeated experiments carried out in 1981 using more advanced equipment and taking into account new scientific advances in the field of anatomy and pathology, these results were again confirmed:
According to the testimony of contemporaries of the miracle, the materialized Blood later coagulated into five balls of different shapes, which then hardened. Interestingly, each of these balls, taken separately, weighs the same as all five together. This contradicts the elementary laws of physics, but this is a fact that scientists still cannot explain. Placed in an antique bowl made of a single piece of rock crystal, the miraculous blood has been visible to the eyes of pilgrims and travelers visiting Lanciano for twelve centuries.
№3 (372) / January 15 '06
Basics of Orthodoxy
In this topic:
Basics of Orthodoxy
Rules of conduct in the temple
Basics of Orthodoxy
From the statutory rules of worship (On the signs of the cross and bows)
In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, bread and wine are transformed into the true Body and Blood of Christ
At the Divine Table we should not simply see the bread and cup offered, but, elevating our minds, we should understand by faith that at the Holy Table lies “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), sacrificed by the priests .
And truly accepting His honorable Body and Blood, we must believe that these are signs of our Resurrection.
(I Ecumenical Council)
Proclaiming the death according to the flesh of the Only Begotten Son of God, that is, Jesus Christ, and confessing His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, we perform the Bloodless Sacrifice in the churches. And thus we approach the Blessed Mysteries and become sanctified, partaking of the Holy Body and the honest Blood of the Savior of us all, Christ, and accepting not ordinary flesh and not as the flesh of a person sanctified and united with the Word in unity of dignity, but as truly the Life-Giving and Own Body of Himself Words. For He (Jesus Christ), as God, being Life by nature, when He became one with His own Flesh, made it Life-giving. And therefore, although He tells us: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood” (John 6:53), we must not regard it as the flesh of a man who is like us in everything ( how could human flesh by its nature be life-giving?), but truly for the own Flesh of Him who for our sake was made and called the Son of Man.
(III Ecumenical Council)
None of the messengers of the Spirit, that is, the holy apostles and our illustrious fathers, called the Bloodless Sacrifice, performed in remembrance of the suffering of our God and His entire Economy, the “image” of His Body, for this is not how they heard from the Lord. They heard Him preaching: “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you (John 6:53)… He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6, 53; 56); and again: “Take, eat: this is My Body” (Matthew 26:26), but He did not say: “Take, eat the image of My Body.” So, it is clear that neither the Lord, nor the apostles, nor the fathers ever called the Bloodless Sacrifice offered by the priests an “image,” but the Body itself and the Blood itself. And although before consecration takes place, it seemed pious to some of the holy fathers to call bread and wine “substitutes,” but after consecration they become the Body and Blood of Christ, and so we believe. Acts
VII Ecumenical Council
We accept the Eucharist not as simple bread and not as simple drink, but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, having become incarnate as the Word of God, had Flesh and Blood for our salvation, in the same way this Food, over which thanksgiving is said through the prayer of His Word, according to Transfiguration, which nourishes our blood and flesh, is the Flesh and Blood of the same incarnate Jesus Christ.
Hieromartyr Justin the Philosopher
Just as earthly bread, through the invocation of God on it, is no longer ordinary bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of earthly and heavenly, so our bodies, partaking of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but have the hope of the Resurrection.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
The Bread and Wine of the Eucharist, before the holy invocation of the adored Trinity, was simple bread and wine. After the invocation is completed, the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine becomes His Blood.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
In the Holy Mysteries Christ is fully present
We believe that in each part, down to the smallest particle of bread and wine, there is not any separate part of the Body and Blood of the Lord, but the Body of Christ, always whole and in all parts one, and the Lord Christ is present in His Essence, that is, with Soul and Deity, as a perfect God and a perfect man. Therefore, although at the same time there are many sacred rites in the universe, there are not many bodies of Christ, but one and the same Christ is truly and truly present, one His Body and one Blood in all the individual churches of the faithful. And this is not because the Body of the Lord, which is in Heaven, descends on the altars, but because the bread of transfiguration, prepared separately in all churches and, after consecration, translated and transposed, becomes one and the same with the Body that is in Heaven. For the Lord always has one Body, and not many in many places. That is why this Sacrament, according to the general opinion, is the most wonderful, comprehended by faith alone, and not by the speculations of human wisdom, the vanity and madness of whose research about the Divine is rejected by this Holy and above-determined Sacrifice for us.
Message of the Eastern Patriarchs
The Lamb of God is fragmented and divided, fragmented and undivided, always eaten and never consumed, but sanctifying those who partake.
From the Missal
“What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27)
When Christ Himself said about bread: “This is My Body” (Matthew 26:26), after that who will dare not to believe? And when He Himself assured and said about the cup: “This is My Blood” (Matthew 26:28), who then will doubt and say that this is not His Blood? In Cana of Galilee, he once transformed water into wine (John 2:1-10), similar to blood, and is he not worthy of faith when he turns wine into Blood? If, called to the wedding, He performed this glorious miracle, isn’t it all the more so when He gave His Body and Blood to the sons of the bridal chamber (Matthew 9:15) for salvation? Does he require our faith? Therefore, with full confidence, let us accept this as the Body and Blood of Christ. For in the form of bread the Body is given to you, and in the form of wine the Blood is given to you, so that by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, you may become co-corporeal and of the same blood with Him. This is how we become Christ-bearers when His Body and Blood are united with our body and blood. Thus, according to Blessed Peter, we become “partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4)... So, do not consider the bread and wine (in the Eucharist) simple, for they are the Body and Blood of Christ, according to the saying of the Master.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
If anyone expresses doubt and unbelief in the Divine Sacrament - how the bread at the Table is transformed into the Body, and the wine - into the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and becomes His true Body and Blood in sacred service - then every Orthodox Christian must ask it is like this: “Can God make greater than man and above his understanding?” And when he says: “He can,” tell him: “Why can’t He give us His Flesh for food?” “By the word of the Lord the heavens were created” (Ps. 32:6), with the same word of God He transforms bread and wine into His Body and Blood.
And if you are surprised at how the same Christ is both at the Table and in Heaven, then be amazed at how the same sun, which illuminates and warms us here, at the same time shines in the sky, and on earth, and in the east , both in the West and in all countries of the world. So Christ is - at the same time both in Heaven and on earth - in the Most Pure Mysteries, as one Almighty and All-Powerful; both in Heaven, truly by nature, and on earth, by the power of the Divine, he performs great and glorious deeds, incomprehensible and indescribable, above the human mind.
And again, if you are surprised at how one Christ is presented equally whole to the faithful in many parts, no less in one part and no greater in another, be amazed at how my one voice is in my mouth and in your ears. the same voice?
And if you are surprised how the Body is not crushed in the fragmentation of the Mysteries, when the Lamb is fragmented, and how in every part there is a whole and perfect Christ, marvel also at how it happens when a mirror is broken, the reflection in every part remains whole, as in the complete mirror?
If you are amazed at how Christ, often devoured, is not diminished, but remains whole forever, be amazed at how, when you light other candles from one candle, you do not thereby diminish the brightness of the first candle?
And if you ask how Christ, having entered into our nature, is not defiled and not limited, then I will ask: the sun, passing over unclean places, is desecrated by this or not? I know that the wise and faithful will not dare to say: yes! Moreover, Christ, the Light of all purity, is not defiled, and He who is, Whom neither hell, nor the seals of the tomb, nor the doors at the entrance to the disciples, closed and locked, could be held back.
And if you are surprised how a small particle of the Mysteries contains the whole of Christ, then be amazed at how such great cities are contained and embraced in such a small pupil of yours? But, having learned this, do not strive to know the unknowable Mystery, but with undoubted faith and heartfelt love give thanks to the Terrible and Strong and Almighty King and God Almighty in deeds and mind - for His inscrutable gifts.
And in discussing the Body of the Lord, believe with the Church about the Terrible Mysteries. Although you see bread and wine with your eyes, firmly, without a doubt, believe that their essence, by the influx and action of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Almighty Word of God, is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, so that nothing else remains here, but only the truest The Body and Blood of the Lord in the form of wheat, leavened, freshly baked soft bread and wine pressed from grapes.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov
When the Lord proposed the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood, believing in it a necessary condition for communication with Himself and the source of true life, “many of His disciples departed from Him and no longer walked with Him” (John 6:66). Such a work of God’s boundless mercy towards us seemed too wonderful to them, and their dislike for the miraculous alienated them from the Lord. The Lord saw this, and, however, ready to be crucified for the salvation of everyone, did not find it possible to diminish or cancel the miraculous. So it is necessary in the economy of our salvation! Although, of course, with regret, He left them to go from Himself into the darkness of unbelief and destruction, and not only to them, but also to the chosen twelve He said on this occasion: “Would you also like to depart” (John 6:67), expressing readiness to let them go if they do not bow to the miraculous. It follows from this that avoiding the miraculous is the same as avoiding the Lord the Savior, and one who turns away from the miraculous is the same as perishing. Let those who are horrified at the mere reminder of the miraculous heed this! They will also encounter a miracle that they will no longer be able to contradict: this is death and after death judgment. But whether this non-interference will serve them as salvation, only God knows.
Bishop Theophan the Recluse
Arriving in Seleucia, near Antioch, we met with the bishop of the city, Abba Theodore. He told us about the following event that happened under his predecessor at the episcopal see - Blessed Dionysius. There lived a rich merchant, a very God-fearing man. He adhered to the heresy of the North, but he had a servant who belonged to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. According to the custom of the country, on Holy Thursday he accepted the Holy Gifts, wrapped them in clean linen and put them in his closet. After Easter, the merchant needed to send a servant to Constantinople on trade matters. He set off, but, forgetting about the Holy Gifts, left them in his closet and handed the key to the owner. One day, the owner, opening the closet, found a canvas with the Holy Gifts located there. Confused, he did not know what to do. He did not dare to accept them, not belonging to the Catholic Church. So this time he left them in the closet, reasoning that his servant would receive them when he returned. But the day of Maundy Thursday passed again, and the servant had not yet returned. Then the owner decided to burn the Holy Gifts so that they would not remain for another year. Opening the closet, he saw that all the Holy Particles had sprouted into stalks and ears of corn... Fear and trembling overwhelmed him at the sight of a new and extraordinary miracle. Taking the Holy Gifts, he, loudly repeating: “Lord, have mercy!”, hurried with the whole house to the holy temple to Bishop Dionysius. This great and terrible miracle, surpassing all intelligence and understanding, was seen not by two or three, or a few, but by the entire congregation. Everyone thanked God for the indescribable and incomprehensible sign. Many, having believed after the miracle, joined the holy Apostolic Church.
“Spiritual meadow” Internet page “Path to the temple” https://tropinka.orthodoxy.ru
In other rooms:
V. Holy Righteous John
from the book “My Life in Christ”
“Is it surprising that the Lord offers you His Body and Blood for food and drink?
Whoever gave you the flesh of the animals He created for food, He finally gave Himself for food and nourishment. Who fed you with your mother's breasts, He finally Himself undertook to feed you with His Flesh and Blood, so that, just as with your mother's milk you absorbed into yourself the known properties of your mother, her spirit, so with the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior you would absorb Him into yourself spirit and life.
Or, just as before in infancy you fed on your mother and lived on her, her milk, so now, having grown up and become a sinful person, you feed on the Blood of your Life-Giver, so that through this you would be alive and grow spiritually into a man of God, a saint; in short: so that just as then you were the son of your mother, so now you would be a child of God, raised, nourished by His Flesh and Blood, and moreover by His Spirit - Flesh and Blood are His spirit and life - and become the heir of the Kingdom of Heaven, for which you and created for which you also live.”
VI. Priest Konstantin Parkhomenko
Why did the Savior say: “...This is My Body... This is My Blood...”? In what sense is Body and Blood? Symbolically? In the sense that the Blood is a symbol of the establishment of the New Testament, and the broken bread is a symbol of the suffering Body of the God-Man, broken by the tormentors?
Not only. If this were so, the Church would never say that we partake of the True, Authentic Body and Blood. We, as Baptists, would testify only to the remembrance of Christ and His Sacrifice, but not to true unity with Christ.
This means that the Eucharist is something more. This means that the Savior in His Sacrament contained a greater meaning than the one we have reached. This is discussed in this conversation.
Any meal is human nutrition; thanks to eating food, a person lives. Having created the world and planted plants (wheat - bread, grapes - wine), God gives them as food to man (Gen. 1:29). Food is life. “But the meaning, essence, joy of this life is not in food, but in God, in communion with Him” (Protoprev. A. Schmemann). And so man fell away from God, from true life, and through man food also fell away from God, that is, the entire created world. After the Fall, Food does not help a person ascend to God: food leads to death, to decay. Where is the food that will return a person to God? Where is the food that will satisfy you forever, after which your stomach will not be empty after a while? This is Jesus Christ: “Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life; He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
Many times in the Old Testament God gave food to people who were starving to death. This is manna and quails, miraculously given by God to the people after escaping from Egyptian captivity, during the people’s wanderings in the desert. All this is for a time, there is no need to cleave to all this... This only prefigures the true food and true drink that will appear in the coming messianic, eschatological times.
And these times are coming. Types and hopes are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the “bread of life,” first by His word proclaiming eternal life for those who believe in Him (John 6:26-51a), and then by His Flesh and Blood, given for food and drink (John 6:51b-58).
The Savior pronounces His words about the Eucharist after the miraculous feeding of the people in the desert (John 6:1-15), thereby contrasting the Bread of Heaven with physical, perishable bread (John 6:27).
Interpreters note that, by mentioning the Exodus (from Egyptian captivity), Christ puts His actions in line with these events, sacred to every Israeli. On the one hand, He seems to proclaim a new Exodus (the transition to a new life, to a new reality), on the other hand, He hints at the Messianic feast, at the meal expected by the Jews, which, according to the teachings of the prophets, will come when the Lord descends to earth.
And further, explaining what these true food and drink actually are, Christ says that this is His Body and His Blood - He Himself. It does not symbolize bread and wine: it is a likeness, an image of My Body and Blood. He gives the Eucharistic bread and wine a new meaning: “This is My Body...”
Christ died and rose again. His death leads to true Life, which has no end (Rom. 6:9 ff.). The risen Christ is now eternally seated at the right hand of God the Father, “having obtained for us eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12), “always living to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25).
Here is the key to understanding the nature of the Christian Eucharist. The Eucharist is an amazing fact: it is a link connecting our ordinary world, subject to the laws of decay and Death, with the ever-living High Priest who is in the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. The Eucharist is a bridge thrown between the ordinary, created world (the substance of bread and wine) and the Divine world - the glorified flesh of the Risen Christ. It is important to remember that we do not partake of the Body of Christ in His earthly existence, but that Body of the God-Man who took upon Himself the image of a slave, which carried Divinity secretly, as something that only occasionally manifested itself for a moment (for example, at the moment of the Transfiguration). We commune not of the dead Body that lay in the Tomb, but of the new, transformed, resurrected, glorified Body! We partake of the Body and Blood, which have passed into a new - glorified - category of being. We partake of the spirit-bearing Body of Christ, “not dematerialized, but completely animated by the energies of the Spirit” (Olivier Clément).
It is even more correct to say that we partake of the Body that has passed on its way to Heaven, to deification. This same Body lay in a manger, and the Magi worshiped it; this Body was pierced by a spear, died and was laid in the Tomb. And this same Body was resurrected and ascended to the Father. We partake of Him.
To commune with Christ means to connect to Divine life, the only true eternal life; not to commune means to be in the dimension of a fallen, transient, decaying world. “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). And “he who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (v. 56).
“What is this means [leading to eternal life]? Nothing other than this glorious Body, which has shown itself to be stronger than death, and has become for us the source of life. Just as a small amount of leaven is mixed with the whole dough, so the Body raised by God to immortality, entering our body, changes it and completely transforms it into Its own Essence” (St. Gregory of Nyssa).
It was indicated above that the Savior timed the celebration of the Supper to coincide with the Easter dinner. The meaning of the Passover meal is the exodus from captivity to freedom. But this transition, the Old Testament Easter, is only an image, a shadow of the coming messianic Easter - the transition to a new life with God.
The Savior, with His procession to Golgotha, to death, makes the true Easter - the transition to life (gained through the Resurrection), to a new glorified existence. And Christ introduces all believers to this Easter, to a new way of existence. The Body and Blood bestowed by Him in the Eucharist is not an image, not a symbol of a new reality, they are the very reality of the eschatological world in which Christ lives. The Eucharist allows a person, completely immersed in our physical world, to partake of another, heavenly reality, to enter into living contact, unity with the glorified resurrected Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Body now located in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. When the disciples, who heard the Savior’s sermon about the communion of His Body and Blood, were embarrassed by what they heard, Jesus, “knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling...said to them:...What if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (John 6:61-62). There... He is there, but also here, under the guise of wine and bread.
What happens in the Mystery of the Eucharist when a person takes into himself the True Body and True Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered for us, died, rose again and became glorified?
Modern ascetic Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), student of Rev. Silouan of Athos, writes that through union in love with the Divine Hypostasis (Personality) of the Only Begotten Son, we become like Him, gain the opportunity to realize our imagery and likeness to Him and “are adopted by the Heavenly Father for endless ages.”
On the cross, at the last moment, Christ exclaimed: “It is finished.” The depths of the Lord’s thoughts are unknown to us, but we know that then a great shift took place in all cosmic existence. This “It is Finished” refers to the eternal Council in the depths of the Holy Trinity, which is partly spoken of in the Revelation given to us. For us, what we expect in hope from God has not yet been fully accomplished. We continue to see in alarm “the present heavens and earth, as contained by the creative word of God, as preserved for the day of the Last Judgment and the destruction of wicked people...” (Archim. Sophrony (Sakharov)).
For us, this world is still approaching the end of history, the Antichrist is coming, the Judgment and incineration of Satan and sin are ahead, when “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14). For us this is ahead, but the Divine Liturgy, the Eucharist, introducing us to blessed eternity, the Kingdom of Heaven, already contains all these events, as if they had passed. That is why during the Liturgy, praying, the priest on behalf of the believers utters mysterious but beautiful words: “Remembering this saving commandment, and all that was for us: the cross, the tomb, the three-day Resurrection, the ascension to heaven, the sitting on the right hand, the second and glorious restoration coming..."
What can we really remember that we know about? Cross? - Yes. The tomb, the three-day Resurrection, the Savior’s ascension to Heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father? - this happened before the eyes of those whom we trust; we can say that in the experience of faith we are witnesses to this. But can we say that we commemorate the past “second and glorious coming” of Christ? The liturgy, which connects our present world with eternity, with the Kingdom of Heaven, says that it is possible to say so.
Liturgy destroys our time. It would be more accurate to say that she transforms him. Just as the resurrected nature of Christ is transformed and spiritualized, so our time in the Eucharist becomes different.
At the moment of the Eucharist, we are participants in the Last Supper, at which the Sacrament was established, we are interlocutors with the apostles (“Your Last Supper is this day (i.e. today), accept me as a partaker”) and at the same time we are witnesses of the Kingdom of Heaven that came after the Second Coming of Christ. Liturgy allows us to partake of a different, already unearthly, order of things, to become partakers of the Divine flow of time and Divine life. “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne” (Rev. 3:21).
So this happened. The Eucharist is the contemplation of God, communion with God, entering into communion with God - through unity with Christ, His Body and Blood.
And one more aspect of Eucharistic theology needs to be mentioned. “Just as this broken bread, once scattered on the slopes, was gathered to form one, so Thy Church is gathered in Thy Kingdom from all ends of the earth,” writes the author of the Didache in the second century after the Nativity of Christ.
“When the Lord called bread, consisting of many grains gathered together, His Body, He thereby indicated the unity of our people. When He called the wine, squeezed from many bunches and grapes into one drink, His Blood, He indicated that our flock consists of many sheep gathered together,” writes the African bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage.
And another century later: “Men, women, children, deeply divided in relation to tribe, nationality, language, social status, occupation, learning, dignity, condition ... - all of them were transformed by the Church in the Spirit. The Church imparts to all of them equally the Divine form. Everyone receives a single nature, incapable of division, a nature that allows one to no longer take into account the numerous and deep differences between people” (St. John Chrysostom).
So, the Eucharist in some mysterious way unites people. It unites in such a way that everyone gets their place in the Church, everyone fulfills their ministry. And if we think about what the unity of people found in the Church can be compared to, what comes to mind is... - a body, an ordinary body, in which each of the members is precious, each in its place... Both Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition unanimously testify that through Through the Eucharist we are united in Christ into one body, and this body is the Body of Christ. “Through the Eucharist, the community is integrated into the Body of Christ” (O. Clément), through the Liturgy we all become one through Christ and in Christ.
And this theological statement is not a product of later centuries, it is the very original statement of the ancient Church. Ap. Paul, who insisted that he was passing on to his disciples what he had received “from the Lord Himself” (1 Cor. 11:23), constantly returns to the theme that the Church is the Body of Christ. And we believers make up this Body.
The definition of the Church as the Body of Christ is also important in that it gives an idea of the nature of the internal life of the Church. Just like an ordinary body with its growth, nutrition, metabolism, the same thing happens with the Church as the Body of Christ: just as an ordinary body grows and increases, so the Body of Christ is created (Eph. 4:12), creates a return (Eph. 4:16 ). Just as in the body each member has its own special purpose, serving the whole, so the Body of the Church is composed and united by the action of each member according to the measure (Eph. 4:16). Just as there is no discord in the body, and all members form a single whole, a healthy functioning organism, so in the Church of Christ we are all reconciled in one Body (Eph. 2:16), we form one Body, animated by one Spirit (Eph. 4:4) . Just as the body has its own connections, its own nutritional system, so they exist in the Church of Christ (Eph. 4:16; cf. Col. 2:19). As the remarkable thinker of the early twentieth century, professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy N. N. Glubokovsky, wrote:
“All Christians are united in the Lord and in Him are united to the point of inseparability... In this sense, they do not form an external union, but constitute a single whole, where in the different positions of the individual members the common functioning element of the grace of Christ is revealed.” The Church is a unity that exceeds everything familiar to our experience. This unity is not simply based on family, clan, social ties; this unity is supernatural; unity of a living organism. That's why ap. Paul so often used the metaphor: Christ lives in you, Christ lives in me (cf. Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20). As noted by Fr. P. Florensky, “once “grafted into the Church,” believers are not something external to it. They are in a true sense assimilated into the Body of Christ, becoming its members.” This unity and affinity of Christ with believers is so close and real that the sufferings of Christ must be the sufferings of the Church, and the sufferings of the Church and its members (even the smallest) are the sufferings of Christ... “Abide in Me, and I in you” (John 15: 4) is the motto of this New Testament reality, given to us by the immeasurable love of God.
We are repeatedly convinced that both the joys and sorrows of the Church and Christ are the same. “You have heard,” the Apostle Paul addresses the Christians of Galia, “that I cruelly persecuted the Church of God and devastated it” (Gal. 1:13). And the Savior, appearing to Paul, did not ask him: “Why are you persecuting My followers or My disciples?..” Christ asked: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me...” Listen! Why are you persecuting Me, Me Myself? The Savior identifies Himself with Christians. The persecution of His disciples is the persecution of Christ Himself. This is even more clear and concise in the Gospel of Matthew, when the Savior says to the apostles: “He who receives you receives Me...” (Matthew 10:40). In the same Gospel another wonderful example is given in which the Lord Himself identifies Himself with believers (members of the Body-Church):
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him; and will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him: Lord! when did we see you hungry and feed you? or to the thirsty and gave them something to drink? when did we see you as a stranger and accept you? or naked and clothed? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You? And the King will answer them, “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me.” Then He will also say to those on the left side: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and they did not accept Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, and they did not visit Me. Then they too will answer Him: Lord! when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve You? Then he will answer them, “Truly I say to you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life” (Matthew 25:31-46).
So, the New Testament testifies that the Church is not just a community of people, gathered by the power of the Holy Spirit, strengthened and life-giving by the grace of the Sacraments. The Church is the fusion of people into a single organism - the Body of Christ; the place in which believers find this unity is the Eucharist. In Him, in Christ, we not only enter into communion with God, are included in the Divine life, but also unite with each other.
Bread and Wine. Symbol of Christ or transubstantiation?
In my book “Returning to the Origins of Christian Doctrine,” I have already partially answered this question in the chapter “Eucharist, Communion, Supper.” Now I will try to cover this topic in more detail.
For quite a long time, there has been no common opinion between Christian denominations regarding the nature of the bread and wine taken at the Supper, as well as the meaning of this rite.
Everyone knows that Jesus Christ, before voluntarily going to death on the cross on Calvary for the sins of mankind, gave His disciples the order to take bread and wine:
“Taking bread and giving 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. Likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood
, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19,20)
In Catholicism and Orthodoxy, it is believed that, according to these words of Christ, the bread and wine at the Supper are mysteriously miraculously transformed into the true Body and Blood of Christ, without changing their external properties. Thanks to this, Christians seem to physically “merge” with the Body of Jesus Christ. This transformation (transubstantiation) has no analogues in nature. Catholics and Orthodox Christians treat the doctrine of transubstantiation with great trepidation and can even anathematize and curse those who do not recognize this dogma.
A number of Protestant Christian churches look at the rite of the Supper differently. The same words of Christ about the acceptance of bread and wine by His disciples have another meaning. In this material I will reveal the main (but not all) arguments of the position of Protestant Christians who consider the bread and wine at the Supper to be symbols
The Body and Blood of Christ, and not His immediate flesh and blood.
Let us remember again the words of Jesus:
“Taking bread...he broke it and gave it to them, saying: This is My body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me
.
Likewise the cup... saying, “This cup is the New Testament
in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19,20)
Thinking about the words of Christ, in addition to the message that bread and wine are His Body and Blood, you can see other important points in this phrase. Look at what the Lord emphasizes: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
and
“this cup is the New Testament
.
Let us remember other words of Christ:
“He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56).
Now look at the words of the Apostle Paul. Giving instructions to the Christians of Corinth about the correct performance of the Supper, he quoted the words of Jesus, emphasizing what he considered to be the important moments of this rite:
1 Cor. 11:23 For I have received from the Lord Himself
what he also conveyed to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread 24 and, having given thanks, broke it and said: Take, eat, this is My Body, broken for you;
do this in remembrance of Me
.
25 He also took the cup after supper, and said, “ This cup is the new covenant in My blood
.”
Do this whenever you drink, in remembrance of Me. 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim
until He comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily
will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
28 Let examine
himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup.
29 For whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation for himself, not considering
the Body of the Lord.
30 For this reason many of you are weak and sick, and many die.
Let us also remember another statement about the Supper of the Apostle Paul:
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion
Blood of Christ?
Is not the bread that we break a communion
of the Body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16)
So, we have four main texts of the New Testament on which various Christian denominations base their doctrines. Some, let us remind you, believe that the bread and wine at the Supper are transubstantiated (transformed) into the true Blood and Body of Christ, while others believe that bread and wine are a symbol, an image of unity with Christ.
In order to appreciate both of these points of view, it is necessary to analyze the above verses of Holy Scripture and recall other biblical texts on this and related topics. The conclusions can be written briefly:
1. Paul, remembering the words of Jesus, said that the bread broken at the Supper is compared to “broken”
for us in the body of Christ (see above 1 Cor. 11:24). In these words, the emphasis on the image-symbol is more visible than on the mystery of transformation.
2. Jesus said that the cup of wine is the New Covenant in My blood
which is shed for you.” To understand this phrase of Jesus, we need to remember the moment of the conclusion of the (Old) covenant of God with the Israelites on Mount Sinai. Look at the words of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle to the Hebrews, how he compares the two testaments - Old and New, and explains the presence of blood in this rite:
“Christ... with His Blood
... entered the sanctuary and obtained eternal redemption.
.. And therefore He is the intercessor of the new covenant
... And
the first covenant
(now called
the Old
) was established not without blood.
For Moses...took the blood of bulls and goats...and sprinkled it as a book...on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant
which God commanded you” (Heb. 9:11-20).
That is, the Bible clearly shows that both Covenants were made in blood. The Old is on the blood of sacrificial animals, the New is on the blood of Jesus. This is precisely the meaning Christ intended in the connection between His blood and the New Testament. We know that all sacrificial animals were symbols, images
Christ - the truth of the substitutionary sacrifice. This means that in the Supper we again see images and symbols of blood and the Covenant, but we do not see sacrament and mystery here.
Having mentioned the Old Testament, one cannot help but recall some of its most important rituals. One of the main rituals in the sanctuary (temple) was called mincha. According to this ritual, believers were supposed to bring bread to the Lord. This sacrifice was made as a sign of remembrance
the blessings of the Lord and
thanksgiving
(see Lev. 2:2; 6:15).
The communion of bread established by Jesus, also, as you remember, was characterized by the phrases: “do this in remembrance
,” “
you proclaim
,” which connects the Old Testament rite with the New Testament.
Bread was also offered on the altar as a sin offering when a poor person did not have money for an animal or a turtledove (see Lev. 5:11). This clearly points to bread as a symbol of Jesus.
In addition, in the temple every morning and evening, along with the sacrifice of a lamb, wine was poured onto the altar and bread was offered. Absolutely all Jews knew about this. Now we Christians can easily understand that in these rituals God showed us various types of Jesus and His ministry.
“This is what you will offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, EVERY DAY, continually. One lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and another lamb thou shalt offer in the evening, and a tenth [part of an ephah] of WHEAT FLOUR mixed with a quarter of a hin of broken oil, and for a drink offering a quarter of a hin of WINE, for one lamb; 41 The other lamb thou shalt offer in the evening: with a FLORY GIFT like that of the morning, and with the same drink offering thou shalt offer it” (Exodus 29:38-41).
In addition, there was bread in the sanctuary - 12 showbreads constantly lay before the face of the Lord and changed every Saturday, as a recognition that God is the source of God's bread of life for all people. It is the Lord who gives bread for food, that is, life. Theologians are well aware that the 12 showbreads and all the Old Testament sacrifices symbolized the saving ministry of Jesus Christ. All this again points to the deep meaning of images and symbols, but not to the miracle of transformations.
3. Therefore, it is not strange that Jesus, when the Jews remembered the manna from heaven and asked Jesus for a miracle, said this about Himself:
“The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world . I am the bread of life; I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; And the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world . He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life , and I will raise him up on the last day. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:35,48,51, 54,56).
At first glance, it seems that it is enough to eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His blood in order to have eternal life. However, upon careful study of the message of Christ, it becomes clear that this is not the idea contained in the words of Jesus. Christ explained that the real bread of life is He, since He gave His Flesh “for the life of the world” so that believers would have “eternal life.” Look, here Jesus connects salvation not simply with eating bread at the Supper, but with the fact that this salvation is given through the Sacrifice of the Flesh of Christ “for the life of the world . That is, in the text there is an obvious connection not with mystical salvation, through eating bread and wine at the Supper, but with salvation through the Sacrificial death of Christ - His Body broken for us.
Also, Jesus compared not only His blood with a “saving” drink. This is what Christ said to the Samaritan woman:
“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up into eternal life ” (John 4:14).
The connection between Jesus and the spiritual drink that gives eternal life can be seen in other texts of the Bible, but without mentioning the Blood of Christ. This proves that the Blood is just one of the images that clearly shows Who gives eternal life (see 1 Cor. 10:4, Rev. 21:6).
As for the phrase “comes in Me,” this again is one of the images, since there are other symbols showing the unity of believers with Jesus and salvation through Him, which the Lord Himself gave:
“ Abide in Me , and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is in the vine, so neither can you unless you are in Me. I am the vine, and you are the branches” (John 15:4,5)
“I am the door of the sheep... I am the door: whoever enters through Me will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (10:7,9).
Thus, analyzing the Words of Jesus, it is clear that they can have not only a direct, but also a symbolic meaning. And this symbolism is more suitable for interpreting “controversial” verses, since there are other images in the Bible.
4. It is worth looking at one more image that was transferred to the New Testament from the Old. Remember when Jesus took the Supper? This was on Passover, the 14th of Nissan. It is no coincidence that God chose this particular Holiday. The fact is that the Passover lamb, eaten at Passover, also symbolized Jesus. The Bible says this directly:
1 Cor. 5:7 Our Passover, Christ
, slain for us.
Long ago, in Egypt, the eating of the Passover lamb and its blood anointed on the doorposts saved many people from death and then from slavery in Egypt. The death of the Passover lamb for the people symbolizes the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus, and the liberation from Egyptian slavery means the Lord's liberation of people from the slavery of sin.
It was not in vain that the lamb was eaten only with bitter herbs. God wanted people not to enjoy this food, but to see the spiritual meaning here. The bitterness of the herbs symbolized the bitterness of the upcoming suffering of the substitute lamb - Christ on the cross of Calvary.
According to God's law, His people were to eat a lamb annually on the Passover of the 14th of Nisan. Of course, here we are also talking about spiritual unity with the Lord through a deep image. We accept into ourselves - we make part of ourselves the loving Lord who saved us from the clutches of Satan and death.
That is, the Paschal lamb was an image - a symbol of Christ. Neither the Old nor the New Testament says that the flesh of the lamb was transformed into the flesh of Christ. At the Supper, Jesus made a change of images. Instead of the Passover lamb, which was to become incarnate in Jesus the next day, believers (Christians) now had to accept a new image within the New Testament - symbols of the blood and flesh of Jesus Himself.
Thus, just as previously there was no mysterious transubstantiation in the Passover lamb, so there is no transubstantiation in the new symbols.
5. Jesus, giving instructions about the Supper, clearly indicated why He instituted this rite: “Do this in remembrance of me . That is, Christ gave a CLEAR command to celebrate the Supper in His remembrance
.
6. Paul quoted Jesus: “This is my body, broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me,” and about wine - “do this, whenever you drink, in remembrance of Me.”
7. Paul said (see above) that “The cup of blessing which we bless is not a communion (koinwni/a. other translations of the word: (mutual) relationship, (co)participation, fellowship, sociability) of the Blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a communion of the Body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). As you can see, translations of the word koinwni/a do not suggest the mystery of “joining” Jesus, but only indicate spiritual union with Him.
8. Let us remember what Paul said about one of the purposes of eating bread and wine: “He proclaims ” (that is, brings it).
9. Paul stated that whoever eats the Supper unworthily “ guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord.” Let's look at what kind of reception of the Supper Paul considered unworthy: if before the Supper a person HIMSELF does not analyze his actions and does not repent of sins, and also does not reflect on the Sacrifice of Christ: “Let a test himself ... by considering the Body of the Lord.” Violators are punished by the Lord with illness and death. As can be seen here, a person is not saved by the mystical sacrament of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ. But on the contrary, those believers who do not perform the ritual correctly in the spiritual sense get sick and die. From this it is clearly clear that in the rite it is not the mystery and sacrament ( transubstantiation ) that is primary, but the spiritual filling - like the remembrance of the New Testament on the blood of Jesus (a covenant is an agreement), like communion with Christ and the readiness to follow His teaching!
10. It is clear from the text of the Bible that Paul did not condemn Christians for not observing
complex liturgy and sacraments. By the way, they simply didn’t exist then. But Paul criticized Christians for rushing to eat their meal at the Supper, which violates the main meaning of the Supper established by the Lord.
11. Some people believe that since the New Testament does not say that the bread and wine at the Supper are symbols, images, of the Body and Blood of Christ, then they are not them. However, nowhere in the Bible are the sacrificial animals and the bread offered on the altar and in the temple directly called an image of Jesus, although we understand that this is so. Let us remember that Jesus called himself the door, the pastor, the vine, life, light, etc. Naturally, these are all images. But this is not said directly.
Conclusion: Analyzing the above biblical texts, it is not difficult to conclude which of the two interpretations of bread and wine is more consistent with the Bible: as a symbol, image or as transubstantiation, transformation...
Simple logic says that the image fits better into the context of all Biblical facts when analyzing their totality. Summarizing all this, understanding why Paul criticized Christians, it is clear that the apostle considered the main thing in the Supper to be the remembrance of the Sacrifice of Christ, reasoning about it and the proclamation of the Gospel of salvation to other people. We also see that for failure to fulfill this ESSENCE of the Supper, God punished Christians with illness and death.
That is, we see that it did NOT help that they took part in the “sacrament” ; they were still punished, since they did not COMPLETE THE ESSENCE of the ritual, for the sake of which Jesus established it. From here it is clear that the main thing in the Supper is not participation in it itself with the “sacramental” communion of the Body and Blood, but reasoning, remembrance and proclamation ... This is what many Christians of Protestant denominations do at the Supper. We eat the bread that was broken, remembering how the body of Jesus was broken for us, we sip red wine, remembering the blood of Christ shed for us and understanding the advent of the New Covenant with the Lord.
So, according to the teaching of the Bible, at the Supper Christians should remember all these most important truths that strengthen us in faith and build a right relationship with the Lord.
Valery Tatarkin
Other Commentaries on the Bible (questions and answers)
Continue reading the book “Returning to the Origins of Christian Doctrine”
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