III. О ТАИНСТВЕ ЕВХАРИСТИИ ИЛИ ПРИЧАЩЕНИЯ

The Eucharist is a sacrament in which a Christian, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes of the true body and true blood of his Savior. This sacrament surpasses all others, as stated in the Orthodox Confession (Part 1, answer to question, 106). Superior: 1) An excess of mystery and incomprehensibility. In other sacraments, what is incomprehensible is that under a certain visible image, the grace of God invisibly acts on a person, and the very substance of the sacraments, for example, in Baptism - water, in Confirmation - St. myrrh remains unchanged. Here, on the contrary, the very substance of the sacrament changes: the bread and wine, retaining one form, are miraculously transformed into the true body and blood of our Lord, and then, having been accepted by the believers, invisibly produce their grace-filled effects in them. 2) The abundance of the Lord’s love for us and the extraordinary greatness of the gift taught in this sacrament. In other sacraments, the Lord Jesus communicates to those who believe in Him certain particular gifts of saving grace, in accordance with the essence of each sacrament - gifts that He acquired for people by His death on the cross. Here He offers Himself as food to the faithful - His own body and His own blood, and the believers, uniting here directly with their Lord and Savior, are thus united with the very source of saving grace. 3) Finally, by the fact that all other sacraments are only sacraments that have a saving effect on a person; and the Eucharist is not only the most incomprehensible and saving of the sacraments, but at the same time it is also a sacrifice to God - a sacrifice that is offered to Him for everyone, living and dead, and propitiates Him (Right. Confession, part I, answer to question 107; Post. Eastern Pat. on the Orthodox faith, part 17). From ancient times, the sacrament of the Eucharist was and is called by different names, and - a) Eucharist (εύχαριστία), i.e. thanksgiving: because, at the establishment of this sacrament, the Lord, receiving bread and giving thanks (εύχαριςτήσας), broke (1 Cor. 11, 24), and then receiving the cup, also giving thanks or giving praise (εύχαριστήσας), to the disciples (Matthew 26:27); b) the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 10:17.21), mysterious and divine 1106: because it was established at the Lord's Last Supper with the disciples; c) the table of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:20), Christ's, sacred, mysterious 1107: because it offers the body and blood of the Lord Jesus as saving food; d) the sacrament of the altar 1108: because it is performed in the altar on St. throne; e) the bread of the Lord, God, heavenly, daily 1109, also the terrible cup, the sacrament of the cup 1110: according to the substance used in this sacrament; f) cup of blessing (1 Cor. 10:16): according to the image of the consecration of St. gifts 1111; g) the body of Christ, the Lord, saving, holy 1112, and the blood of Christ, honest 1113: because, under the guise of bread and wine, he teaches the true body and blood of Christ; h) by communion, communion 1114: because, by partaking of this sacrament, we all become one with the Lord Jesus and with each other; i) cup of life, salvation 1115: according to the actions of grace in us; i) mysteries and secrets, holy, divine, terrible, heavenly 1116: by their very essence and excess of incomprehensibility for us; j) a holy, mystical sacrifice 1117: because it really serves as a propitiatory sacrifice to God, and under... § 213. The Divine promise of the sacrament of the Eucharist and its very establishment Wanting to prepare people for the reception of such a great and terrible sacrament as the Eucharist, Christ the Savior, long before its establishment, deigned to solemnly pronounce a promise about it, to show its essence, power, necessity; and then, when the time came, he actually established this saving sacrament. The history of the promise about him is described in detail by St. John the Theologian; the history of the establishment itself is conveyed by the other three Evangelists and St. Apostle Paul. 1) St. John first of all tells an incident in which the Lord was pleased to pronounce the promise of the sacrament of his body and blood. One day, by the Sea of ​​Tiberias, He performed a great miracle: He fed about five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish (John 6:1-13). Those who saw this miracle were so amazed by it that they involuntarily began to exclaim: this is truly a Prophet coming into the world (- 14), and, carried away by their false notions about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, they wanted to come so that they would capture him and create his king (- 15). The God-man, who came to earth, not to serve him, but to serve (Matthew 20:28), immediately withdrew into the mountain alone, and then at night, uniting with his disciples who were sailing on a ship to Capernaum, miraculously crossed with them to the other side of the Sea of ​​Tiberias (- 16–23). But the people, miraculously nourished by Jesus, relentlessly sought the Wonderworker, and also followed Him on ships to Capernaum (23-25). Then the Lord, realizing that the Jews were following Him not because they saw a sign, but because they ate bread and were filled, and clearly expressing this to the Jews (-26), wanted to raise their attention from perishable food to another, higher, incorruptible food, and pronounced the promise of the sacrament of the Eucharist 1118. Do not do the evil that perishes, but the evil that abides in the eternal life, which the Son of man will give you: for this, God the Father of the banner (-27), - this is how Christ began this promise before the congregation of the Jews. When they said: You have done a sign, so that we can see and believe in you, and they reminded you that Moses, as proof of his Divine embassy, ​​gave them bread from heaven or manna in the desert (- 30.31) 1119: then Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; but my Father will give you the true bread from heaven (- 32), and in response to their cry: Lord, always give us this bread (- 34), he expressed the promise of the Eucharist with even greater clarity, saying: I am the living bread: he who comes for me will never be hungry: and you who believe in me will never be thirsty (- 35). When, finally, amazed by these words, the Jews began to murmur: as he said: I am the bread that came down from heaven, and the verb. Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know, as this one says, as if he came down from heaven (41.42) - Jesus has already testified with all clarity: Amen, amen I say to you: believe in me, you will have eternal life. I am the bread of the animal. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that whoever eats from it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven: whoever eats of this bread will live forever. And the bread which I will give, my flesh is, which I will give for the life of the world (47-51). The Jews again began to argue among themselves and said: How can this one give us his flesh to eat (-59)? - and Jesus repeated to them again with perfect clarity: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have an eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is truly meat, and my blood is truly beer. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live for the Father’s sake: and he who eats me will also live for my sake. This is the bread that came down from heaven: not as your fathers ate manna and died: this poisonous bread will live forever (53-58). Many of the disciples who followed Jesus, hearing this wonderful promise of a terrible sacrament, said: This word is cruel: who can listen to it (- 60)? – and then they departed from Him forever (- 66). But His true disciples, encouraged, accepted this word with faith, and through the mouth of Peter they confessed: Lord, to whom are we going; verbs of the belly of the eternal imashi. And we have faith and knowledge, for you are the Christ, the Son of the living God (- 68.69). And experience showed that when the Lord subsequently established the sacrament of the Eucharist, none of them expressed bewilderment, no one turned to Jesus with a question - that they were really prepared to receive such a great sacrament. 2) It pleased the Lord to establish the sacrament of the Eucharist in the midst of the most important circumstances. The Jewish Passover was approaching - the greatest of the Old Testament holidays, which prefigured the atoning Lamb, slain in the predestination of God from the foundation of the world (Ap. 13: 8). At the same time, the hour was finally approaching when He, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), really had to be slain on the altar of the cross. At this time, the day before the Jews were going to celebrate Passover, the Lord sent two of his disciples to Jerusalem to prepare a place and everything necessary for celebrating Passover. And on the very night, when he was betrayed (1 Cor. 11:23), he comes with all his clothes to the Jerusalem upper room, prepared in accordance with His will. Here, having reclined with his disciples, He first of all celebrates the Old Testament Passover (Luke 22:15); then he washes the disciples’ feet, teaching them humility and mutual love (John 13:3–15), again predicts to them about his approaching suffering, and points out the traitor himself (Matthew 26:21–25; Luke. 22, 16–27), and finally establishes the sacrament of the Eucharist. To those who eat them, says St. Evangelist Matthew, Jesus took the bread, and blessed, broke, and gave to the disciples, and said: take, eat: this is my body. And having received the cup and given praise, he gave them the word: drink of it, all of you: for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins (26, 26-28; taken down. Mark 14, 22-24). Or, as St. writes. Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: For I received from the Lord, and gave it unto you, as the Lord Jesus was betrayed in the night, and having given thanks, broke the bread, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of me. Likewise the cup, after supper, saying: This cup, the new covenant, is in my blood: do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of me (1 Cor. 11:23-25; taken down, Luke 22:19.20). Thus, at the same time, the Lord concluded the Old Testament representative Passover and established the New Testament bloodless sacrifice, the true Passover, which must be celebrated, in His remembrance, until the end of the world. And he did all this on the very night when he was betrayed to suffer on the cross and die! § 214. The visible side of the sacrament of the Eucharist Paying attention to the visible or sensory side of the sacrament of the Eucharist, we distinguish: 1) the substance used for the sacrament: bread and wine; 2) the sacred act, during which the sacrament is performed, and 3) especially that most important part of the sacred act, those words during which the very transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ takes place. I. The substances for the sacrament of the Eucharist are bread and wine. The bread must be wheat, pure, leavened; and the wine is pure grape wine, dissolved in water during the offering (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 107). 1) The bread must be wheat, such as was usually used by the Jews in the days of Jesus Christ, who established the sacrament of the Eucharist, and which the Church has always used for this sacrament 1120. It must be pure both in the substance from which it is prepared and in the method of preparation: this is required by the very greatness and holiness of the sacrament. Finally, it must be leavened, and not unleavened, which is what the Latins usually use for the sacrament of the Eucharist 1121. Because – However, even if we assume that Christ ate unleavened bread together with the Passover lamb, it is still unfair to draw the conclusion that He celebrated the Eucharist on unleavened bread, when leavened bread was still used in homes; on the contrary, it is natural to think that, having celebrated the Old Testament Passover, which now ended on unleavened bread, the Lord then established the sacrament of the new covenant (Mark 14:24) on a new substance, on leavened bread 1128. The Evangelists convince us of this when they testify that Christ, who received bread is άρτος, and blessed, broke, and gave to the disciple, and said: take, eat: this is my body (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19), that is, bread that has risen, leavened ( άρτος FROM αίρω, I raise), as this word was understood, in accordance with the general usage 1129, by the Apostles themselves and the Savior 1130, and not by unleavened bread, which, unlike leavened bread, was usually called only unleavened bread, άζυμον - OR if sometimes bread, άρτος, then certainly – unleavened bread – άζυμος (Numbers 6:19; Judges 6:20) 1131. b) The Eucharist was celebrated on leavened bread in the days of the Apostles. For - aa) this bread is constantly called άρτος, and not unleavened bread (Acts 2:42.46; 20:7; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:20); bb) all the Jews who had converted to Christ then participated in the Eucharist (Acts 2:22.41.42.46) - and the Jews, whom the law prescribed to eat unleavened bread only seven days a year and never again, would not agree to receive the sacrament on unleavened bread all day long (Acts 42:46), until the Apostles decided how Christians should look at the ritual law of Moses (Acts chapter 15); c) the use of unleavened bread was prescribed by God in the Law of Moses; but the Apostles, having determined at the Jerusalem Council that it was precisely from that law that should remain binding on Christians and that it should lose its force, did not command Christians to eat unleavened bread (Acts 15:23-30); Therefore, their use was not accepted for the Church of Christ, and must pass away like a legal shadow. c) The Eucharist was constantly celebrated on leavened bread in the Church of Christ and in all subsequent times. For - aa) the substance for the sacrament, as is known, was usually borrowed from the offerings of the people, who, no doubt, brought ordinary leavened bread to the churches from their homes: since it was intended both for suppers of love and for helping the poor (1 Cor. 11, 21. 22); bb) none of the ancients calls the bread on which the Eucharist was celebrated directly unleavened bread; on the contrary, writers call it bread, usually used 1132, or sometimes directly leavened 1133; cc) St. Epiphanius even mentions, as a feature of the Ebionite heretics who adhered to the Law of Moses, that they celebrated the Eucharist on unleavened bread and water alone 1134, and thus clearly shows that the Church acted differently; d) some of the Western impartial writers themselves, Roman and Protestant, willingly admit and prove that until the tenth or even the eleventh century there was no use of unleavened bread in the Church at all 1135, although others are trying to prove the opposite 1136. II. The sacred act during which the sacrament of the Eucharist is performed, and without which it cannot be performed, is the Liturgy. It has three parts: the first is proskomedia or offering, when the substance for the sacrament is prepared, so named from the custom of ancient Christians to bring bread and wine to the church for the Eucharist; the second is the Liturgy of the Catechumens, during which Christians prepare for the sacrament and even the catechumens were allowed to be present; the third is the Liturgy of the Faithful, during which the sacrament is celebrated and only the faithful can be present. The place and manner of celebrating the Liturgy, in all its parts, are defined in detail in the rules and rites of the Church. III. The most important action in the last part of the Liturgy consists of: a) pronouncing the words spoken by the Savior at the establishment of the sacrament: take, eat: this is my body...; drink of it, all of you: this is my blood of the new testament... (Matthew 26:26-28), and then - b) calling on the Holy Spirit, or a prayer to God the Father for the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Spirit. gifts, and their blessing (Space of Christ. Catich. on Euchar.). According to the order of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom about this action occurs like this: When the face begins to sing the Seraphim's song, the priest prays; (Secretly, when the face sings: Amen) “Remembering this saving commandment, and everything that was for us: the cross, the tomb, the three-day resurrection, the ascension to heaven, sitting on the right hand, the second and glorious coming again,” (Exclaiming) “yours from yours is offered to you, for everyone and for everything.” (Secretly, when the face sings: We sing to you) “We also offer this verbal and bloodless service to you, and we ask, and we pray, and we pray, send down your Holy Spirit on us, and on these gifts that are set before us.” (Raising his voice and saying three times): “Lord, who sent down Your Most Holy Spirit at the third hour by Your Apostle, do not take Him, the Good One, from us: but renew us who pray” (while the deacon reads the verses: create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb. Do not cast me away from your presence yours, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me). (Continuing in the same voice when the deacon points to the holy bread and says: Bless, Master, the holy bread): “And make this bread the honorable body of Thy Christ.” (When the deacon, having said “Amen,” says: Bless, Master, the holy cup): “And in this cup is the precious blood of Thy Christ.” (And finally, when the deacon, having said - Amen, and pointing to the holy wallpaper, says: Bless, Master, the wallpaper): “Transferring with Your Holy Spirit” (Deacon: Amen, Amen, Amen). From here it is clear - a) that the words of the Savior: take, eat..., drink everything from it..., pronounced by the celebrant, indicating St. gifts, then invocation to St. the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their blessing itself constitute one continuous and inseparable action; b) that the said words of Christ are remembered in prayer addressed to God, and are remembered as the Savior’s commandment to His followers (1 Cor. 11:23-25), and - c) that on the basis of this commandment (remembering this saving commandment) the clergyman dares, on behalf of all believers, to turn with prayer to God the Father for the sending down on St. the gifts of the Holy Spirit and His transfusion of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. 1) From its ancient liturgies, which are: the liturgy of St. Apostle James, brother of the Lord; the liturgy set forth in the Apostolic Constitutions, and the liturgy of St. Basil the Great. In all of them, as in the Liturgy of Chrysostom, the words of the Savior spoken at the establishment of the Eucharist are remembered in prayer addressed to God, and, moreover, with the clear addition of the commandment of Christ: do this in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19), and immediately followed by the invocation of the Holy Spirit on the gifts presented for their sanctification and transformation. In the liturgy of St. Apostle James this is stated as follows: “Therefore (i.e., according to the commandment of Christ: do this in remembrance of me) we sinners, remembering His (the Savior) life-giving suffering, the saving cross..., we offer to You, Master, this terrible and bloodless sacrifice, praying... Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your great mercy, and send down upon us and on these gifts are presented to the Holy. Thy Spirit, the life-giving Lord, co-throne with God the Father and Thy only begotten Son, co-reigning, consubstantial, co-eternal... - this all-holy Spirit of Thy, O Master, sent down upon us and these gifts that are set before us, so that, having come, holy, and good, and glorious, He would sanctify this bread and made Thy Christ the holy body, and this cup the holy blood of Thy Christ” 1152. In the Apostolic Constitutions; “Therefore (i.e., according to the same commandment of the Savior), remembering His passion, and death, and resurrection from the dead..., we offer to You, the King and God, according to His commandment (κατά τήν αύτού διάταξιν), this bread and this cup, thanking You through Him that You deigned us to stand before You and serve You, and we pray to You, O All-Satisfied God, look mercifully on these gifts set before You, be pleased with them in honor of Your Christ, and send down upon this sacrifice Your Holy Spirit, a witness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, that He may create this bread with the body of Your Christ, and this cup with the blood of Your Christ...” 1153 . In the liturgy of St. Origen: “Pleasing the Creator of all things, we eat with thanksgiving for the blessings received and with prayer the bread brought, which through prayer has become a holy body and sanctifies those who use it with good disposition” 1156. St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “The bread and wine of the Eucharist, before the holy invocation of the adored Trinity, were simple bread and wine; after the calling is completed, the bread becomes the body of Christ, and the wine becomes the blood of Christ” 1157. “The bread in the Eucharist, at the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is not simpler bread, but the body of Christ” 1158. “After this (i.e., after the Seraphim’s song), having sanctified ourselves with these spiritual songs, we pray to God, who loves mankind, to send the Holy Spirit on the gifts that are presented, so that they may create bread for the body of Christ, and wine for the blood of Christ. For, of course, whatever the Holy Spirit touches is sanctified and transfigured” 1159. St. Basil the Great: “Which of the saints left us in writing the words of invocation at the breaking of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not content with those words that the Apostle or the Gospel mentioned, but before and after them we pronounce others, as having great power in the sacrament, having received them from the unwritten teaching" 1160. Blazh. Augustine: “We actually call the body and blood of Christ that which, being borrowed from the fruits of the earth and sanctified by sacramental prayer, is piously accepted for the salvation of souls in the memory of the Lord for us, suffering for us, which, being the work of human hands in its visible image, is sanctified into a great sacrament in no other way than by the invisible action of the Holy Spirit." 1161. "In these words (1 Tim. 2, 1) I prefer to understand that the whole, or almost the whole, Church repeats: we offer petitions (precationes) during the celebration of the sacraments, before those who are at the Lord’s table begin to be blessed; and prayers (orationes), when they are blessed, and sanctified, and are set apart for division” 1162. St. John of Damascus: “Just as bread through eating, and wine and water through drinking, are naturally transformed (μεταβάλλονταί) into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and become not another body different from his former body: so also the showbread, wine and water, through the invocation and influx of the Holy Spirit, are supernaturally transformed ( ϋπερφυώς μεταποιούνται) into the body and blood of Christ, and do not constitute two bodies, but one and the same” 1164. We find the same teaching: in St. Gregory of Nyssa 1165, Jerome 1166, Ambrose, Theodore of Heraclea, Theophylact of Bulgaria 1167 and all subsequent Orthodox writers of the East 1168. § 215. The invisible essence of the sacrament of the Eucharist: a) the reality of the presence of Jesus Christ in this sacrament “We believe, say the high priests of the East, that in this sacred rite our Lord Jesus Christ is present, not symbolically, not figuratively (τυπικώς, είκονικώς), not by an excess of grace, as in other sacraments, not by influx alone, as some Fathers said about baptism, and not through the penetration of bread ( κατ έναρτισμόν, per impanationem), so that the divinity of the Word enters essentially into the Bread offered for the Eucharist (ύποστατικώς), as the followers of Luther rather inexplicably and unworthily explain: but truly and truly, so that, after the consecration of the bread and wine, the bread is broken, transubstantiated, transformed, transformed into the very true body of the Lord, which was born in Bethlehem from the Ever-Virgin, baptized in the Jordan, suffered, buried, resurrected, ascended, sits at the right hand of God the Father, has to appear on the clouds of heaven; and the wine is transformed and transubstantiated into the very true blood of the Lord, which, during His suffering on the cross, was shed for the life of the world. We also believe that after the consecration of bread and wine, what remains is not the bread and wine itself, but the very body and blood of the Lord, under the appearance and image of the bread and wine” (Post. ch. 17). In these words, the Orthodox Church clearly confesses: a) the reality of the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, and b) the very image of presence. The reality of presence - contrary to the errors of freethinkers, ancient 1169 and modern 1170, especially the Reformed, who teach that Christ is not present at all in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that bread and wine, even after consecration, remain simple bread and wine, but serve only as symbols and images or signs of the body and blood of Christ to the Catholic Church, since while we partake of this bread and wine we are internally, in a spiritual way, through faith we partake of the body and blood of Christ as spiritual food 1171. The image of presence, namely through the transformation or transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord: - this is, contrary to the rantings of the Lutherans, as if Christ, although really present in the sacrament of the Eucharist, but only through the penetration of bread and wine (reg impanationem), remaining in all their immutability, and through the invisible coexistence with them of his body and blood (reg consubstantiationem) 1172, and not through the transformation of bread and wine into His body and blood. The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the reality of the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist has unshakable foundations both in St. Scripture, and in St. Legends. – These include: I. The words of Christ’s promise about the sacrament of the Eucharist (John 6:27–68), which must be understood in a literal and not in any figurative sense 1173. Because – 4) All the ancient teachers of the Church understood the words of Christ’s promise about the sacrament of the Eucharist in a literal sense: Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, Eusebius of Caesarea 1175, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Macarius 1176, Ambrose, Cyril Alexandrian, Augustine, Theodoret, Leontius of Jerusalem, John of Damascus and others 1177, as well as entire ecumenical Councils: Ephesus and Constantinople II 1178. 5) The expression: “there is flesh,” when it is used in a figurative sense, in the language of St. Scripture always and everywhere means: “to cause great harm to another, to inflict a cruel insult, especially to slander and slander” (Ps. 26:2; Job 19:22; Micah 3:3; Gal. 5:15), and has no other meaning. Next, if the words of Christ’s promise about the sacrament of the Eucharist are taken in a figurative sense, then they will mean the following: he who poisons my flesh, that is, who causes me the greatest evil, will have an eternal life! And vice versa: if you do not bear the flesh of the Son of Man, that is, if you do not inflict cruel insults on Him, slander and revile Him, you will not have a stomach in yourself!... Who will not turn away from such a combination of thoughts? 6) To take these words of Christ in a figurative sense and to assert, as the Reformers claim, that the Lord then spoke with the Jews actually “about spiritually eating Him and uniting with Him through faith,” is unfair, finally, because Christ here speaks to his listeners about completely new food, which they have not yet tasted, and promises to give it to them in the future: the bread which I will give, my flesh is, which I will give for the life of the world. (- 51). And among the Lord’s listeners there were then His disciples, not only the twelve, but also many others (- 60.67), who, therefore, already believed in Him and through faith were already sharing spiritual unity with Him. I. The narrative of the three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke about the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist. All of them testify that the Lord Jesus at the last supper, taking bread, blessed, broke and, distributing it to the disciples, said: Take, eat: this is my body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of me, - and taking the cup of wine, and having given praise to God over it, he gave it to the disciples, saying: drink of it, all of you: for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is for many poured out for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19). There is not the slightest reason to deviate here from the literal meaning of the Savior’s words, in which He testifies with such clarity that under the forms of bread and wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist, His true body and His true blood are taught; on the contrary, everything forces us to take them in the literal sense. AND - In the second place, the Apostle first conveys the story of the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist, and conveys it in the same words, and, consequently, in the same literal sense as the Evangelists convey. I received from the Lord, and gave it to you, as the Lord Jesus in the night, when you were betrayed, received bread, and having given thanks, broke it, and said: take, eat: this is my body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying: This cup, the new covenant, is in my blood: do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of me (1 Cor. 11:23-26). And then he adds: Likewise, if anyone eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man tempt himself, and so let him eat from the bread and drink from the cup. He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment without considering the body of the Lord (27-29). Is it possible to say more directly and clearly that under the forms of bread and wine in the Eucharist, Christians partake of the body and blood of the Lord? IV. The doctrine of the sacrament of the Eucharist by St. Fathers and teachers of the Church, starting from the times of the apostles. For example: St. Ignatius the God-Bearer: “They (the Docetes) withdraw from the Eucharist and prayer, not confessing that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, which the Father raised in goodness” 1179. St. Justin the Martyr: “We accept this (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 we have been taught, and this food, over which thanksgiving is said through the prayer of His Word, which, after being transmuted, nourishes our blood and flesh, is the flesh and blood of the same Jesus Christ incarnate" 1180. St. Irenaeus: “How can they (the heretics) acknowledge that the bread on which thanksgiving is made is the body of the Lord, and this cup is the cup of His blood, if they do not recognize that He is the Son of the Creator of the world” 1181? “If both the dissolved cup and the prepared bread receive the Word of God and there is a Eucharist of the body and blood of Christ, by which the being of our flesh is nourished and supported: then how can they say that that flesh that feeds on the body and blood of the Lord and is a member of Him does not participate in the gift of God, which is eternal life” 1182? Macarius Magnis, presbyter of Jerusalem († 266): “(In the Eucharist) is not the image of the body and not the image of the blood, as some blind people proclaimed, but truly the body and blood of Christ” 1183. For, although feeling presents this to you, let faith confirm you. Do not talk about things according to your taste, but from faith you will know without a doubt that you have been made worthy of the body and blood of Christ” 1184. St. John Chrysostom about: “How many people now say: I would like to see the face of Christ, the image, clothes, boots! Here you see Him (in the Eucharist), touch Him, taste Him. You want to see His clothes; and He allows you not only to see Himself, but also to touch, and taste, and take in. So, no one should approach with negligence, no one with cowardice, but all with fiery love, all with ardent zeal and cheerfulness. Why should one always be awake? For no small punishment is due to those who partake unworthily. Think how much you are indignant at the traitor and at those who crucified Christ. So, beware that you too do not become guilty against the body and blood of Christ. They put to death the all-holy body; and you accept it with an unclean soul after great deeds. For it was displeased for Him that He became a man, was strangled and killed; but He still communicates Himself to us, and not only by faith, but also by His very deed makes us His body. How pure must be the one who enjoys this sacrifice! They also taught: St. Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, Dionysius of Alexandria, Hilary, Gregory of Nyssa 1189, Basil the Great, Epiphanius, Isidore Pelusiot, Jerome, Augustine 1190, Theodoret, Cyril of Alexandria, Leo the Great 1191, Theophylact 1192 and others 1193. V. The doctrine of the sacrament of the Eucharist of entire Ecumenical Councils. Yes - At the First Ecumenical Council, the fathers present confessed: “at the divine meal we should not simply see the bread and cup offered, but, elevating our minds, we should understand by faith that at the sacred. The Lamb of God lies at the table, taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29), sacrificed by the priests, and, truly receiving His honorable body and blood, we must believe that these are signs of our resurrection” 1194. 1. The same passages of St. serve to confirm this truth. The scriptures we just looked at. Speaking of the promise of the Eucharist, the Lord said among other things: I am the living bread that came down from heaven: whoever eats of this bread will live forever. And the bread which I will give, my flesh is, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51). At the establishment of the Eucharist, having received the bread, he said: this is my body, and, having received the cup of wine, he said: this is my blood. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians: cup of blessing, now we bless, is there not fellowship in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break the fellowship of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 10, 16)? Likewise, if anyone eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (11:27). In all these places they clearly and directly call the bread itself the body of Christ and the wine itself the blood of Christ, but it is not in the least expressed that the body of the Lord resides with the bread, or in the bread, or under the bread. No, Christ said: in the bread that I will give, my flesh is, but He said: the bread that I will give is my flesh; did not say: in this, or together with this, or under this, is my body; in this is my blood, and he said: this is my body, this is my blood. But bread and wine, we repeat, can become the body and blood of the Lord in no other way than through transformation, transformation, transubstantiation. St. John of Damascus: “The very bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of God. If you ask how this happens, then it is enough for you to hear that this is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord, from the Holy Mother of God, made flesh for Himself and in Himself by the Holy Spirit. And we know nothing more: we only know that the word of God is true, effective and omnipotent, but the image (of transformation) is unsearchable. At the same time, it can also be said that just as bread through eating, and wine and water through drinking, are naturally transformed (μεταβάλλονται) into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and become not another body different from his former body: so also the showbread, wine and water, through the invocation and influx of the Holy Spirit, are supernaturally transformed ( ύπερφυώς μεταποιούνται) into the body and blood of Christ, and they constitute not two bodies, but one and the same” 1205. To prove and explain the possibility of such a transformation of bread and wine by the power of God into the body and blood of Christ, the ancient shepherds pointed to the omnipotence of the Creator 1209 and to the special works of His omnipotence: the creation of the world out of nothing 1210, the sacrament of the incarnation 1211, the miracles mentioned in St. books, in particular - on the transformation of water into wine 1212 and how in ourselves the bread and wine or water that we take as food, unknown to us, are transformed into our body and blood 1213. II) Although bread and wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist are actually transformed into the body and blood of the Lord; but He is present in this sacrament not with His body and blood alone, but with His whole being, that is, with His soul, which is inseparably united with His body, and with His very divinity, which is hypostatically and inseparably united with His humanity: that is why the Savior expressed himself: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live for the Father’s sake: and he who eats me will also live for my sake (John 6:56.57). Likewise, St. The Fathers taught that “we fully partake of the Lamb himself” 1214, that “He completely dwells in us all by his goodness” 1215, and noted: “this sacrament is called Communion, because through it we become partakers of the divinity of Jesus. It is also called communion, and indeed it is communion, because through it we communicate with Christ, we become partakers of His flesh and divinity” 1216. V) If bread and wine through the sacramental consecration are transformed into the true body and blood of Christ the Savior: then it means that from the time of the consecration of St. gifts He is constantly present in this sacrament, that is, He is present not only during the very use and acceptance of the sacrament by believers, as the Lutherans claim, but also before use and after use: for bread and wine, having become the body and blood of Christ, are no longer transformed into their former nature, but remain the body and blood of the Lord forever, regardless of whether or not they are consumed by believers (Ecclesiastical Eastern Pat. about right. faith ch. 17). Therefore, the Savior himself, at the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist, giving the disciples the mystical bread, said: this is my body - before the disciples tasted of it, and giving the mysterious cup, said: this is my blood - before the disciples drank from it. VI) If bread and wine in St. and the life-giving mysteries are the true body and true blood of the Lord Jesus: then these mysteries should be given the same honor and divine worship that we owe to the Lord Jesus himself (Rev. ed. part 1, answer to question 56. 107). For human nature is completely accepted by Him into the unity of His Divine hypostasis, inseparably united with His Divine nature, and is the own humanity of God the Word - so that in the person of the God-man, both His natures, humanity and divinity, are due a single, inseparable Divine worship. This truth, which directly follows from the dogma of the hypostatic union of two natures in Jesus Christ, has always been contained and confessed by St. The Church, as can be seen from the testimonies of its teachers. For example: St. John Chrysostom: “The Magi honored this body while it still lay in the manger; Men ignorant of piety and foreigners, leaving their fatherland and home, took a long journey and, when they arrived, bowed down with great fear and trembling. So, let us imitate even the foreigners, we are citizens of heaven! They saw (Christ) in a manger and in a den, and did not see anything like what you see now, and yet they approached with great trepidation - but you see Him not in a manger, but on the altar..., you not only see this very body, like them, but you also know its power and the whole economy of salvation, you know everything that was accomplished through it, having been carefully taught all the mysteries” 1224. St. Ambrose, who, when explaining the words of the Psalmist: worship his footstool, for it is holy (Ps. 99:5), notes: “by the name of the footstole is meant the earth, and by the name of the earth the flesh of Christ, which even now we worship Godfully (adoramus) in the mysteries, and which the Apostles worshiped in the Lord Jesus” 1225. Blazh. Augustine: “No one eats this flesh (of Christ) unless he first renders it Divine worship” 1226. 1. The power to celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, belongs only to bishops, as the successors of the Apostles, and through bishops is communicated to the presbyters (Right. Rev. Part 1, answer to question 107; Post. Eastern Pat. on the Right. Faith, Part. 17). For - a) only to the Apostles, and therefore, in their person, only to their successors, Christ gave this power when, having established the most holy sacrament, he commanded them: do this in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24.25), and - b) only bishops and elders from the days of the Apostles themselves constantly used this power in the Church. Witnesses of this are not only private teachers: St. Dionysius the Areopagite 1228, St. Justin 1229, Tertullian 1230, St. Basil the Great, St. Chrysostom, Hilary, Epiphanius, Jerome and others 1231 - but also entire Councils: Nicene 1st 1232, Ancyra (right 1), Neo-Caesarean (right 9), Gangrian (right 4) and Laodicean 1233. Therefore, the following were never and are not allowed to the sacrament of the Eucharist: a) all those persons who have not yet entered the Church through the door of Baptism, have not become her children, namely: pagans, Jews, Mohammedans and catechumens; b) persons who, although they entered the Church through Baptism, fell away from it through renunciation of the faith, through heresy and schism, or for some other grave sins were subject to church prohibition. In addition to the numerous rules of conciliar and paternal 1240, proof of this idea is the very composition of the liturgies, during which the sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. It is known that all ancient liturgies, after the proskomedia, consist of two parts: the liturgy of the catechumens, at which not only catechumens and penitents who were under prohibition or penance, but also schismatics, heretics, and even infidels were allowed to attend to listen to church readings and teachings; and from the Liturgy of the Faithful, at which only Orthodox Christians could be present, and at which the sacrament of the Eucharist is actually performed and taught. 2) From the clear commandment of the Savior at the establishment of the Eucharist. St. Apostle Paul tells about it this way: The Lord Jesus at night, when he was betrayed, received bread, and having given thanks, broke it, and said: take, eat: this is my body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, the cup at supper, saying: This cup, the new covenant, is in my blood: do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of me (1 Cor. 11:23-25). And then he immediately adds: as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until it comes (-26). And thus it testifies that the Lord’s command to partake of His body and blood does not apply to the Apostles alone, but applies to all believers. 3) From the example of St. The Apostles and leading Christians, who, holyly observing this commandment of the Savior, endured with one accord all their days in the church..., in fellowship and in the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42.46; demolished 1 Cor. 10:17; 11:20). b) As if to the dying sick, for their guidance, the Church always taught the Eucharist under one type of bread; as if in the first centuries of Christianity believers often brought St. gifts with them to their homes, others took them with them on journeys, and desert dwellers - in the desert, and also partook of them under the mere sight of bread 1270. But the Orthodox Church has used and continues to use gifts for the guidance of the sick, the so-called reserve ones, in which the body of Christ is drunk with blood. In the same form, other Christians could receive the body of Christ from the hands of the shepherds of the Church, and take it with them for communion in their homes, on journeys, in the desert. And next, if it is mentioned anywhere that the body of Christ was taught to these Christians and the sick, it does not follow from this that they partook of the Eucharist under one type of bread, and not under both together. On the other hand, there is clear evidence that the sick before their death were communed in their homes under both Eucharistic forms 1271, and Christians who took St. gifts for travel, in the desert, these gifts also had both types 1272. Even if we admit that sometimes the sick, or other Christians, partook of the Eucharist, for some reason, only under one type of bread or wine: then this must be recognized as private, extraordinary cases, as exceptions to the rule, and not at all as the rule. c) Finally, according to the custom of the Church to teach St. secrets as a child only under the guise of wine 1273. But it is known that the Orthodox Church communes infants under the guise of wine from a cup in which the forms of bread and wine, or that, too, the body and blood of Christ are already united and, as it were, dissolved with each other. Moreover, such communion of infants is allowed due to absolute necessity, until they become capable of receiving the body of Christ under the guise of bread. III. The saving fruits or actions of the sacrament of the Eucharist, if only we partake of it worthily, are the following: St. Hippolyta: “After the ascension of Him (Jesus Christ), we, offering, according to His institution, a pure and bloodless sacrifice, ordained bishops, presbyters and deacons, seven in number” 1295. St. Cyprian: “The blood of Christ is not offered unless there is wine in the cup, and the consecration of the Lord’s sacrifice is not performed correctly unless our offering and sacrifice are consistent with suffering... For if Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, is himself the High Priest of God and the Father, and was the first to offer Himself as a sacrifice to the Father, and commanded this to be done in remembrance of Him: then that priest truly accomplishes the work of Christ (via Christi fungitur), who imitates what Christ did, and then brings the true and complete sacrifice to God the Father in the Church, when he brings it as Christ himself offered” 1296. Two remarks need to be made here. First: if the Orthodox Church, when offering a bloodless sacrifice, remembers, and, moreover, first of all, the glorified Saints of God, the forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and even the most blessed Mother of God herself, then she remembers not with the purpose of appeasing God towards them, but with the purpose of strengthening her prayers to them with their prayers and intercession. Nim is about the living and the dead. Therefore, the celebrant, finishing the remembrance of the Saints, adds: “with their prayers, visit us, O God, and remember all the departed about the hope of the resurrection of the eternal life” 1325. And St. Cyril of Jerusalem says: “We also remember those who have died before, first the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. martyrs, so that through their prayers and intercessions God would accept our prayer" 1326. And the sheep shall be kept unto you until the quarter of the tenth day of this month: and they shall slaughter the whole multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel at evening. And they will receive it from the shelter, and will anoint it on both the rootstock and on the soil in the houses, and eat it in them. And they will eat the meat in that night of fire, and they will eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs (Ex. 12:6-8). Beginning on the fourth and tenth day of the first month, in the evening, and eating unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month, until the evening. For seven days let kvass not appear in your houses (- 18.19) See prayers. sacred before consecration St. gifts, while singing the song: We will sing to you... ... Σώμα γενομένους διά τήν ευχήν άγιον τι καί άγιάζον ... (Contr. Cels. lib. p. 399). In another place he says: sanctificatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem (in Matt. XV, T. II, p. 17, Paris. 1604). Pouch. secret breeder 1, n. 7, p. 440 in Russian. translation Pouch. secrets. III, paragraph 3, p. 451. Pouch. secret breeder V, paragraph 7, page 462. Oh St. Spirit to Amphilochius ch. 27, in the Book of Rules p. 328. De Trinit. III, 4, n. 10, in Patrol. curs. compl. T. XLII, p. 874. Epist. CXLIX ad Paulinum cap. 2, n. 16, in cit. Patrol. T. XXXIII, p. 636. About the tradition of deities. Liturgy, in Chron. Thurs. 1839, vol. VI, pp. 37, 38. Accur. Exposition right faith, book IV, ch. 13, p. 252. Ό άρτος αγιάζεται διά λόγου Θεοΰ και έντεύξεως . Catech. c. 37. Ad quorum (presbyter.) preces Christi, corpus sanguisque conficitur (Epist. LXXXV ad Evagrium). For their evidence, see further in the article: the image and consequences of the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. For example, in Simeon of Thessalonica (in his treatise on the sacraments), Patriarch Jeremiah (in his epistle in Virtemb. theology, Chron. Reading 1845, 1, 346), Mitrophan Kritopulus (in his confession of the Eastern Church, treatise on the Euchar.). In our country, the Likhud brothers, St. Demetrius of Rostov and Stephai Yavorsky (see about them in the dictionary of M. Evgeniy), and a whole council of shepherds, convened by Patriarch Joachim in 1690, reasoned (see the same in the article: Ioannikiy Likhud). Pouch. secret breeder Ι V, n. 1, 2. 3–6, pp. 434–456. On Matt. conversations LXXXII, paragraph 4. 5, in vol. III, p. 421. De myst. IX, n. 53; cfr. VIII, no. 47. 48; in Ps. XLIII, n. 36. In Mai Specileg. roman. T. IV, p. 33... μεταβάλλεσθας είς σώμα καί αιμα Χριστού. Accur. izl. right faith book IV, ch. 13, pp. 250. 251. 252. 255. Ippol. in Galland. T, II, p. 488; Klim. Alex. Paedag. 1, 6; 11, 2; Tertullus. adv. Marcion. V, 8; de idol. c. 7; Cyprus. Epist. LIX ad Cornei.; LXIII ad Caecil; Dionysus. Alex. last canonical right 2 (in the Rule Book p. 254); Ilar. de Trinit, VIII, 16; Grieg. nissk. Catech. c. 37. Vasil. great letters to Caesarea 93 (in Tv. St. Father X, 219); Epiph. Ancorat. n. 57; Isis. sang lib. III, Epist. 364; Hieron. in Malach. 1, 7, in Ezech. XLI; Augycm. de trinit. III, 10; contr. Faust. XII, 10. Theodore. in Cantic. III, II; in Epist. V, 29; Kup. Alex. in Joann. XX, 27; adv. Nestor. IV, 5. 6; Leo led. Epist. LIX ad Cler. et popul. Constantinop. c. 11. “Having said: this is my body, he shows that the bread consecrated in the sacrament is the very body of the Lord, and not an image (ουχΐ άντίτυπον). For he did not say: this is an image, but this is my body; it is transformed by a mysterious action, although it seems to us like bread” (on Matt. XXVI). Didim. Alex. in Ps. XXXIX, 7; Feodor. hercules in Ps. XXII, 5; Theophilus. Alex. Lit. Paschal. an. 401, no. XI; Peter. Chrysologist. Serm. XXXIV; Leontes. Ieryc. adv. Nestor. VII, 3 (in Mai. T. IX), etc. Gelas, Cyzicen. Comment. in Acta Concil. Nic. c. XXXI, Diatyp. 5. Sopsil. Ephes. P. II, Act. 1 (p. 121 ar. Binium). Cfr. Cyrus. Alex. Orr. T. V, R. 11, p. 72, Lutet. 1638. Concil. Nic. II, Act. VI, Lect. Epiphan Diac. Bona, R. liturg. 1, p. 8et squ.; Renaudot. liturg. oriental collectio, Paris. 1685; Asseman. cod. liturg. eccl. universae, Rom. 1749; Murator. liturgia Romana vetus, Wenet. 1748: Diss. de orig. liturg. c. 1. ( ό θεός ) (De Trin. 11, 7, n. 8). A πεισάγει δέ τήν άναίμακτον θυσίαν και λογικήν τού κυριακοΰ σώματος καί αίματος (in Ps. XXXIX, 7, Ar. Corder. Caten.). De offic. ministr. 1, 48, n. 248. Vitulus saginatus, qui ad poenitentiae immolatur salutem, ipse salvator est, cujus quoteidie carne pascimur, cruore potamur (Epist. ad Damas. XIV). Obtulit ibi presbyter sacrificium corporis Christi (De civ. Dei XXII, 8, n. 6. cfr. XVI, 22; ХVIII, 20, n. 2). Μόνος δέ άμώμως αγνός ίερεύεται ό άίρων τήν αμαρτίαν του κόσμου. In Malach. I, 11. Cfr. in Ps. CIX, 4. Διά δέ γε του οίνου τήν μυστικήν ευλογίαν υποδηλουν τής αναίμακτου θυσίας τον τρόπον , ήν έν ταις άγίαις έκκλησίαις άποπληροΰν είθίσμεθα. In Jes. (XXV, 6) lib. III, T. 1. Klim. Alex, Strom. IV, 25; Origen. in Lev. homil. XIII, no. 3; Cornel. nana, Epist. ad Fab. Antioch, n. 7; Afanas. led Apol, contr. Arian. n. 11. words of the priestly prayer during the Cherubic song. See also Ambros. de benedic. Patriarch. c. IX; in Ps. XXVIII, no. 25; Augycm, de civ. Dei X, 20: et sacerdos est, ipse offerrens, ipse et oblatio, cujus rei sacramentum quotidianum esse voluit ecclesiae sacrificium... “In order to represent those who are counted in the clergy... as worthy of the mental sacrifice of the great God, who is both the victim and the Bishop... (Council. Trull. rights. 3). Demolished. Chrysostom in prod. Jud. homil. 1, n. 6; in 2 Timothy. homil. 11, no. 4. In Hebr. homil. ХVII. n. 3. Demolished. note 1307.