|
Words
on the Holy Eucharist
from Church Fathers |
Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110) Epistle
to the Smyrnaeans 6:1-8:2
Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110) Letter
to the Romans 7,3
Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110) Letter
to the Philadephians 3,3 - 4
St. Justin Martyr (circa AD 150) The
First Apology Chapter 66a
St. Justin Martyr (circa AD 150) The
Second Apology 41
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (circa AD 165) Adversus
Haereses Book 4, ch. 18, s. 5
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (circa AD 165) Adversus
Haereses Book 5, ch. 2, ss. 2-3
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (circa AD 350) Catecheses,
Lecture 22, ss. 1,3-6,9
St. John Chrysostrom (circa 390) Homily
46
Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110)
Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6:1-8:2
(Ancient Christian Writers Volume I, pages 92f)
Let no one be deceived! Even the heavenly powers and the angels in
their splendor and the principalities, both visible and invisible, must
either believe in the Blood of Christ, or else face damnation. Let him
grasp it who can. Let no rank puff up anyone; for faith and love are paramount
the greatest blessings in the world. Observe those who hold erroneous opinions
concerning the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how
they run counter to the mind of God! They concern themselves with neither
works of charity, nor widows, nor orphans, nor the distressed, nor those
in prison or out of it, nor the hungry or thirsty.
From Eucharist and prayer they hold aloof, because they do not confess
that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered
for our sins, and which the Father in His loving-kindness raised from the
dead. And so, those who question the gift of God perish in their contentiousness.
It would be better for them to have love, so as to share in the resurrection.
It is proper, therefore, to avoid associating with such people and not
to speak about them either in private or in public, but to study the Prophets
attentively and, especially, the Gospel, in which the Passion is revealed
to us and the Resurrection shown in its fulfillment. Shun division as the
beginning of evil.
You must all follow the lead of the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed
that of the Father; follow the presbytery as you would the Apostles; reverence
the deacons as you would God's commandment. Let no one do anything touching
the Church, apart from the bishop. Let that celebration of the Eucharist
be considered valid which is held under the bishop or anyone to whom he
has committed it. Where the bishop is, there is the Catholic Church. It
is not permitted without authorization from the bishop either to baptize
or to hold an agape; but whatever he approves is also pleasing to God.
Thus everything you do will be proof against danger and valid.
Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110)
Letter to the Romans 7,3
I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this
life. I desire the Bread of God, which
is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for
drink I desire his blood, which is
love incorruptible.
Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110)
Letter to the Philadephians 3,3 - 4
Do not err, my brethren,: if anyone follow a schismatic he will not
inherit the kingdom of God. If any
man walk about with strange doctrine, he cannot lie down with the passion.
Take care then to use one
Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: for there
is one Flesh of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of his blood; one altar, as
there is one bishop with the
presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons.
St. Justin Martyr (circa AD 150)
The First Apology Chapter 66a
(The Fathers of the Church: a New Translation Volume 6, pages
104ff)
We call this food the Eucharist, of which only he can partake who has
acknowledged the truth of our teachings, who has been cleansed by baptism
for the remission of his sins and for his regeneration, and who regulates
his life upon the principles laid down by Christ. Not as ordinary bread
or as ordinary drink do we partake of them, but just as, through the word
of God, our Savior Jesus Christ became Incarnate and took upon Himself
flesh and blood for our salvation, so, we have been taught, the food which
has been made the Eucharist by the prayer of His word, and which nourishes
our flesh and blood by assimilation, is both the flesh and blood of that
Jesus who was made flesh. The Apostles in their memoirs, which are called
Gospels, have handed down what Jesus ordered them to do; that He took bread
and, after giving thanks, said: "Do this in remembrance of Me; this is
My body." In like manner, He took also the chalice, gave thanks, and said:
"This is My blood"; and to them only did He give it....
St. Justin Martyr (circa AD 150)
The Second Apology 41
"And the offering of fine flour, sirs," I said, "which was prescribed
to be presented on behalf of those purified from leprosy, was a type of
the bread of the Eucharist, the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ
prescribed, in remembrance of the suffering which He endured on behalf
of those who are purified in soul from all iniquity, in order that we may
at the same time thank God for having created the world, with all things
therein, for the sake of man, and for delivering us from the evil in which
we were, and for utterly overthrowing(4) principalities and powers by Him
who suffered according to His will. Hence God speaks by the mouth of Malachi,
one of the twelve [prophets], as I said before,(5) about the sacrifices
at that time presented by you: 'I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord;
and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands: for, from the rising
of the sun unto the going down of the same, My name has been glorified
among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and
a pure offering: for My name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord:
but ye profane it.'(6) [So] He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us,
who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist,
and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name,
and that you profane [it].
The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise
the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by
which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose
from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely through] our
Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first(7)
of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number
of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (circa AD 165)
Adversus Haereses Book 4, ch. 18, s. 5
Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with
the body of the
Lord and with His blood, goes to corruption, and does not partake of
life? Let them,
therefore, either alter their opinion, or cease from offering the things
just
mentioned.(4) But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist,
and the Eucharist
in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing
consistently
the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit.(5) For as the bread,
which is
produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is
no longer
common bread,(6) but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly
and heavenly;
so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer
corruptible, having
the hope of the resurrection to eternity.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons (circa AD 165)
Adversus Haereses Book 5, ch. 2, ss. 2-3
2. But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation
of God, and
disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration,
maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed
do not attain
salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor
is the cup of the
Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break
the communion
of His body.(1) For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and whatsoever
else
makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was actually
made. By His
own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle declares, "In whom we
have
redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins."(2) And as
we are His
members, we are also nourished by means of the creation (and He Himself
grants the
creation to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends rain when
He wills(3)). He has
acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood,
from which
He bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of the creation) He
has established
as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies.(4)
3. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives
the Word
of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made,(5)
from
which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported,
how can they
affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which
is life eternal,
which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and
is a member of
Him?--even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians,
that "we are
members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."(6) He does not
speak these
words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones
nor flesh;(7) but
[he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual
man, consisting
of flesh, and nerves, and bones,--that [flesh] which is nourished by
the cup which is
His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His body.
And just as a
cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season,
or as a corn of
wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold
increase
by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the
wisdom of God,
serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes
the
Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies,
being nourished
by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there,
shall rise at their
appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory
of God,
even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to
this corruptible
incorruption,(8) because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness,(9)
in order
that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves,
and exalted
against God, our minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience
that we
possess eternal duration from the excelling power of this Being, not
from our own
nature, we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as
He is, nor be
ignorant of our own nature, but that we may know what God can effect,
and what
benefits man receives, and thus never wander from the true comprehension
of things
as they are, that is, both with regard to God and with regard to man.
And might it not
be the case, perhaps, as I have already observed, that for this purpose
God permitted
our resolution into the common dust of mortality,(10) that we, being
instructed by
every mode, may be accurate in all things for the future, being ignorant
neither of God
nor of ourselves?
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (circa AD 350)
Catecheses, Lecture 22, ss. 1,3-6,9 (cf. Lecture 19, s. 7; Lecture
23, ss. 20-23)
On the night he was betrayed out Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and
when he
had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said:
``Take, eat:
this is my body.'' He took the cup, gave thanks and said: ``Take, drink:
this is
my blood.'' Since Christ himself has declared the bread to be his body,
who can have
any further doubt? Since he himself has said quite categorically, This
is my blood,
who would dare to question and say that it is not his blood?
Therefore, is is with complete assurance that we receive the bread and
wine as the
body and blood of Christ. His body is given to us under the symbol
of bread, and his
blood is given to us udner the symbol of wine, in order to make us
by receiving them
one body and one blood with him. Having his body and blood in our members,
we
become bearers of Christ and sharers, as Saint Peter says, in the divine
nature.
Once, when speaking to the Jews, Christ said: Unless you eat my flesh
and drink
my blood you shall have no life in you. This horrified them and they
left him. Not
understandoing his words ina spiritual way, they thought the Savior
wished them to
practice cannibalism.
Under the old dispensation there was showbread, but it came to an end
with the old
dispensation to which it belonged. Under the new covenant there is
bread from
heaven and the cup of salvation. These sanctify both soul and body,
the bread being
adapted to the sanctification of the body, the Word, to the sanctification
of the soul.
Do not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and
wine: they are in
fact the body and blood of the Lord, as he himself has declared. Whatever
your
senses may tell you, be strong in faith.
You have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and
tastes like
bread and wine is not bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ.
You know
also how David referred to this long ago when he sang: Bread gives
strength to
man's heart and makes his face shine with the oil of gladness. Strengthen
your
heart, then, by receiving this bread as spriritual bread, and bring
joy to the face of
your soul.
May purity of conscience remove the veil from the face of your soul
so that by
contemplating the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, you may be transformed
from
glory to glory in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
St. John Chrysostrom (circa 390)
Homily 46 (commenting on John 6)
Therefore, in order that we may become of His Body, not in desire only,
but also in
very fact, let us become commingled with that Body. This, in truth,
takes place by
means of the food which He has given us as a gift, because He desire
to prove the
love which He has for us. It is for this reason that He shared Himself
with us and has
brought His Body down to our level, namely, that we might be one with
Him as the
body is joined with the head. This, in truth is characteristic of those
who greatly love.
Job, indeed, was implying this when he said of his servants--by whom
he was loved
with such an excess of love--that they desired to cleave to his flesh.
In giving
expression to the great love which they possessed, they said: `Who
will give us of his
flesh that we may be filled?' Moreover, Christ has done even this to
spur us on to
even greater love. And to show the love He has for us He has made it
possible for
those who desire, not merely to look upon Him, but even to touch Him
and to
consume Him and to fix their teeth in His Flesh and to be commingled
with Him; in
short, to fulfill all their love. Let us, then, come back from that
table like lions
breathing out fire, thus becoming terrifying to the Devil, and remaining
mindful of our
Head and of the love which He has shown for us.