My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST IS ACCOMPLISHED
At the Mystical ("Last") Supper, Christ celebrates sacramentally His Sacrifice on the Cross. He offers His Holy Blood, and by calling it the blood of the New Covenant [or 'Testament']. 'He shows that He is going to die. That is why He talks about a testament, a will. And indeed He recalls the earlier Covenant [the Old Testament] because that too was ratified by blood [cf. Hebrews 9:18-21].' At the Mystical Supper, we were the past [the Old Testament], the present [the New Testament], and the future [His imminent death] coexisting in the Person of Christ.
In the Divine Liturgy of Saint James (Iakovos), before the Consecration of the Holy Gifts, the people sing with compunction: "Your death, O Lord, we proclaim, and Your Resurrection we confess." The Divine Eucharist is the sacramental 'living out' of Christ's Sacrifice. During the celebration 'Christ the Master is present, and His death is accomplished, the awful Sacrifice'. 'Revere this Sacred Table,' says Saint John Chrysostom, 'revere the Sacrifice that lies upon it, which is Christ slaughtered for us.'
The Lord was given over to death for our sake, or, rather, He gave himself up willingly (cf. Matthew 26:21). In Holy Scripture 'it is said that He was betrayed, but it is also written that He gave himself up [cf. Ephesians 5:2]'. Christ 'suffered death on our behalf and for our sake, willingly. We see Him going to His death voluntarily, even though He could easily have avoided the Passion.' On the night of the Mystical (Last) Supper, Christ was handed over to the chief priests by Judas, or, rather, gave Himself up, for the life of the world."
At the Mystical Supper, Christ offers the Disciples His All-Holy Body already broken, and His Holy Blood already shed. In a manner beyond the grasp of the human mind, the Lord anticipated the events of His betrayal and the Cross. By giving the Twelve His Holy Body as food, 'He shows with clarity that the Sacrifice of the Lamb has already been accomplished'. The Last Supper is also called the Mystical Supper because it has revealed to us the saving Sacrifice; it has initiated us into the Mystery of that Sacrifice.
The Divine Eucharist 'is not an image and prefiguration of sacrifice, but an actual Sacrifice', because Christ sacrificed and offered to the faithful. Saint John Chrysostom says: 'You are approaching an awesome and Holy Sacrifice...Christ lies before you slain,'
The Sacrifice on Golgotha and the Sacrifice of the Divine Eucharist are one, because 'we always offer the same Christ. We do not offer one sheep today and another tomorrow, but always the same one. Thus the sacrifice is one...The Sacrifice that was offered then is the one we offer now, the Sacrifice that is never expended,' 'having brought Himself as an Offering once...He is ever being slain, sanctifying those who partake.'
To participate in Christ's Supper is to see and taste His Love; "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 33:9). Saint John the Evangelist begins his account of the Mystical Supper by saying that this was the expression of Christ's endless love for His Disciples: "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus...having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). And having set Himself before them as the food of immortality, He gives the new commandment of Love: "a NEW Commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you" (John 13:34). Then He goes on to reveal the magnitude and the character of His Love for us, and explains the first even as (John 13:34) with a second: "Even as the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love" (John 15:9).
When we participate in the Supper of the Eucharist, we are participating in the Supper of Divine Love and are called to abide in that love.
Priest (in a low voice): Remembering, therefore, this commandment of salvation and all that has been done for us: the Cross, the Tomb, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Sitting at the right hand, the Second and Glorious Coming again, (aloud) we offer You Your own of Your own, in all things and for all things.
Chantors: We praise You, we bless You, we give thanks to you, O Lord, and we pray to You, our God.
Remembrance of Christ
Having offered His Disciples, His Holy Body and Precious Blood, Christ gave them the commandment: "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). In this way He teaches us that the True remembrance of Him is not merely a thought but an act: the celebration of the Mystery of His Supper. And so that we should not regard this Remembrance of His as a mere symbol, He said clearly: "Take, eat My body...Drink My Blood."
These words of Christ and the recollection of the entire Divine Economy lead us into the Eucharistic Offering: "Remembering, therefore, this commandment of salvation and all that has been done for us...We offer You Your own of Your own." At the Divine Liturgy, 'the memory of Christ's Sacred works is ever renewed'. through words and through actions. Through the Eucharist, we carry out precisely that sacred action that Christ our master carried out. We offer the Holy Anaphora 'in commemoration of His death'. We do not simply think about the Sacrifice of Christ, we live it: 'The Sacrifice that was offered then [by Christ] is the one we offer now, the Sacrifice that is never expended...We are always enacting the same Sacrifice.'
One of the reasons the Lord instituted the Eucharist is for us to actually live the remembrance of Him because this leads us to thanksgiving: 'Christ said, "do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19), revealing to us why He gave us this Mystery (Sacrament)...which is in itself [reason] enough to move us to reverence. For when you consider what your Master suffered for you, you will become greater lover of wisdom', more spiritual, that is to say. It is from the remembrance of the benefaction that the thanksgiving -- the Eucharist -- springs forth, and it is the Eucharist that makes us 'greater lovers of wisdom': it makes us even more lovers of Christ Who is the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).
Through the mouth of Saint John Chrysostom, Christ explains the meaning of this remembrance: 'Just as you kept the Jewish Passover in order to remember the wonders that took place in Egypt, so you should keep this [My Passover] in order to remember Me.' 'As Moses says, "This day shall be for you an Eternal Remembrance" (cf. Exodus 12:14], so also Christ says, "in remembrance of Me, until I come" (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26).'
Given that we live in expectation of Christ, the Divine Liturgy, the Mystery (Sacrament) of the remembrance of Him, is the foretaste of the Kingdom which is to come. (Source: The Divine Liturgy. A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers by Hieromonk Gregorios of Koutloumousiou Monastery, Holy Mountain.)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"- Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George