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 HOLY EUCHARIST
"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had give thanks [Greek eucharistesas]. He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).
With these words--quoting the words of Christ in Luke 22:19,20--Saint Paul instructs the Corinthians concerning the Holy Eucharist, the giving of thanks. Some two thousand years after Jesus gave Himself "for the life of the world" (John 6:51).
The Holy Eucharist (literally "thanksgiving") is the Mystery in which the bread and wine of offering are changed by the Holy Spirit into the True Body and True Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then the believers receive communion of them for a most intimate union with Christ and eternal life. This Mystery is composed, thus, of two separate moments: 1) the changing or transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord, and 2) the Communion of these Holy Gifts. It is called "the Eucharist," "the Lord's Supper," "the Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ." The Body and Blood of Christ in this Mystery are called the "Bread of heaven and the Cup of Life" or the "Cup of salvation"; they are called the "Holy Mysteries," "the Bloodless Sacrifice." The Eucharist is the greatest Christian Mystery (Sacrament).
The Savior's words before the establishment of the Mystery
Before the first performance of this Mystery (Sacrament) at the Mystical Supper, Christ promised it in His conversation concerning the Bread of Life on the occasion of the feeding of the five thousand men with five loaves. The Lord taught, "I am the living bread which cane down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51). The Jews evidently understood the words of Christ literally. They began to say to each other, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" (John 6:52). And the Lord did not tell the Jews that they had understood Him incorrectly, but only with greater force and clarity He continued to speak with the same meaning: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whose eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, ye have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me, and I in him" (John 6:53-56).
"...Further Christ adds, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). By this remark Christ does not ask that His words about the Bread of Life be understood in any "metaphorical" meaning. "There are some of you that believe not," He added immediately (John 6:64). By these words the Savior Himself indicates that His words are difficult for faith: How is it that believers will eat His Body and drink His Blood? But He confirms that He speaks of His actual Body. His words concerning His Body and Blood are "spiritual life." They testify that a) he who partakes of them will have eternal life, and will be resurrected for the Kingdom of Glory in the Last Day; and b) that he who partakes of them will enter into the most intimate communion with Christ. His words speak not of life in the flesh, but of life in the Spirit. "The Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Life; taste and see that the Lord is good"--these are words we hear at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. This Communion of His Body and Blood is important not for the quenching of physical hunger, as was the feeding with manna in the desert, or the feeding of the five thousand--but it is important for eternal life.
The Establishment of the Mystery (Sacrament) and Its Performance in Apostolic Times
Whereas the pre-indication of the Savior concerning the future establishment of the Mystery (Sacrament) of the Holy Eucharist was given in the Gospel of John, the very establishment of the Mystery is set forth in three Evangelists, the Synoptics Matthew, Mark and Luke, and then is repeated by the Apostle Paul.
In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, in the 26th Chapter, it is said: "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is My Body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28).
The same thing is said in the Gospel of Mark in the fourteenth Chapter.
In the Gospel of Luke, the 22nd Chapter, we read: "And He took bread and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them saying, This is My Body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper saying. This cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:19-20).
The Changing of the Bread and Wine in the Mystery of the Eucharist
In the Mystery (Sacrament) of the Holy Eucharist, at the time when the priest, invoking the Holy Spirit upon the offered Gifts, blessed them with the prayer to God the Father: "Make this bread the Precious Body of Thy Christ; and that which is in this cup, the Precious Blood of Thy Christ; changing them by Thy Holy Spirit" (this is called the consecration)--the bread and wine actually are changed into the Body and Blood by the coming down of the Holy Spirit. After this moment, although our eyes see bread and wine on the Holy Table, in their very essence, invisibly for sensual eyes, this is the True Body and True Blood of the Lord Jesus, only under the "forms" of bread and wine.
Thus the Sanctified Gifts 1) are not only signs or symbols, reminding the faithful of the redemption, as the reformed (protestant) Zwingli taught; and likewise, 2) it is not only by His "activity and power" ("dynamically") that Jesus Christ is present in them, as Calvin (protestant) taught; and finally, 3) He is not present in the meaning only of "penetration," as the Lutherans (Protestants) teach (who recognize the co-presence of Christ "with the bread, under the forms of bread, in the bread"); but the Sanctified Gifts in the Mystery are changed or (a later term) "transubstantiated" into the True Body and True Blood of Christ, as the Savior said: "For My flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed" (John 6:55). (Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology by Father Michael Pomazansky)
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Please note: It is most important that all Orthodox Christian believers truly believe in the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist and after the proper spiritual preparation receive the Very Body and Very Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as often as possible without any concern. Do not be influenced by unbelievers who plant seeds of doubt in the hearts and minds of the people. The Sacred Eucharist is life! not death.
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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