Chapter 2: The Eucharist and It’s History

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 11:23-‬26

Most of you readers are likely a part of the great banner of christendom. more often than not American families are raised in some facet of the “Christian Church”, and at least from my experience, most of the Christian denominations here in the US, see Holy Communion as purely a symbolic gesture, it is only a time of remembrance. In the last chapter of this blog, I talked about how my emotional and spiritual conviction pertaining to the Eucharist developed. Today, we are going to take a bit of a deep dive into the reasoning behind my view of the true substance of Christ in the Eucharist.

The first thing that I looked into when determining what I believed about the Eucharist was Holy Scripture. the Bible, whether or not you’re in the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant Christian church, is venerated as an infallible text that is given to us by God himself through men who were inspired by the holy spirit. I thought therefore, that I was going to find the answer in Holy Scripture as to what the Eucharist was, and what it’s importance was and is to the church. We start in the scripture above where Jesus tells us as he is celebrating the Passover with his disciples, that this bread is my body, and this wine is my blood of the new covenant. (Largely paraphrased). This alone would seem to point to the literal fact that the bread is his body and the wine is his blood. Though it’s not that simple. Jesus goes on to say “do this as often as you do it in remembrance of me. The protestants would say that the “remembrance” takes away any kind of insinuation that the bread literally becomes His body, and the wine literally becomes His blood. This didn’t sell me either way. There are other scriptures such as, “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;” John 6:53. Again, this didn’t sell me either way. If the Protestants are right, when we eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood it’s still just a symbol. If the more traditional side of Christianity is right, then that is far from the truth, and Jesus Christ is Truly in the Eucharist. My study of scripture certainly aided and edified me, but I still had no solid view on the Eucharist.

The second thing I looked into was Church history. when the Christian Church started, what was communion to them? Before Christ had ascended and commissioned his disciples to evangelize to all the ends of the Earth, what did they tell the people whom they taught the gospel to about the Eucharist? An early Christian saint, Saint Ignatius of Antioch had something to say about this.

“those who hold heretical opinions about the grace of Jesus Christ … refuse to acknowledge that the Eucharist is the flesh of our savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which the Father by his goodness raised up”

- St. Ignatius of Antioch

At this point, reading sections like this in first, second, and third, century Christian Epistles and works, I began to see things a bit clearer. It is said that Saint Ignatius essentially had St Peter as a job reference for his role as Bishop of Antioch. It is believed that Peter himself recommended Ignatius to fill the role of bishop. Someone who was revered as worthy of the clergy seemed to believe that the body and blood of Christ was just that. The body and blood of Christ. There is many other instances in which early church writings and the overall consensus of the early church up until the Reformation seems to point to a belief that the Eucharist is Truly Jesus Christ. I see it now. It took me a very long time to acknowledge and truly be comfortable with this belief. Though I believed it just the same.

The third reason, I already explained in some detail in the last chapter of this blog. But there is a sort of restless nature to my soul to this day, that I believe was not conjured by my own effort or belief, but was supernaturally given to me by the Holy Spirit, that leads me to be supremely uncomfortable with any representation of the Eucharist outside of a belief and practice that it is the true presence of Jesus Christ. That the substance of the sacrament becomes the fullness of Christ’s Grace in his sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. The Eucharist is not a symbol, not a representation, but is Jesus Christ himself. And the partaking of His body and his blood brings about genuine spiritual healing through the administering of Christ’s grace.

Thank you readers for coming alongside me in my journey to find Ekklesia! I appreciate your support, your prayers, and your love in Christ as I, alongside anyone else who reveres Jesus, is that Christ pursues truth in all things