The Eucharist is something more important than what we realize. Most Christians whether Orthodox or Catholic in reality (at least formally taught by their churches) believe in the real presence of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is thus not just symbolic. When St Basil talks about the Eucharist, he does not refer to a symbol that contains no real presence, but a symbol that contains the fullness of the reality of the Church. The Eucharist contains the fullness of the church, for it is in this mystery that we find Christ incarnated, crucified, and resurrected. In the Eucharist, the members of the Church become partakes of one divine body by partaking of the eternal bread and wine which gives one another not as individuals, but as a community an eternal body. In this mystical reflection, John informs us of this eternal union, it is in John 6:58 in which this eternal-and united relationship forms us then as a community. The Church is then not the bringer of the Eucharist, it is the Eucharist by the grace of the Son through the Holy Spirit that creates and develops the church.

Together as One

The Eucharist is the reflection of this internal and mystical union, often in the Scripture called EPI TO AUTO. It appears 10 times in the New Testament, and four of these ten times appear in the book of Acts. The phrase Επὶ τὸ αὐτό (EPI TO AUTO) by itself translates roughly as together or united. Without context, this might be hard to understand, however, the context in both scripture and apostolic tradition it’s not only fundamental to understanding the Church, but also to understanding the intrinsic and complicated relationship of the Church and the world.

Acts 1:15

In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, ¹⁶ “Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry.

Brethren, denoting, unity, the church as one. Peter here demonstrates his role in ministry as servus servorum Dei which united in solidarity with his brothers in the universal Apostolate, he will represent and carry all around him. Peter focuses on the mission of the church, her expansion. A ministry that is done as one. In such case, we can recall St Ignatius of Antioch’s words, “Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church”. This unity of brotherhood is highlighted as a community, and not as individuals

Acts 2:1

 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. ³ And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The manifestation of the Holy Spirit is highlighted in the unity of the community. This, recalling the words of both God in the Old Testament in Genesis 18:24, where if there is a community that still believes in the Lord, the Lord will spare in his mercy the entire city if a community of believers it’s found. The mercy of God is later re-attested in the New Testament, in which the unity of believers marks the presence of God as seen in Matthew 18:20.

The events of Pentecost occur parallel in the Jewish feast of Shavuot, a Harvest festival, and the celebration of Moses receiving the Torah (Pesah. 68b) occurs. In this sense, the reception of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire serves as a typological connection with the tongues of fire in Isaiah 5:24 and the reception of the divinity in the Church. The divine presence of God, denoted in fire, is presented as a community. Salvation seems to be highlighted as a communal event over a singularly personal event.

Acts 2:44

⁴³ And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

The communal ownership in the earlier period denoted especially the desire to be all united in one. In this sense, the communal philosophy highlighted the process of salvation as a community. A community highlighted by many Jews previously on the Serek Hayahad. An unity of love.

1 Corinthians 11:20

¹⁷ But in the following instructions, I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, ¹⁹ for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. ²⁰ When you meet together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.^[b] 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is hungry and another is drunk. ²² What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you on this? No, I will not.

Ultimately, the height of the community is highlighted in the Eucharist. It is in the Eucharist that the eschatology of the church becomes immediate. Uniting the community in one with God. In this sense, we are transformed via grace which proceeds through the Spirit as holders of the divine nature. This is highlighted by Peter in 2 Pet. 1:4. The Partaking is not by own our results, for we are unworthy of it. But, by God’s mercy, as the incarnation takes place to demonstrate to us God’s desire, in the sanctification we are elevated in the same mercy. Thus, united, we move forward toward God.

The Eucharist as the Primal Church

The Eucharist highlights the unity of the Church, not just in its mode of consumption, but also in its mode of scriptural exegesis. The church is marked by the reception of the same nature from the same Christ via the Eucharist. For just like there is one Christ. There can only be one Eucharist (and thus, one church). An example of such reality is highlighted by Fr Henri de Lubac, for him, the Eucharist is related to the Church as a cause is related to the effect, means to end, and sign to reality [1]. The unity of the Church has presented in the sense that the fullness of the Holy Spirit presents itself in the community. The mystery is drawn out in what the western church calls the sacraments. The sacraments form the notion of a united mystery in not multiple events, but a singular one. After all, sacramentus simply means the hallow mystery. The mystery however is identified with two notions, both are important and central to the gift of salvation.

The first notion is denoted in Origen. The hidden truth of theophany, of the incarnation, and the scriptures [2], are all united. A truth that draws us into the reality of God and his nature. The second notion more typical of the Antiochian school is highlighted by St John Chrysostom. For St John, the mystery moves us towards an imminent life in which virtue, and the church is not just a point to be transcended, but a daily occurrence. The focus is on the growth of virtue, by which the community strengthens itself in the pursuit of Christianhood.

The church is a continuation of the incarnation. The Christ is fully present in the church through the unity in which the eucharist is highlighted. Christ and the Eucharist are figures of the Church, not superficial ones, but real ones united and engraved as one. The Church is thus mystically signified by Christ and the Eucharist [4]. Just like number one, does not change in meaning if one uses “one” vs ”1”, such the Eucharist reflects the same reality: the Church and Christ, the same One. Both the Eucharist reflects that mystery of the uncomposed and uncreated God, but also it is also an immediate reality in which by grace we are moved to aid the poor, the needy, and all of those that need our help. For it is in all humans, that the face of God is present.

Sin and Schisms

Just as the unity is reflected by the Eucharist, Christ himself. Individualization is reflected by sin. It is in sin that is the inward manifestation of individualization becomes externalized in pride, hate… acts contrary to authentic love. Sin is thus a separation from the community of God and the human community. The individualism of the society is then an ungodly relationship in which the self begins to worship itself above the reality of God. Conversely, redemption is the recovery of the loss of unity, with society and with God [5].

Schisms then exist as a partial internalization of this individualization. In some sort, in which the Eucharist serves as the EPI TO AUTO, the unity of the church, the schism reflects an antonym of such unity by the refusal to share the same love. Schism is a sin against love, but none of the children that inherit the schism of their parents are guilty of the sin. Rather, the schism let us ask one question, “What about others?” After all, everything happens because wills the desire to see the Salvation of all humankind.

Unity

Regardless, of the camps of dogmatists in the Catholic and Orthodox Church, both churches have moved forward in Ecumenical dialogues. When looking at this both sides seem to consider each other as Christians. The Catholic Church following the more developed sacramentology (which existed already pre-schism), in this sense, admits that the Orthodox are a church with full valid sacraments. In this sense, the intrinsic reality between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches is not that we are separated but one united in grace. Of course, this intrinsic reality is not yet reflected by the externalities. While the same Christ is fully present in both churches, we remain separated by the real unfortunate realities of the fallen world in which we inhabit.

But just because in the interior realities of the soul of the Church. This truth should not move us towards the desire that the status quo is enough, but it must make us realize that the unity among brethren is the unity of God. In the coming years in which heterodoxy has, is, and will continue to infiltrate, we must desire to continue the fullness of promoting the orthodoxy of the faith.

Eucharistic Ecclesiology and the Future

We then find ourselves faced with the reality; the Church is One. The Church is the person of Christ. In the person of Christ, we are made one, in which there is neither Greek nor Jew, nor there is free nor slave. We are all united in a community in the mystery of one body with a common destiny in which mankind by the grace of God is moved towards a mystery that transcends the senses and transforms our fallen selves [6]. It is in this common reality that we reflect one truth… the Eucharist makes the Church.

In such notions, the Russian Orthodox theologian, Fr. Nicholas Afanasiev expresses this regard. The Eucharist assembly which comes together into the fullness of participation through the reception of the sacrament makes the church [7]. In this verse essence, we find the fullness of the internal sobornist (catholicity). It is in this very essence of catholicity, an universality, that the many become one, and are together called to participate in the service of the common God [8]. For Anafesiev, the four principles of this ecclesiastical unity are formed through the Holy Spirit, the royal priesthood, EPI TO AUTO, and the liturgical concelebration [9].

The four principles are all united as forms of the same essence. This means the four of them point towards God and the salvation of mankind. The Sacraments become manifested through the holy spirit, in which the Church is the place of activity for the Spirit. The charisma of the ministries such as the royal priesthood are all manifested by the Spirit which dwells in the Church. This dwelling creates the community, by which we are united (EPI TO AUTO). In its togetherness, we all participate in the concelebration of the liturgy. The sacraments are not manifested for the few, but for the whole. In this sense, we all through our chants and prayers become participants of the concelebration of the Eucharist [10].

United as one thus we elevate our voice. We are the people of God united in our baptism, in our prayers, and ultimately, this unity is eschatologically also in the Eucharist a reality that transcends the senses. The Church understanding the role of the liturgy teaches, “Liturgical services are not private functions but are celebrations of the church, which is the “Sacrament of unity,” namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops” [11]. In this unity then, we are united in a common worship which seeks and should hope for the salvation of all humankind.

The Eucharistic Ecclesiology is thus connected in the present and the future with liturgical theology. For as we pray, we believe. In short, Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi. The liturgies of the church are the unity of the church. In them, approved by the bishops who are inheritors of the Apostles, the liturgies and our unity are manifested in public [12]. In this act of doing is believing, the faith is presented not in silence, but in the unity of the people. The people are full collaborators in this dignity and highlight the beauty of the body of Christ [13]. Thus, in this unity of public worship, the desire for unity must be born. Not only because our brethren are our “own” nature (the divine one via the sacraments), but because love calls us to be one body.

Conclusion

The Eucharist thus is not a hidden secret that lives alone in symbology. It is the public unity by which the entire church is united. Without the Eucharist, theology, ecclesiology, scripture, and liturgy serve no purpose. For there is no reality without the Eucharist in which the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the resurrection occur internally within us and within the end of the times.  Such beauty is then a transcended mystery that Christ through the Holy Spirit makes manifested to the world. Not to be hidden behind a veil, but to be offered to the whole world.

Notes:

1. Dr Susan Wood, Spiritual Exegesis and the Church in the Theology of Henri de Lubac, pg. 54
2. Dr Hans Boersma, Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church, pg. 79
3. ibid. pg. 79
4. Dr Susan Wood, Spiritual Exegesis and the Church in the Theology of Henri de Lubac, pg. 77
5. Ibid. pg. 81
6. Ibid. pg. 135
7. Dr Anastasia Wooden, Eucharistic Ecclesiology of Nicholas Afanasiev and Catholic Ecclesiology: History of Interaction and Future perspectives, Eucharistic Congress 2012, pg. 2
8. Ibid. pg. 5
9. Ibid. pg 4.
10. Ibid. pg. 10
11. Sacrosanctum Concilium, P#26
12. Vicesimus Quintus Annus 10, St John Paul II
13. Sacrosanctum Concilium P#48