The Eucharist

The mystery of mysteries: the true Body and Blood of Christ, given under the forms of bread and wine, in which the Church offers her thanksgiving and receives her Lord. The Eucharist is at once the center of the sacramental life and the sacrament of the Church herself.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

The Eucharist is the goal toward which the mysteries of initiation lead and the source from which the whole life of the Church flows. This section treats its theology and its practice. The first file, the-mystery-of-the-body-and-blood.md, treats the real presence, the change (metabole) of the gifts and the reserve toward “transubstantiation” as dogma, and the disputed question of the consecratory moment — the epiclesis or the words of institution. The second file, communion-and-the-life-of-the-church.md, treats communion in the life of the faithful — frequency, preparation, infant communion — and the Church as the eucharistic community, linking the hub essay on the Eucharist and the Divine Liturgy.

Contents

File Description
the-mystery-of-the-body-and-blood.md The real presence; the change (metabole) vs transubstantiation-as-dogma; the epiclesis vs the words of institution
communion-and-the-life-of-the-church.md Frequency, preparation, infant communion; the Church as eucharistic community

See Also