The Eucharist in the orthodox church

c. 350–417 · Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogic Catecheses 1-5 (Catecheses mystagogicae) 4.6

Consider therefore the Bread and the Wine not as bare elements, for they are, according to the Lord’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ; for even though sense suggests this to thee, yet let faith establish thee. Judge not the matter from the taste, but from faith be fully assured without misgiving, that the Body and Blood of Christ have been vouchsafed to thee.

c. 350–417 · Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogic Catecheses 1-5 (Catecheses mystagogicae) 1.7

Moreover, the things which are hung up at idol festivals, either meat or bread, or other such things polluted by the invocation of the unclean spirits, are reckoned in the pomp of the devil. For as the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist before the invocation of the Holy and Adorable Trinity were simple bread and wine, while after the invocation the Bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ, so in like manner such meats belonging to the pomp of Satan, though in their own nature simple, become profane by the invocation of the evil spirit.

c. 350–417 · Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogic Catecheses 1-5 (Catecheses mystagogicae) 5.15

Give us this day our substantial bread. This common bread is not substantial bread, but this Holy Bread is substantial, that is, appointed for the substance of the soul. For this Bread goeth not into the belly and is cast out into the draught, but is distributed into thy whole system for the benefit of body and soul.

c. 385 · Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism (Oratio catechetica magna) 37

Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as says the Apostle, “is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer”; not that it advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, “This is My Body.”

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on 2 Timothy (In epistulam ii ad Timotheum homiliae 1-10) 2

The Offering is the same, whether a common man, or Paul or Peter offer it. It is the same which Christ gave to His disciples, and which the Priests now minister. This is nowise inferior to that, because it is not men that sanctify even this, but the Same who sanctified the one sanctifies the other also. For as the words which God spake are the same which the Priest now utters, so is the Offering the same, and the Baptism, that which He gave.

c. 391 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 45.2

Now He proceedeth to commit unto them mysteries. And first He discourseth of His Godhead, saying, “I am the bread of life.” For this is not spoken of His Body, (concerning that He saith towards the end, “And the bread which I shall give is My flesh,”) but at present it referreth to His Godhead. For That, through God the Word, is Bread, as this bread also, through the Spirit descending on it, is made Heavenly Bread.

430 · Cyril of Alexandria, Third Letter of Cyril to Nestorius (Ep. 17), with the Synod of Alexandria

Proclaiming the death, according to the flesh, of the Only-begotten Son of God, that is Jesus Christ, confessing his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into heaven, we offer the Unbloody Sacrifice in the churches, and so go on to the mystical thanksgivings, and are sanctified, having received his Holy Flesh and the Precious Blood of Christ the Saviour of us all. And not as common flesh do we receive it; God forbid: nor as of a man sanctified and associated with the Word according to the unity of worth, or as having a divine indwelling, but as truly the Life-giving and very flesh of the Word himself. For he is the Life according to his nature as God, and when he became united to his Flesh, he made it also to be Life-giving, as also he said to us: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood. For we must not think that it is flesh of a man like us (for how can the flesh of man be life-giving by its own nature?) but as having become truly the very own of him who for us both became and was called Son of Man.

c. 350 · Anonymous (Liturgy of St Mark), The Divine Liturgy of St Mark

We pray and beseech Thee, O good and merciful God, to send down from Thy holy heaven, from the mansion Thou hast prepared, and from Thine infinite bosom, the Paraclete Himself, holy, powerful, and life-giving, the Spirit of truth, who spoke in the law, the apostles, and prophets; who is everywhere present, and filleth all things, freely working sanctification in whom He will with Thy good pleasure; one in His nature; manifold in His working; the fountain of divine blessing; of like substance with Thee, and proceeding from Thee; sitting with Thee on the throne of Thy kingdom, and with Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Send down upon us also and upon this bread and upon these chalices Thy Holy Spirit, that by His all-powerful and divine influence He may sanctify and consecrate them, and make this bread the body.

c. 350 · Anonymous (Liturgy of St James), The Divine Liturgy of St James

The Priest (Oblation). XXXI. Remembering, therefore, His life-giving sufferings, His saving cross, His death and His burial, and resurrection from the dead on the third day, and His ascension into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of Thee, our God and Father, and His second glorious and awful appearing, when He shall come with glory to judge the quick and the dead, and render to every one according to His works; even we, sinful men, offer unto Thee, O Lord, this dread and bloodless sacrifice, praying that Thou wilt not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities; But that Thou, according to Thy mercy and Thy unspeakable loving-kindness, passing by and blotting out the handwriting against us Thy suppliants, wilt grant to us Thy heavenly and eternal gifts (which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man) that thou hast prepared, O God, for those who love Thee; and reject not, O loving Lord, the people for my sake, or for my sin’s sake:

c. 375–380 · Anonymous (compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions), Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (Apostolic Constitutions) 8.12

Being mindful, therefore, of those things that He endured for our sakes, we give Thee thanks, O God Almighty, not in such a manner as we ought, but as we are able, and fulfil His constitution: “For in the same night that He was betrayed, He took bread” in His holy and undefiled hands, and, looking up to Thee His God and Father, “He brake it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, This is the mystery of the new covenant: take of it, and eat. This is my body, which is broken for many, for the remission of sins.” In like manner also “He took the cup,” and mixed it of wine and water, and sanctified it, and delivered it to them, saying: “Drink ye all of this; for this is my blood which is shed for many, for the remission of sins: do this in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth my death until I come.”

c. 743–750 · John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Expositio fidei; De fide orthodoxa) 86

But if some persons called the bread and the wine antitypes of the body and blood of the Lord, as did the divinely inspired Basil, they said so not after the consecration but before the consecration, so calling the offering itself. Participation is spoken of; for through it we partake of the divinity of Jesus. Communion, too, is spoken of, and it is an actual communion, because through it we have communion with Christ and share in His flesh and His divinity: yea, we have communion and are united with one another through it. For since we partake of one bread, we all become one body of Christ and one blood, and members one of another, being of one body with Christ.

c. 743–750 · John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Expositio fidei; De fide orthodoxa) 86

The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, “This is My body,” not, this is a figure of My body: and “My blood,” not, a figure of My blood.

1830 · Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church 1.337

What is the name for that part of the Liturgy in which the Sacrament itself is celebrated and consecrated? The Liturgy of the Faithful; because the faithful only, that is, the baptized, have the right to be present at this service. What is the most essential act in this part of the Liturgy? The utterance of the words which Jesus Christ spake in instituting the Sacrament: Take, eat; this is my body. Drink ye all of it; for this is my Blood of the New Testament. Matt. xxvi. 26, 27, 28. And after this the invocation of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing the gifts, that is, the bread and wine which have been offered. Why is this so essential? Because at the moment of this act the bread and wine are changed, or transubstantiated, into the very Body of Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ.

1830 · Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church 1.315

What is the Communion? The Communion is a Sacrament, in which the believer, under the forms of bread and wine, partakes of the very Body and Blood of Christ, to everlasting life.

1830 · Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church 1.347

What should we remember at the moment of the consecration of the Sacrament, and while the clergy are communicating within the altar? The mystical supper of Jesus Christ himself with his Apostles; his suffering, death, and burial.

1865 · Edward Bouverie Pusey, An Eirenicon, in a Letter to the Author of 'The Christian Year' 10

“The Eastern and Greek-Russian Church admits the word ‘Transubstantiation,’ in Greek metousiwsiV, not that physical and carnal transubstantiation, but the sacramental and mystical, and receives that word Transubstantiation in the same sense in which the oldest fathers of the Greek Church received the words metallagh, metaqesiV, metastoiceiwsiV.” A sacramental or a hyperphysical change no English churchman, who believes the Real Presence as his Church teaches, could hesitate to accept.