Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/657

 EUCHARIST

585

EUCHARIST

Patriarch Michael Orularius of Constantinople had sought in 1053 to palliate the renewed rupture with Rome by means of tlie controversy concerning un- leavened bread, the two Churches, in the Decree of Union at Florence, in 1439, came to the unanimous dog- matic decision, that the distinction between leavened and unleavened bread did not interfere with the con- fection of the sacrament, though for just reasons based upon the Cliurch's discipline and practice, the Latins were obliged to retain unleavened bread, while the Greeks still held on to the use of leavened (cf. Den- zinger, Enchirid., Freiburg, 1908, no. 692). Since the Schismatics had before the Council of Florence enter- tained doubts as to the validity of the Latin custom, a brief defence of the use of unleavened bread will not be out of place here. Pope Leo IX had as early as 1054 issued a protest against Michael Cserularius (cf. Migne, P. L., CXLIII, 775), in which he referred to the Scriptural fact, that according to the three STOoptics the Last Supper was celebrated "on the first day of the azymes" and so the custom of the Western Church received its solemn sanction from the example of Christ Himself. The Jews, moreover, were accus- tomed even the day before the fourteenth of Nisan to get rid of all the leaven which chanced to be in their dwellings, that so they might from that time on par- take exclusively of the so-called mazzoth as bread. As regards tradition, it is not for us to settle the dis- pute of learned authorities, as to whether or not in the first six or eight centuries the Latins also celebrated Mass with leavened bread (.Sirraond, Dollinger, Kraus) or have observed the present custom ever since the time of the Apostles (Mabillon, Probst). Against the Greeks it suffices to call attention to the historical fact that in the Orient the Maronites and Armenians have used unleavened bread from time immemorial, and that according to Origen (In Matt., XII, n. 6) the people of the East "sometimes", therefore not as a rule, made use of leavened bread in their Liturgy. Besides, there is considerable force in the theological argiunent that the fermenting process with yeast and other leaven, does not affect the substance of the bread, but merely its quality. The reasons of con- gruity advanced by the Greeks in behalf of leavened bread, which would have us consider it as a beautiful symbol of the hypostatic union, as well as an attractive representation of the savour of this heavenly Food, will be most willingly accepted, provided only that due consideration be given to the grounds of propriety set forth by the Latins with St. Thomas Aquinas (III, Q. Ixxiv, a. 4) namely, the example of Christ, the apti- tude of unleavened bread to be regarded as a symbol of the purity of His Sacred Body, free from all cor- ruption of sin, and finally the instruction of St. Paul (1 Cor., V, 8) to keep the Pasch " not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth".

(b) The second Eucharistic element required is wine of the grape {vinum de rnte). Hence are ex- cluded as invalid, not only the juices extracted and prepared from other fruits (as cider and perrj'). but also the so-called artificial wines, even if their chemical constitution is identical with the genuine juice of the grape. The necessity of wine of the grape is not so much the result of the authoritative decision of the Church, as it is presuppo.sed by her (Council of Trent, Sess. XTIII, cap. iv), and is based upon the example and command of Christ, Who at the Last Supper cer- tainly converted the natural wine of grapes into His Blood. This is deduced partly from the rite of the Passover, which required the head of the family to pass around the "cup of benediction" (cnb'x bcnedicttonis) containing the wine of grapes, partly, and especially, from the express declaration of Christ, that henceforth He would not drink of the "fruit of the vine" (geni- men vilis). The Catholic Church is aware of no other tradition and in this respect she has ever been one with

the Greeks. The ancient Hydroparastatse, or Aqua- rians, who used water instead of wine, were heretics in her eyes. The counter-argument of Ad. Harnack ["Texte und Untersuchungen ", new series, VII, 2 (1891), 115 sqq.], that the most ancient of Churches was indifferent as to the use of wine, and more con- cerned with the action of eating and drinking than with the elements of bread and wine, loses all its force in view not only of the earliest literatiu'e on the sub- ject (the Didache, Ignatius, Justin, Irena'us, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Hippolytus, TertuUian, and Cyprian), but also of non-Catholic and apocrj^phal writings, which bear testimony to the use of bread and wine as the only and necessary elements of the Blessed Sacrament. On the other hand, a verj- ancient law of the Church which, however, has nothing to do with the validity of the sacrament, prescribes that a little ■water be added to the wine before the Consecration (Deer, pro Armenis; aqua modicissuna), a practice, whose legitimacy the Council of Trent (Se.ss. XXII, can. Lx) established under pain of anathema. The rigour of this law of the Church maj^ be traced to the ancient custom of the Romans and Jews, who mixed water with the strong southern wines (see Prov., ix, 2), to the expression of calix mixhis found in Justin (Apol., I, Ixv), Irensus (Adv. ha-r., V, ii, 3), and C^'prian (Ep. Ixiii, ad Csecil., n. 13 sq.), and especially to the deep sTOibolical meaning contained in the mingling, inas- much as thereby are represented the flowing of blood and water from the side of the Crucified Saviour and the intimate union of the faithful with Christ (cf. Council of Trent, Sess. XXII, cap. vii).

In this connexion, see Giese, Streitfrage uber den Gehrauch der Azymen (Miinster, 18.52); FrNK, Die Abendmahlselemente bei Justin in Kirchengesch. Abhandtungen und Untersuchungen (Paderbom. 1S97), I, 278 sqq.; Scheiwiler, Die Elemente der Eucharistie in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (Mainz, 1903).

(2) The Sacramental Form or the Words of Consecra- tion. — In proceeding to verify the form, which is always made up of words, we may start from the in- dubitable fact, that Christ did not con.secrate bj' the mere fiat of His omnipotence, which found no expres- sion in articulate utterance, but by pronouncing the words of Institution: "This is my body . . . this is my blood", and that by the addition: "Do this for a commemoration of me", He commanded the Apostles to follow His example. Were the words of Institution a mere declarative utterance of the conversion, which might have taken place m the "benediction" unan- nounced and articulately unexpressed, the Apostles and their successors would, according to Christ's ex- ample and mandate, have been obliged to consecrate in this mute manner also, a consequence which is alto- gether at variance with the deposit of faith. It is true, that Pope Innocent III (De Sacro altaris myst., IV, vi) before his elevation to the pontificate did hold the opinion, which later theologians branded as "te- merarious", that Christ consecrated without w'ords by means of the mere "benediction". Not many theo- logians, however, followed him in this regard, among the few being Ambrose Catharinus, Cheffontaines, and Hoppe, by far the greater number preferring to stand by the unanimous testimonj' of the Fathers. Mean- while, Innocent III also insisted mo.st urgently that at least in the case of the celebrating priest, the words of Institution were prescribed as the sacramental form. It was, moreover, not until its comparatively recent adherence in the seventeenth century to the famoiLs "Confessio fidei orthodoxa" of Peter Mogilas (cf. Kimmel, "Monum. fidei eccl. orient.", Jena, 1850, I, p. 180), that the Schismatical Greek Church adopted the view, according to which the priest does not at all consecrate by virtue of the words of Institution, but only by means of the Epiklesis occurring shortly after them and expressing in the Oriental Liturgies a petition to the Holy Spirit, "that the bread and wine may be converted into the Body and Blood of Christ".