Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/677

Rh EUCHARIST 05 1 termed to the communicants; (4) the declaration accom panying this distribution, that these elements both symbolize the sacrifice of Christ s death, and also convey to the faithful partaker the benefits of that sacrifice; and (5) the actual partaking of these elements by the acts of eating and drinking. These several actions are all included in Christ s command, &quot; Do this in remembrance of Me.&quot; The various names by which this holy rite has been designated, each expressing one view of its manifold nature, will help us towards a comprehension of its meaning and purpose. 1. The term Eucharist, though not found in this sense in Holy Scripture, came into use in the earliest times, and found such acceptance that it became the most frequent designation of the Lord s Supper both in the Western and the Eastern Church. It first appears in the letters ascribed to Ignatius, 107 A.TX (Epist. ad PhilaJ., c. iv.; ad Smyrn., c. vi.), and is used by Irenseus, who says that after consecra tion &quot; it is no longer common bread, but eucharist &quot; (lib. iv. c. 18, 5). Justin Martyr, 140 A.TX, after describing the sacred meal, says, &quot; This partaking is called by us the Eucharist&quot; (Apohrj., i. c. 66). Origen also speaks of &quot;the bread called Eucharist &quot; (Contr. Cels., lib. viii. 57). The term is also continually found in this sense in Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Cyprian. Eucharist, efyapto-Tia, signifies &quot; thanksgiving,&quot; and its use for the sacramental feast is derived from the thanksgiving of our Lord at the institution of the rite (ev^a/no^o-a? exXao-ev). The ele ments over which thanks had been offered readily assumed the name of the act of thanksgiving, and so the word eucharistia came to be simply equivalent to the sacramental bread and wine, and was sometimes restricted to the bread alone. &quot; In the earliest liturgies thanksgiving was, next to the reception, the chief part of the celebration, a circum stance which without doubt served greatly to promote the general adoption of the name &quot; (Scudamore, Notitia Eucharistica, p. 8). It is thus St Chrysostom explains the term : &quot; The awful mysteries, laden with mighty salva tion, which are celebrated at every communion, .... are called Eucharist, because they are the commemoration of many benefits, and by all means they work upon us to be thankful&quot; (Homil. xxv. in Matt., 3). 2. Another familiar name is the Communion, or the Holy Communion. This is derived from the words of St Paul, 1 Cor. x. 1G, 17. &quot;The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion (KOIVWIO) of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, the many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.&quot; The general use of this term is not so early as of the word &quot; eucharist, &quot; bui it is found in Irenreus, 167 A.n., who speaks of slaves who have heard from their masters that &quot; the divine com munion is the body and blood of Christ &quot; (Frar/m., xiii.), and it is used by Hilary, Basil, and Chrysostom. St Paul s words show that the leading idea contained in this name is, that by means of this sacrament all faithful recipients become partakers of the body and blood of Christ, and receive a communication of the blessings of His sacri fice. But they also express another fundamental truth, expressed in the Apostles Creed as &quot; the communion of saints,&quot; viz., the communion or fellowship which all Christians have with one another, as members of one body, sharers in one life, of which the joint participation of this sacrament is an outward symbol and pledge. &quot; By this sacrament is signified and sealed that union which is among our Saviour s true disciples communicating therein ; their being together united in consent of mind and unity of faith, in mutual good will and affection, in hope and tendency to the same blessed end, in spiritual brotherhood and society ; especially on account of this communion with Christ, which most closely ties them one to another ; they, partaking of this one individual food, become translated, as it were, into one body and substance &quot; (Barrow, Doctrine of the Sacrammls, vol. v. p. 602, ed. 1818). To establish this union is declared by Christ to be one great purpose of His incarnation and death and high priestly intercession (John xvii. 22-23). And the Eucharist by its symbolism sets forth the truth that the only way of thus uniting men to each other is by first uniting them to Christ, They must be one with Him before they can be one with each other in Him. &quot; The union of mankind, but a union begun and subsisting only in Christ, is what the Lord s Sapper sacramentally expresses &quot; (Ecce Homo, p. 175). Participation in the Eucharist being thus the chief outward sign and pledge of communion and fellowship with the church, admission to this sacrament was practically identi fied with a recognition of a claim to membership in the church, while to be repelled from it amounted to exclusion from the Christian body, such exclusion receiving the name of excommunication. 3. Another designation of this sacrament, derived from Holy Scripture, is the Lord s Supper. It is so called by St Paul himself, who when speaking of its unworthy re ception, says, &quot; When ye come together into one place, this is not to eat the Lord s supper,&quot; 1 Cor. xi. 20. The special appropriateness of this name, taking us back to the time and place of its first institution by Christ, &quot;the same night that He was betrayed,&quot; secured for it an early and wide reception, and we find Chrysostom and Augustine employing it as a familiar term. &quot; He gave the supper consecrated by His own hands to the disciples. We have not sat down at that feast, and yet by faith we daily eat the same supper&quot; (August., Serin, cxii., c. 4). The name &quot; supper&quot; indicates also the original idea of the sacred rite as a common meal, &quot;the most natural and universal way of expressing, maintaining, and, as it were, ratifying&quot; corporate union. &quot; The meal consists of bread and wine, the simplest and most universal elements of food ; and when men of different nations or degrees sit and kneel together, and receive, as from the hand of God, this simple repast, they are reminded in the most forcible manner of their common human wants, and their common character as pensioners on the bounty of the universal Father&quot; (Ecce Homo, pp. 173, 174). And thus this designation guards against a common but dangerous misconception of the sacrament. A &quot; sup per &quot; is something to be partaken of, not to be worshipped. Bread and wine are viands to be eaten and drunk, not to be adored. That on whi&amp;lt;:h they are placed is a table, round which the guests gather as for a common meal, not, except in a secondary and derived sense, an altar. 4. The term &quot;oblation&quot; or &quot;offering&quot; (irpoo-ifropa.) was originally applied to each of tlie various offerings made by the faithful at the celebration of the Eucharist, e.rj., the oblation of alms in kind or money for the poor, gifts for the support of the clergy, and the maintenance of the fabric of the church and its services ; the special oblation of bread and wine for the purpose of the celebration ; and the spiritual oblation of the Body and Blood of Christ in the eucharistic commemoration. Gradually its reference became narrowed. We notice the process of restriction in the writings of Cyprian, 250 A.TX. and find it established by the time of Cyril of Jerusalem, 350 A.T&amp;gt;. Hencefor ward, &quot; the oblation &quot; signifies the commemoration of the self-oblation of Christ on the cross. &quot; To attain to the oblation &quot; or to &quot; partake of the holy oblation &quot; meant to receive, and to impart &quot; the oblation&quot; was to administer the blessed sacrament.&quot; In the liturgy of the Church of England the word &quot;oblation&quot; is only used of the &quot;alms&quot; and other offerings of the congregation (with a special reference to the presentation of the elements of tread and