Page:Orthodox Eastern Church (Fortescue).djvu/425

Rh and before the Supplices te rogamus. On the other hand, the Orthodox service book adds a note to the words of institution, saying that they are only recited historically, and that therefore it is superfluous and contrary to the right mind of the Eastern Church of Christ to show the bread and wine to the people at this point. The question of the Epiklesis is a long one. Two remarks about it will be sufficient here. In the first place the Christians of the first centuries certainly did not ask very closely at what exact instant the grace of any Sacrament was given. They obeyed Christ's commands, said the prayers, and did the actions he had appointed, and they believed that God in answer would most certainly do his part. But they did not discuss the exact instant at which all conditions were fulfilled. If they had thought about the form of the Holy Eucharist in our terms they would have said that the whole great Eucharistic prayer is the form, from the Preface to the Our Father. Secondly, the fact that all the liturgies have a prayer to the Holy Ghost, asking him to change the bread and wine into the Blessed Sacrament, is no evidence against the change having already been made. The Church always dramatically represents things as happening successively which really must happen at one instant. In our rite of baptism the priest first drives out the devil, then "enlightens, cleanses, and sanctifies" the child by an imposition of hands, drives out the devil again, opens the nostrils and ears, anoints for "life everlasting," baptizes, anoints with chrism, and then gives the white robe and shining light. Presumably the truth of all these symbols is verified at one