The Eucharist

"It is humiliating to reflect that the commemorative feast of Christ’s dying love, which should be the closest bond of union between believers, innocently gave rise to the most violent controversies . . .Fortunately, the spiritual benefit of the sacrament does not depend upon any particular human theory of the mode of Christ’s presence, who is ever ready to bless all who love him."

Phillip Schaff. Kindle Loc 61,624

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Questions • Overview • The Ante-Nicene Fathers • Ambrose & Augustine • Medieveal Church, East and West • Radbertus and Ratramnus • Wycliffe • Luther, Zwingli, Calvin • Knox • Cranmer • Modern Protestantism

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Celebrated Each Sunday [4 ← ↑ →]

"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons." Justin Martyr

Devotion, Not Analysis [5 ← ↑ →]

"She looked upon it as the holiest mystery of the Christian worship, and accordingly celebrated it with the deepest devotion, without inquiring into the mode of Christ’s presence, nor into the relation of the sensible signs to his flesh and blood. It is unhistorical to carry any of the later theories back into this age; although it has been done frequently in the apologetic and polemic discussion of this subject." Schaff, Kindle Loc 23,907 It is in the age of Church Councils that follows that the Eucharist, as is every other element of the faith, is put under the deliberative and analytical microscope of the Church's theologians.

The Early Opinions [6 ← ↑ →]

Early Church Fathers had varying opinions, but they had not gotten to a point where they named their positions and debated them. Their writings also wobble between different, even opposing views, in different writings by the same author. The table below represents the appearance of three different ideas and the authors associated with them, but should not be taken to mean the authors consistently held only to that opinion.

Oriental	North-African	Alexandrian
Ignatius, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr	Tertullian, Cyprian	Clement, Origen
"the consecrated bread a medicine of immortality and an antidote of spiritual death... involves belief in the real presence, and ascribes to the holy Supper an effect on spirit and body at once, with reference to the future resurrection, but is still somewhat obscure, and rather an expression of elevated feeling than a logical definition." Schaff, Kindle Loc 23,913-23,914	"different view, approaching nearer the Calvinistic or Reformed" Schaff, Kindle Loc 23,930	The elements are symbols, allegories, or antitypes of the Heavenly realities. Clement makes an interesting analogy between a baby nursing on its mother's milk to Christ strenthening and noursishing us with the Eucharist.

Eucharist as Sacrifice - An Almost Universal Opinion [7 ← ↑ →]

The idea of the Eucharist as a sacrifice was almost universal in the Early Church. The early Christians were surrounded everywhere by cultures that still practiced animal sacrifice, what Christians called "carnal sacrifices." They viewed their piety, prayers, and the Eucharist as "spiritual sacrifices," the true sacrifices that God wants and welcomes. Clement of Rome writes, “All his life [a Christian] is a holy festival. His sacrifices consist of prayers and praises and the reading of the Scriptures before dining, and psalms and hymns during dinner and before going to bed, and also of prayers again during the night. By these things he unites himself with the heavenly choir, being enlisted in it for ever-mindful contemplation in consequence of his uninterrupted remembrance of it. Moreover, is he not acquainted with that other sacrifice which consists in the free gift both of instruction and of money among those who are in need?” The Eucharist itself fit into this framework of a sacrificial life as the ultimate model of a sacrificial life.

Even Hermits and Cenobites took the Eucharist [8 ← ↑ →]

"The early monks were also integrated into the life of the church. Some writers have portrayed the early monastic movement as an anti-ecclesiastical layman's protest against an increasingly institutional church. Not so. Saturday and Sunday eucharistic worship in the nearest parish church, for example, was a regular feature of the earliest hermit and cenobitic communities." Martin

The Horror and the Holiness [9 ← ↑ →]

Though the concept of the Real Presence, the elements literally and physically becoming the body and blood of Christ, was not widespread, there is some evidence of a spreading horror concerning blasphemously wasting the elements or missing the full blessing by spilling the cup or letting crumbs fall to the floor. Show | Hide Quote

"[G]iving heed lest thou lose any part of it; for whatever thou shouldest lose would be evidently a loss to thee as from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all care, taking heed lest thou shouldest lose any of them and suffer loss? Wilt thou not much more carefully be on thy guard lest a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?"

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The Case for the Real Presence

1). Christ did not say he was speaking metaphorically. [11 ← ↑ →]

Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take and eat it; this is my body.' 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, 'Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'"

2). God Has Given Us OT Examples of Changing the Elements [12 ← ↑ →]

"51. Moses was holding a rod, he cast it down and it became a serpent. Exodus 4:3-4 A... The streams of Egypt were running with a pure flow of water; of a sudden from the veins of the sources blood began to burst forth, and none could drink of the river. ...Moses lifted up his rod, the water divided and hardened like walls, and a way for the feet appeared between the waves. ...The people of the fathers thirsted, Moses touched the rock, and water flowed out of the rock. Exodus 17:6 ... Marah was a most bitter stream, so that the thirsting people could not drink. Moses cast wood into the water, and the water lost its bitterness, which grace of a sudden tempered. Exodus 15:25 ...one of the sons of the prophets lost the head from his axe, which sank. He who had lost the iron asked Elisha, who cast in a piece of wood and the iron swam." Ambrose of Milan, Mysteries

3). It Is the Words of Christ Himself, Not a Human Priest, That Performs this Change [13 ← ↑ →]

"How can what is bread be the Body of Christ? By the consecration. The consecration takes place by certain words; but whose words? Those of the Lord Jesus. Like all the rest of the things said beforehand, they are said by the priest; praises are referred to God, prayer of petition is offered for the people, for kings, for other persons; but when the time comes for the confection of the venerable Sacrament, then the priest uses not his own words but the words of Christ...And before the words of Christ the chalice is full of wine and water; but where the words of Christ have been operative it is made the Blood of Christ, which redeems the people." Ambrose of Milan, The Sacraments 4:4:14; 4:5:23)

4). The Same Word of Christ Used in the Eucharist Created the Heavens and the Earth [14 ← ↑ →]

"Therefore the word of Christ makes this Sacrament. What is the word of Christ? Assuredly that by which all things were made. The Lord commanded, and the heaven was made; the Lord commanded, and the earth was made; the Lord commanded, and the seas were made. The Lord commanded, and every creature was created. You see how powerful the word of Christ is." Ambrose of Milan

5). He Who Changed Water Into Wine Can Change Wine Into Blood [15 ← ↑ →]

“He once at Cana in Galilee changed the water into wine, akin to blood (οἰκεῖον αἵματι: another reading is οἰκείῳ νεύματι, by His own will); and is it incredible that He should change (μεταβαλών) wine into blood?" St. Cyril of Jerusalem

6). Our Own Regeneration Points towards God's Transformative Abilities In the Eucharist [16 ← ↑ →]

"[H]ow it ought not to seem new and impossible to you that earthly and mortal things are changed into the substance of Christ, ask yourself, who have already been regenerated in Christ.… As, therefore, without any bodily perception your former vileness was laid aside, and you were suddenly clad with new dignity, and, as it was not shown to eye or sense that God healed in you what was wounded and removed what was diseased and cleansed what was stained, so, when you approach the sacred altar to be fed with heavenly food, behold the holy body and blood of your God, honour it, wonder at it, grasp it with your mind, receive it with the hand of your heart, and most of all inwardly drink it.…" ___________________

7).How Could A Mere Memorial Result in Sickness and Even Death? [17 ← ↑ →]

"Though the thing itself is the health-giving body and blood of the Lord, yet whoever eats or drinks unworthily, for him it is turned into plague and destruction, because he has approached so great a mystery irreverently and with an unwashed soul, not sufficiently pondering with how great awe the body of the Lord ought to be received.” Erasmus, cited in Stone

Other Emerging Beliefs About the Real Presence

1). The Bread and Wine Nurture Us Spiritually as Mother's Milk Nourishes Us Physically [18 ← ↑ →]

"The food which the mother eats becomes fit food for her infant child by means of the process of passing through her flesh. In like manner the Wisdom of God feeds Christians; and the Incarnation and the Passion have made possible the gift to them of the flesh and blood of the Lord." Augustine of Hippo

2). His Body and Blood Make Us Partakers of the Divine Nature [19 ← ↑ →]

"For so also do we become Christbearers (χριστοφόροι), since His body and blood are distributed throughout our members. Thus according to the saying of the blessed Peter, we become partakers of the divine nature.” ___________________

3). Transubstantiation Is A Supernatural Change Exactly Opposite to Demonic Dedication [20 ← ↑ →]

“The things which are hung up at the idol festivals, whether flesh or bread or other such things, having been defiled by the invocation of the foul demons, are reckoned in the pomp of the devil. For as the bread and the wine of the Eucharist before the invocation of the holy and adorable Trinity were simple (λιτός) bread and wine, but when the invocation has taken place the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ, so in like manner such food of the pomp of Satan, though in its own nature simple (λιτά), becomes profane (βέβηλα) by the invocation of the demons.” ___________________

4). Augustine: Worship (Not Veneration) for the Elements [21 ← ↑ →]

"For as in the palaces of kings what is most splendid of all is not the walls, or the golden roof, but the body of the king sitting on the throne, so also in heaven there is the body of the King; but this thou mayest now behold on earth. For I show to thee not angels, nor archangels, nor the heaven, nor the heaven of heavens, but Him who is the Lord of these Himself.” Augustine of Hippo

5). The Bread and Wine Retain their Normal Appearance So As Not to Stupefy Us [22 ← ↑ →]

"St. Cyril of Alexandria speaks of the elements being 'transferred'. “That we may not be stupefied by seeing flesh and blood lying on the holy Tables of the churches, God, condescending to our infirmities, sends the power of life into the gifts that are set forth and transfers (μεθίστησιν) them into the efficacy (ἐνεργείαν) of His own flesh, that we may have them for lifegiving participation, and that the body of the Life may be found in us as a lifegiving seed.” St Cyril of Alexandria cited by Stone pp 85-6. Show | Hide Story of the Unbelieving Priest

And God heard the entreaties of the two fathers, and when the week was ended they came to the church, and the three of them sat down by themselves on one seat, and the old man was between the other two; and the eyes of their understandings were opened, and when the time of the mysteries had arrived, and the bread was laid upon the Holy Table, there appeared to the three of them as it were a child on the Table. And when the priest stretched out his hand to break the bread, behold the angel of the Lord came down from heaven with a knife in his hand, and he slew the child and pressed out his blood into the cup; and, when the priest broke off from the bread small members, the old man drew near that he might partake of the holy offering, and a piece of living flesh smeared and dripping with blood was given to him. Now when he saw this he was afraid, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘I believe, O Lord, that the bread is Thy body, and that the cup is Thy blood’; and straightway the flesh which was in his hand became bread like unto that of the mystery, and he took it and gave thanks unto God. And the old men said unto him, ‘God knoweth the nature of men, and that it is unable to eat living flesh, and for this reason He turneth His body into bread, and His blood into wine, for those who receive Him in faith’.” Abbâ Daniel Parnâyâ,

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The Church Councils

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The Eastern Church

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The Western Church

Developments in Belief and Practice Regarding the Eucharist in the Western Church [30 ← ↑ →]

• 1215, the 4th Lateran Council declares Transubstantiation as official church dogma
• Under One Kind and Under Both Kinds
  • Laity originally received both the bread and wine. (Under Both Kinds)
  • The bread and wine are literally transformed into the physical body and blood of Christ by the priestly consecration of the elements: i.e., a particular Latin phrase uttered by a priest is believed to accomplish this miraculous transformation. Scholastic Theologians debate at which point in the phrase the elements transform. Later Protestants claim this doctrine is elevating the magical, not the miraculous.
  • In Medieval Catholicism, the cup becomes an ornate chalice, and the chalice is later denied to all but the officiating priest or bishop (18th Canon of Nicea). The priest partakes of the wine and bread, while the laity receives only the bread. (Under one kind)
  • The Church defends this practice because of
    • The danger of spilling the Blood of Christ
    • The time it would take to let everyone drink from the same cup
    • Hygenic reasons
    • Its already stablished practice of taking bread away for home communions, for taking communion to the sick, and for including baptized children too young to drink wine.
  • The Church determines that Christ is physically present in both elements and that the laity is receiving the full blessing of the Sacramߨent even though they are only receiving the bread.
• The Church teaches the Eucharist removes Venial Sins, that is, minor sins or major sins committed unintentionally. Mortal sins--major, intentional sins--require the sacrament of reconciliation.
• The Eucharist becomes more and more elaborate, requiring a special bread (unleavened wafers), special vestments for the officiating priest, and so on.
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Debate Over the Real Presence [31 ← ↑ →]

"In the 1100s and 1200s, some heretical groups, called Cathars, or Albigensians, taught that all material things were essentially evil; [throwback to neoplatonism and Gnosticism] they consequently attacked the belief that Jesus could really be present in the bread and wine of the sacrament. In reaction, the church reemphasized the goodness of material creation and defended the reality of Jesus’ presence in the elements, especially through the doctrine of transubstantiation: while the bread and wine appeared unchanged to the senses, theologians taught, the priest’s consecration had in fact made them Jesus’ real body and real blood." Lynch

Out of the Hands of the Laity [32 ← ↑ →]

"The awesomeness of Jesus’ physical presence discouraged casual reception of the Eucharistic bread (lay people didn’t receive the cup). So partaking of the elements was rare for most lay people. The church demanded it at least once a year, during Easter, but only after confession, penance, sexual abstinence, and fasting had prepared the believer to receive worthily." Lynch

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Yes, The 9th and 10th Century Theologians Actually Went There... [35 ← ↑ →]

"It is characteristic of the grossly sensuous character of the theology of the tenth century that the chief point of dispute was the revolting and indecent question whether the consecrated elements pass from the communicant in the ordinary way of nature. The opponents of transubstantiation affirmed this, the advocates indignantly denied it, and fastened upon the former the new heretical name of “Stercorianists.” Gerbert called stercorianism a diabolical blasphemy, and invented the theory that the eucharistic body and blood of Christ do not pass in noxios et superfluos humores, but are preserved in the flesh for the final resurrection." Schaff, Kindle 61,696

The Receptionist View [36 ← ↑ →]

"Wycliffe thus held to the 'receptionist' view of the Eucharist, that is that the determining factor governing the presence and reception of Christ was the faith of the individual participant." Roberts

Remanence [37 ← ↑ →]

Wycliffe "believed also the idea of remanence—that the bread and wine remain unchanged." Roberts

"Wherefore Do You Not Worship the Vine for God, As You Do the Bread?" [38 ← ↑ →]

“Therefore, let every man wisely, with much prayer and great study, and also with charity read the words of God in the Holy Scriptures … Christ saith, ‘I am the true vine.’ Wherefore do you not worship the vine for God, as you do the bread? Wherein was Christ a true vine? Or, wherein was the bread Christ’s body? It was in figurative speech, which is hidden to the understanding of the sinners. And thus, as Christ became not a material nor an earthly vine, nor a material vine the body of Christ, so neither is material bread changed from its substance to the flesh and blood of Christ.” Wycliffe

The Earthquake Council [39 ← ↑ →]

"In 1382 the now Archbishop Courtenay summoned a special committee to Blackfriars to examine Wycliffe’s teachings. This council is also called 'The Earthquake Council' because of the unusual coincidence of an earthquake at the time of its meeting, which event both Wycliffe’s followers and Courtenay’s each interpreted as a visible sign of God’s judgment upon the other." CH Wycliffe Issue?

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Luther Vs Zwingli (Payne) [41 ← ↑ →]

"As a result, invitations were sent to both Zwingli and Luther to take part in a doctrinal discussion at Marburg. Zwingli accepted eagerly; Luther, only most reluctantly. They agreed on fourteen of the fifteen articles of faith set forth, but disagreed vehemently on the Eucharist.

At the outset of the Colloquy, Luther challenged Zwingli to prove to him that the body of Christ was not present in the Eucharist. Luther wrote with chalk on the table the words, 'This is my body,' a quote to which he constantly returned throughout the debates. When Zwingli argued that the passage had to be understood as a metaphor (as in 'I am the vine' and 'I am the bread of life'), Luther countered that any metaphorical interpretation had to be proven, not assumed, and that the burden of proof must fall on those who prefer the nonliteral rendering.

Thus, while Luther was a literalist concerning his favorite text, 'This is my body,' so was Zwingli about his, 'Christ ascended into heaven,' and 'The spirit gives life, the flesh is of no avail.'"

The Scriptural Argument for the Memorial View (Boyd & Eddy;) [42 ← ↑ →]

• There is no reason for believing Jesus was speaking literally rather than figuratively in Matt 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; I Cor 11:23-26. Show | Hide Scripture
  • Matthew 26:26-28 "26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take and eat it; this is my body.' 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, 'Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'"
  • Mark 14:22-24 "22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.'"
  • Luke 22:19-20 "19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"
  • 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 "23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."
  
  
  
• Jesus told us (I Cor 11:25-26) we should perform this rite in 'remembrance of me', not that he would meet with us spiritually when we performed the rite. Show | Hide Scripture

  1 Corinthians 11:25-26 "25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

  
  
  
• Jesus called himself the 'Bread of Life', but he also called himself the 'Vine,' the 'Good Shepherd,' and the 'Bridegroom.'
  
  
• If God is perpetually present inside us, how can He be more present with us during the Lord's Supper?

The Scriptural Argument for the Spiritual Presence View (Boyd & Eddy;) [43 ← ↑ →]

• Jesus states (Matt 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; I Cor 11:23-26), the wine is his blood, the bread is his body. He does not say he is speaking metaphorically/symbolically. Show | Hide Scripture
  • Matthew 26:26-28 "26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take and eat it; this is my body.' 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, 'Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'"
  • Mark 14:22-24 "22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it; this is my body.' 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.'"
  • Luke 22:19-20 "19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"
  • 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 "23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."
  
  
  
• Paul warns of severe consequences for taking the Lord's Supper unworthily. (I Cor 11:27-30). If the Lord's Supper is merely a memorial or commemoration, why would there be these consequences? Show | Hide Scripture

  I Cor 11:27-230 "27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying."

  
  
  
• Jesus tells us (John 6:53-56) we are to drink his blood and eat his body or we will have no life in us. These would be very serious words regarding something that is merely an intellectual memorial or commemoration. Show | Hide Scripture

  John 6:53-56 "53 So Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.'"

  
  
  
• Paul forcefully says (I Cor 10:16-17) that the cup we bless and bread we break is a sharing in the blood and body of Christ. Show | Hide Scripture

  1 Corinthians 10:16-17 "16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread."

  
  
  
• Paul warns those who eat food consecrated to demons (I Cor 10:20-22) of joining in partnership with demons, implying that those who participate in the Lord's Supper are in a supernatural relationship with him. Show | Hide Scripture

  1 Corinthians 10:20-22 "20 No, but I do say that what they[a] sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"

  
  
  

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The True Presence [52 ← ↑ →]

“We believe ... that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord’s table, eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus so that he remains in them and they in him; they are made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone so that just as eternal God has given life and immortality to the flesh of Christ Jesus, which by nature was corruptible and mortal, so eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus does the same for us. ...

Thus, contrary to some other Protestant teachings, the Eucharist is not just a memorial service: “Therefore if anyone slanders us by saying that we hold the sacraments to be nothing more than symbols, they offend us and the truth” (article 21).

Research this more in CH John Knox Issue

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Cranmer Burned at the Stake [57 ← ↑ →]

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, helped launch the Protestant Reformation in England during the reign of Henry VIII. Henry was succeeded by the boy king, Edward. During Edward's reign, Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and his The 39 Articles of Religion were placed in every church in England. This did not happen without contoversy. In 1548, the House of Lords actually debated the nature of the Eucharist for 5 days. In 1949, a Catholic uprising in Devon and Cornwall against the new prayer book and the liturgy in English instead of Latin led to 4000 deaths. Henry's Daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, ascended the throne in 1553 and attempted to extinguish the Reformation in England. Over 1955 and 1956, Mary had Bishops Ridley and Latimer and Archbishop Cranmer (the Oxford Martyrs) burned at the stake. Cranmer made 6 written recantations of the Protestant faith during his imprisonment, but at the public service where he supposed to recant one last time before execution, he vehmently rejected Catholicism and re-embraced the Protestant faith. Cranmer is said to have held his hand out to be burned first, the hand which had written the 6 recantations of Protestantism.

39 Articles of Religion, Article XXVIII: Of the Lord's Supper [58 ← ↑ →]

The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another; but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.

Ratramnus's De corpore et sanguine Domini Revisited [59 ← ↑ →]

"The relatively traditionalist and conservative doctrine of the Eucharist supposedly enshrined in the English Prayer Book, especially in the version of 1549, was partly dependent upon a ninth-century treatise by Ratramnus, a monk of the Abbey of Corby, De corpore et sanguine Domini. By what means and in what form did Cranmer and, before him, Ridley encounter the work of Ratramn? They read it in one of the Continental printed editions, most probably published in Protestant Strassburg. Ratramnis was a source which they shared with Martin Bucer and other Rhineland Reformers and perhaps if it had not been for those Reformers they would not have known about him at all." Collinson

Spiritual Food [60 ← ↑ →]

• "Wherefore our duetie is, to come to these holy misteries, with moste heartie thankes to bee geven to almightie GOD, for his infinite mercie and benefites geven and bestowed upon us his unworthye servauntes, for whom he hath not onely geven his body to death, and shed his bloude, but also doothe vouchesave in a Sacrament and Mistery, to geve us his sayed bodye and bloud to feede upon spiritually."
• ALMIGHTYE and everlyvyng* GOD, we moste hartely thanke thee, for that thou hast vouchsafed to feede us in these holy Misteries, with the spirituall foode of the moste precious body and bloud of thy sonne, our saviour Jesus Christ,

Augustine to Ambros to Ratramnus to Cranmer [61 ← ↑ →]

"Dugmore called the sacramental doctrine for which the English Reformers, and especially Ridley and Cranmer, contended a 'non-papist Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist'. This was a doctrine of the middle way, derived more or less independently from an ancient Augustinian tradition predating 'papal Catholicism'. The source of that was a divergent Ambrosian tradition which, having passed through the Aristotelian sea-change of translation into scholastic categories, emerged in the high Middle Ages as transubstantiation, a doctrine (or, in Cranmer's perception, 'opinion') at the heart of the Mass understood as a constantly-renewed sacrifice of Christ's immolated body, really present on the altar. It was the realist-symbolist understanding of the Eucharist, anti-transubstantiationist, which came to be enshrined in Cranmer's Prayer Book, profoundly affecting the whole English-speaking world." Collinson

"Protestant-ized" the Lord's Supper By Discarding Parts of the Medieval Catholic Mass (Gatiss) [62 ← ↑ →]

1. Discarded anything that hinted at Christ's death being insufficient.
   1. Not a sacrifice being performed by a priest
   2. Christ's death was "once offered, full, perfect sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world."

[63 ← ↑ →]

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[66 ← ↑ →]

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