Scholarly Opinions Two notable Church Fathers, Ignatius of Antioch and Origin, had very distinct views of the Eucharist, yet contrasting. First, Ignatius saw the Eucharist as the center of worship because it stressed the focus of the presence of the saving power of Jesus. Ignatius stressed three main points: Ignatius connects the physical elements of the Lord’s Supper with the physicality of Jesus’ body. “Ignatius finds it impossible to take the bread as the flesh of Christ at the ritual and yet claim that Christ had no physical body (as Docetism taught).” Ignatius also saw the one cup and the one bread of the Lord’s Supper as symbols of the unity there is in Christ. Lastly, Ignatius made famous the phrase “the medicine of immorality” when referring to the bread of the Lord’s Supper. He saw the Eucharist as a healing and cleansing power for the human soul. He understood that the presence of Christ was in the rite and thus in the union of communion. Finally, Origin focused on two models of understanding the progression of the Eucharist. The first was that Jesus at the Last Supper with his disciples. Gamel says “In this model, a line can be drawn from the Jewish Passover meal to the Last Supper of Jesus to the meals of the earliest Christians and to reports of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament.” The emphasis here is on the fact that Jesus used a Graeco-Roman model to be introduced to the Christian tradition. Origin’s second model states the “New Testament accounts of the Last Supper are etiological in nature—that is, they explain the origin of communal meals in the early church, but they are not historical.” This model teaches that the transition from the Last Supper model to the current liturgical models was a slow and natu... ... middle of paper ... ...c and Pentecostal churches see the Eucharist as somehow important, but with not a lot of meaning. In fact, most would not even know the term Eucharist. The purpose of this research was to draw a conclusion as to the validity and significance of the Eucharist by examining the purpose ascribed to it in the Early Church. Unfortunately, the conclusion that was drawn was not as conclusive as was hoped. The conclusion that is drawn, it that the Eucharist is what one makes it. If there is a deep spiritual meaning in it for one church, and there is a deep sense of importance that is communicated in a meaningful and inspirational way, then that church will place its importance higher than most. But unfortunately in the Pentecostal Church specifically, it is an afterthought connected to the traditions of liturgy that hold little more meaning than foot washings or circumcision.
The bread represents Christ's body and the wine represents his blood. When they take this bread and wine, Catholics believe that they are becoming one with Christ and are renewing their faith. According to the Gospels, Christ shared bread and wine with his disciples to symbolise them becoming one body. The final section of the Mass, the Concluding Rite, consists of a final prayer ( postcommunion ), the blessing ( benediction ) and the dismissal. A hymn may be sung as the clergy leave the church.
I have always found communion to be an important sacrament to the Christian faith, but sometimes its meaning can be lost in repetitiveness. Sara Miles, in her book Take This Bread, has shed a new light on what it means to take communion as she writes about her transformation into being a Christian by receiving bread and wine. Hunger is the main theme of the book, whether it be spiritually or physically, all humans are linked by that common need. This transformation goes beyond her and pours into the souls and bodies of the San Francisco community, by sharing not only food but the body of Christ. This book has pushed me to get past my comfort zone and heavily consider the way in which food can be an important aspect of my faith and how I share
Webber, Christopher. Welcome to the Episcopal Church: An Introduction to Its History, Faith, and Worship. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Pub., 1999. Print.
The Early Christians had numerous different practices. Some of them sacrificed animals, others held mass, and some even died in order to go with God. This helped with the spread of Christianity because it allowed people to attend mass and be forgiven of their sins. It also showed how cruel the Romans were and that religious freedom was being taken away from them.
St Paul of Tarsus is a model for all Christians as he made Christianity accessible to the whole world, and set it on its path to becoming a global religion by writing much of the Christian Theology that still forms the foundations of Christian beliefs, teachings and community that exists today. Paul established the Eucharist as the principle ritual for Christians, and discussed the appropriate manner by which this ritual is to be celebrated. “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:26-27) The belief and teachings of the Eucharist allowed and continues to allow adherents to be brought closer to God by enabling them to give thanks, and be brought closer to ...
highlights the importance of the sacraments and the clergy, can be seen as a response on
Throughout the Western culture, Christianity has played a crucial role in the spiritual life of many people. In fact, it is a one of the largest religion in the world with an estimating range from 2 to 3 billion Christians (Religions of the World: Numbers of Adherents; Growth Rates). Spreading with this worldwide religion, the idea that God is at the centre of daily life has a high importance to many people. In the early 20th Century, one of the significant developments of Christianity was the Pentecostal Movement (A Brief History of Christianity). More specifically, Pentecostalism is “the principles and practices of Pentecostal religious groups, characterized by religious excitement and talking in tongues”; its most remarkable detail is its emphasis of the Holy Spirit and the value of prayer (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). It has outspread around the world by the people who believed that they had experienced the marvelous moves of God.
...le, the scripture passage Luke 24:30-32 in the bible explores the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is recognised after “he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them” This is important to Christian followers, as it is the foundation of Christian beliefs. This has also impacted the way Christians practise traditional rituals and ceremonies, such as the Eucharist and Baptism. Also the scripture reference provides adherents with the knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection and how he will be “with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28), even after his death and resurrection. Thus, the ritual of Eucharist and Baptism supports adherents in seeking where Christ is in their everyday lives. Hence, the rituals and ceremonies, such as the Eucharist and Baptism are significant to Christianity, through it shaping it as a living and dynamic tradition
From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one direc...
There, Christ gave specific instructions to his disciples as to how to eat and drink in the futures as a remembrance to him. This was the first celebration of the Eucharist. "The Last Supper" precisely illustrates the seconds after Christ informs everyone that one disciple would betray him before sunrise. The twelve disciples all responded to this information with different levels of horror, anger and shock.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
He discussed in depth about how Christological traditions emerged and developed over the decades (59). However, his focus leans towards the first five centuries of the church. As the church was beginning to grow the emergence of the canon was informing believers of the historical events of Jesus sacrifices. It was a wonderful era to study how the culture perceived the recently crucified Christ.
Baptism, one of the most prevalent signs of Christian faith, has, for a long time, been a highly debated topic within the community of the body of believers. There are many different ideas surrounding the different practices and views of baptism, even the reason of why we carry out the act of baptism. Just as the idea of a marriage ceremony is to profess your love and commitment to each other, a baptism ceremony has the same effect, but instead your commitment is to Christ. This essay will take a look at this topic, the philosophical ideas surrounding it, how the Bible address it, and also the historical context in which this theological topic falls into.
The study has shown how since the apostolic age popular expressions of faith contributed to deepen the faith of early Christians. Furthermore, despite a certain idealization of such golden age of liturgy, one can assume that common people approached the liturgy of the Church in pious ways that are not reflected in the official documents of history. For instance, one can recall the informal martyria celebrated outside the city walls to partake of the breaking of the bread by early Christians on the tombs of the
The shared meals that many share are directly reflective of community and bonds that are shared. Between stories that describe the rich, restrictions on food, and helping the less fortunate, the Gospels discuss the meal of Eucharist in many different ways to symbolize the bond of a community. In doing so, they show anyone could be in the Catholic Church if they believe and support their community. The shared meal between rich versus poor is seen many Gospel stories.