Origin of the Holy Eucharist

Introduction A. Origin of the Holy Eucharist The Eucharist also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance. It is reenacted in accordance with Jesus' instruction at the Last Supper as recorded in several books of the New Testament, that his followers do in remembrance of Him as when he gave his disciples bread, saying, "This is my body", and gave them wine, saying, "This is my blood".

Biblical basis The Last Supper appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke; and in the First Epistle to the Corinthians,[2][23][24] while the last-named of these also indicates something of how early Christians celebrated what Paul the Apostle called the Lord's Supper. As well as the Eucharistic dialogue in John chapter 6. Paul the Apostle and the Lord's SupperIn his First Epistle to the Corinthians (c 54-55), Paul the Apostle gives the earliest recorded description of Jesus' Last Supper: "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me'. " Gospels The synoptic gospels, first Mark and then Matthew and Luke depict Jesus as presiding over the Last Supper.References to Jesus' body and blood foreshadow his crucifixion, and he identifies them as a new covenant. In the gospel of John, the account of the Last Supper has no mention of Jesus taking bread and wine and speaking of them as his body and blood; instead it recounts his humble act of washing the disciples' feet, the prophecy of the betrayal, which set in motion the events that would lead to the cross, and his long discourse in response to some questions posed by his followers, in which he went on to speak of the importance of the unity of the disciples ith him and each other.

Agape feast The expression The Lord's Supper, derived from St. Paul's usage in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, may have originally referred to the Agape feast, the shared communal meal with which the Eucharist was originally associated. The Agape feast is mentioned in Jude 12. But The Lord's Supper is now commonly used in reference to a celebration involving no food other than the sacramental bread and wine.

Early Christian sources The Didache (Greek: teaching) is an early Church treatise that includes instructions for Baptism and the Eucharist.Most scholars date it to the early 2nd century and distinguish in it two separate Eucharistic traditions, the earlier tradition in chapter 10 and the later one preceding it in chapter 9. The Eucharist is mentioned again in chapter 14. Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 35 or 50-between 98 and 117), one of the Apostolic Fathers, mentions the Eucharist as "the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ" and Justin Martyr speaks of it as more than a meal: "the food over which the prayer of thanksgiving, the word received from Christ, has been said ..

. s the flesh and blood of this Jesus who became flesh ... and the deacons carry some to those who are absent.

" B. Preliminary considerations 9historical background, limitation The profanation of the Sacred Species (art. 2, n. 1).

The motu proprio makes explicit reference (cf. n. 9) to the authentic interpretation of 4 June 1999 which included in the definition of the verb “abicere”, used in can. 1367 CIC and can.

442 CCEO, “quamlibet actionem Sacras Species voluntarie et graviter despicientem” (any action which voluntarily and gravely offends the Sacred Species). The attempt to celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice by someone not in Holy Orders ( art. 2, n. 2; can. 1378 §2, n.

1 CIC). This delict, while not mentioned in the CCEO, is explicitly included in thecorpus canonum ecclesiarum orientalium in virtue of the motu proprio. The simulation of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice (art. , n. 2; can. 1379 CIC; can.

1443 CCEO). For both Codes, the simulation of any of the sacraments is a delict. The motu proprio only considers the simulation of Holy Mass or of the Divine Liturgy as a delictum gravius. The concelebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice with a minister of an ecclesial community which does not have the Apostolic Succession and which does not recognize the sacramental dignity of priestly ordination (art. 2, n.

3). The motu proprio explicitly mentions cann. 08 and 1365 CIC as well as cann. 702 and 1440 CCEO.

The scope of these canons is broader than the norm of the motu proprio, which restricts a delictum gravius to the concelebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice with “Protestant” ministers. It seems to me that the two elements (the absence of Apostolic Succession and the non-recognition of the sacramental dignity of priestly ordination) are indistinguishable in the description of this particular ecclesial community which is spoken of in art. 2, n. 3.The consecration, for a sacrilegious purpose, of one of the Eucharistic species without the other in the Eucharistic celebration, or of both outside the Eucharistic celebration (Art. 2 § 2).

Note 19 makes reference to can. 927 CIC which utilizes the expression nefas est to forbid an action which is not a formal delict. It is important to note the finis operantis “in sacrilegum finem”. I wonder whether such consecrations within the context of sacrilege verge on the delict of profanation of the Eucharist defined as “qualibet actio Sacras Species voluntarie et graviter despiciens”.