EUCHARIST

(From εὐχαριστία , giving of thanks .) (See Communion , Lord’s Supper , Elements , Consecration of the Elements , Sacrament , Sacrifice , Real Presence .) Sac ramentum eucharistiæ is the name given to the Lord’s supper in our Latin articles, signifying, properly, thanksgiving or ble ing, and fitly denoting this holy service as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. It occurs in Ignatius, Irenæus, Clemens of Alexandria, Origen, and others; and was adopted into the Latin language, as may be seen from Tertullian and Cyprian in many places.— Water land. We have, however, an earlier allusion to the liturgy, under the title of eucharistia , or thanksgiving, in the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians; where, in forbidding and reasoning against the practice of some persons, who used the miraculous gift of tongues in an improper manner, namely, by celebrating the liturgy in an unknown language, he says, “When thou shalt ble with the Spirit , how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks , seeing he understand eth not what thou sayest?” (1 Cor. xiv. 16.) ἐπεὶ, εἂν εὐλογήσῃς τῷ πνεύματι, ὁ ἀναπληρῶν τὸν τόπον τοῦ ἰδιώτου πῶς ἐρεῖ τὸ ἀμὴν ἐπὶ τῇ σῇ εὐχαριστιᾳ; ἐπειδὴ, τί λέγεις, οὐκ οἶδε. The meaning of this pa age is obvious: “If thou shalt ble the bread and wine in an unknown language, which has been given to thee by the Holy Spirit , how shall the layman say Amen, ‘so be it,’ at the end of thy thanksgiving or liturgy, seeing he understand eth not what thou sayest?” It is undeniable that St. Paul in this place uses exactly the same expre ions to describe the supposed action as he has employed a short time before in designating the sacraments of Christ’s body and blood, and describing our Lord’s consecration at the last supper. Τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας ὃ εὐλογοῦμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Χοιστοῦ ἐστι ; “The cup of ble ing which we ble , is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ?” (1 Cor. x. 16.) Ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾖ παρεδίδοτο, ἔλαβεν ἄρτον, καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασε. (1 Cor. xi. 23.) “The Lord Jesus , in the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks , he brake it.” The language of St. Paul also in the pa age under consideration, as well as the action which he describes, is perfectly conformable to the description given by Justin Martyr of the celebration of the eucharist. “Then bread and a cup of water and wine is offered to the president of the brethren; and he, taking them, sends up praise and glory to the Father of all, in the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost , and makes a very long thanksgiving, because God has thought us worthy of these things. And when he has ended the prayers and thanksgiving, all the people that are present signify their approbation, saying, Amen. For Amen in the Hebrew language signifies ‘so be it.’” Here we observe the “president” corresponding to the person who “ble es,” according to St. Paul, and performs the “thanksgiving.” The “people” corresponding to the “unlearned person” (or layman, as Chrysostom and Theodoret interpret the word) of St. Paul, and replying Amen, “so be it,” at the end of the thanksgiving in both pa ages. If we refer to all the ancient and primitive liturgies of the East and of Greece, the peculiar applicability of St. Paul’s argument to the Christian liturgy will appear still more. In the liturgy of Constantinople or Greece, which has probably been always used at Corinth, the bishop or priest takes bread, and “ble es” it in the course of a very long “thanksgiving,” at the end of which all the people answer, “Amen.” The same may be said of the liturgies of Antioch and Cæsarea, and, in fine, of all the countries of the East and Greece through which St. Paul bare rule or founded Churches. It may be added, that there is, we believe, no instance in the writings of the most primitive fathers, in which the Amen is ever said to have been repeated at the end of an office containing both ble ing and thanksgiving, except in the liturgy of the eucharist. All this shows plainly that the argument of St. Paul applies immediately and directly to the celebration of this sacrament. Whether we regard his own previous expre ions, the language and the words of the earliest fathers, or the customs of the primitive Church exhibited in the ancient liturgies, we see the accurate coincidence between the case which he refers to, and the celebration of the eucharist.— Palmer’s Origines Liturgicæ , p. 114. We virtually adopt this word, when in the prayer after communion, we pray to God to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving .