The Eucharist and Its Diversity

Overview

Recall questions on transubstantiation, consubstantiation and memorialism, and how practice differs between denominations.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is a sacrament, and why do denominations count different numbers of them?

   Model answer

   A sacrament is usually defined as an outward, visible sign through which God gives inward grace. Catholics and Orthodox recognise seven, including baptism, the Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, ordination, reconciliation and anointing, although Orthodox writers prefer to speak of mysteries and are less concerned to fix the list. Most Protestants count two, baptism and the Lord's Supper, on the grounds that only these were plainly instituted by Christ, and many prefer to call them ordinances.

2. 2

   Which Christians do not celebrate the Eucharist at all, and why?

   Model answer

   Quakers and the Salvation Army observe no outward sacraments. Quakers hold that the whole of life is sacramental and that outward rites can become substitutes for the inward reality of Christ known directly in silence and community. The Salvation Army has similar concerns, along with a pastoral one about members recovering from alcohol dependence, and argues that grace is not tied to a ceremony. Both are a reminder that even the existence of the rite is not universal among Christians.

3. 3

   Give some of the practical ways Eucharistic practice differs between churches.

   Model answer

   Frequency ranges from daily Mass in Catholic parishes and the weekly Divine Liturgy in Orthodoxy to a monthly or quarterly Lord's Supper in some Reformed and Baptist congregations. The elements vary between leavened bread in most Orthodox churches, unleavened wafers in the Latin rite, and ordinary bread and often unfermented grape juice in Free Churches. Some traditions require an ordained priest at an altar, others allow any believer to preside at a table.

4. 4

   Why do the different names for the rite matter?

   Model answer

   Because each name carries a theology. Mass emphasises the offering and the sending out at the end; Divine Liturgy stresses the whole assembly's work of worship; Holy Communion emphasises union with Christ and with fellow believers; the Lord's Supper and the Breaking of Bread emphasise the meal and the remembrance of the night before the crucifixion; Eucharist means thanksgiving. Choosing a name is often a way of signalling where a church stands.

5. 5

   Explain the doctrine of transubstantiation.

   Model answer

   It is the Catholic teaching, defined in the medieval period and reaffirmed at Trent, that at the consecration the substance of the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ, while the appearances remain unchanged. It uses a distinction between what a thing most fundamentally is and the properties available to the senses. It is not a claim that the elements come to taste or look like flesh, and it entails that Christ is wholly present under either kind.

6. 6

   How does Orthodox teaching on the change differ from the Catholic account?

   Model answer

   Orthodox Christians affirm just as firmly that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, but most Orthodox theologians decline to explain how, treating it as a mystery rather than something to be analysed with philosophical categories. Orthodox liturgy also places the decisive moment at the invocation of the Holy Spirit over the gifts rather than at the words of institution, which reflects a stronger emphasis on the Spirit's action.

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