The Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” was Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal

Note: Last Updated 9/9/2024.

Note: Click here for a list of the abbreviations used in the bibliographical citations.

Outline:

1. The Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” was Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal.

1.1. The Medieval Continuation of the Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal.

2. Appendix: The OT Saints Ate the Same Flesh and Drank the Same Blood as the NT Saints—Historical Testimony.

3. Appendix: Only “Believers” Eat the Body (Flesh) of Christ—Historical Testimony.

4. Excursus: All Historical-Confessional Protestant Denominations Believe that Christ is Really Present in the Lord’s Supper.

4.1. Objection: Transubstantiation, a Eucharistic Miracle?

5. Endnotes (Alternate Translations and Additional Testimony).

1. The Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” was Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal. Return to Outline.

Note: See further: The Patristic Understanding of the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel According to John as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal.

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

I take no pleasure in corruptible food or the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ who is of the seed of David; and for drink I want his blood, which is [ἐστιν] incorruptible love.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, 7.3; PG, 5:693; trans. Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007], p. 233. Cf. ANF, 1:77.) [1.]

Cf. Luke 22:19:

Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is [ἐστιν] my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”

(New American Bible.)

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.): 

And the blood of the Lord is twofold. For there is the blood of His flesh, by which we are redeemed from corruption; and the spiritual, that by which we are anointed. And to drink the blood of Jesus, is to become partaker of the Lord’s immortality; the Spirit being the energetic principle of the Word, as blood is of flesh. 

     Accordingly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. And the one, the mixture of wine and water, nourishes to faith; while the other, the Spirit, conducts to immortality.

     And the mixture of both—of the water and of the Word—is called Eucharist [εὐχαριστία, thanksgiving], renowned and glorious grace; and they who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul. 

(Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Pædagogi), 2.2; PG, 8:409, 412; trans. ANF, 2:242.) See also: ccel.org. [2.]

Irenæus, Bishop of Lyon [Lugdunum] (c. 130-202 A.D.): 

And therefore the oblation [προσφορὰ, offering] of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure [Διότι καὶ ἡ προσφορὰ τῆς εὐχαριστίας οὐκ ἔστι σαρκικὴ, ἀλλὰ πνευματικὴ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ καθαρά]. …in order that the receivers of these antitypes [ἀντιτύπων] may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform these oblations [προσφορὰς, offerings] in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views, but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons of wisdom. 

(Irenæus of Lyon, Fragments, 37 [38 in PG, 7:1253]; trans. ANF, 1:574-575.) See also: ccel.org.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.): 

So also the bread is the word of Christ made of that corn of wheat which falling into the ground yields much fruit. For not that visible bread which He held in His hands did God the Word call His body, but the word in the mystery of which that bread was to be broken. Nor did He call that visible drink His blood, but the word in the mystery of which that drink was to be poured out. For what else can the body of God the Word, or His blood, be but the word which nourishes and the word which gladdens the heart? Why then did He not say, This is the bread of the new covenant, as He said, ‘This is the blood of the new covenant’? Because the bread is the word of righteousness, by eating which souls are nourished, while the drink is the word of the knowledge of Christ according to the mystery of His birth and passion.

(Origenis, In Matthæum Commentariorum Series, §. 85; PG, 13:1734-1735; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], pp. 27-28.) [3.]

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 313-386 A.D.):

Christ on a certain occasion discoursing with the Jews said, Except ye eat My flesh and drink My blood, ye have no life in you. They not having heard His saying in a spiritual sense were offended, and went back, supposing that He was inviting them to eat flesh.

     In the Old Testament also there was shew-bread; but this, as it belonged to the Old Testament, has come to an end; but in the New Testament there is Bread of heaven, and a Cup of salvation, sanctifying soul and body; for as the Bread corresponds to our body, so is the Word [ὁ Λόγος] appropriate to our soul. …Also the blessed David shall advise thee the meaning of this, saying, Thou hast prepared a table before me in the presence of them that afflict me. What he says, is to this effect: Before Thy coming, the evil spirits prepared a table for men, polluted and defiled and full of devilish influence; but since Thy coming. O Lord, Thou hast prepared a table before me. When the man says to God, Thou hast prepared before me a table, what other does he indicate but that mystical and spiritual Table, which God hath prepared for us over against, that is, contrary and in opposition to the evil spirits? And very truly; for that had communion with devils, but this, with God. …Therefore Solomon also, hinting at this grace, says in Ecclesiastes, Come hither, eat thy bread with joy (that is, the spiritual bread; Come hither, he calls with the call to salvation and blessing), and drink thy wine with a merry heart (that is, the spiritual wine) . . . “strengthen thou thine heart,” by partaking thereof as spiritual, and “make the face of thy soul to shine.”

(Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 22.4-5, 7, 8, 9; PG, 33:1100, 1101, 1104; trans. NPNF2, 7:151-152.) See also: ccel.org.

Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 329-390 A.D.): 

Now we will partake of a Passover which is still typical; though it is plainer than the old one. For that is ever new which is now becoming known. It is ours to learn what is that drinking and that enjoyment, and His to teach and communicate the Word to His disciples. For teaching is food, even to the Giver of food. Come hither then, and let us partake of the Law, but in a Gospel manner, not a literal one… 

(Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 45.23; PG, 36:653, 656; trans. NPNF2, 7:431.) See also: ccel.org.

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391 A.D.): 

…and that in the church bread and wine should be offered, the symbol [ἀντίτυπον] of His flesh and blood, and that those who partake of the visible bread eat spiritually [πνευματικῶς] the flesh of the Lord, and that the apostles’ and Christians receive the Paraclete, and are endued with power from on high, and are filled with the Godhead, and their souls mingled with the Holy Ghost. 

(S. Marcarii Ægyptii, Homiliæ Spirituales, Hom. XXVII, §. XVII; PG, 34:705; trans. Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian, trans. Arthur James Mason, [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921], 27.17, p. 209.)

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

     Whence also the Church seeing so great grace, bids her sons, bids her neighbours come together to the sacraments, saying, Eat, O my neighbours; and drink and be inebriated, my brethren. What we are to eat, what we are to drink, the Holy Spirit hath made clear to thee elsewhere by the Prophet, saying, Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Christ is in that sacrament, because it is the body of Christ; therefore it is not bodily food, but spiritual [non ergo corporalis esca, sed spiritalis est]. Whence also the Apostle says of the type of it that our fathers ate spiritual meat, and drank spiritual drink. For the body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of a divine Spirit, because Christ is Spirit as we read, The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.

(S. Ambrosii, De Mysteriis, Cap. IX, §. 58; PL, 16:408-409; trans. St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries and the Treatise on the Sacraments, trans. T. Thompson, ed. J. H. Strawley, [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919], On the Mysteries, 9.58, p. 72. Cf. FC, 44:27.) [4.]

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

     58. Likewise, in the following passage: “What we are to eat, what we are to drink, the Holy Spirit has elsewhere expressed to you by the prophets when he says: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who hopes in him.’” That bread, corporeally tasted, or that wine when drunk, did not show how good the Lord is, did it? For whatever affects the taste is corporeal and gives pleasure to the tongue. To taste the Lord is that to have a sense experience of something corporeal? Therefore he invites us to try the savor of a spiritual taste, and in that drink and bread nothing is thought of corporeally but all is felt spiritually, since God is a Spirit, and “blessed is the man who hopes in him.”

     59. Likewise he goes on to say: “Christ is in that sacrament because it is the body of Christ. It is therefore not corporeal food but spiritual.” What is more obvious, more clear, more divine? For he says, “Christ is in that sacrament.” He does not say, “Christ is that bread, that wine.” Were he to say this, he would be preaching that Christ is corruptible (which God forbid!) and subject to mortality, for whatever in that food is seen or tasted in a corporeal sense is liable, surely, to be corruptible.

     60. He adds, “Because it is the body of Christ.” You get up and say: “Look here, he clearly confesses that that bread and that drink is Christ’s body. But see how he adds, ‘It is therefore not corporeal food but spiritual.’ Do not use the sense of the flesh, for here there is no suggestion of that. It is, indeed, Christ’s body, though not corporeal but spiritual. It is Christ’s blood, though not corporeal but spiritual. Nothing, therefore, is here to be taken in the corporeal but in the spiritual sense. It is the body of Christ but not corporeally; and it is the blood Christ but not corporeally.”

     61. Likewise he continues: “The apostle for this reason says of His symbol, ‘Our fathers ate a spiritual food and drank a spiritual drink.’ For the body of God is spiritual. The body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit because Christ is spirit as we read: ‘The Lord Christ is spirit before our face.’”

     62. Most splendidly he has taught us how we ought to understand the mystery of Christ’s blood and body. For having said that our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink, and yet no one doubts that that manna which they ate and that water which they drank were corporeal, he adds with reference to the mystery now enacted in the church, defining the sense in which it is Christ’s body: “For the body of God,” he says, “is a spiritual body.” God is surely Christ, and the body which he assumed from Mary, which suffered, which was buried, which rose again, was surely the true body, that is, one which remained visible and could be touched. But the body which is called the mystery of God is not corporeal but spiritual. If it be spiritual, it is now not visible or capable of being touched. Hence blessed Ambrose adds, “The body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit.” For the divine Spirit exists as nothing which is corporeal, nothing corruptible, nothing capable of being touched. But this body which is celebrated in the church with respect to its visible appearance is both corruptible and capable of being touched.

     63. How, therefore, is it called the body of the divine Spirit? With respect to the fact that it is surely spiritual, that is, with respect to the fact that it is invisible and not capable of being touched, and on this account incorruptible.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. LVIII-LXIII; PL, 121:151-153; trans. LCC, 9:134-136.) [5.]

Note: Ratramnus is commenting on the above passage by Ambrose.

Jerome, of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.): 

But the blood of Christ and the flesh of Christ are to be understood in two ways. There is that spiritual and divine flesh and blood of which He said, ‘My flesh is truly food, and my blood is truely drink,’ and ‘Except ye shall have eaten my flesh and drunk my blood, ye shall not have eternal life.’ There is also the flesh which was crucified and the blood which flowed forth from the wound made by the soldier’s lance. According to this distinction a difference of blood and flesh is understood also in the case of His saints, so that there is one flesh which will see the salvation of God, and there is another flesh and blood which cannot possess the kingdom of God. 

(S. Eusebii Hieronymi, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Ephesios, Lib. I, Cap. I, Vers. 7; PL, 26:451; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], pp. 97-98.)

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

But so far as relates to that death, concerning which the Lord warns us by fear, and in which their fathers died: Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, Phinehas ate manna, and many ate manna, who were pleasing to the Lord, and they are not dead. Why? Because they understood the visible food spiritually, hungered spiritually, tasted spiritually, that they might be filled spiritually. For even we at this day receive visible food: but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue [virtus, power] of the sacrament another. How many do receive at the altar and die, and die indeed by receiving? Whence the apostle saith, “Eateth and drinketh judgment to himself.” For it was not the mouthful given by the Lord that was the poison to Judas. And yet he took it; and when he took it, the enemy entered into him: not because he received an evil thing, but because he being evil received a good thing in an evil way. See ye then, brethren, that ye eat the heavenly bread in a spiritual sense; bring innocence to the altar.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.11; PL, 35:1611; trans. NPNF1, 7:171.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

…the sacraments are one thing and that the things of which they are sacraments are another. …It is one thing, however, which is outwardly done, but another which through faith is believed. What pertains to the sense of the body is corruptible, but what faith believes is incorruptible. Therefore, what appears outwardly is not the thing itself but the image of the thing, but what is felt and understood in the soul is the truth of the thing.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. XXXVI, LXXVII; PL, 121:142-143, 160; trans. LCC, 9:128, 140.)

Vigilius, Bishop of Thapsus (c. 5th Century A.D.): 

To believe on the Son of God, therefore, this is to see, this is to hear, this is to adore, this is to taste, this is to handle Him [Credere ergo in Filium Dei, hoc est videre, hoc est audire, hoc est adorari, hoc est gustare, hoc est contrectare eum]. 

(Vigilii Tapsensis, Contra Eutychetem, Lib. IV, §. XXII; PL, 62:133; trans. JHT-TCF, 204.)

Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus [Senator] (c. 485-585 A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

“And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son,” he says, “cleanses us.” For the doctrine of the Lord, which is very powerful, is called His blood.

(Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus: From The Latin Translation of Cassiodorus: Comments on the First Epistle of John, on 1Jhn. 1:7; trans. ANF, 2:575.) See also: ccel.org. [6.]

Cf. Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus [Senator] (c. 485-585 A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

“For there are three that bear witness, the spirit,” which is life, “and the water,” which is regeneration and faith, “and the blood,” which is knowledge; “and these three are one.” For in the Saviour are those saving virtues, and life itself exists in His own Son.

(Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus: From The Latin Translation of Cassiodorus: Comments on the First Epistle of John, on 1Jhn. 3:8; trans. ANF, 2:576.) See also: ccel.org.

1.1. The Medieval Continuation of the Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal. Return to Outline.

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.): 

The poor eat and shall be filled eternally, because they shall understand in the bread and wine, visibly set before them, something invisible; namely, the true body and true blood of the Lord, which are true food and drink, whereby not the belly is distended, but the mind feasted [quo non venter distenditur, sed mens saginatur].

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In Psalmorum Librum Exegesis, In Psalmum XXI; PL, 93:597; trans. JHT-TCF, 195.) [7.]

Christian [Druthmar] of Stavelot (c. 9th Century A.D.):

Our Lord gave to his disciples the sacrament of his body for the remission of sins and for the preservation of charity, that, being mindful of that fact, they might alway[s] in a figure do that, which he not forgetfully was about to do for them. This is my body: that is, in a sacrament. And, taking the cup, he gave thanks and gave unto them. Because, among all the nourishments of life, bread and wine avail to strengthen and refresh our infirmity, he was rightly pleased through these two to confirm the ministry of his sacrament. For wine both exhilarates and increases the blood. Therefore, not inconveniently, the blood of Christ is figured by this: since, whatsoever comes to us from him, makes us joyful with true joy, and increases all our good. As if any person, departing on a journey, leaves to his friends some bond of love, in the tenour that they should do this, every day, for the purpose of not forgetting him: so God commanded it to be done by us, spiritually transferring his body into the bread and the wine into his blood [transferens spiritaliter Corpus in panem, vinum in sanguinem], that by these two we may commemorate what he has done for us from his body and his blood, and may not be ungrateful to such most loving charity.

(Christiani Druthmari Corbeiensis Monachi, Expositio in Matthæum, Cap. LVI (Matth. xxvi. 26); PL, 106:1476-1477; trans. George Stanley Faber, The Difficulties of Romanism in Respect to Evidence: The Third Edition, Revised and Remoulded, [London: Thomas Bosworth, 1853], pp. 259-260.)

Florus of Lyon [Florus Magister] (c. 9th Century A.D.):

Truly, that bread is the body of Christ in the most sacred offering, not in matter or visible species [non materie vel specie visibili], but by spiritual virtue and power. For neither is the body of Christ generated in the field, nor is His blood produced in the vineyard, nor pressed out in the winepress. The bread is simply made from grains, the wine is simply drawn from grapes; to these are added the faith of the offering Church, the consecration of mystical prayer, and the infusion of divine power; thus, in a wondrous and ineffable way, what is naturally bread and wine from earthly seed becomes spiritually [spiritualiter] the body of Christ, that is, the mystery of our life and salvation, in which we see one thing with bodily eyes and another with the eyes of faith; and not only what we receive with the mouth but what we believe with the mind, we honor [sed quod mente credimus, libamus].

(Flori Diaconi Lugdunensis, Opuscula Adversus Amalarium, Cap. I, §. 9; PL, 119:77.) [7.5]

Walafridus Strabo of Fulda (c. 808-849 A.D.):

Therefore, when He came in the flesh, He established greater things for mankind: He taught the transformation from carnal things to spiritual, from earthly to heavenly, from temporal to eternal, from imperfect to perfect, from semblance to substantive, from replicas to reality.

     Therefore, when the Son of God says, “For My flesh is meat indeed: and My blood is drink indeed”, we must understand that those very sacraments of our redemption are truly the body and blood of the Lord, so that we may trust the pledges of that perfect unity which we shall have with our Head, now in hope, hereafter in reality [nostro iam spe, postea re tenebimus, pignora credere debeamus].

(Walfridi Strabi Fuld., De Rebus Ecclesiasticis, Cap. XVI-XVII; PL, 114:937; trans. Walahfrid Strabo’s Libellus de Exordiis et Incrementis Quarundam in Observationibus Ecclesiasticis Rerum, trans. Alice L. Harting-Correa, [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996], p. 105.)

Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz (c. 780-856 A.D.):

Our blessed Saviour would have the sacrament of His body and blood to be received by the mouth of the faithful, and to become their nourishment, that by the visible body the effects of the invisible might be known for as the material food feeds the body outwardly and makes it to grow, so the word of God doth inwardly nourish and strengthen the soul. …He would have the sacramental elements to be made of the fruits of the earth, that as He, who is God invisible, appeared visible in our flesh, and mortal to save us mortals, so He might by a thing visible fitly represent to us a thing invisible. …Some receive the sacred sign at the Lord’s table to their salvation, and some to their ruin; but the thing signified is life to every man, and death to none. Whoever receives it, is united as a member to Christ the Head in the kingdom of heaven; for the sacrament is one thing, and the efficacy of it another [quia aliud est sacramentum, aliud virtus sacramenti]; for the sacrament is received with the mouth, but the grace thereof feeds the inward man. …And as the first is turned into our substance when we eat it and drink it, so are we made the body of Christ when we live piously and obediently [Sicut ergo in nos id convertitur cum id manducamus et bibimus, sic et nos in corpus Christi convertimur dum obedienter et pie vivimus]. …Therefore the faithful do well and truly receive the body of Christ, if they neglect not to be His members; and they are made the body of Christ, if they will live of His Spirit.

(B. Rabani Mauri Archiep. Mogunt., De Clericorum Institutione, Lib. I, Cap. XXXIV; PL, 107:316-318; trans. John Cosin, The History of Popish Transubstantiation, ed. John Sherren Brewer, [London: J. Leslie, 1840], pp. 121-122.)

Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

     89. And so it appears that they are separated from each other by as great a difference as exists between the pledge and the thing on behalf of which the pledge is handed down, and as exists between appearance and truth. Thus we see that a great difference separates the mystery of Christ’s blood and body which now is taken by the faithful in the church from that which was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, died, rose again, ascended to the heavens, sits on the right hand of the Father. For what is done on the way must be accepted spiritually, because faith, which does not see, believes and spiritually feeds the soul and gladdens the heart and provides life and incorruption, provided what feeds the body, what is pressed by the teeth, what is broken into bits, is not considered, but what is in faith received spiritually. But that body in which Christ suffered and rose again exists as his own body, assumed from the body of the Virgin Mary, capable of being touched or visible even after the resurrection, as he himself said to his disciples: “Touch and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bones such as you see I have.”

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §. LXXXIX; PL, 121:165; trans. LCC, 9:143. Cf. JHT-TCF, 241.) [8.]

John Scotus Eriugena (c. 800-877 A.D.): 

For we also, who, after the accomplishment of His Incarnation, and Passion, and Resurrection, believe in Him, and understand His mysteries, so far as it is allowed us, both spiritually immolate Him, and intellectually eat Him with the mind, not with the teeth. 

(Joannis Scoti, Commentarius in S. Evangelium Secundum Joannem, Fragmentum I, Cap. I; PL, 122:311; trans. JHT-TCF, 244.)

Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

This mystery is a pledge and a symbol; Christ’s body is truth. This pledge we hold mystically until we come to the truth, and then will this pledge be ended. But it is, as we before said, Christ’s body and his blood, not bodily but spiritually. Ye are not to inquire how it is done, but to hold in your belief that it is so done.

(Ælfric of Eynsham, Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae (A Sermon on the Sacrifice on Easter-Day); trans. The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric: In the Original Anglo-Saxon, With an English Version: Vol. II, trans. Benjamin Thorpe, [London: Printed for the Ælfric Society, 1846], p. 273. Cf. JHT-TCF, 253-254.) [9.]

Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153 A.D.): 

The flesh of Christ even at this present day is exhibited and given to us, notwithstanding spiritually, not carnally [sed spiritualiter utique, non carnaliter exhibeatur]. 

(S. Bernardi Abbatis Claræ-Vallensis, In Festo S. Martini Episcopi Sermo (De exemplis obedientiæ), §. 10; PL, 183:495; trans. Thomas Becon, The Catechism of Thomas Becon, S.T.P., Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, Prebendary of Canterbury, &c., ed. John Ayre, [Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, 1844], p. 286.) [10.]

Arnold, Abbot of Bonneval (c. 12th Century A.D.):

     Therefore this unleavened bread, the true and sincere food, through species and sacrament, sanctifies us by touch, illuminates us by faith, and by truth conforms us to Christ. And, as the common bread, which we daily eat, is the life of the body so that supersubstantial bread is the life of the soul and the health of the mind. From the understanding of such great things carnal sense altogether repels us: and, as the Lord himself says, in the perception of such great mysteries flesh and blood profit nothing; because these words are spirit and life, and this magnificent virtue is judged of by spiritual men alone.

(Ernaldi Bonævallis Abbatis, Liber De Cardinalibus Operibus Christi, VI, PL, 189:1644; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], p. 120.)

Unknown Author of Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi (c. 12th Century A.D.):

Therefore, if you do all these things as I have said, you will be able to approach the living fountain, that is, Christ, who is the source of all good things. He Himself also says of Himself: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven” (John 6:51). Concerning this bread, David says in the Psalms: “Man ate the bread of angels” (Psalm 77:25). Otherwise, although that food came from heaven and was a drink, because it was bodily, it did not befit the angels; but certainly that bread and drink were prefigured by it. Christ, however, is the bread of angels, and this sacrament is truly His flesh and true blood: which sacrament a man spiritually eats and drinks. And thus, just as the angels live in heaven by what is spiritual and divine, so man lives on earth by what he receives spiritually [Ac per hoc unde vivunt Angeli in cælis, inde vivit homo in terris: quia totum spirituale et divinum in eo quod percipit homo].

(Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi, Cap. XXVIII, §. 85; PL, 184:1252.) [11.]

Note: “Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi” is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux.

2. Appendix: The OT Saints Ate the Same Flesh and Drank the Same Blood as the NT Saints—Historical Testimony. Return to Outline.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.

(New American Bible.)

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

     Whence also the Church seeing so great grace, bids her sons, bids her neighbours come together to the sacraments, saying, Eat, O my neighbours; and drink and be inebriated, my brethren. What we are to eat, what we are to drink, the Holy Spirit hath made clear to thee elsewhere by the Prophet, saying, Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Christ is in that sacrament, because it is the body of Christ; therefore it is not bodily food, but spiritual [non ergo corporalis esca, sed spiritalis est]. Whence also the Apostle says of the type of it that our fathers ate spiritual meat, and drank spiritual drink. For the body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of a divine Spirit, because Christ is Spirit as we read, The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.

(S. Ambrosii, De Mysteriis, Cap. IX, §. 58; PL, 16:408-409; trans. St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries and the Treatise on the Sacraments, trans. T. Thompson, ed. J. H. Strawley, [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919], On the Mysteries, 9.58, p. 72. Cf. FC, 44:27.)

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

     62. Most splendidly he has taught us how we ought to understand the mystery of Christ’s blood and body. For having said that our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink, and yet no one doubts that that manna which they ate and that water which they drank were corporeal, he adds with reference to the mystery now enacted in the church, defining the sense in which it is Christ’s body: “For the body of God,” he says, “is a spiritual body.” God is surely Christ, and the body which he assumed from Mary, which suffered, which was buried, which rose again, was surely the true body, that is, one which remained visible and could be touched. But the body which is called the mystery of God is not corporeal but spiritual. If it be spiritual, it is now not visible or capable of being touched. Hence blessed Ambrose adds, “The body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit.” For the divine Spirit exists as nothing which is corporeal, nothing corruptible, nothing capable of being touched. But this body which is celebrated in the church with respect to its visible appearance is both corruptible and capable of being touched.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. LXII; PL, 121:152-153; trans. LCC, 9:136.)

Note: Ratramnus is commenting on the above passage by Ambrose.

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

     “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven.” Manna signified this bread; God’s altar signified this bread. Those were sacraments. In the signs they were diverse; in the thing which was signified they were alike. Hear the apostle: “For I would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren,” saith he, “that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat.” Of course, the same spiritual meat; for corporally it was another: since they ate manna, we eat another thing; but the spiritual was the same as that which we eat. But “our” fathers, not the fathers of those Jews; those to whom we are like, not those to whom they were like. Moreover he adds: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink.” They one kind of drink, we another, but only in the visible form, which, however, signified the same thing in its spiritual virtue. For how was it that they drank the “same drink”? “They drank,” saith he “of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” Thence the bread, thence the drink. The rock was Christ in sign; the real Christ is in the Word and in flesh. And how did they drink? The rock was smitten twice with a rod; the double smiting signified the two wooden beams of the cross. “This, then, is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he shall not die.” But this is what belongs to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; he that eateth within, not without; who eateth in his heart, not who presses with his teeth.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.12; PL, 35:1612; trans. NPNF1, 7:171-172. Cf. WSA, I/12:459-460.) See also: ccel.org.

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

     This is the bread which came down from heaven. This bread was symbolized by the manna; and this bread was symbolized by the altar of God. Those sacraments were different in signs but equal in the reality they signify [Sacramenta illa fuerunt in signis diversa sunt in re, quæ significantur paria sunt]. Listen to the Apostle: “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food” (1 Corinthians 10:1-3). Indeed, spiritual, not physical. They had a different type because it was manna, while we have something else; but spiritually, it is the same as ours [spiritualem vero eamdem quam nos]. However, our ancestors were not like the ancestors of those who are like us, but rather those who were like them. Therefore, this is the bread that came down from heaven, so that anyone who eats of it shall not die. But what pertains to the power of the sacrament is not what pertains to the visible sacrament: one who eats inwardly, not outwardly; one who eats with the heart, not with the teeth. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Therefore, living because I came down from heaven. Manna came down from heaven too; but manna was a shadow, this is the truth.

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:717.) [12.]

Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

     20. The apostle also, writing to the Corinthians, says, “Do you not know that our fathers were all under a cloud, and they all passed over the sea, and all in Moses were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink? For they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” We notice that the sea and the cloud bore the appearance of baptism, and in them, that is, in the cloud or the sea, the fathers of the older covenant were baptized. Could the sea, in so far as it appeared to be an element, have the power of baptism? Or could the cloud, in that it revealed a condensation of air, make the people holy? Yet we dare not say that the apostle did not truly speak in Christ when he said that our fathers were baptized in the cloud and the sea.

     21. And although that baptism did not bear the form of the Baptism of Christ which today is practiced in the church, that it really was, nevertheless, a baptism and in it our fathers were baptized, no one in his right mind will dare to deny, unless mad enough to presume to contradict the apostle’s words. And therefore the sea and the cloud granted the purification of sanctification not with respect to what they were as body, but they contained the sanctification of the Holy Spirit with respect to what they were invisibly. For in them was a visible form which appeared to the bodily senses, not in a representation but in truth, and from within spiritual power shone forth, which appeared not to the eyes of the flesh but to the lights of the soul.

     22. Likewise the manna given the people from heaven, and the water flowing from a rock were really corporeal, and they fed and watered the people in a corporeal sense, yet the apostle calls both that manna and that water spiritual food and spiritual drink. Why does he? Because the power of the spiritual word inhered in these bodily substances which fed and watered the souls rather than the bodies of the believers. And since that food or drink foreshadowed the mystery of Christ’s body and blood, which the church celebrates, Saint Paul maintains that our fathers ate that same spiritual food and drank that same spiritual drink.

     23. You ask, perhaps, what is the same? That very thing, surely, which today the believing people in the church eat and drink. For it cannot be thought otherwise than that He is that one and the same Christ who then in the desert fed with his flesh the people who had been baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and gave them to drink of his blood, and now in the church feeds the people who believe with the bread of his body and gives them to drink of the stream of his blood.

     24. This is what the apostle wished to suggest, when, after he said that our fathers ate this same spiritual food, and drank this same spiritual drink, then added, “For they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” He wished us to understand that in the desert Christ stood in the spiritual rock, and gave the people to drink of the stream of his blood, who afterward has showed to our times the body assumed from the Virgin, which for the salvation of believers hung upon the cross, and from it has shed the stream of his blood, by which we might not only be redeemed but even might drink of it.

     25. Marvelous, surely, because incomprehensible and inestimable! Not yet had He assumed the form of man, not yet for the salvation of the world had he tasted death, not yet had he redeemed us by his blood, and already in the desert our fathers through spiritual food and invisible drink were eating his body and drinking his blood. So the apostle stands as witness, crying out that our fathers ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink. One must not inquire by what method this could be done, but exercise the faith that it was done. For the very One who now in the church, with omnipotent power, spiritually changes the bread and wine into the flesh of his body and the stream of his blood, then also invisibly made the manna given from heaven to be his body and the water which had been poured forth from the rock to be his very blood.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. XX-XXV; PL, 121:136-139; trans. LCC, 9:124-125.)

Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

     Paul the Apostle said of the old people of Israel, thus writing in his epistle to believing men: “All our forefathers were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and they all ate the same ghostly meat, and they all drank the same ghostly drink. Verily they drank from the stone that followed after them, and the stone was Christ.” The stone from which the water then flowed was not Christ bodily, but it betokened Christ, who thus cried to all believing men, “Whosoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, and from his inside shall flow living water.” This he said of the Holy Ghost, whom they received who believed in him. The apostle Paul said, that the people of Israel ate the same ghostly meat, and drank the same ghostly drink, because the heavenly meat which fed them forty years, and the water which flowed from the stone, were a type of Christ’s body and his blood, which are now offered daily in God’s church. They were the same which we now offer, not bodily but spiritually.

     We have said to you a little before, that Christ hallowed bread and wine, before his passion, for housel, and said, “This is my body and my blood.” He had not yet suffered, but, nevertheless, he changed, through invisible might, the bread to his own body, and the wine to his blood, as he had before done in the wilderness, before he was born as man, when he changed the heavenly meat to his flesh, and the flowing water from the stone to his own blood. Many men ate of the heavenly meat in the wilderness, and drank the ghostly drink, and, nevertheless, became dead, as Christ said. Christ meant not the death which no man may avoid, but he meant the eternal death, which some of the people had merited for their unbelief. Moses and Aaron, and many others of the people who were pleasing to God ate the heavenly bread, but they died not the eternal death, although they departed by the common death. They saw that the heavenly meat was visible and corruptible, but they understood spiritually concerning the visible thing, and partook of it spiritually. Jesus said, “He who eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, shall have everlasting life.” He did not command the body with which he was invested to be eaten, nor the blood to be drunk which he shed for us; but he meant by that speech the holy housel, which is spiritually his body and his blood and he who tastes that with believing heart shall have everlasting life.

(Ælfric of Eynsham, Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae (A Sermon on the Sacrifice on Easter-Day); trans. The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric: In the Original Anglo-Saxon, With an English Version: Vol. II, trans. Benjamin Thorpe, [London: Printed for the Ælfric Society, 1846], pp. 273, 275, 277.)

Cf. George Stanley Faber:

     Such a line of exposition speaks for itself. They, who adopted it as the received sense of the Primitive Church from the beginning, could, by no possibility, have held the doctrine of Transubstantiation. For, if that doctrine be the mind of Scripture, the fathers under the Old Dispensation certainly could not have partaken of the body and blood of Christ, in the same manner as believers partake of them, by the hypothesis, under the New Dispensation. And yet our witnesses are explicit in assuring us that, in the judgment of the Primitive Church, believers, under each Dispensation alike, equally and in the very same sense or manner, did eat the flesh of Christ and did drink his blood. . . . Thus the early interpretation of the Discourse at Capernaum is, in itself alone, absolutely fatal to the Romish Doctrine of Transubstantiation. At every step, the interpretation proleptically condemns the doctrine: insomuch that, by no possibility, can the two be made to consist together.

(George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], pp. 176-177, 180.)

3. Appendix: Only “Believers” Eat the Body (Flesh) of Christ—Historical Testimony. Return to Outline.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

But many things might be said about the Word Himself who became flesh, and true meat of which he that eateth shall assuredly live for ever, no worthless person being able to eat it [οὐδενὸς δυναμένου φαύλου ἐσθίειν αὐτήν]; for if it were possible for one who continues worthless to eat of Him who became flesh, who was the Word and the living bread, it would not have been written, that “every one who eats of this bread shall live for ever.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org. [13.]

Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

     All who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God,—while they are not holy in body and spirit, neither eat the flesh of Jesus nor drink his blood: concerning which, he himself says: He, that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. For Christ our passover is sacrificed for us and he is eaten, not out of doors, but in one house and within.

(S. Eusebii Hieronymi, Commentariorum in Isaiam Prophetam, Lib. XVIII, Cap. LXVI, Vers. 17; PL, 24:666; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], p. 125. Cf. JHT-TCF, 233.)

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

     Finally, he explains how what he is talking about happens and what it means to eat his body and to drink his blood. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him (Jn 6:56). This, therefore, is eating that food and drinking that drink: abiding in Christ and having him abide in oneself. [Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere.] And thus if someone does not abide in Christ and Christ does not abide in him, there can be no doubt that he does not eat his flesh or drink his blood, but rather he is eating and drinking the sacrament of such a great reality to his own condemnation, because he had the presumption to approach the sacraments of Christ in an unclean state…

(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614; trans. WSA, I/12:464. Cf. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

All this that the Lord spoke concerning His flesh and blood;—and in the grace of that distribution He promised us eternal life, and that He meant those that eat His flesh and drink His blood to be understood, from the fact of their abiding in Him and He in them; and that they understood not who believed not; and that they were offended through their understanding spiritual things in a carnal sense; and that, while these were offended and perished, the Lord was present for the consolation of the disciples who remained, for proving whom He asked, “Will ye also go away?” that the reply of their steadfastness might be known to us, for He knew that they remained with Him;—let all this, then, avail us to this end, most beloved, that we eat not the flesh and blood of Christ merely in the sacrament, as many evil men do, but that we eat and drink to the participation of the Spirit, that we abide as members in the Lord’s body, to be quickened by His Spirit, and that we be not offended, even if many do now with us eat and drink the sacraments in a temporal manner, who shall in the end have eternal torments.

(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 27.11; trans. NPNF1, 7:177-178.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

In fine, He Himself, when He says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,”[John vi. 56.] shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], to eat His body and drink His blood; for this is to dwell in Christ, that He also may dwell in us. So that it is as if He said, He that dwelleth not in me, and in whom I do not dwell, let him not say or think that he eateth my body or drinketh my blood.

(Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. NPNF1, 2:473.) See also: ccel.org. [14.]

Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 390-455 A.D.):

He receives the food of life, and drinks the cup of eternity, who abides in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells. For whoso is at variance with Christ, neither eats His flesh nor drinks His blood [Nam qui discordat a Christo, nec carnem ejus manducat, nec sanguinem bibit]: although he indifferently receive the Sacrament of so great a thing to the judgment of His own presumption.

(Prosperi Aquitani, Sententiæ ex Augustino Delibatæ, 341; PL, 45:1890; trans. JHT-TCF, 234. Cf. Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614; trans. WSA, I/12:464. Cf. NPNF1, 7:173.)

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.): 

No infidel eats the flesh of Christ [Omnis infidelis non vescitur carne Christi].

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In Pentateuchum Commentarii: Exodus, Cap. XI, XII; PL, 91:308; trans. JHT-TCF, 235.)

Cf. Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

     And whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Therefore, to eat that food and to drink that drink is to remain in Christ and to have Christ remaining in oneself. Thus, those who do not remain in Christ, and in whom Christ does not remain, undoubtedly do not eat His flesh spiritually, even though they physically and visibly press the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ with their teeth. Instead, they more so eat and drink the sacrament of such a great thing to their judgment, because the impure presumes to approach the sacraments of Christ, which another does not worthily receive unless he is pure; of whom it is said: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5).

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:719.) [15.]

Alcuin of York [Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus], Abbot of Marmoutier Abbey (c. 735-804 A.D.):

Such is the power of this sacrifice, that it is the body and blood of Christ to the just alone, not to sinners [Tanta est virtus hujus sacrificii, ut solis justis peccatoribus corpus sit et sanguis Christi].

(B. F. Albini Seu Alcuini, Confessio Fidei, Pars Iv: De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, Ac de Proprius Delictis, §. VII; PL, 100:1091; trans. JHT-TCF, 235.)

Walafridus Strabo of Fulda (c. 808-849 A.D.):

But there are two ways of eating: one sacramental, whereby the wicked eat, as well as the good; the other spiritual, whereby the good alone eat. …For he eats spiritually who abides in the unity of the Church, which the Sacrament itself signifies. For if he is at variance with Christ, he neither eats the flesh of Christ nor drinks His blood, though he daily take the Sacrament of so great a thing to judgment.

(Walafridi Strabi, Glossa Ordinaria: Epistola I Ad Corinthios, Caput XI, Ver. 29; PL, 114:539; trans. JHT-TCF, 236.)

Paschasius Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie (c. 785-865 A.D.):

‘Whoso eats My flesh and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him’; otherwise, unless he first abide in Me and I in him, he cannot eat My flesh nor drink My blood [alioquin nisi prius in me maneat et ego in illo, carnem meam manducare non potest, neque sanguinem bibere]. And what is it that men eat? Behold how often men receive indifferently the Sacraments of the altar. They receive, plainly, but the one spiritually eats the flesh of Christ, and drinks His blood; but the other does not, although he appears to receive a morsel from the hand of the priest [Percipiunt plane, sed alius carnen Christi spiritaliter manducat et sanguinem bibit, alius vero non, quamvis buccellam de manu sacerdotis videatur percipere].

(Paschasii Radberti Abbatis Corbeiensis, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, Caput VI, §§. 1-2; PL, 120:1282; trans. JHT-TCF, 236. Cf. LCC, 9:106.)

Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims (c. 806-882 A.D.):

But whoso is at variance with Christ, neither eats the flesh of Christ nor drinks His blood to life, even though he daily indifferently receive the Sacrament of so great a thing to the judgment of his own presumption [Qui autem a Christo discordat, nec carnem Christi manducat, nec sanguinem bibit ad vitam, etiam si tantæ rei sacramentum ad judicium suæ præsumptionis quotidie indifferenter accipiat].

(Hincmari Rhem. Archiep., De Cavendis Vitiis et Virtutibus Exercendis, Cap. X; PL, 125:928; trans. JHT-TCF, 236.)

Unknown Author of Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi (c. 12th Century A.D.):

Therefore, whoever wishes to receive the body of Christ should first strive to remain in the faith and love of Christ. Hence, the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever eats my flesh, remains in me and I in him” (John 6:57). As if to say: “He remains in me who fulfills my will in good works.” Otherwise, unless he first remains in me through faith and performs the work, and I in him, he cannot eat my flesh or drink my blood. What, then, do people eat? Behold, all frequently receive the Sacraments of the altar plainly; but one eats the flesh of Christ spiritually and drinks the blood, while another does not, but only the Sacrament, that is, the body of Christ under the Sacrament, and not the reality of the Sacrament. This Sacrament is called the body of Christ, born of the virgin, while the reality is the spiritual flesh of Christ. Therefore, the good person receives both the Sacrament and the reality of the Sacrament; the evil person, however, because he eats unworthily, as the Apostle says, eats and drinks judgment upon himself, not examining himself beforehand nor discerning the body of the Lord.

(Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi, Cap. XXVIII, §. 85; PL, 184:1251-1252.) [16.]

Note: “Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi” is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux.

4. Excursus: All Historical-Confessional Protestant Denominations Believe that Christ is Really Present in the Lord’s Supper. Return to Outline.

Gavin Ortlund:

Most of the Reformers affirmed the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and opposed transubstantiation on the grounds that it represented a departure not only from Scripture but also from patristic testimony. For example, early Protestants like Peter Martyr Vermigli and Thomas Cranmer argued that for church fathers like Augustine and Theodoret, the bread and wine remained bread and wine in substance while also becoming Christ’s body and blood. The whole appeal of their Eucharistic theology was a return to catholicity, against the changes introduced by the substance-accidents distinction in the medieval development. It is true that many modern-day evangelicals have adopted more of a symbolic view, but that is by no means representative of Protestantism wholesale.

     Third and most egregiously, the idea that the Reformers were intending to replace the Eucharist with a pulpit is quite nearly the opposite of the case. The Protestant effort was to reclaim the Eucharist, not replace it. Lay Christians in the late medieval West hardly ever partook of the Eucharist. For most it would have been only once a year, if that, and even then, it was generally in one kind only (the bread, not the wine). For many the Eucharist had become more of a spectacle, and its celebration was plagued by superstitious beliefs. One of the central, animating concerns of the Protestant Reformation was to reestablish for lay Christians a meaningful and frequent participation with the Eucharist in both kinds.

(Gavin Ortlund, What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Reflective, 2024], pp. xvi-xvii.) Preview.

Note: See further: Thomas Cranmer, A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ; Peter Martyr Vermigli, The Oxford Treatise and Disputation On the Eucharist; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.17.

E.g. The Westminster Confession of Faith:

     VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are, to their outward senses. 

(The Westminster Confession of Faith, A.D. 1647. Ch. XXIX, §. VII; In: Philip Schaff, Bibliotheca Symbolica Ecclesiæ Universalis: The Creeds of Christendom: With a History and Critical Notes: Fourth Edition—Revised and Enlarged: Volume III, [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1905], p. 666.) See also: ccel.org.

Note: See further: The Question of the “Real Presence.” 

Note: See further: The “Real” Presence: Four Interpretations of the Lord’s Supper. See especially: “Confessional Examples.”

4.1. Objection: Transubstantiation, a Eucharistic Miracle? Return to Outline.

Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-220 A.D.):

Well, but “with God nothing is impossible.” True enough; who can be ignorant of it? Who also can be unaware that “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God?” “The foolish things also of the world hath God chosen to confound the things which are wise.” We have read it all. Therefore, they argue, it was not difficult for God to make Himself both a Father and a Son, contrary to the condition of things among men. For a barren woman to have a child against nature was no difficulty with God; nor was it for a virgin to conceive. Of course nothing is “too hard for the Lord.” But if we choose to apply this principle so extravagantly and harshly in our capricious imaginations, we may then make out God to have done anything we please, on the ground that it was not impossible for Him to do it. We must not, however, because He is able to do all things suppose that He has actually done what He has not done. But we must inquire whether He has really done it. God could, if He had liked, have furnished man with wings to fly with, just as He gave wings to kites. We must not, however, run to the conclusion that He did this because He was able to do it.

(Tertullian of Carthage, Against Praxeas, 10; trans. ANF, 3:604-605.) See also: ccel.org. [17.]

5. Endnotes (Alternate Translations and Additional Testimony). Return to Outline.

[1.] Alt. Trans. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Romans (Shorter), 7; PG, 5:693; trans. ANF, 1:77.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

My brothers and sisters, I am overflowing with love for you, and greatly rejoice as I watch out for your safety—yet not I, but Jesus Christ. Though I am in chains for his sake, I am all the more afraid, because I am still imperfect. But your prayer to God will make me perfect, so that I may attain the fate by which I have received mercy, since I have taken refuge in the gospel as the flesh of Jesus [τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὡς σαρκὶ Ἰησοῦ] and in the apostles as the council of presbyters of the church.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians, 5.1; PG, 5:828; trans. Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007], pp. 239, 241. Cf. ANF, 1:82.)

Alt. Trans. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

My brethren, I am greatly enlarged in loving you; and rejoicing exceedingly [over you], I seek to secure your safety. Yet it is not I, but Jesus Christ, for whose sake being bound I fear the more, inasmuch as I am not yet perfect. But your prayer to God shall make me perfect, that I may attain to that portion which through mercy has been allotted me, while I flee to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus, and to the apostles as to the presbytery of the Church. 

(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Shorter), 5; PG, 5:828; trans. ANF, 1:82.) See also: ccel.org. Return to Article.

[2.] Cf. John Henry Hopkins:

     Here, all is simple and consistent. The elements are spoken of as consecrated symbols, and the sacred effects are spiritual, the operation of Christ and the Spirit upon the faithful and worthy recipient.

(John Henry Hopkins, The Novelties which Disturb Our Peace: Letters Addressed to the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church, [Philadelphia: Herman Hooker, 1844], p. 55.) Return to Article.

[3.] Cf. Helmut Hoping (Roman Catholic Theologian):

     Origen (d. 254): The second great Alexandrian theologian also distinguishes between sacramental Eucharist and the Eucharist of knowledge. This reinforces the tendency toward a spiritualization of the Eucharist. For Origin, the Eucharist is above all a verbal event; this becomes particularly clear in his commentary on the Last Supper account in Matthew… The actual sacrament (mysterium) is therefore the Word; bread and wine are visible signs which in themselves are neither beneficial nor harmful. For through the word spoken over the bread and wine, the souls of men are supposed to be “eucharistized”. The proclaimed word therefore must not be considered less important than the Eucharistic body. For “the word of God too is bread for us”, is Eucharistic food. For the spiritual man, the word, as opposed to the visible sign, is even the more suitable presence of the divine Logos.

(Helmut Hoping, My Body Given for You: History and Theology of the Eucharist, trans. Michael J. Miller, [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2019], pp. 97, 98.) Preview. Return to Article.

[4.] Alt. Trans. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Therefore, the Church also, seeing so much grace, urges her sons, urges her neighbors to come together to the sacraments, saying: ‘Eat, my neighbors, and drink and be inebriated, my brethren.’ What we eat, what we drink, the Holy Spirit expresses to you elsewhere, saying: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.’ Christ is in that sacrament, because the body is Christ’s. So the food is not corporeal but spiritual. Therefore the Apostle also says of its type: ‘Our fathers ate the spiritual food and drank the spiritual drink,’ for the body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of the Divine Spirit, for the Spirit is Christ, as we read: ‘The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.’

(Ambrose, The Mysteries, 9.58; PL, 16:408-409; trans. FC, 44:27.) Return to Article.

[5.] Alt. Trans. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

     And the same Doctor in the words following, saith, What it is that we eat, and what it is that we drink? The Holy Ghost hath in another place declared by the Prophet, saying, Taste ye, and see how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the Man that trusteth in him. Doth that same Bread, think you, being tasted bodily, or that same Wine, being drunk corporally declare and shew forth how sweet the Lord is? No verily: For whatsoever is pleasing to the taste, is bodily, and delighteth the Palate and the Throat. Shall we think that this is to taste the Lord, to wit, to feel and savour some bodily thing? Therefore he invites them to discern by their Spiritual taste, and not to think of anything Corporally in that Drink, or Bread, but understand the whole Spiritually, because The Lord is a spirit, and blessed is the Man that trusteth in him.

     And again, afterwards he saith thus; Christ is in that Sacrament, because it is the Body of Christ: Wherefore it is not bodily meat, but Spiritual food. What could be spoken more plainly, more manifestly, or more heavenly? For he saith, Christ is in that Sacrament: And yet he saith not, that that Bread and that Wine is Christ, which if he should say, he should set forth Christ, as though he were corruptible and subject to Mortality (which be it far from us to think, much more to speak) for it is certain, that whatsoever in that meat, is either bodily seen, or bodily tasted, all that is subject to corruption. The Doctor addeth these words, Because it is the Body of Christ. But perhaps here some Man will stand up and say: Behold he manifestly and plainly confesseth, that that Bread and that Wine is Christ’s body. But withal mark, I pray thee, how presently he addeth, That it is not bodily meat, but spiritual food. Bring not with you therefore the sense and feeling of the flesh, for by that, nothing either is, or can be perceived in this mystery. It is indeed Christ’s body, howbeit, not Corporal, but Spiritual. It is Christ’s blood, but not his bodily blood, but his spiritual blood. Wherefore nothing here is to be judged, felt, or perceived bodily, but spiritually. It is Christ’s body, but it is not his body, bodily; and it is Christ’s blood, but yet it is not his blood, bodily.

     Also afterwards the same Father saith, Whereupon the Apostle Speaking of the Figure of Christ, saith, that our Fathers did eat the same Spiritual meat, and did drink the same Spiritual drink: For the Lord’s body is a spiritual body, and the body of Christ is the body of the Divine Spirit. For Christ is a Spirit as we read in the Lamentations of Jeremy: Christ the Lord is a Spirit before our face. He hath most plainly taught us, how we should understand the mystery, of the body and blood of Christ. For when he had said, that our Fathers did eat spiritual meat, and did drink spiritual drink, (whereas notwithstanding, there is none that doubteth, but that the Manna which they did eat, and the Water which they did drink, were bodily things) he addeth concerning the mystery, which is now administered in the Church, shewing and determining in what, respect it is Christ’s body: For the Lord’s body (saith he) is a Spiritual body. Christ also is indeed God, and the body which he took of the Virgin Mary, the body that suffered, that was buried, and rose again, was certainly a very and true body, and the same also remained visible and palpable, that is to say, might be seen and felt, but that body which is called the mystery of God, is not bodily but spiritual, and if it be spiritual, then it is not visible or palpable, that is, it cannot be seen or felt. Hereupon blessed Ambrose addeth, saying, The body of Christ is the body of the Divine Spirit: Now the Divine Spirit is, not anything that is bodily, is not anything that is corruptible, or anything that is palpable and, may be felt. But this body which is Celebrated and administered in the Church, is, in respect of the visible kind and form, both corruptible and palpable. Tell me then how it can be said, to be the body of the Divine Spirit? Verily no other way, than in this respect, that it is spiritual, that is to say, in this respect, that it cannot be seen or felt, and therefore incorruptible.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. LVIII-LXIII; PL, 121:151-153; The Book of Bertram the Priest, Concerning the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament, trans. Humphrey Linde, [London: Printed by B. Griffin, 1687], pp. 54-59. Cf. E. B. Pusey, The Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, [Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1857], pp. 206-208.) Return to Article.

[6.] Cf. William Wilson:

Cassiodorus says that he had in his translation corrected what he considered erroneous in the original.

(William Wilson, ANF, 2:571, fn. 2.) Return to Article.

[7.] Cf. Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.): 

     If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. How could the flesh grasp this when he said the bread was flesh? It is called flesh, but flesh does not grasp it; and for this reason, flesh does not grasp it, because it is called flesh. This is what they were horrified by, this is what they said was a simulation, this is what they thought could not happen. My flesh, he says, is for the life of the world. The faithful know the body of Christ, if they do not neglect to be the body of Christ; let them become the body of Christ, if they wish to live by the Spirit of Christ. No one lives by the Spirit of Christ unless they are the body of Christ. Whoever wishes to live must believe in Christ, must spiritually eat the spiritual food [manducet spiritualiter spiritualem cibum]. Let them be incorporated into the body of Christ, and not be a putrid member, one deserving to be cut off: let them be beautiful, let them be healthy, let them be fit for their own head. [Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in æternum. Et panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est, pro mundi vita. Hoc quando [F. quomodo] caperet caro, quod dixit panem carnem? Vocatur caro, quod non capit caro: et ideo magis non capit caro, quia vocatur caro, hoc enim exhorruerunt, hoc adsimulatum esse dixerunt, hoc non posse fieri putaverunt. Caro mea est, inquit, pro mundi vita. Norunt fideles corpus Christi, si corpus Christi esse non negligunt; fiant corpus Christi, si volunt vivere de Spiritu Christi. De Spiritu Christi non vivit, nisi corpus Christi. Quisquis vivere vult, credat in Christum, manducet spiritualiter spiritualem cibum. Incorporetur corpori Christi, et non sit putridum membrum, quod resecari mereatur: sit pulchrum, sit sanum, sit aptum capiti suo.]

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:717-718.) Return to Article.

[7.5] Prorsus panis ille sacrosanctæ oblationis corpus est Christi, non materie vel specie visibili, sed virtute et potentia spirituali. Neque enim in agro nobis corpus Christi gignitur, aut in vinea sanguis ejus exoritur, vel torculari exprimitur. Simplex e frugibus panis conficitur, simplex e botris vinum liquatur, accedit ad hæc offerentis Ecclesiæ fides, accedit mysticæ precis consecratio, accedit divinæ virtutis infusio; sicque, miro et ineffabili modo, quod est naturaliter ex germine terreno panis et vinum, efficitur spiritualiter corpus Christi, id est vitæ et salutis nostræ mysterium, in quo aliud oculis corporis, aliud fidei videmus obtentu; nec id tantum quod ore percipimus, sed quod mente credimus, libamus.

Full Text. Florus of Lyon [Florus Magister] (c. 9th Century A.D.):

Truly, that bread is the body of Christ in the most sacred offering, not in matter or visible species, but by spiritual virtue and power. For neither is the body of Christ generated in the field, nor is His blood produced in the vineyard, nor pressed out in the winepress. The bread is simply made from grains, the wine is simply drawn from grapes; to these are added the faith of the offering Church, the consecration of mystical prayer, and the infusion of divine power; thus, in a wondrous and ineffable way, what is naturally bread and wine from earthly seed becomes spiritually [spiritualiter] the body of Christ, that is, the mystery of our life and salvation, in which we see one thing with bodily eyes and another with the eyes of faith; and not only what we receive with the mouth but what we believe with the mind. Hence, we sincerely ask that what we touch with our mouth, we may receive with a pure mind, we honor. Therefore, this food is of the mind, not of the stomach; it is not corrupted but remains for eternal life, as it brings eternal life to the pious partakers. One partakes piously who, illuminated by the spirit of faith, hungers and thirsts for the virtue of intelligible grace in that visible food and drink; and perceives less of indulgence, and spiritual salvation... no pollution is to be thought or feared in this mystery. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God received therein; which wisdom, as Scripture testifies, is the brightness of eternal light and a certain emanation of God’s purity, and thus nothing impure reaches it, but it retains its purity everywhere. Therefore, as previously stated, the body of Christ is not in visible species but in spiritual virtue, nor can it be polluted by bodily dregs, which it is accustomed to cleanse from the vices of both souls and bodies. [Prorsus panis ille sacrosanctæ oblationis corpus est Christi, non materie vel specie visibili, sed virtute et potentia spirituali. Neque enim in agro nobis corpus Christi gignitur, aut in vinea sanguis ejus exoritur, vel torculari exprimitur. Simplex e frugibus panis conficitur, simplex e botris vinum liquatur, accedit ad hæc offerentis Ecclesiæ fides, accedit mysticæ precis consecratio, accedit divinæ virtutis infusio; sicque, miro et ineffabili modo, quod est naturaliter ex germine terreno panis et vinum, efficitur spiritualiter corpus Christi, id est vitæ et salutis nostræ mysterium, in quo aliud oculis corporis, aliud fidei videmus obtentu; nec id tantum quod ore percipimus, sed quod mente credimus, libamus. Unde et fideliter petimus ut quod, ore contingimus, pura mente capiamus. Mentis ergo est cibus iste, non ventris; non corrumpitur, sed permanet in vitam æternam, quoniam pie sumentibus confert vitam æternam. Pie autem sumit qui, spiritu fidei illuminatus, in illo cibo et potu visibili virtutem intelligibilis gratiæ esurit ac sitit; et minus indulgentiæ, et salutis spiritaliter percipit... nullatenus cogitanda vel metuenda est in hoc mysterio ulla pollutio. Christus enim Dei virtus, et Dei sapientia in eo sumitur; quæ sapientia, ut Scriptura testatur, candorem lucis æternæ, et emanatio quædam claritatis Dei sinceris, et ideo nihil inquinatum in illam incurrit, attingit autem ubique suam munditiam. Corpus igitur Christi, ut prædictum est, non est in specie visibili, sed in virtute spiritali, nec inquinari potest fæce corporea, quod et animarum et corporum vitia mundare consuevit.]

(Flori Diaconi Lugdunensis, Opuscula Adversus Amalarium, Cap. I, §. 9; PL, 119:77-78.)

Cf. Florus of Lyon [Florus Magister] (c. 9th Century A.D.):

The flesh and blood of this sacrifice were prefigured by victims before the coming of Christ, were rendered by the very truth in the passion of Christ, and are celebrated through the sacrament of remembrance after the ascension of Christ. [Hujus sacrificii caro et sanguis ante adventum Christi per victimas similitudine promittebatur, in passione Christi per ipsam veritatem reddebatur, post ascensum Christi per sacramentum memoria celebratur.]

(Flori Diaconi Lugdunensis, De Expositione Missæ, §. 4; PL, 119:20.) Return to Article.

[8.] Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

     73. It must be considered that in that bread not only Christ’s body but the body also of the people believing on him should be symbolized by the many grains of flour of which it is made because the body of the people who believe is increased by many faithful ones through Christ’s word.

     74. Wherefore, as in the mystery that bread is taken as Christ’s body, so also in the mystery the members of the people who believe in Christ are suggested, and as that bread is called the body of the believers, not in a corporeal sense but in a spiritual, so of necessity Christ’s body must also be understood not corporeally but spiritually.

     75. As also in the wine which is called Christ’s blood mixing with water is prescribed, the one element is not allowed to be offered without the other, because the people cannot exist without Christ, nor Christ without the people, so also can the head not exist without the body, nor the body without the head. So then, in that sacrament, the water represents the people. Therefore, if that wine which is consecrated by the liturgy of the ministers is changed into Christ’s blood in a corporeal sense, the water, likewise, which is mixed with it, must of necessity be converted corporeally into the blood of the people who believe. For where there is one consecration, of a consequence there is one action, and where there is a like transaction, there is a like mystery. But we see that in the water nothing is changed with respect to the body, so also for this reason in the wine there is nothing corporeally exhibited. Whatever is meant in the water concerning the body of the people is accepted spiritually. Therefore it is necessary that whatever in the wine is suggested concerning Christ’s blood should be accepted spiritually.

     76. Likewise, things that differ from each other are not the same. Christ’s body which died and rose again, and having become immortal “will now not die again, and death will have no further dominion over him,” is eternal and no longer capable of suffering. That which is celebrated in the church is temporary, not eternal. It is corruptible, not incorrupted. It is on the road, not in its homeland. They, then, differ from each other, and are, for this reason, not the same.

     77. But if they are not the same, how is it called the true body of Christ and the true blood? For if it is Christ’s body and the statement that it is Christ’s body is true, it is Christ’s body in truth; and if it is in truth the body of Christ, the body of Christ is both incorruptible and incapable of suffering, and therefore eternal. Therefore, this body of Christ which is enacted in the church must necessarily be incorruptible and eternal. But it cannot be denied that what is divided into bits to be consumed is corrupted, and when ground by the teeth is transferred into body. It is one thing, however, which is outwardly done, but another which through faith is believed. What pertains to the sense of the body is corruptible, but what faith believes is incorruptible. Therefore, what appears outwardly is not the thing itself but the image of the thing, but what is felt and understood in the soul [mente, lit. in the mind] is the truth of the thing.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. LXXIII-LXXVII; PL, 121:159-160; trans. LCC, 9:138-140.) Return to Article.

[9.] Alt. Trans. Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

This sacrament is a pledge and figure, the body of Christ is the truth. We observe this pledge until we shall have come to the truth, and then the pledge will be consummated. It is in truth, as we have already said, the body and blood of Christ, not bodily but spiritually; neither does it become us to inquire how this comes to pass, but to have firm faith that so it is. 

(Ælfric’s Easter Homily. Vind. Cath. III. 350; trans. William Wigan Harvey, The History and Theology of the Three Creeds: Volume I, [London: John W. Parker and Son, 1854], footnote, p. 296. Cf. JHT-TCF, 253-254.) 

Full Text. Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

     The people of Israel ate the flesh of the lamb at their Easter-tide, when they were delivered, and we now partake spiritually of Christ’s body, and drink his blood, when with true belief we partake of the holy housel. The time they held as their Easter-tide, for seven days, with great veneration, in which they were delivered from Pharaoh, and departed from the country; so likewise we christian men hold Christ’s resurrection as our Easter-tide, during these seven days, because, through his passion and resurrection, we are redeemed, and we shall be purified by partaking of the holy housel, as Christ himself said in his gospel, “Verily, verily I say unto you, ye have not life in you, unless ye eat my flesh and drink my blood. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, he dwelleth in me, and I in him, and he shall have everlasting life, and I will raise him at the last day. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. Not so as your fathers ate the heavenly meat in the wilderness, and afterwards died; he who eateth this bread shall live to eternity.” He hallowed the bread before his passion, and distributed to his disciples, thus saying, “Eat this bread, it is my body, and do this in my remembrance.” Afterwards he blessed wine in a cup, and said, “Drink all of this: this is my blood, which shall be shed for many in forgiveness of sins.” The apostles did as Christ commanded, in afterwards hallowing bread and wine for housel in his remembrance. In like manner their after-comers and all priests, at Christ’s behest, hallow bread and wine for housel, in his name, with the apostolic blessing.

     Now certain men have often inquired, and yet frequently inquire, how the bread, which is prepared from corn, and baked by the heat of fire, can be changed to Christ’s body; or the wine, which is wrung from many berries, can by any blessing be changed to the Lord’s blood? Now we say to such men, that some things are said of Christ typically, some literally. It is a true and certain thing that Christ was born of a maiden, and of his own will suffered death, and was buried, and on this day arose from death. He is called bread typically, and lamb, and lion, and whatever else. He is called bread, because he is the life of us and of angels; he is called a lamb for his innocence; a lion for the strength wherewith he overcame the strong devil. But yet, according to true nature, Christ is neither bread, nor a lamb, nor a lion. Why then is the holy housel called Christ’s body or his blood, if it is not truly that which it is called? But the bread and the wine which are hallowed through the mass of the priests, appear one thing to human understandings without, and cry another thing to believing minds within. Without they appear bread and wine, both in aspect and in taste; but they are truly, after the hallowing, Christ’s body and his blood through a ghostly mystery. A heathen child is baptized, but it varies not its aspect without, although it be changed within. It is brought to the font-vessel sinful through Adam’s transgression, but it will be washed from all sins within, though it without change not its aspect. In like manner the holy font-water, which is called the well-spring of life, is in appearance like other waters, and is subject to corruption; but the might of the Holy Ghost approaches the corruptible water through the blessing of the priests, and it can afterwards wash body and soul from all sins through ghostly might. Lo now we see two things in this one creature. According to true nature the water is a corruptible fluid, and according to a ghostly mystery has salutary power; in like manner, if we behold the holy housel in a bodily sense, then we see that it is a corruptible and changeable creature. But if we distinguish the ghostly might therein, then understand we that there is life in it, and that it gives immortality to those who partake of it with belief. Great is the difference between the invisible might of the holy housel and the visible appearance of its own nature. By nature it is corruptible bread and corruptible wine, and is by power of the divine word truly Christ’s body and his blood; not, however, bodily, but spiritually. Great is the difference between the body in which Christ suffered, and the body which is hallowed for housel. The body verily in which Christ suffered was born of Mary’s flesh, with blood and with bones, with skin and with sinews, with human limbs, quickened by a rational soul; and his ghostly body, which we call housel, is gathered of many corns, without blood and bone, limbless and soulless, and there is, therefore, nothing therein to be understood bodily, but all is to be understood spiritually. Whatsoever there is in the housel which gives us the substance of life, that is from its ghostly power and invisible efficacy: therefore is the holy housel called a mystery, because one thing is seen therein and another thing understood. That which is there seen has a bodily appearance, and that which we understand therein has ghostly might. Verily Christ’s body which suffered death, and from death arose, will henceforth never die, but is eternal and impassible. The housel is temporary, not eternal; corruptible, and is distributed piece-meal; chewed betwixt teeth, and sent into the belly: but it is, nevertheless, by ghostly might, in every part all. Many receive the holy body, and it is, nevertheless, in every part all, by a ghostly miracle. Though to one man a less part be allotted, yet is there no more power in the great part than in the less; because it is in every man whole, by the invisible might.

     This mystery is a pledge and a symbol; Christ’s body is truth. This pledge we hold mystically until we come to the truth, and then will this pledge be ended. But it is, as we before said, Christ’s body and his blood, not bodily but spiritually. Ye are not to inquire how it is done, but to hold in your belief that it is so done.

(Ælfric of Eynsham, Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae (A Sermon on the Sacrifice on Easter-Day); trans. The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric: In the Original Anglo-Saxon, With an English Version: Vol. II, trans. Benjamin Thorpe, [London: Printed for the Ælfric Society, 1846], pp. 267, 269, 271, 273.)

Cf. Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

     Christ himself hallowed the eucharist before his passion: he blessed the bread and broke it, thus saying to his holy Apostles, Eat this bread; it is my body. And he afterwards blessed a cup with wine, and saith thus to them, Drink all of this; it is my own blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord, who hallowed the eucharist before his passion, and saith, that the bread was his own body, and the wine was truly his blood, he halloweth daily through his priests’ hands, bread for his body, and wine for his blood, in spiritual mystery, even as we read in books.

     The lively bread is not, however, bodily, the same body that Christ suffered in, nor is the holy wine the Saviour’s blood that for us was shed in corporeal reality [Ne bith se liflica hlaf lichamlice swa theah se ylca lichama the Crist on throwode, ne that halige win nis thæs Hælendes blod the for us agoten wæs on lichamlican thinge]. But in spiritual meaning, both the bread is truly his body, and the wine also is his blood; even as the heavenly bread which we call manna, which forty years fed God’s folk, and the clear water that ran from the rock in the wilderness was truly his blood. Paulus, accordingly, wrote in one of his epistles, Oms patres nostri eandem escam spiritualem manducaverunt, et oms eundem potum spiritualem biberunt: et cetera All our fathers ate, in the wilderness, the same spiritual meat, and drank the spiritual drink. They drank of the spiritual rock, and that rock was Christ. The apostle said, even as ye now heard, that they all ate the same spiritual meat, and they all drank the spiritual drink. He does not, however, say bodily, but spiritually. Then Christ was not as yet born, nor was his blood shed, when the people of Israel ate the meat, and drank of the rock; and the rock was not Christ bodily, though he said so: these were merely the sacraments under the old law, and they spiritually betokened the spiritual eucharist of our Saviour’s body which we hallow now.

(Aelfric of Eynsham, Second Letter to Wulfstan [Wulfstanum]; trans. Henry Soames, The Anglo-Saxon Church: Its History, Revenues and General Character, [London: John W. Parker, 1844], pp. 322-323. Cf. JHT-TCF, 254.) See also: helsinkicorpus.arts.gla.ac.uk.

Alt. Trans. Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

     Christ himself consecrated the eucharist before his passion; he blessed bread, and brake it, saying thus to his Apostles, Eat this bread, it is my body; and again he blessed the cup, filled with wine, and spake thus to them, Drink ye all of this, it is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Our Lord, who consecrated the eucharist before his passion, and said, that bread was his body, and wine truly his blood, he also daily consecrates, by the priests’ hands, bread for his body, and wine for his blood, in a spiritual mystery, as we read in books. [Yet notwithstanding that lively bread is not the same body in which Christ suffered, nor that holy wine the blood of our Saviour (which was shed for us) in bodily thing (or sense, in re corporali), but in a spiritual sense (in ratione spirituali). That bread indeed was his body, and also that wine his blood, just as that heavenly bread which we call manna (which fed God’s people for forty years), viz. was his body, and that clear water was his blood that then flowed from the rock in the wilderness.] As Paul writes in his epistle, They all ate the same spiritual meat, and drank the same spiritual drink, &c. The Apostle that says what you have heard, They all ate, &c. he does not say, corporally, but spiritually. Christ was not as yet born, nor his blood shed; then it was the people of Israel did eat that spiritual meat, and drank of that rock; neither was that rock Christ corporeally, though he spake so. The sacraments of the old law were the same, and did spiritually signify that sacrament (or eucharist) of our Saviour’s body, which we now consecrate.

(Aelfric of Eynsham, Second Letter to Wulfstan [Wulfstanum]; trans. Edmund Gibson (Lord Bishop of London), gen. ed., A Preservative Against Popery, In Several Select Discourses Upon the Principal Heads of Controversy Between Protestants and Papists: Vol. IX., ed. John Cumming, [London: The British Society for Promoting the Religious Principles of the Reformation, 1848], p. 286.)

Cf. Mr. Patrick:

     This last epistle Ælfric wrote first in the Latin tongue to Wulfstane, containing, though not word for word, yet the whole sense of the English epistle; and that paragraph of it which I have enclosed between two brackets, was looked upon as so disagreeable to the present faith of the Roman Church, that some had rased them out of the Worcester book; but the same Latin epistle being found in Exeter church, it was restored.

(Edmund Gibson (Lord Bishop of London), gen. ed., A Preservative Against Popery, In Several Select Discourses Upon the Principal Heads of Controversy Between Protestants and Papists: Vol. IX., ed. John Cumming, [London: The British Society for Promoting the Religious Principles of the Reformation, 1848], pp. 286-287.)

Cf. Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

The holy housel should be kept with great care, and not be retained; but other new be hallowed for sick men, always every seven days, or fortnight, that it may not at least be mouldy; because the housel that was hallowed to-day is just as holy as that which was hallowed on Easter day. The housel is Christ’s body, not bodily but spiritually; not the body in which he suffered, but the body about which he spake, when he blessed bread and wine for housel, one day before his passion, and said of the blessed bread: ‘This is my body;’ and afterwards, of the hallowed wine: ‘This is my blood, which shall be shed for many, in forgiveness of sins.’ Understand now, that the Lord, who could, before his passion, change the bread to his body, and the wine to his blood spiritually, that the same daily blesses, by the hands of his priests, the bread and wine to his spiritual body and blood. But the priest shall purely and carefully do God’s ministries, with clean hands and with clean heart; and let him see that his oblations be not old-baken, nor ill seen to; and let him always mix water with the wine; because the wine betokens our re demption through Christ’s blood, and the water betokens the people for whom he suffered.

(The Canons of Ælfric, 36 (cf. Aelfric of Eynsham, Letter to Wulfsige [Wulffinum]); trans. Ancient Laws and Institutes of England: Volume the Second, [Printed by Command of His Late Majesty King William IV. Under the Direction of the Commissioners of the Public Records of the Kingdom, 1840], p. 361. Cf. Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, [Printed by Command of His Late Majesty King William IV. Under the Direction of the Commissioners of the Public Records of the Kingdom, 1840], pp. 449-450. Cf. JHT-TCF, 254.) See also: helsinkicorpus.arts.gla.ac.uk. Return to Article.

[10.] Full Text. Alt. Trans. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153 A.D.):

Person He has promised that He will shew to all the elect not ‘to-day,’ but ‘for ever.’ ‘Yesterday’ had passed away, and our ‘to-day’ had dawned, when the Apostle spake, ‘Although we have known Christ after the Flesh, we now know Him no more.’ Yet in the dawn, something of the Flesh of the Lamb seemeth to be retained; but ‘the residue’ is already given to the fire; because even unto ‘to-day’ is the Flesh exhibited to us; but spiritually, not carnally. Nor ought we to complain, that either that manifestation, made to the Fathers of the Old Testament, is denied to us, or that Presence of His Flesh which was exhibited to the Apostles. For the true Substance of His Flesh is present with us now also; beyond question, it is in the Sacrament.

(S. Bernardi Abbatis Claræ-Vallensis, In Festo S. Martini Episcopi Sermo (De exemplis obedientiæ), §§. 10-11; PL, 183:494-495; trans. E. B. Pusey, The Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, [Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1857], pp. 208-209.) Return to Article.

[11.] Itaque, si hæc omnia feceris sicut dixi, poteris accedere ad fontem vivum, id est ad Christum, qui est fons omnium bonorum. Ipse etiam ait de se ipso: Ego sum panis vivus qui de cœlo descendi (Joan. VI, 51). De hoc pane dicit David in Psalmis: Panem Angelorum manducavit homo (Psal. LXXVII, 25). Alioquin esca illa licet de cœlo venerit, et potus, quia corporeus erat, Angelis non congruebat: sed utique ille panis, et potus qui per hoc præfigurabatur. Christus vero panis est Angelorum, et Sacramentum hoc vera caro ejus est, et verus sanguis: quod Sacramentum spiritualiter manducat et bibit homo. Ac per hoc unde vivunt Angeli in cælis, inde vivit homo in terris: quia totum spirituale et divinum in eo quod percipit homo. Return to Article.

[12.] Hic est panis qui de cœlo descendit. Hunc panem significavit manna; hunc autem panem significavit altare Dei. Sacramenta illa fuerunt in signis diversa sunt in re, quæ significantur paria sunt. Apostolum audi: Nolo enim vos, inquit, ignorare, fratres, quia patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt, et omnes per mare transierunt, et omnes in Moyse baptizati sunt in nube et in mari, et omnes eamdem escam spiritualem manducaverunt (1 Cor. x). Spiritualem utique, non corporalem. Alteram illi, quia manna, nos aliud; spiritualem vero eamdem quam nos, sed patres nostri, non patres illorum, quibus nos similes sumus, non quibus illi similes fuerunt. Hic est ergo panis de cælo descendens; ut si quis ex ipso manducaverit, non moriatur. Sed quod pertinet ad virtutem sacramenti, non quod pertinet ad visibile sacramentum: qui manducat intus, non foris; qui manducat in corde, non qui premit dente. Ego sum panis vivus qui de cœlo descendi. Ideo vivus, quia de cœlo descendi. De cœlo descendit et manna; sed manna umbra erat, iste veritas est. Return to Article.

[13.] Full Text. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

…nothing is pure to him who is defiled and unbelieving, not in itself, but because of his defilement and unbelief, so that which is sanctified through the word of God and prayer does not, in its own nature, sanctify him who uses it, for, if this were so, it would sanctify even him who eats unworthily of the bread of the Lord, and no one on account of this food would become weak or sickly or asleep for something of this kind Paul represented in saying, “For this cause many among you are weak and sickly and not a few sleep.” And in the case of the bread of the Lord, accordingly, there is advantage to him who uses it, when with undefiled mind and pure conscience he partakes of the bread. And so neither by not eating, I mean by the very fact that we do not eat of the bread which has been sanctified by the word of God and prayer, are we deprived of any good thing, nor by eating are we the better by any good thing; for the cause of our lacking is wickedness and sins, and the cause of our abounding is righteousness and right actions; so that such is the meaning of what is said by Paul, “For neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we eat not are we the worse.” Now, if “everything that entereth into the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the drought,” even the meat which has been sanctified through the word of God and prayer, in accordance with the fact that it is material, goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught, but in respect of the prayer which comes upon it, according to the proportion of the faith, becomes a benefit and is a means of clear vision to the mind which looks to that which is beneficial, and it is not the material of the bread but the word which is said over it which is of advantage to him who eats it not unworthily of the Lord. And these things indeed are said of the typical and symbolical body. But many things might be said about the Word Himself who became flesh, and true meat of which he that eateth shall assuredly live for ever, no worthless person being able to eat it [οὐδενὸς δυναμένου φαύλου ἐσθίειν αὐτήν]; for if it were possible for one who continues worthless to eat of Him who became flesh, who was the Word and the living bread, it would not have been written, that “every one who eats of this bread shall live for ever.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:948-952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. William Goode:

After having spoken of the Eucharist, he proceeds thus:—“And thus much concerning the typical and symbolical body. But many things might be spoken concerning the Word himself, who became flesh and true food, which he who eats shall certainly live for ever, no wicked person being able to eat it. For if it were possible that any one living in sin could eat him who became flesh, being the Word, and living bread, it would not have been written, [John vi. 51.] that every one who eats this bread shall live for ever.” Here he clearly draws a distinction between “the typical and symbolical body,” that is, the Eucharistic elements, and the Word himself, the living bread, spoken of in John vi., of which we are to eat; manifestly referring to a spiritual act, a spiritual feeding upon Christ himself, which, however it may be connected in the case of the faithful with the act of the outward reception of the Eucharistic elements, is distinct from it, and may be independent of it. And it cannot be objected to this, as it has been to the former passages, that he is here giving an allegorical interpretation of the passage.

(William Goode, The Nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist: Vol. I, [London: T. Hatchard, 1856], p. 114.) Return to Article.

[14.] Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

Finally, Christ himself says: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” He thus shows what it is to eat the body of Christ and drink His blood, not only in the sacrament, but in reality [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], for to remain in Christ is to have Christ also remaining in him. For this is the same as if he said: “He who does not remain in me, and in whom I do not remain, may not say or think that he is eating my body or drinking my blood.”

(Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. LCL, 417:137. Cf. NPNF1, 2:473; FC, 24:397-398.) See also: ccel.org and loebclassics.com.

Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

     And therefore neither ought such persons as lead an abandoned and damnable life to be confident of salvation, though they persevere to the end in the communion of the Church catholic, and comfort themselves with the words, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” By the iniquity of their life they abandon that very righteousness of life which Christ is to them, whether it be by fornication, or by perpetrating in their body the other uncleannesses which the apostle would not so much as mention, or by a dissolute luxury, or by doing any one of those things of which he says, “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Consequently, they who do such things shall not exist anywhere but in eternal punishment, since they cannot be in the kingdom of God. For, while they continue in such things to the very end of life, they cannot be said to abide in Christ to the end; for to abide in Him is to abide in the faith of Christ. And this faith, according to the apostle’s definition of it, “worketh by love.” And “love,” as he elsewhere says, “worketh no evil.” Neither can these persons be said to eat the body of Christ, for they cannot even be reckoned among His members. For, not to mention other reasons, they cannot be at once the members of Christ and the members of a harlot. In fine, He Himself, when He says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,”[John vi. 56.] shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], to eat His body and drink His blood; for this is to dwell in Christ, that He also may dwell in us. So that it is as if He said, He that dwelleth not in me, and in whom I do not dwell, let him not say or think that he eateth my body or drinketh my blood.

(Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. NPNF1, 2:473.) See also: ccel.org. Return to Article.

[15.] Et qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in eo. Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere. Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo, et in quo non manet Christus, procul dubio nec manducat spiritualiter ejus carnem, licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat dentibus sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi; sed magis tantæ rei sacramentum ad judicium sibi manducat et bibit, quia immundus præsumit ad Christi accedere sacramenta, quæ alius non digne sumit, nisi qui mundus est; de quibus dicitur: Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V). Return to Article.

[16.] Qui ergo corpus Christi vult accipere, prius studeat in Christi fide et dilectione manere. Hinc est quod ait Dominus in Evangelio: Qui manducat carnem meam, in me manet et ego in eo (Joan. VI, 57). Ac si diceret: Ille in me manet, qui in bonis operibus voluntatem meam adimplet. Alioquin nisi prius maneat in me per fidem, et ponam operationem, et ego in eo, carnem meam manducare non potest, nec sanguinem bibere. Quid est ergo quod manducant homines? Ecce omnes frequenter Sacramenta altaris percipiunt plane; sed alius carnem Christi spiritualiter manducat et sanguinem bibit: alius vero non, sed tantum Sacramentum, id est corpus Christi sub Sacramento, et non rem Sacramenti. Sacramentum hoc dicitur corpus Christi proprium de virgine natum, res vero, spiritualis Christi caro. Bonus igitur accipit Sacramentum, et rem Sacramenti: malus vero, quia manducat indigne, sicut Apostolus ait, judicium sibi manducat et bibit; non probans se prius, nec dijudicans corpus Domini. Return to Article.

[17.] Cf. Stephen Charnock:

     Secondly, The power of God is abused, as well as contemned. 1. When we make use of it to justify contradictions. The doctrine of transubstantiation is an abuse of this power. When the maintainers of it cannot answer the absurdities alleged against it, they have recourse to the power of God. It implies a contradiction, that the same body should be on earth and in heaven at the same instant of time; that it should be at the right hand of God, and in the mouth and stomach of a man; that it should be a body of flesh, and yet bread to the eye and to the taste; that it should be visible and invisible, a glorious body, and yet gnawn by the teeth of a creature; that it should be multiplied in a thousand places, and yet an entire body in every one, where there is no member to be seen, no flesh to be tasted; that it should be above us in the highest heavens, and yet within us in our lower bowels; such contradictions as these are an abuse of the power of God. Again, we abuse this power when we believe every idle story that is reported, because God is able to make it so if he pleased. We may as well believe Æsop’s Fables to be true, that birds spake, and beasts reasoned, because the power of God can enable such creatures to such acts. God’s power is not the rule of our belief of a thing without the exercise of it in matter of fact, and the declaration of it upon sufficient evidence.

(Stephen Charnock, Discourses Upon the Existence and Attributes of God: A New Edition, [London: Henry G. Bohn, 1845], Discourse X: On the Power of God, p. 457.) Return to Article.

καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν ~ Soli Deo Gloria