Eucharist | Definition, Symbols, Meaning, Significance, & Facts

Historical development

It is clear that the earliest Christians regularly enacted the Eucharist. Originally, the rite was a repetition of the common meal of the local group of disciples with the addition of the bread and the cup signifying the presence of Jesus. St. Paul’s earliest record of the ordinance in his first letter to the Corinthians, written about 55 ce, suggests that some abuses had arisen in conjunction with the common meal, or agapē, with which it was combined. It had become an occasion of drunkenness and gluttony. To rectify this, St. Paul recalled and reestablished the original institution and its purpose and interpretation as a sacrificial-sacramental rite. Fellowship meals continued in association with the postapostolic Eucharist, as is shown in the Didachē (a Christian document concerned with worship and church discipline written c. 100–c. 140), and in the doctrinal and liturgical development described in the writings of the early Church Fathers little was changed. During the late 2nd century the meal became vestigial and was finally abandoned. The Eucharist was originally celebrated every Sunday, but by the 4th century it was celebrated daily. The eucharistic formula was set in a framework of biblical readings, psalms, hymns, and prayers that depended in form somewhat on the synagogue service. This remained one basis of the various liturgies that arose, including the Roman rite.

Also called: Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper (Show more) Key People: Huldrych Zwingli Humbert of Silva Candida Andreas Karlstadt Berengar Of Tours Ratramnus (Show more) Related Topics: epiclesis Host Liturgy of the Faithful real presence concelebration (Show more) See all related content

The “presence” of Jesus in the elements of bread and wine has been variously interpreted in actual, figurative, or symbolic senses, but the sacramental sense, as the anamnesis, or memorial before God, of the sacrificial offering on the cross once and for all, has always been accepted. A eucharistic theology gradually took shape in the apostolic and early church without much controversy or formulation. Not until the beginning of the Middle Ages did controversial issues arise that found expression in the definition of the doctrine of transubstantiation at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This definition opened the way for the Scholastic interpretation of the eucharistic presence of Christ and of the sacramental principle, in Aristotelian terms. Thus, St. Thomas Aquinas maintained that a complete change occurred in the “substance” of each of the species, while the “accidents,” or outward appearances, remained the same. During the Reformation, though the medieval doctrine was denied in varying ways by the reformers, it was reaffirmed by the Council of Trent in 1551. Holy Communion was retained as a sacrament by most of the Protestant groups, except that those churches that see the supper solely as a memorial prefer to speak not of a sacrament but of an ordinance.