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The Shape of the History of the Eucharist
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
Abstract
Many authors are hesitant to speak of the Eucharist in the pre-Nicene period and some modern scholarship has attempted to cast doubt on the traditional view that Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. This article examines contemporary liturgical studies on the early history of the Eucharist. In light of this it proposes that the traditional view is still the only possibility for an authentic Catholic theology and that liturgical history is, in fact, part of the discipline of Church history that cannot be confused with secular methods of the historical sciences. In this sense, the history of the Eucharist and its later developments must be studied in a manner that acknowledges Providence and the work of the Holy Spirit in the history of the Church. In particular the crystallization of the early “shape” of the liturgy must be understood to be a fundamental element of the divine institution of the Church and not merely a chance selection of one tradition of Eucharistic worship from many equally valid options.
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- © 2011 The Author. New Blackfriars © 2011 The Dominican Council
References
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2 Catechism of the Catholic Church (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1997), # 1337–40. The theory of institution was formally defined in the Council of Trent which stated that “If any one says, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord … let him be anathema.” (The Council of Trent, The Seventh Session, Decree on the Sacraments, Canon 1, ds 1601). This is usually interpreted in light of St Thomas Aquinas’ definition of institution as “the institutor of anything is he who gives it strength and power: as in the case of those who institute laws” (STh III. q. 64 a.2 in the sed contra). For a more theological interpretation of this, see Salvatore Marsili, I Segni del Mistero di Cristo (Rome: C.L.V. – Editizioni Liturgiche, 1987), 69–90, and regarding the Eucharist and its relationship to the Last Supper, see Ratzinger, Joseph, The Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy. Harrison, Graham, trans. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 33–60Google Scholar.
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38 “Take care, therefore to participate in the one Eucharist (for there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup that leads to unity through his blood; there is one altar, just as there is one bishop, together with the council of presbyters and the deacons, my fellow servants), in order that whatever you do, you do in accordance with God.”The Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians 4 in Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers, 239.
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42 However in the study of liturgy it is very important to go beyond the ritual texts. While there has been development in the texts of the prayers used in the Eucharist over the centuries, these prayer texts have remained remarkably stable. The real and major change has been in how Christians have understood these texts and the ritual gestures and artistic settings that accompany the texts. To help us to appreciate the historical development of the meaning given to the liturgical rites, see Enrico Mazza, La Celebrazione Eucaristica: Genesi del Rito e Sviluppo dell’Interpretazione (Bologna: EDB, 2003).
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47 This intuition of Dei Verbum is borne out in La Celebrazione Eucaristica, Mazza's recent study where he analyses the history of the Eucharist not so much from the aspect of the change in the rite but as a development of the Church's understanding of the Eucharist.
48 For more on this duty see the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Instruction on The Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian (London: CTS, 1990), Art 9, p. 8.Google Scholar
49 Sacrosanctum Concilium 47.