Unam Ecclesiam: On The True Presence of Christ in Holy Communion

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Saturday, October 27, 2007

St. Ignatius of Antioch (A.D. 110)

Letter to the Smyrneans:

CHAP. VI—UNBELIEVERS IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SHALL BE CONDEMNED.: "Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God."

CHAP. VII.—LET US STAND ALOOF FROM SUCH HERETICS.: "They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in His goodness raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes."

Letter to the Ephesians:

CHAP. XX.—PROMISE OF ANOTHER LETTER.: ". . . and are now ready to obey your bishop and clergy with undivided minds and to share in the one common breaking of bread – the medicine of immortality, and the sovereign remedy by which we escape death and live in Jesus Christ for evermore."

St. Justin Martyr (A.D. 151) - First Apology, Chap. 66, Of the Eucharist:

"We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these, but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus"

Theodore (A.D. 405) - Catechetical Homilies 5:1:

"When [Christ] gave the bread he did not say, "This is the symbol of my body" but, "This is my body." In the same way when he gave the cup of his blood he did not say. "This is the symbol of my blood," but, "This is my blood," for he wanted us to look upon the [Eucharistic elements] after their reception of grace and the coming of the Holy Spirit not according to their nature, but receive them as they are, the body and blood of our Lord. We ought . . . not regard [the elements] merely as bread and cup) but as the body and blood of the Lord, into which they were transformed by the descent of the Holy Spirit"

Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 350) - Catechetical Lectures On the Mysteries IV, On the Body and Blood of Christ, 22:6,9:

"Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master's declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the body and blood of Christ. . . [Since you are] fully convinced that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so. . . partake of that bread as something spiritual, and put a cheerful face on your soul"

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St. Irenaeus (A.D. 180-199) - Against Heresies Book IV, Chap. 26:2 The Treasure Hid in the Scriptures is Christ; the True Exposition of the Scriptures is to be Found in the Church Alone "It is necessary to obey those who are the presbyters in the Church, those who, as we have shown, have succession from the Apostles; those who have received, with the succession of the episcopate, the sure charism of truth according to the good pleasure of the Father. But the rest, who have no part in the primitive succession and assemble wheresoever they will, must be held in suspicion"

St. Irenaeus (A.D. 180-199) - Against Heresies Book III, Chapter 3, 1 A Refutation of the Heretics, From the Fact That, in the Various Churches, a Perpetual Succession of Bishops was Kept Up.: "For if the Apostles had known hidden mysteries which they taught to the elite secretly and apart from the rest, they would have handed them down especially to those very ones to whom they were committing the self-same Churches. For surely they wished all those and their successors to be perfect and without reproach, to whom they handed on their authority"

Unam Ecclesiam

From the Credo - Latin for "I believe" - the Nicene Creed prayed during the Latin Mass.

The Credo

The Nicene Creed—also known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed—was composed and refined during the ecumenical Councils of Nicea and Constantinople in the early fourth century; these councils defended the true nature of Jesus against heresies of the time. This Nicene Creed (from the Latin word credo, “I believe”) declares that Jesus was indeed both true God and true man.

All the people join in chanting the Credo in the Gregorian simple tone.

Listen to the Latin: 60 sec. music \| Text not available
CREDO in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.	I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri: per quem omnia facta sunt.	And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages; God from God, light of light, true God of true God; begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father, by Whom all things were made.
Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: ET HOMO FACTUS EST. Hic genuflectitur.	Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, *AND WAS MADE MAN. * All genuflect while reciting these words.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in caelum: sedet ad dexteram Patris.	He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And the third day he arose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father:
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis.	and He shall come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead: and His kingdom shall have no end.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.	And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas.	Who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified: Who spoke by the prophets.
Et unam, sanctam, Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam.	And one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum. Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.	I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Amen.