Dissolving the Unity of the Church
Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.
-St. Thomas Aquinas
Renowned Protestant historian of the early Church J. N. D. Kelly, writes: "Eucharistic teaching, it should be understood at the outset, was in general unquestioningly realist, i.e., the consecrated bread and wine were taken to be, and were treated and designated as, the Savior’s body and blood" (Early Christian Doctrines, 440).
Justin Martyr: 2nd century
"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" (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).
1600 years later, the reformers deny this ancient teaching of the Church. By painstaking parsing of the words of scripture they use the bible in a vacuum to deny this doctrine and conclude that the Eucharist was symbolic and the early Church teachings were incorrect. Even Martin Luther was unwilling, at least initially, to deny the doctrine of the real presence. Sadly though, the ancient doctrines, (sacramental theology in particular) were denied and the unity was dissolved.
-St. Thomas Aquinas
Renowned Protestant historian of the early Church J. N. D. Kelly, writes: "Eucharistic teaching, it should be understood at the outset, was in general unquestioningly realist, i.e., the consecrated bread and wine were taken to be, and were treated and designated as, the Savior’s body and blood" (Early Christian Doctrines, 440).
Justin Martyr: 2nd century
"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" (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).
1600 years later, the reformers deny this ancient teaching of the Church. By painstaking parsing of the words of scripture they use the bible in a vacuum to deny this doctrine and conclude that the Eucharist was symbolic and the early Church teachings were incorrect. Even Martin Luther was unwilling, at least initially, to deny the doctrine of the real presence. Sadly though, the ancient doctrines, (sacramental theology in particular) were denied and the unity was dissolved.
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 9:00 AM
3 Comments:
One recalls the Gospel account of the road to Emmaus when the eyes of those who loved the Lord were blinded to him until he revealed himself at the table, in the bread and the wine. It is a gift of grace to "see" our Eucharistic Lord. It was He in John 6 that brought my daughter and myself and then our whole family into the Church Jesus instituted, the Catholic Church.
It is so sad that so many Protestants today are separated brethren, by no fault of their own, necessarily, but by thier ignorance of the truth as hidden from them by their own shepherds who perhaps are the blind who lead the blind also through ignorance if not always by intent.
May our Lord Jesus open the eyes of many to the truth of the Eucharist and from there into the fullness of truth as expression in the Catholic Church.
P.S. Pope Benedict 16 said “Through the intercession of Mary, we pray that each and every Christian community, reliving the experience of the disciples of Emmaus, rediscover the transforming grace of the risen Lord.” in April of 2006
Amen.
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