[conservonator]

I am an Orthodox Christian and it is a piece of bread. A piece of bread with the real presence of Christ, but nonetheless a piece of bread. Just as Christ was also both divine and human.

If it's bread "with the Real Presence", it's not bread: bread is a mixture of flour, water and some other ingredients. The Eucharist ceases to be "bread" at consecration.

[MarMema]

If it's bread "with the Real Presence", it's not bread: bread is a mixture of flour, water and some other ingredients. The Eucharist ceases to be "bread" at consecration.

I know that is true for the Catholic church. It is not true for mine. I did not mean to imply that your belief was such. I was only correcting the Orthodox part of the statement.

[Cleburne]

Could the Eucharist not be both bread and the Body, without either losing their essential natures, yet without division (ie one cannot seperate, after consercration, bread on one hand and body on the other- the "hypostasis" of the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ)? This would be more in line with Chalcedonian Christology I think, echoing the mystery of the Hypostatic Union. It would also mesh with St. Irenaeus, who spoke of the Eucharist as being both heavenly and earthly. Also note that the bread, while not being destroyed, ie, its nature wholly abrogated into the Body, in its new identity, is most definitely changed, because it is now no longer just bread, but the Body of Christ, through indivisible union and "co-penetration".

[MarMema]

If it's bread "with the Real Presence", it's not bread

And yet Christ was both God and man.

[Desdemona]

If it's bread "with the Real Presence", it's not bread: bread is a mixture of flour, water and some other ingredients.

Thank you. There are no leavening agents at all. Very True.