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To: derheimwill; dsc
Oh, I don't think what you have written is in the least bit flippant. Christ said exactly what you have posted. But to the extent that a Christian does not believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, that is to say that the bread and wine are truly the Body and Blood of Christ, then that Christian does not hold the same Faith that Romans and Orthodox hold.

This is what the Church has always taught. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John, writes around A.D. 106 that "the Eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which the Father in His goodness raised" (Epistle to the Smyrneans 6:2); and Justin Martyr wrote in 130, "We do not receive these as common bread or common drink. But just as our Saviour Jesus Christ was made flesh through the Word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food which has been eucharistized by the word of prayer from Him . . . is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus" (First Apology, 66:2). The Fathers consistently held this belief, as you can see, from the earliest days. +Ignatius of Antioch was appointed bishop of Antioch by St. Peter and was a disciple of St. John. The Fathers said these things and testified to the belief of the Church based upon scripture, particularly St. John: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats (literally nibbles at or munches on) my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:53-56. The Greek, by the way, belies any implication that he was speaking metaphorically.

All Christians hold a multitude of beliefs in common, but on some of the most fundamental, there are great differences. Intercommunion pretends otherwise in an understandable, but ultimately fallacious, effort to find or by fellowship create a Church unanimity of belief which should, but does not exist. Now of course there are Christian confessions which allow precisely this sort of latitude. There are those who argue that the Anglican Church is an example of this, but it most certainly is not the position of Orthodoxy. What spiritual profit is there to any of us in proclaiming something which simply isn't true, assuming that the proclamation itself is important to us. recognizing that we have differing theological views need not, indeed should not, be an exercise in judgmentalism. We are commanded to love one another, and that commandment is not limited to people we are in communion with.
27 posted on 01/01/2005 6:42:11 PM PST by Kolokotronis (Nuke the Cube!)
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To: Kolokotronis
When some group declares an "official" ecumenical Eucharist, BIG red flags go off with me. On the other hand, if the Spirit leads, I would not forbid someone of a trinitarian denomination from joining in.
28 posted on 01/01/2005 7:21:09 PM PST by derheimwill (Love is a person, not an emotion.)
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