Avondmaal van de Heer, leerstelling
"Toen ze verder aten nam Jezus een brood, sprak het zegengebed uit, brak het brood en gaf de leerlingen ervan met de woorden: 'Neem, eet, dit is mijn lichaam.' En hij nam een beker, sprak het dankgebed uit en gaf hun de beker met de woorden: 'Drink allen hieruit, dit is mijn bloed, het bloed van het verbond, dat voor velen wordt vergoten tot vergeving van zonden." Matt. 26:26–28.
"Ik ben het levende brood dat uit de hemel is neergedaald; wanneer iemand dit brood eet zal hij eeuwig leven. En het brood dat ik zal geven voor het leven van de wereld, is mijn lichaam.’ Nu begonnen de Joden heftig met elkaar te discussiëren: 'Hoe kan die man ons zijn lichaam te eten geven!' Daarop zei Jezus: 'Waarachtig, ik verzeker u: als u het lichaam van de Mensenzoon niet eet en zijn bloed niet drinkt, hebt u geen leven in u. Wie mijn lichaam eet en mijn bloed drinkt, heeft eeuwig leven en hem zal ik op de laatste dag uit de dood opwekken. Mijn lichaam is het ware voedsel en mijn bloed is de ware drank. Wie mijn lichaam eet en mijn bloed drinkt, blijft in mij en ik blijf in hem. De levende Vader heeft mij gezonden, en ik leef door de Vader; zo zal wie mij eet, leven door mij. Dit is het brood dat uit de hemel is neergedaald. Het is niet het brood dat uw voorouders aten; zij zijn gestorven, maar wie dit brood eet zal eeuwig leven.’” Joh. 6:51–58.
Maakt de beker waarvoor wij God loven en danken ons niet één met het bloed van Christus? Maakt het brood dat wij breken ons niet één met het lichaam van Christus? 1 Kor. 10:16.
Want wat ik heb ontvangen en aan u heb doorgegeven, gaat terug op de Heer zelf. In de nacht waarin de Heer Jezus werd uitgeleverd nam hij een brood, sprak het dankgebed uit, brak het brood en zei: 'Dit is mijn lichaam voor jullie. Doe dit, telkens opnieuw, om mij te gedenken.' Zo nam hij na de maaltijd ook de beker, en hij zei: 'Deze beker is het nieuwe verbond dat door mijn bloed gesloten wordt. Doe dit, telkens als jullie hieruit drinken, om mij te gedenken.' Dus altijd wanneer u dit brood eet en uit de beker drinkt, verkondigt u de dood van de Heer, totdat hij komt. Daarom maakt iemand die op onwaardige wijze van het brood eet en uit de beker van de Heer drinkt, zich schuldig tegenover het lichaam en het bloed van de Heer. Laat daarom iedereen zichzelf eerst toetsen voordat hij van het brood eet en uit de beker drinkt, want wie eet en drinkt maar niet beseft dat het om het lichaam van de Heer gaat, roept zijn veroordeling af over zichzelf. 1 Kor. 11:23–29.
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You gave food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to you. But to us you freely gave spiritual food and drink and life eternal through your Servant. Didache (c. 80–140, E), 1.380.
. . . breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, so that we should live forever in Jesus Christ. Ignatius (c. 105, E), 1.58.
I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life—which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. . . . And I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life. Ignatius (c. 105, E), 1.77.
Take heed, then, to have only one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to the unity of His blood.
Ignatius (c. 105, E), 1.81.
They [the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not believe the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ. . . . Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death. Ignatius (c. 105, E), 1.89.
We do not receive these as common bread and common drink. Rather, Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation. So, likewise, we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.185.
This prophecy refers to the bread which our Christ gave us to eat, in remembrance of His being made flesh for the sake of His believers, for whom also He suffered. And it refers to the cup which He gave us to drink, in remembrance of His own blood, with giving of thanks.
Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.234.
How can they [the Gnostics] be consistent with themselves [when they say] that the bread over which thanks has been given is the body of their Lord and that the cup is His blood—if they do not call Him the Son of the Creator? . . . Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with the body of the Lord and with His blood, goes to corruption and does not partake of life? Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.486.
Our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and, in turn, the Eucharist establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and spirit. For the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist—consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly. So also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.486.
If the Lord belonged to another Father, how could He, with any justice, have acknowledged the bread to be His body and declared the mixed cup to be His blood, while He took it from that creation to which we belong? Irenaeus (c. 180, E/ W), 1.507.
But if [the flesh] indeed does not obtain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of His body. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.528.
He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He refreshes our blood. And the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the baked bread receive the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made (from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported), how can they [the Gnostics] maintain that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God?
Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.528.
[The wine and bread] having received the Word of God, become the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ.
Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.528.
These slaves had nothing to say that would meet the wishes of their tormentors, except that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the body and blood of Christ. Now, imagining that it was actually flesh and blood, those slaves gave their inquisitors answer to that effect. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.570.
The vine produces wine, as the Word produces blood. And both of them drink health to men: wine for the body; blood for the spirit.
Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.213.
To drink the blood of Jesus is to become partaker of the Lord’s immortality. . . . As wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. . . . And the mixture of both—of the water and of the Word—is called the Eucharist, renowned and glorious grace. Those who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.242.
Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, gave bread and wine, providing consecrated food as a type of the Eucharist.
Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.439.
Christ is our Bread, because Christ is Life, and bread is life. He says, “I am the Bread of life.” . . . Then, too, we find that His body is reckoned in bread: “This is my body.” Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.683.
Touching the days of stations [i.e., fast days], most think that they must not be present at the sacrificial prayers, on the ground that the station would be dissolved by reception of the Lord’s body. Does, then, the Eucharist cancel a service devoted to God—or does it bind it more to God? Will not your station be more solemn if you have stood at God’s altar? When the Lord’s body has been received and reserved, each point is secured—both the participation of the sacrifice and the discharge of duty [i.e., fasting]. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.687.
Will not your [unbelieving] husband know what it is that you secretly taste before any food? And if he knows it to be bread, does he not believe it to be that which it is said to be? Tertullian (c. 205, W), 4.46, 47.
He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed in His blood, affirmed the reality of His body. Tertullian (c. 207, W), 3.418.
Even those very hands deliver to others what they have contaminated! Idol makers are chosen even into the ecclesiastical order! Oh wickedness! The Jews laid hands on Christ only once. These persons mangle his body daily. . . . What hands [deserve] more to be amputated than those in which scandal is done to the Lord’s body? Tertullian (c. 200, W), 3.64.
We also eat the bread presented to us. And this bread becomes by prayer a sacred body, which sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it.
Origen (c. 248, E), 4.652.
We have a symbol of gratitude to God in the bread that we call the Eucharist. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.661.
These, disregarding the honor that the blessed martyrs maintain for me with the confessors, . . . communicate with the lapsed and offer and give them the Eucharist. . . . Those presbyters, contrary to the Gospel law . . . before penitence was fulfilled . . . dare to offer on their behalf and to give them the Eucharist. That is, they dare to profane the sacred body of the Lord. However, it is written, “Whoever will eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.291.
. . . but may fortify them with the protection of Christ’s body and blood. For the Eucharist is appointed for this very purpose.
Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.337.
They drink the cup of Christ’s blood daily, for the reason that they themselves also may be able to shed their blood for Christ.
Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.347.
Let us also arm the right hand with the sword of the Spirit, that it may bravely reject the deadly sacrifices. Thereby, mindful of the Eucharist, the hand that has received the Lord’s body may embrace the Lord Himself. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.350.
There can be no spiritual anointing among heretics. For it is clear that the oil cannot be sanctified nor the Eucharist celebrated at all among them. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.376.
Returning from the altars of the devil, they draw near to the holy place of the Lord! . . . With jaws still breathing their crime . . . they intrude on the body of the Lord. . . . All these warnings are scorned and disdained. They do violence to His body and blood! Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.441.
He says that whoever will eat of His bread will live forever. So it is clear that those who partake of His body and receive the Eucharist by the right of communion are living. On the other hand, we must fear and pray lest anyone who is separate from Christ’s body—being barred from communion —should remain at a distance from salvation. For He Himself warns and says, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.452.
The hand must not be spotted with the sword and blood—not after the Eucharist is carried in it. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.488.
I do not think they will themselves be rash enough in such a condition to either approach the holy table or to touch the body and blood of the Lord. Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 262, E), 6.96.
I did not dare to renew afresh, after all, one who had heard the giving of thanks and who had answered “Amen” with others. He had stood at the holy table and had stretched forth his hands to receive the blessed food and had received it. And for a very long time, he had been a partaker of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 262, E), 6.103.
The church increases daily in greatness, beauty, and numbers by the union and communion of the Word, who now still comes down to us and falls into a trance [like the first Adam] by the remembrance of His passion. Methodius (c. 290, E), 6.319.
But to those who have been delivered up and have fallen . . . and have been tormented and thrown into prison, it is right with joy . . . to communicate to them in all things—both in prayer and in partaking of the body and blood of Christ.
Peter of Alexandria (c. 310, E), 6.272; extended discussion: 5.358–5.363.