The Eucharist – The Early Church View

St. Ignatius of Antioch, A.D. 110
"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood, which is love incorruptible." Letter to the Romans

St. Justin Martyr, ca. A.D. 148-155
“We call this food Eucharist; and no one 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, and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we 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." First Apology – 66

St. Irenaeus, ca. A.D. 200
"The bread over which thanks have been given is the body of their Lord, and the cup His blood..." Against Heresies – 4, 18, 4

"He has declared the cup, a part of the creation, to be His own Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies." Against Heresies – 5:2, 2

Tertullian, A.D. 212
"[Christ] said Himself by Jeremiah: 'I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter, and I knew not that they devised a device against me, saying, Let us cast the tree upon His bread,' which means, of course, the cross upon His body. And thus, casting light, as He always did, upon the ancient prophecies, 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,' affirms the reality of His body. For no blood can belong to a body which is not a body of flesh." Against Marcion – 40

Origin, after A.D. 244
“Formerly there was Baptism, in an obscure way, in the cloud and in the sea; now however, in full view, there is regeneration in water and in the Holy Spirit. Formerly, in an obscure way, there was manna for food, now, however, in full view, there is the true food, the Flesh of the Word of God, as He Himself says: ‘My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly drink.’� Homilies on Numbers – 7, 2

St. Cyprian of Carthage, A.D. 251
“… And we ask that this bread be given us daily, so that we who are in Christ and daily receive the Eucharist as the food of salvation, may not, by falling into some more grievous sin and then in abstaining from communicating, be withheld from the heavenly Bread, and be separated from Christ’s Body. … He himself warns us, saying, ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you.’ Therefore do we ask that our Bread, which is Christ, be given to us daily, so that we who abide and live in Christ may not withdraw His sanctification …� The Lord’s Prayer – 18

St. Ephraim, after A.D.338
“Our Lord Jesus took in His hands what in the beginning was only bread; and He blessed it, and signed it, and made it holy in the name of the Father and in the name of the Spirit; and He broke it and in His gracious kindness He distributed it to all His disciples one by one. He called the bread His living Body, and did Himself fill it with Himself and the Spirit.� Homilies – 4, 4

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, ca. A.D.360
“Do not, therefore, regard the Bread and the 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…� Catechetical Letters – 22 Mystagogic 4, 6

St. Hilary of Poitiers, between A.D. 356 – 359
“As to the reality of His Flesh and Blood, there is no room left for doubt, because now, both by the declaration of the Lord Himself and by our own faith, it is truly Flesh and it is truly Blood. And These Elements bring it about, when taken and consumed, that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.� The Trinity – 8, 14

Theodore of Mopsuestia, between A.D. 392 – 428
“He did not say, ‘This is the symbol of My Body, and this, of My Blood,’ but, ‘This is My Body and My Blood,’ teaching us not to look upon the nature of what is set before us, but that it is transformed by means of the Eucharistic action into the Flesh and Blood.� Commentary on Matthew 26:26

“At first [the offering] is laid upon the altar as mere bread, and wine mixed with water; but by the coming of the Holy Spirit it is transformed into the Body and the Blood, and thus it is changed into the power of a spiritual and immortal nourishment.� Catechetical Homilies 16

St. John Chrysostom, A.D. 370
“Let us therefore in all respects put our faith in God and contradict Him in nothing, even if what is said seems to be contrary to our reasonings and to what we see. Let His word be of superior authority to reason and sight. This too be our practice in respect to the Mysteries, not looking only on what is laid out before us, but taking heed also of His words. For His word cannot deceive; but our senses are easily cheated. His word has never failed; our senses err most of the time. When the word says, ‘This is My Body,’ be convinced of it and believe it, and look at it with the eyes of the mind.� Homily on the Gospel of Matthew – 82, 4

St. Athanasius, before A.D. 373
"You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made, it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wondrous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ...When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body." Sermon to the Newly Baptized

St. John Chrysostom, ca. A.D. 392
“What is the Bread? The Body of Christ! What do they become who are partakers therein? The Body of Christ! Not many bodies, but one Body. For just as the bread, consisting of many grains, is made one, and the grains are no longer evident, but still exist, though their distinction is not apparent in their conjunction; so too are we conjoined to each other and to Christ. For you are not nourished by one Body while someone else is nourished by another Body; rather, all are nourished by the same Body.� Homilies on the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

St. Ambrose of Milan, A.D. 390-391
“You may perhaps say: ‘My bread is ordinary.’ But that bread is bread before the words of the Sacraments; where the consecration has entered in, the bread becomes the flesh of Christ. And let us add this: How can what is bread be the Body of Christ? By the consecration. The consecration takes place by certain words; but whose words? Those of the Lord Jesus.� The Sacraments – 4, 4, 14

St. Augustine of Hippo, between ca. A.D. 392-418
“ ‘Unless he shall have eaten My flesh he shall not have eternal life.’ [Some] understood this foolishly, and thought of it carnally, and supposed that the Lord was going to cut off some parts of His body to give them. But He instructed them and said to them: ‘It is the spirit that gives life; but the flesh profits nothing: the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Understand spiritually what I said. You are not to eat this body which you see, nor to drink that blood which will be poured out by those who will crucify Me. I have commended to you a certain Sacrament; spiritually understood, it will give you life. And even if it is necessary that this be celebrated visibly, it must still be understood invisibly.’� Explanations of the Psalms – 98, 9

St. Cryil of Alexandria, after A.D. 428
“He states demonstratively: ‘This is My Body,’ and ‘This is My Blood,’ lest you might suppose the things that are seen are a figure. Rather, by some secret of the all-powerful God the things seen are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, truly offered in a sacrifice in which we, as participants, receive the life-giving and sanctifying power of Christ.� Commentary on Matthew

Pope Leo the Great, before A.D. 461
"For when the Lord says, ‘unless ye have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and drunk His blood, ye will not have life in you,’ you ought so to be partakers at the Holy Table, as to have no doubt whatever concerning the reality of Christ's Body and Blood." Sermon, 91:3

St. John Damascene, A.D. 743
“The Bread and the Wine are not a type of the Body and Blood of Christ – perish the thought! – but the deified Body Itself of the Lord, since the Lord Himself has said: ‘This is My Body.’ He did not say a type of His Body, but His Body; nor a type of His Blood, but His Blood.� The Source of Knowledge – 3, 4, 13

This concludes the series on the Eucharist.