The Divine Eucharist as a Journey
The Divine Eucharist is an ascent to the upper room in Jerusalem where Christ first celebrated the Mystical (Last) Supper,passing on to us the revered Sacraments.
People as Liturgical Beings
Through the liturgical experience, we feel that, more than anything, people are liturgical beings. They were made to serve, to offer themselves and the whole world to God with gratitude, praise and worship, to unite with God, to be sanctified, to live, through this continual offering/sacrifice/service.
What is the Eucharist?
When I became a born-again Christian in the mid 1990s I knew nothing about Church history. It was at this time and in this context that I started reading the Bible with intense interest and studying it with others. In my Lutheran upbringing, I had been taught the importance of communion, but my beliefs had never before been challenged. In my new church I was taught a radical Protestant form of communion, which treated the bread and wine as merely a symbol of Christ’s body and blood and the partaking of communion as a memorial only. I adopted these doctrines and held to them zealously.
Why Is Sunday So Important For Christians?
Christ resurrected during the early hours of Sunday. We do not know the actual time of His Resurrection, since no one saw Him at that moment, but it was certified when the Myrrhbearing women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ with perfumes. Thus, Sunday is the first day of the week, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. If Christ conquered the dominion of death on a Saturday, on a Sunday He certified to all His Resurrection, that He is the conqueror of death and the devil.
The Eucharistic Liturgy in Ancient House Churches
Many evangelical groups today are proposing that we abandon “traditional” models of “being the Church,” and instead replace that stodginess with what is presumably a more “New Testament” model: that of the “house church” or “cell church.” Essentially, they are promoting that the local Church be a de-centralized assembly, meeting in the homes of various […]
The Eucharist as a “Continuous” Sacrifice in the New Testament
The King James Version of Hebrews 10:12 and 10:14 reads as follows: “But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.” “For by one offering He had perfected forever them that are sanctified.” The Greek word here translated in the KJV as well as other […]
The Lord’s Supper as Sacrifice in the New Testament
Bible-loving Protestants often bring up the idea that nowhere in the New Testament does it speak of the Lord’s Supper being a sacrifice. Orthodox Christians not only point to the long Patristic tradition that the Lord’s Supper is indeed a sacrifice, but also point out a few biblical passages that clearly connect the Lord’s Supper […]
The Mystery of the Eucharist is not a Symbol
This is what Abba Daniel [June 7], the Pharanite, said: ‘Our Father Abba Arsenius [May 8] told us of an inhabitant of Scetis, of notable life and of simple faith. Through his naivete he was deceived and said, “The bread which we receive is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol.” Two old […]