In ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ (100-600๐๐) the first volume of Jaroslav Pelikanโs classic series ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ: ๐ผ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ฎ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐ฟ๐ค๐๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฃ๐, he specifically addresses belief in the Eucharist and the early Church.
Professor Pelikan, who for decades taught history at Yale University and was not Catholic, noted that, โโฆthe doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharistโฆdid not become the subject of controversy until the ninth century.โ (page 166). In other words, from the Apostolic era of the first century until the ninth, history records no dispute over the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
Pelikan further observed that โno orthodox father of the second or third century of whom we have recordโฆdeclared the presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist to be no more than symbolicโฆโ(page 167). Indeed, to the Early Fathers it was anything but a symbol.
Just from the second, third and fourth centuries alone we can look to Early Fathers such as St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Augustine for guidance. All of these Fathers repeatedly speak of their belief that the Eucharist is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ:
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด.โ +St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 7:1-2 (AD 105).
โ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ; ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ.โ +St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 66 (AD 151).
โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ณ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ด.โ +St. Augustine 430 AD, Sermons (No. 227).
[Photo credit: Patrick Craig]