Maundy Thursday

(This is something I wrote back in April in another forum. -ed.)

This evening we will attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which marks the beginning of the Triduum – the holiest (and at three days, the shortest) season of the liturgical calendar.

This celebration commemerates the institution of the Eucharist, the “source and summit of Church life“. Unlike most Protestants, the Catholic and Orthodox (and others of the Apostolic Tradition) believe that God is really there, wholly present in the consecrated bread and wine.

It ain’t just holy crackers, bub; it’s God. When I was in high school, I found the idea laughable. It wasn’t until I had to grapple with a similar concept in Kemetism that I managed to wrap my brain around it.

In Kemetic worship, you’ve got these statues of the Netjer (go with the definition “faces of God” on this one). Most of their neighbours thought the Egyptians were worshipping these statues – Horus, Isis, Ra, and so forth – but that’s not quite right.*

Following the consecration of the statue in the oldest religious rite recorded, the “Opening of the Mouth“, the statue was able to receive the Ka, or spirit, of the Netjer in question. It would literally become God. Not the representation of God, but God itself. Oh sure, it still had all the exterior, physical attributes of the statue (the “accidents” if you will), but its interior, metaphysical truth was changed.

In Socratic terms, perhaps, the shadowed form we can see and taste and touch was no longer a reflection of the ideal statue, but rather of the Divine itself.

So too with the Eucharist.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. (The Gospel of Saint John 6:47 – 51, emphasis mine)

Now Jesus uses parables and metaphor all the time – you are a light, you are the salt of the earth, the kingdom of heaven is like all the chocolate you can eat, etc. What makes us orthodox think that this bit is literally true?

Like everything else: Tradition and Scripture.

The teaching tradition of the apostles, as found in the writings of the earliest Church Fathers is unanimous in proclaiming the literal meaning of the Eucharist.

“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 of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible” (St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).

“[T]he food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus” (St. Justin Martyr: First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).

“’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children” (St. Clement of Alexandria: The Instructor of Children 1:6:43:3 [A.D. 191]).

And in scripture, we have this:

“Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. (The Gospel of Saint John 6:53 – 66, emphasis mine)

It’s not a hard thing if it’s a metaphor. Disciples left him because they couldn’t accept this as true.

To this day, people refuse to believe it.

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* Yes, I’m aware these are the Greek, rather than the Kemetic forms. Rather than include a string of (sic)-y type notations or use the (largely unused) original forms, I thought I’d go for common comprehension. Sue me. The list should read as follows: Heru, Aset, Ra. Thanks for your indulgence.