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Letters concerning the Establishment of the Holy Synod (1723)
Eastern Patriarchs, tr. King, 1865
17. Article 17
We believe the all-holy mystery of the sacred Eucharist, which we above placed the fourth in order, is that which the Lord delivered the night in which he gave himself up for the life of the world. For having taken bread and blessed it, he gave to his holy disciples and apostles, saying, “Take, eat, this is my body;” and having taken the cup, and given thanks, he said: “Drink ye all of it; this is my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26: 26–28.)
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is present in the celebration of the Eucharist, not typically or figuratively, nor by exceeding grace, as in the other mysteries, or by mere presence, as some of the Fathers have said concerning baptism; neither by impanation, so that the divinity of the Word is personally united with the bread of the Eucharist, as the Lutherans very ignorantly and unworthily believe: but truly and actually so; that after the consecration of the bread and the wine, the bread is changed, transubstantiated, converted, transformed into the true body itself of the Lord, which was born in Bethlehem of the Ever-Virgin, was baptized in Jordan, suffered, was buried, rose again, ascended, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, and is to come in the clouds of heaven; and the wine is converted and transubstantiated into the true blood itself of the Lord, which, hanging on the cross, was shed for the life of the world. Also that after the consecration of the bread and wine, the substance of the bread and wine does no longer remain, but the very body and blood of the Lord, in the shape of bread and wine. Also that the body itself and the blood of the Lord are distributed, and enter into the mouth and stomach of the partakers, both pious and impious, but that they procure remission of sins and eternal life to the pious and worthy, and bring damnation and eternal punishment to the impious and unworthy. Also that the body and blood of the Lord are cut and divided by accident, that is, by the accidents of the bread and of the wine, according to which they are acknowledged to be both visible and tangible; yet still in themselves all remain uncut and undivided; whence also the Catholic Church saith, “The divided and the undivided is divided and distributed, the ever-eaten and never-consumed, but sanctifying the partakers,” (that is, those who worthily partake.) Also, that in every part, and in the least particle of the bread and wine, which is changed, there is not a part of the body and blood of the Lord, but the whole Lord Christ in substance; that is, with the soul and divinity — that is, perfect God and perfect man. So that though there are many celebrations of the Eucharist in the world, at one and the same hour, there are not many bodies of Christ, but one and the same Christ is present truly and actually and his body and blood is one in all the particular Churches of the faithful; and this, not that the Lord’s body—which is in heaven—comes down upon the altars, but that the bread presented in all the particular churches, being after consecration changed and transubstantiated, becomes, and is, one and the same which is in heaven; for but one body of the Lord, and not many, is in many places; and for this reason this mystery is, and is called, wonderful, and comprehensible by faith alone; not by the subtleties of human wisdom, whose vain and foolish intermeddling with divine things our pious religion, which was delivered to us from God, rejects. Also, that the same body and blood of the Lord, which are in the mysteries of the Eucharist, ought to be honored without bounds, and to be worshipped in the highest degree; for the adoration of the Lord, and of the body and blood of the Lord, is one. Also, that it is a true and propitiatory sacrifice, offered for all the pious, living and dead, and for the benefit of all; as it is expressly said in the prayers of this mystery, delivered by the apostles to the Church, according to the commandment of the Lord to them. Also, that what is kept in sacred vessels for the communion of such as lie in a dying state, is, immediately after consecration, both before and after it is used, the true body of the Lord, and does not differ in the least from himself; so that after the consecration, before the use, in the use, and after the use, it is altogether the true body of the Lord. Also, we believe that by the word transubstantiation, the manner in which the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of the Lord, is not made manifest; for that is altogether incomprehensible and impossible, except to God himself, and argues ignorance and impiety in those who so believe; but that the bread and wine, after the consecration, are changed into the body and blood of the Lord, not typically or figuratively, nor by exceeding grace; nor by the communion or the presence of the divinity alone of the Only-Begotten; neither is any accident of the bread and wine changed into any accident of the body and blood of Christ, according to any turning or alteration; but they truly, and actually, and essentially become—the bread, the same true body itself of the Lord, and the wine the very blood of the Lord, as aforesaid. Also, that this mystery of the holy Eucharist is not to be performed by any other than a pious priest, and one who hath received his priesthood from a pious and lawful bishop, according to the manner which the Eastern Church prescribes.
This, in brief, is the belief and true confession, and most ancient tradition of the Catholic Church concerning this mystery, which must in no manner be curtailed by the pious wishing to adopt the innovations and profane babblings of heretics; but the prescribed tradition must necessarily be kept safe and unshaken; for the Catholic Church of Christ disowns and anathematizes those who transgress.