In recent months, with the conversion of Hank
Hanegraaff to Eastern Orthodoxy (EO), the topic of EO has come up in a few
facebook groups I lurk, as well as some blog posts by Evangelicals trying to
show that Hanegraaff is not a heretic, etc. Also, one youtube anti-Mormon has
been flirting with EO quite a bit as of late. I just read a catechism for
adults converting to the EO and the following discussion of the EO
understanding of the Eucharist, including an affirmation of the Eucharist
itself being a propitiatory sacrifice for both the living and the dead, the
corporeal presence of Jesus in the bread and wine, and a change in the
substance of the Eucharist that is similar to the scholastic terminology of
Transubstantiation, shows that EO in many respects is just way out in left
field as Roman Catholicism when it comes to many important elements of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. I do wonder how many Evangelicals and others who are
friendly towards, if not (theologically speaking) flirting with EO will find the following objectionable:
The Elements of
Bread and Wine are “changed” into the Body and Blood of Christ. This
sanctification of the Elements is called change,
transelementation, and depends mainly on the meaning of the words of
Scripture: “This is my body”, and “this is my blood”. These words of
Christ do not mean “my body” is
present in the Bread, and “my blood”
is present in the Wine. In reality the Elements of Bread and Wine become in
substance the very Body and very Blood of Christ These words of Christ signify
the actual “change” of the Elements
rather than the co-existence of visible and invisible parts . . . The
institution of the Holy Eucharist as Sacrifice took place on the Cross. Christ
is the Sacrificer and the Sacrifice, for He offered His very Body and Blood to
God the Father for the remission of the sins of the world. Christ instituted
Holy Eucharist as Sacrifice in the two Elements, bread and wine, presenting
explicitly the mystic separation of the Body from the Blood. This institution
manifests Holy Eucharist as Sacrifice, for “Jesus
took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take,
eat: this is my body’. and he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave
it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new
covenant which is poured out for may for the forgiveness of sins’”, Mt.
26:26-28. These words of Christ were spoken in the present tense and declare that this Sacrifice is ever-present—the bloodless
Crucified-sacrifice . . . This is the very belief of the Church from the very
beginning and is verified by an Ecumenical Synod: “The lamb of God is placed on
the Holy Table, He Who lifted the sin of the world and is offered by the officiators
of God as blood sacrifice” . . . The institution of the Holy Eucharist as the
remembrance of the Crucified-Sacrifice is a re-enactment of the Sacrifice of
Christ on the Cross. However, it is not merely a reflection of the historical
fact; it is a real Sacrifice inasmuch as Christ is present in the Eucharist.
Both the Sacrificer and the victim is Christ Himself, on the Cross and in the
Holy Eucharist. The former wrought the salvation of man; the latter, wrought
man’s personal appropriation. The Sacrifice of the Eucharist is offered in
remembrance of the Passion of Christ, and bears all the elements of every
sacrifice: victim, sacrificer, purpose, destruction or change of what is
offered. The Sacrifice in the Eucharist is a re-enactment of the Sacrifice on
the Cross inasmuch as Christ is present in the Eucharist, accomplishing on
earth what He accomplishes in heaven. The Eucharist brings forth the same
fruits as the Cross, the source of divine Grace and all spiritual gifts. This
Sacrifice, which is the propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead, is
simultaneously a sacrifice of praise and intercession. (Rev. George
Mastrantonis, A New-Style Catechism on
the Eastern Orthodox Faith for Adults [St. Louis, Miss.: The OLogos
Mission, 1969], 123-24, 127-28, 128-29; emphasis in original)
