Finally, there is the passage at Fragments
from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus 37 (PG 7:1254a-b). It reads as follows:
Those who have become acquainted with
the secondary (i.e., under Crist) constitutions of the apostles, are aware that
the Lord instituted a new oblation in the new covenant, according to [the declaration
of] Malach the prophet. For, “from the rising of the sun even to the setting my
name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is
offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice” [Mal 1:11]; as John also declares in
the Apocalypse: “The incense is the prayers of the saints” [Rev 5:8]. Then
again, Paul exhorts us “to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” [Rom 12:1]. And again, “Let
us offer the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips” [Heb 13:15].
Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the
Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it [cf. Col 2;14]; but they are
according to the Spirit, for we must worship God “in spirit and in truth” [cf.
John 4:24]. And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one,
but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure. For we make an oblation to God
of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving him thanks in that he has commanded
and the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment. And then, when
we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that he may exhibit
[αποφηνη, exhibeat] this sacrifice, both the
bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the
receivers of these antitypes [αντιτυπων; antitype]
may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform
these oblations in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views,
but performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons
of wisdom.
Here Irenaeus emphasizes that the
Eucharist is a “spiritual” and not “carnal” sacrifice. It is “spiritual”
because it is offered “according to the spirit” rather than “according to the
law.” It is a way of worshiping God “in spirit and in truth.” This sacrifice involves
offering thanks to God for bread and wine which nourish the bodies of those
participating in it. Once more it is obvious that the Eucharist is a sacrifice I
the sense that one offers thanks to God for created things by which human life
is sustained. (Steven Nemes, Eating Christ’s Flesh: A Case for Memorialism [Eugene,
Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2023], 142-43)
