The practice of fellowship at
meals as ritual “body” and “blood,” a communion in the manner of the covenantal
sacrifice of sharings, may help to explain why the activity was conducted “for my
memorial” (εις την εμην αναμνησιν) according to one version of
Petrine tradition (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24, 25). In the case of a
sacrifice which might be consumed by priests, the portion reserved for immolation
on the altar was the “memorial” (אַזְכָּרָה, cf. Leviticus 2:2, 9, 16; 5:12;
6:8; Numbers 5:26; το μνημοσυνον in the Septuagint). The incense
sprinkled on the bread of the presentation is designated in the same way in
Leviticus 24:7, although it is not immolated. Aaron and his sons are to eat it
(v. 9), and its presentation every sabbath is taken as a covenant (v. 8), which
the Petrine language of eucharist may echo; at just this point (that is, at
24:7), the Septuagint renders the term אַזְכָּרָה as αναμνησις, the term used in Luke and 1
Corinthians. The notion that the activity of consuming might be involved in a sacrificial
“memorial” is therefore precedented. Moreover, the agreement of Luke and 1 Corinthians
is using the possessive adjective, rather than the more usual pronoun, is
striking. Jesus is depicted as insisting the meals should be consumed “for my
memorial,” not merely in his memory. It is yet another incentive to
frequent repetition of an action related to the cult, as in the case of οσακις εαν πινητε (1 Corinthians 11:25). (Bruce
Chilton, A Feast of Meanings: Eucharist Theologies from Jesus through
Johannine Circles [Supplements to Novum Testamentum LXXII; Leiden: Brill,
1994], 90-91)
