The Question of the Real Presence:
Transubstation and Other "Theories" of the Eucharist in Early Medieval Theology
c. 850 A.D.
 |
| The Tassilo Chalice, c. 780, Anglo-Saxon design, now at Kresmuenster Abbey, Germany |
Scriptural Starting Places:
Matthew 26:26-29 - And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
John 6:51, 53 - "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."
1 Corinthians 10:16 - The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 11:26-30 - For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
Definitions:
Transubstantiation: Change of one substance into another. Term for [the Roman Catholic] view that in the Eucharistic rite the substance or basic reality of bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, while the outward appearances of bread and wine are not affected.
Consubstantiation: View, falsely charged to Lutheranism, that bread and body form 1 substance ("a third substance”) in Communion (similarly wine and blood) or that body and blood are present, like bread and wine, in a natural manner.
Real Presence: Belief that Christ's body and blood are truly and substantially present in, with, and under the elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. Also referred to as the "Sacramental Union," this teaching affirms that communicants partake of both bread/wine and Body/Blood at the same time. The prepositions "in, with, under" do not denote a metaphysics of the Sacrament, but rather an inability to describe the exact nature of the Mystery and pin down its operation.
>> These definitions come from the "Lutheran Cyclopedia." Lutherans are often mislabeled as "consubstantialists" which is inaccurate. There is not a third, compound substance formed at the Lord's Supper, but the salvific Body and Blood of Christ is received simultaneously as the physical bread and wine. The prepositions "in, with, and under" are simply indicating the great mystery that takes place; we believe and trust that Christ is really, actually, truly present, but we can't understand everything about the mode of His presence. It happens sacramentally, mystically, supernaturally, salvifically here at the altar.
The Eucharistic Controversy: Paschasius Radbertus vs. Ratramnus
 |
| Corbie Abbey, outside of Amiens, founded around 660 |
Around the year 831, the learned and influential abbot of Corbie in northern France produced the first, full-length treatise in the Western Church on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. This treatise, called De Corpore et Sanguine Domini ("The Lord's Body and Blood") is now Paschasius Radbertus' most well-known work, and it proved to be highly influential as well as very divisive in the history of medieval Christianity. Its arguments for the doctrine of "transubstantiation" set into motion the first of the so-called "Eucharistic Controversies" in the West. Radbertus most likely wrote this treatise for the monks at Corbie. Soon, the chief teacher of the monks, a man named Ratramnus, offered a different interpretation of the Eucharist.
Ratramnus had an excellent relationship with King Charles the Bald (a grandson of Charlemagne, reined 875 to 877 as Holy Roman Emperor). The emperor had visited Corbie Abbey sometime in 843 and had commissioned the learned monk to write a treatise in response to Radbertus' position.
It would seem that at the time there were two different opinions on the Lord's Supper that existed alongside each other: Radbertus' literal view ("transubstantiation") and Ratramnus' figurative or mystical view. Both monks believed that when Christ said, "This is my body," the word "is" signifies that the Body of the Lord is truly present. Where they different is in the mode of presence.
Radbertus occasionally sounds Capernaitic in his understanding. This term is taken from John 6:26 - 58 and refers to an almost cannibalistic chewing and swallowing of Jesus' flesh just as other food might be chewed and swallowed. Radbertus asserts that the elements at the Eucharist are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit so the sacrifice of the Lamb's body and blood can take place again.
Ratramnus at times seems to understand Holy Communion in a spiritual or symbolical sense, as if the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood happen in the heart of the believer when he or she trusts the Word of the Lord with faith. In this he prefigures the Calvinists and Zwinglians of the 16th century who taught something similar.
What should be emphasized, however, is that both monks unequivocally state that the Eucharist offers grace and forgiveness of sins, and that it joins Baptism as a mystical sacrament in the Church. Neither monk understands a sacrament as a "mere" symbol; they differ as to the extent of what a symbol means. In Ratramnus' view, a symbol is a veil, a truth is a direct utterance. Therefore a symbol would be Christ's teaching in John 15 where He calls Himself the "vine" and His disciples the "branches." If this were understood literally, it would lead to a ridiculous and untrue picture! However, believers are to understand it mystically, and by reaching out to it in faith, the Holy Spirit leads to understanding. The Sacrament works in much the same way; the Body and Blood are veiled, hidden from our eyes "under" (he uses this preposition; it's "sub" in Latin) the elements on the altar.
Radbertus' argument is less clear and organized than Ratramnus'. He represents an older, monastic and devotional approach while Ratramnus presents a more scholarly and systematic approach. Both views exerted influence in future theology, though Radbertus' transubstantiation became the standard view, with further clarifications.
Samples of the Arguments
Radbertus (transubstantiation): "Yet these [elements] must be believed to be fully, after the consecration, nothing but Christ's flesh and blood."
Ratramnus (figurative/mystical): "But that bread which through the ministry of the priest comes to be Christ's body exhibits one thing outwardly to human sense, and it proclaims another thing inwardly to the minds of the faithful. Outwardly it has the shape of bread which it had before, the color is exhibited, the flavor is received, but inwardly something far different, much more precious, much more excellent, becomes known, because something heavenly, something divine, that is, Christ's body, is revealed, which is not beheld, or received, or consumed by the fleshly senses but in the gaze of the believing soul."
Radbertus (transubstantiation): "[It is] truth therefore, when the body and blood of Christ is created by the power of the Spirit in His word out of the substance of bread and wine; but a figure when , through the agency of the priest at the altar, outwardly performing another thing, in memory of His sacred Passion, the Lamb is daily sacrificed as He once was for all."
Ratramnus (figurative/mystical): "For the very One who now in the church, with omnipotent power, spiritually changes the bread and wine into the flesh of his body and the stream of his blood, then also invisibly made the manna given from heaven to be his body and the water which had been poured forth from the rock to be His very blood."
 |
| Engraving of Paschasius Radbertus |
The Eucharist in Orthodox Lutheran Theology
The Formula of Concord is a masterpiece. In it the late reformers systematically organize the tenets of Christian doctrine and present them in a clear and uncomplicated way. The writing is characterized by an insistence on faith and tension - that is, leaving riddles and problems unresolved.
For example, in the Formula of Concord: Epitome, Article VII paragraph 6 we read: "We believe, teach, and confess that the body and blood of Christ are received not only spiritually through faith but also orally with the bread and wine, though not in Capernaitic fashion but rather in a supernatural, heavenly way because of the sacramental union of the elements. The words of Christ clearly demonstrate this..." The reformers conclude this article by stating, "Human reason and understanding cannot grasp this, but our understanding must be taken captive by obedience to Christ here as in all other articles of faith. Such a mystery cannot be grasped except by faith and is revealed alone in the Word."
In all of the Lutheran writings in the Reformation, there is an emphasis not on the priest's words or the recipient's faith, but on Christ's speech. It is Christ's promise at the Last Supper that holds today in the Lord's Supper. It is Christ's Word that confirms and sanctifies the elements. We bring forth the memory of Christ's words today and hold to them in trust, faith, and hope.
 |
| The altar at Martin Luther's church, the "Stadtkirche" of Wittenberg. Pictured above the altar is Cranach's famous altarpiece (photo by Adam). |
No comments:
Post a Comment