Real Presence

The Real Presence is the term various Christian traditions use to express their belief that, in the Eucharist, Jesus the Christ is really (and not merely symbolically, figuratively or by his power) present in what was previously just bread and wine.

Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma. Efforts at mutual understanding of the range of beliefs led in 1980s to consultations on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM) through the World Council of Churches, consultations that included the Roman Catholic Church.

Different understandings

Catholic and Orthodox Christians see the Real Presence in terms of transubstantiation/metousiosis. Anglicans argue for contentment with the mode of objective presence to remain a mystery. Lutherans expound a presence "in, with and under the forms" of bread and wine. Methodists even more vaguely postulate the "par excellence" presence as "mystery." Reformed-Protestant or Calvinist views tend to reject the idea of any par excellence objective presence, and instead stress that Holy Communion is a "spiritual feeding." Other Reformed, Congregationalist, and Baptist traditions simply reject outright the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Catholic and Orthodox views - Transubstantiation/Metousiosis

Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church traditions understand the "Real Presence" to reflect the transformed nature of the bread and wine - that the "elements" or "gifts" brought to the altar are transformed through the work of the Holy Spirit at the time of consecration into the body and blood of Christ; Roman Catholic doctrine speaks of this change as transubstantiation, conversion of the whole "substance" or inner reality of the bread and wine into that of the body and blood of Christ, while the "accidents" or humanly perceptible appearances remain unaltered.

Orthodox and Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine are actually transformed objectively into the body and blood of Christ, and that, therefore, it is theologically incorrect to refer to them, after consecration, as simply "bread" and "wine". The consecrated elements retain the forms of bread and wine, but are indeed the actual body and blood of Christ, resulting in an actual, objective, real presence of the whole Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist. For this reason, what remains of the sacrament after the distribution of communion is reserved in the tabernacle, where it can be utilized at later Masses, for private devotion and prayer, as well as for public Eucharistic adoration.

Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Old Catholic Christians generally do not speak in terms of "substance" and "accidents", but Orthodox councils and theologians have expounded the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in terms of transubstantiation Greek, ("metousiosis"), while stressing that transubstantiation describes the "what" of the change, not "how" it is brought about.^*

Lutherans - the Sacramental Union: "in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine"

Lutherans believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are "truly and substantially present in, with and under the forms" of the consecrated bread and wine (the elements), so that communicants eat and drink both the elements and the true Body and Blood of Christ Himself (cf. Augsburg Confession, Article 10) in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The Lutheran doctrine of the Real Presence is more accurately and formally known as "the Sacramental Union." It has been called "consubstantiation" by some, but this term is rejected by Lutheran churches and theologians as it creates confusion about the actual doctrine.

For Lutherans, there is no sacrament unless the elements are used according to Christ's institution (consecration, distribution, and reception). This was first formulated in the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 in the formula: Nihil habet rationem sacramenti extra usum a Christo institutum ("Nothing has the character of a sacrament apart from the use instituted by Christ"). In following this formula or theological principle, some Lutherans have opposed in the Christian Church the reservation of the consecrated elements, private masses, the practice of Corpus Christi, and the belief that the presence of Christ's body and blood continue in the reliquæ (what remains of the consecrated elements after all have communed in the worship service). This interpretation is not universal among Lutherans. The consecrated elements are treated with respect, and in some areas are reserved as in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican practice, but Eucharistic adoration is not typically practiced. To remove any scruple of doubt or superstition the reliquæ traditionally are either consumed or poured into the earth, except that a small amount may be kept for delivery to those too ill or infirm to attend the service. In this case, the consecrated elements are to be delivered quickly, preserving the connection between the communion experienced by the ill person, and the communion of the rest of the congregation.

Lutherans use the terms "in, with and under the forms of consecrated bread and wine" and "Sacramental Union" to distinguish their understanding of the Lord's Supper from those of the Reformed and other traditions. More liberal Lutheran churches tend to practice open communion, inviting all who are baptized to participate. Confessional Lutheran churches view fellowship as an undivided whole and practice closed communion (or close communion), restricting participation to those who are in complete doctrinal agreement with them. Fellowship involves the formal declaration of "altar and pulpit fellowship," another term for eucharistic sharing coupled with the acceptance of the ministrations of one another's clergy.

Anglicans - broad range of opinions

Anglicans generally and officially believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but the specifics of that belief range from Transubstantiation, sometimes with Eucharistic adoration (mainly Anglo-Catholics), to something akin to a belief in a "pneumatic" presence, which may or may not be tied to the Eucharistic elements themselves (almost always High-Church Anglicans). A small minority reject the doctrine of the Real Presence altogether (Mainly Low-Church Anglicans). The classic Anglican aphorism with regard to this debate is the poem by John Donne (1572-1631): "He was the Word that spake it; He took the bread and brake it; And what that Word did make it; I do believe and take it" (Divine Poems. On the Sacrament).^*

The Anglican Thirty-nine Articles contend that the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine of transubstantiation overthrows the nature of a sacrament as an outward, visible sign that conveys an inward, spiritual grace. For some Anglicans, whose mysticism is intensely incarnational, it is extremely important that God has used the mundane and temporal as a means of giving people the transcendent and eternal. In the Eucharist, the outward and visible sign is that of bread and wine, while the inward and spiritual grace is that of the Body and Blood of Christ. They consider the presence to belong to the realm of spirit and eternity, and not to be about corporeal-fleshiness, which is not to say that they accept only a "pneumatic" presence. Instead, they strongly argue to be content to allow the mystery to remain a mystery. They bristle at the idea that one material substance gets substituted for another. (Roman Catholic doctrine insists that the material substance, being part of what is open to the senses, is in no way altered, and that the philosophical-sense substance or inner reality is "converted" into that of the body and blood of Christ, not "substituted" by it.) As some Anglican divines have stated: "It may not be about a change of substance, but it is about a substantial change."

Anglicans and Roman Catholics declared that they had "substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist" in the Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation and the Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement.

Methodism - Real Presence as "Holy Mystery"

There is no definitive Methodist statement on how the real presence of Jesus Christ is experienced in Holy Communion. Nevertheless, the followers of John Wesley , himself an Anglican clergyman, have typically affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Communion is an instrumental Means of Grace through which the real presence of Christ is communicated to the believer, but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery. In particular, Methodists reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (see "Article XVIII" of the Articles of Religion, Means of Grace). In 2004, the United Methodist Church more clearly defined its view of the sacrament and its belief in the Real Presence in an official document entitled This Holy Mystery. Of particular note here is the church's unequivocal recognition of the anamnesis as more than just a memorial but, rather, a re-presentation of Christ Jesus:

Holy Communion is remembrance, commemoration, and memorial, but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling. "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25) is anamnesis (the biblical Greek word). This dynamic action becomes re-presentation of past gracious acts of God in the present, so powerfully as to make them truly present now. Christ is risen and is alive here and now, not just remembered for what was done in the past. This affirmation of Real Presence — of what is sometimes called anamnetical real presence — can be seen clearly illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Eucharistic Liturgy (for example: Word and Table 1) where, in the epecletical portion of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements:

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

For most United Methodists — and, indeed, for much of Methodism as a whole — this reflects the furthest extent to which they are willing to go in defining Real Presence. They will assert that Jesus is really present, and that the means of this presence is a "Holy Mystery"; the celebrating minister will pray for the Holy Spirit to make the elements "be the body and blood of Christ," and the congregation will even sing, as in the third stanza of Charles Wesley's hymn Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast:

Come and partake the gospel feast,

be saved from sin, in Jesus rest;

O taste the goodness of our God,

and eat his flesh and drink his blood.//en.wikisource.org/wiki/Come%2C_Sinners%2C_to_the_Gospel_Feast_%28version_2%29

However, beyond this degree of specificity most Methodists will not go. For them, the affirmation of Real Presence, as in the above references, is sufficient for them to know and partake of the sacrament in a worthy manner.

Reformed or Calvinist/Presbyterian - "Real Presence" as spiritual (not carnal) "pneumatic presence"

Many Reformed, particularly those following John Calvin hold that the reality of Christ's body and blood do not come corporally (physically) to the elements, but that "the Spirit truly unites things separated in space" (Calvin).

Following a phrase of Augustine, the Calvinist view is that "no one bears away from this Sacrament more than is gathered with the vessel of faith". "The flesh and blood of Christ are no less truly given to the unworthy than to God's elect believers", Calvin said; but those who partake by faith receive benefit from Christ, and the unbelieving are condemned by partaking. By faith (not a mere mental apprehension), and in the Holy Spirit, the partaker beholds God incarnate, and in the same sense touches him with hands, so that by eating and drinking of bread and wine Christ's presence penetrates to the heart of the believer more nearly than food swallowed with the mouth can enter in.

This view holds that the elements may be disposed of without ceremony, as they are unchanged and, as such, the meal directs attention toward Christ's "bodily" resurrection and return.

While Reformed theology has taught that Jesus' body is seated in heaven at the right hand of God and therefore is not present in the elements nor do the elements turn into his body, recent ecumenical developments have placed this theology in transition. Reformed theology has also taught that when the Holy Communion is received, not only the spirit, but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ (hence "real") are received in a pneumatic (ghostly) sense, but these are only received by those partakers who eat worthily (i.e., repentantly) with faith. The Holy Spirit unites the Christian with Jesus though they are separated by a great distance. See, e.g., Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 19; Belgic Confession, Article 35; open communion.The theologies of Presbyterian and Reformed Free Churches in this tradition are in flux, and recent agreements, especially A Formula for Agreement, between these denominations and the Lutherans have stressed that: "The theological diversity within our common confession provides both the complementarity needed for a full and adequate witness to the gospel (mutual affirmation) and the corrective reminder that every theological approach is a partial and incomplete witness to the Gospel (mutual admonition) (A Common Calling, page 66)." Hence, in seeking to come to consensus about the Real Presence, the churches have written:

"During the Reformation both Reformed and Lutheran Churches exhibited an evangelical intention when they understood the Lord's Supper in the light of the saving act of God in Christ. Despite this common intention, different terms and concepts were employed which. . . led to mutual misunderstanding and misrepresentation. Properly interpreted, the differing terms and concepts were often complementary rather than contradictory (Marburg Revisited, pp. 103-104);"

and further:

"In the Lord's Supper the risen Christ imparts himself in body and blood, given up for all, through his word of promise with bread and wine....we proclaim the death of Christ through which God has reconciled the world with himself. We proclaim the presence of the risen Lord in our midst. Rejoicing that the Lord has come to us, we await his future coming in glory....Both of our communions, we maintain, need to grow in appreciation of our diverse eucharistic traditions, finding mutual enrichment in them. At the same time both need to grow toward a further deepening of our common experience and expression of the mystery of our Lord's Supper (A Formula for Agreement)."

Reformed, Baptist, some Congregational, etc. - no Real Presence

Some Protestant groups see Communion (also called the Lord's Supper or the Lord's Table) as merely a symbolic meal, a basic memorial of the Last Supper and the Passion, which is done by the ordinance of Jesus, but in which nothing miraculous occurs. This view is known as the Zwinglian view, after Huldrych Zwingli, a Swiss leader during the Reformation.

It is commonly associated with Baptists and many other Evangelicals. In the Anglican Communion, it is taught in the (nominally Anglican) Calvinist Diocese of Sydney, but rejected by the worldwide communion.

Consecration, presidency and distribution

Many Christian churches holding to a doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (for example, Roman Catholics and Orthodox) require ordained clergy to officiate at the Eucharist, consecrating and distributing the elements to communicants.

Some groups, chiefly Protestants, have a different concept of consecration, seeing it as a setting aside. Those who see consecration as a "setting aside" require church leaders (pastors, elders and deacons) to preside over the elements and distribute them.