Is the eucharist a sacrifice?

First: The Church was introduced to the idea of sacrifice at the time of the apostles, for St. Paul says, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat” (Heb. 13:10). In his epistle to the Hebrews (Chapter 10), he speaks of the Old Testament sacrifices as symbols fulfilled in Christ’s redemption and in the eucharist. He also speaks of the eucharist as an offering when he compares the holy table of God to that of demons (1 Cor. 10:20–21).

Second: Around the year 100 A. D., the author of the Didache mentions the eucharist as a pure sacrifice.¹⁴⁷¹ This was further confirmed by Fathers of the Church¹⁴⁷² such as St. Ignatius, St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Cyprian, and St. Augustine.

Third: The Church uses two Greek words to refer to the eucharist: θυσία ( thysia ; sacrifice), and προσφορά ( prosphora ; offering). When talking about the eucharist, St. Ignatius refers to the Church assembly as the eucharistic θυσιαστήριον ( thysiastirion ; place of sacrifice or altar.¹⁴⁷³ St. Clement of Rome says that the work of the bishop is the offering of the προσφοτερια ( prosfoteria ; the oblations).¹⁴⁷⁴

Fourth: The Fathers often used¹⁴⁷⁵ the word τράπεζα ( trapeza ), which means table, to refer to the altar. This term does not contradict the fact that the eucharist is a sacrifice, but it gives the sacrificial act of the eucharist a new meaning. In the New Testament, senseless animals were unwillingly slaughtered by the people on the altar for a sacrifice. However, on our altars, the Sacrifice offers Himself out of His immense love, to grant us life. He is not

1471 “The Didache” in Early Christian Writings , trans., Maxwell Staniforth and Andrew Louth (Penguin, 1987) 14: p. 196.

1472 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Philippians 4 (ANF 1); St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 117 (ANF 1); St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 4.17.5; 4.18.6 (ANF 1); St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 5.8 (NPNF II/7); St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters, Volume I (1–82) 68.9 (FOTC 12).

1473 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians 5 (ANF 1:51); Epistle to the Trallians 7.2 (ANF 1:68– 69); Epistle to the Philippians 4 (ANF 1:117).

1474 St. Clement of Rome, First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 44 (ANF 1:17).

1475 See Pseudo-Athanasius, Dispt. Cont. Arian . 17; and Tertullian, De Exhort. Constit ., 10.

just a sacrifice, but He is also the invisible Priest, the Giver of Life, and the Mediator between the Heavenly Father and His people through His sacrificial work.

St. Augustine says, “it follows that the whole of that redeemed city, that is, the congregation or community of the saints, is offered as a universal sacrifice to God through the High Priest who, taking the form of a servant, offered Himself in His passion for us that we might be the body of so glorious a Head … we ourselves who constitute the whole sacrifice … Such is the sacrifice of Christians: ‘We, the many, are one body in Christ.’ This is the Sacrifice, as the faithful understand, which the Church continues to celebrate in the sacrament of the altar, in which it is clear to the Church that she herself is offered in the very offering she makes to God.”¹⁴⁷⁶

He also says, “Is the altar not heavenly? How so? Because nothing bodily is on it, but all that is spiritual on it becomes an offering. The offering does not turn into ashes and smoke … for what is on the altar is glorious and unique … The church is heavenly, she is nothing but heaven!”¹⁴⁷⁷

St. John Chrysostom says, “Awesome in truth are the Mysteries of the Church, awesome in truth is the Altar. A fountain went up out of Paradise sending forth material rivers, from this table springs up a fountain which sends forth rivers spiritual. By the side of this fountain are planted not fruitless willows, but trees reaching even to heaven, bearing fruit ever timely and undecaying. If any be scorched with heat, let him come to the side of this fountain and cool his burning. For it quenches drought, and comforts all things that are burnt up, not by the sun, but by the fiery darts. For it has its beginning from above, and its source is there, whence also its water flows. Many are the streams of that fountain which the Comforter sends forth, and the Son is the Mediator, not holding mattock to clear the way, but opening our minds. This fountain is a fountain of light, spouting forth rays of truth. By it stand the Powers on high looking upon the beauty of its streams, because they more clearly perceive the power of the Things set forth, and the flashings unapproachable … They who share this blood stand with Angels and Archangels and the Powers that are above, clothed in Christ's own kingly robe, and having the armor of the Spirit. Nay, I have not as yet said any great thing: they are clothed with the King Himself.”¹⁴⁷⁸

He also says, “How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! You see Him, You touch Him, you eat Him. And you indeed desire to see His clothes, but He gives Himself to you not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within you.”¹⁴⁷⁹

“[When you see the Table set before you], say to yourself, ‘Because of this Body am I no longer earth and ashes, no longer a prisoner, but free: because of this I hope for heaven, and

1476 St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God, Books VIII–XVI 10.6 (FOTC 14:127).

1477 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 829 To the Newly baptized.

1478 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on John 46.4 (NPNF I/14:165) amended.

1479 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 82.4 (NPNF II/10:476) amended.

to receive the good things therein, immortal life, the portion of angels, converse with Christ; this Body, nailed and scourged, was more than death could stand against; this Body the very sun saw sacrificed, and turned aside his beams; for this both the veil was rent in that moment, and rocks were burst asunder, and all the earth was shaken. This is even that Body, the bloodstained, the pierced, and that out of which gushed the saving fountains, the one of blood, the other of water, for all the world.’”¹⁴⁸⁰

“When we see the Lord as a sacrifice placed on the altar, the priest praying over the sacrifice, and the congregation being cleansed by the precious blood, can you say that you are still standing with men on earth? … Did you not ascend directly to heaven?”¹⁴⁸¹

“Since we have become heavenly and received such an offering, let us fear! It is befitting for us to stop walking on this earth, for he who desires to depart from the earth is from now able to … for as we draw near God, we become ourselves in heaven. So what do I need from heaven, if I can now see the God of heaven, and I myself have become heaven?”

“He has invited us to heaven, to the table of the great and wonderful King, and do we shrink and hesitate, instead of hastening and running to it? And what then is our hope of salvation? We cannot lay the blame on our weakness; we cannot on our nature. It is indolence and nothing else that renders us unworthy.”¹⁴⁸²