As the Church stands before the heavenly altar, at the most significant moments of the Eucharistic act, in which the revelation of the divine love comes to its fullest utterance, it utters the words of Christ Himself, i.e. the instituting narrative, or the crossing, as an anamnesis of the Messiah, asking the Father to send His Holy Spirit upon the oblations to be transformed into the Immolated Body and Blood of Christ in order that their effect may be accomplished in us.
The whole liturgy is a preparation and fulfillment of the consecration of these oblations.
We can divide these prayers of consecration permissibly into three divisions:
The Institution Narrative,
The Anamnesis, and
The Epiclesis or the Invocation of the Holy Spirit.
These divisions, which we find in the early liturgies as in the Coptic Liturgies, aroused many questions in the minds of some liturgists, such as:
- 1- Is the consecration effected by the Institution Narrative, i.e. by Christ's words of transformation, or by the Invocation of the Spirit, or by both of them?
- 2- Does the Son of God play an active part in the Eucharist, or is He satisfied with the passive part, while the Holy oblations are transformed by the Holy Spirit?
- 3- Is the Invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the oblations or is it upon men also so that they may enjoy the worthiness of receiving the Eucharist, or is it on both of them?
Now I will try to answer these questions and others by studying the notion of the "consecration" and its prayers.
1 - the Institution Narrative (Crossing the Gifts)
Consecration is transforming the bread and wine into the Immolated Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, and Who is given to the ecclesia, as her Spirit. In other words, consecration is the Mystery of the return of the church to the divine Bosom of the heavenly Father, through and with the Only-begotten Son, by the power of the Spirit. Thus, the Holy Trinity plays an active part in the mystery.
The Father is the One Who accepts the Sacrifice of His Beloved Son on behalf of the Church. He accepts this eternal sacrifice through the ecclesia, i.e. the Body of the Son of God. He recognized the ecclesia as His Son's Body and her members as His own children in His Only-Begotten Son. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of the fellowship who transforms the gifts and unites us with the Holy Trinity. The Son is the High-Priest of the Father, who unites His ecclesia to His priestly function, He serves the divine liturgy, consecrates the gifts and unites His Bride to Himself.
It is Christ Himself Who declares (through the presbyter) "This is my Body."
Whenever the great prayers and the holy supplicants are sent up, the Word comes on the bread and cup, and they become His Body.
The Rite of the "Institution of Narrative"
The presbyter censes his hands thrice before praying the "Institution of Narrative" or "Crossing the gifts." This refers to the sanctification of the Church by the Holy Trinity in order that she can handle the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord.
Incense is a symbol of prayers, by which the presbyter may be sanctified so that he can carry the "Lamb" on his hand, and enter into
heaven, reciting Christ's words of consecration. He says: "And He has instituted for us this great mystery unto godliness. For when He was determined to give Himself up unto death for the life of the world...."
The congregation answers: "We believe and trust."
The presbyter takes the Bread in his hands, lifts up the veil, which was under it, and puts it on the altar saying: "He took bread on His hands which are holy, spotless, pure, blessed and life-giving."
Again the congregation expresses their faith in the real presence, saying: "We believe that is true indeed. Amen."
The presbyter puts his right hand over the Bread, which is still on his left hand, and lifts his eyes upwards, saying: "He looked up towards heaven, to You, O God, His Father and Lord of all." He signs the cross thrice over the bread, saying: "He gave thanks."
Congregation: "Amen." Presbyter: "He blessed It." Congregation: "Amen."
Presbyter: "He Sanctified It."
Congregation: "Amen." "We believe, we confess, we glorify."
Signing the Bread (and the chalice afterwards) with the Cross thrice is sealing them with the seal of the King. For the Cross is the sign of the Son of Man, as He reconciled us by the Blood of His Cross.
He crosses them thrice proclaiming the active part, which the Holy Trinity plays for our salvation through the crucifixion of the Son of God. It also means that the sacrifice on the Cross or crucifixion was and still is the power and the glory of the Holy Trinity. For this reason the congregation sings this hymn: "We believe, we confess, and we glorify." What the world considers weakness, we realize, through the Holy Spirit, to be God's power.
The presbyter slightly breaks the Bread into one and two thirds, using his thumb without touching the "Spadikon ", letting this one third on his right hand, and saying: "He divided It and gave It to His saintly disciples and holy apostles, saying: Take, eat you all of It, For this is My Body."* Here he slightly breaks the top part of the Bread with the tip of his fingers and places It on the paten. He cleans his fingers on
the paten from any particles sticking to them, saying: "Which is to be broken for you and for many, to be given for the remission of sins. Do this in anamnesis of Me."
He places the host on the paten and genuflects, but without any elevation.
The congregation reply: "This is so, indeed, Amen," i.e. we believe in His words asking the remission of our sins.
The ecclesia utters Christ's words of consecration. She is one with her Head; she recites His own words of transformation by continuing the action of giving Himself to His ecclesia, as a source of her salvation and divine life. Christ Himself continues to utter through His ecclesia, His effective words of consecration, which He spoke on instituting His Sacrament.
St. Ambrose says, "How does the consecration take place? It takes place by means of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ."
The presbyter not only utters Christ's words of consecration, but also breaks the Bread while he is reciting them. The Lord did this by His own hand declaring that He willingly accepts the passions he would suffer.
In the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus, the presbyter prays:
"When He delivered himself up to His death freely, so that He may bring death to nothingness and break the bonds of the devil and tread hell under his feet and give light to the righteous and set up a covenant and manifest His resurrection. He took bread and while giving thanks He said, "Take, eat, this is my Body which is broken for you."
St. Jacob El-Serougi says that the apostles could not break the Bread if it were not that Jesus Himself broke it infront of them. The ecclesia received this rite from the Lord, i.e. breaking the Bread.
The presbyter breaks it in the shape of a Cross, without separating the parts from each other. For Jesus suffered the passions while He is Himself the Life-giving Lord, whom death cannot conquer and one of His bones shall not be broken.
Concerning the Chalice
We do not need to repeat the rites of the institution narrative concerning the chalice, for it has the same notions and meanings but we shall summarize its rite.
The presbyter uncovers the chalice and puts his hands on top of it, saying:
"Likewise, after supper. He also mixed the chalice of wine and water" (crossing it thrice saying): "He gave thanks."
Congregation: "Amen." Presbyter: "He blessed It." Congregation: "Amen." Presbyter: "He Sanctified It."
Congregation: "Amen." "Again we believe, we confess, we glorify."
The presbyter gently holding the chalice says: "He tasted, and gave it to His saintly disciples and holy apostles," (Slightly inclining the chalice crosswise the presbyter says): "Take, drink of it you all" (pointing with his hands to it), "For this is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for you and for many to be given for the remission of sins. Do this in my Anamnesis."
The congregation affirms their belief, saying, "This, also is true indeed. Amen."
2 - the Anamnesis
We already spoke about the Eucharist as an anamnesis of the Redeemer. The presbyter proclaims through the prayers of the Institution Narrative that the Eucharist is done in anamnesis of Christ, acting in our life. He also prays, pointing with his hands to the Body: "For as often you eat of this Bread, and drink of this Chalice, You do preach My death, do confess My resurrection, you do remember me (make anamnesis) until I come."
The congregation responds singing this hymn: "Your death, O Lord, do we preach, Your holy resurrection and ascension we confess. We praise You. We bless You. We thank You, O Lord. And we entreat You, O our God."
The presbyter in the meanwhile continues the anamnesis, saying: "As we commemorate His Holy Passion, His Resurrection from the dead, His Ascension to Heaven, His sitting at Your right hand, O Father, and His second coming, which shall be from heaven, awesome and full of glory. We offer unto You Your oblations from what is Yours, upon every condition, for any condition and in whatever condition."
The oblations, which we offer, are the living and life-giving sacrifice of Christ, creative in the life of the Church. Through this sacrifice the Church offers herself, as the Body of the Messiah, practicing His passion. His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, as if these things are her own.
3 - the Epiclesis the Invocation of the Holy Spirit
Fr. John Damascus in the eighth century said that the consecration is not affected by the words of the "Institution Narrative" (the Lord's own words), but only by the Invocation of the Holy Spirit. Some theologians accepted this idea, but others refused it, saying that we cannot say that the consecration is affected solely by the Epiclesis. The celebration of the Liturgy, especially the consecration prayers cannot be divided into separate parts. We cannot separate the positive action of Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist from the action of the Holy Spirit, and so we cannot separate the Institution Narrative from the Epiclesis.
The Mystery of the Eucharist is the action of the Redeemer Himself, by the power of His own Spirit, i.e. by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without the saving deeds of Christ, the Holy Spirit would not descend on the gifts i.e. the oblations to transform them into the Crucified and Risen Body of Christ.
For example the Serapion's Petition of Consecration mentions the advent of the Word, instead of the advent or the invocation of the Holy Spirit. The same idea also found in other fourth century writings such as those in Egypt, Syria and Cappadocia, and in some later dated Galician prayers 2.
Some see that the Eucharistic celebration looks like the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin St. Mary for the Incarnation of the Word. The Holy Spirit, however, had realized the Incarnation. While the Son played an active part by His incarnation, similarly, in the Eucharist, He is the active agent who offers the Church, which is found in Him, to His Father 3.
As an example, St. Chrysostom sometimes attributes the sanctification to the Holy Spirit and at other times to the Word.
When the presbyter stands before the table, lifting up his hands to
heaven, and calling on the Holy Spirit, to come and touch the gifts, great silence and solemnity prevail all over the place.
It is not man who transforms the gifts which are set forth into the Body and Blood of Christ, but it is Christ Himself Who was crucified for us.
St. John Chrysostom
At the Liturgy of St. Gregory, the presbyter asks the Son to send the Holy Spirit, upon us and upon the gifts. At the same time he proclaims the active part, which the Son plays in this transformation. He says:
You, O Master, only by Your own voice transform these gifts which are presented.
You, Who are present with us, prepare this service, which is full of mystery for us.
Plant into us the memory of the holy service.
Send the grace of the Holy Spirit upon us to sanctify and transform these oblations, which are presented into the Body and Blood of our salvation.
Liturgy of St. Gregory
Fr. Dix sees that there is a confusion in the Eastern Churches, for while they say that the consecration is effected by the Epiclesis they also say that the Eucharist is the act of Christ Himself, the High-priest of the heavenly altar, Who Himself offers, Himself prays, Himself consecrates in the offering of the sacrifice. He also says, "We westerns have enough confusions and losses of our own which deplore in the field of Eucharistic teaching and devotions, without seeking to follow theirs." He attributes confusion to the Eastern Church for these reasons:
1- Fr. Dix makes a complete separation between the works of the Holy Trinity, so that when he attributes a task to one of the Trinity he sees the other two Persons play a passive part. But St. Augustine in his sermons on the Gospel of St. Matthew explained the opposite of this.
Example: The Incarnation was realized by the act of the Holy Spirit, but the other two Persons played an active part. The Holy Scriptures say concerning the Father that He "sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved," and concerning the Son it is said, "But He made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant."
2- The second reason is Dix's analysis of the liturgy is in an earthly way. The liturgy is a divine and heavenly service, which surpasses space and time. We must not separate its prayers one from the other. It is one act for our salvation, in which the ecclesia is present in the Golgotha, and at the same time in heaven.
Finally, we mention what Fr. Daniélou says 1, "The consecration is, on the one hand, an act shared by the Holy Trinity i.e. Three persons and (aspect of the same) is appropriated to the Spirit, by whom God carried out His great works in history; on the other hand, it is enacted by the creative Word, which is also a powerful instrument of God."
The Rite of the "Epiclesis"
As the deacon says audibly: "Worship God in fear and trembling," the congregation - bowing - answer: "We praise You; We bless You. We serve You, We worship You."
Lifting up his hands and leaning over the altar, the presbyter inaudibly begins the epiclesis:
"And we beseech You, O Christ our God, we, Your sinful and unworthy servants. And worship You, by the pleasure of Your goodness, that Your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these offerings here present, to purify them unto us, and transform them, and manifest them holy unto Your saints."
The deacon gives the admonition: "Let us attend. Amen." Then the presbyter thrice crosses over the paten, saying, "And this Bread, He makes into His Holy Body"
Congregation: "We believe."
Priest:(inaudibly) "Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. It is given for the remission of sins and eternal life for whoever partakes thereof."
The presbyter also crosses the chalice thrice as he says: "And this Chalice the glorious blood of the New Testament.." repeating the same rite of the paten.