Why are the bread and wine mixed together in the Holy Eucharist during an Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy?
Upvote:6
The origins of this tradition can be found as early as 120AD in the practice of fermentum, whereby a piece of consecrated bread was broken off and sent to another community in another place for a separate - yet now connected - Eucharistic celebration, thereby expressing the unity of the Church through communion. (The Roots of the Catholic Tradition)
When this practice of traveling leaven was no longer taken up, a piece of the locally consecrated bread was dropped into the chalice and the tradition was explained through various allegory and metaphor, one of which being: this commixture symbolizes the reunion (resurrection) of Christ’s body and soul which were separated at the cross. (The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia)
The actual word commixture and this notion that Christ essentially puts his power “on hold” before the resurrection, we find in The Life Hidden or Veiled by the Sacramental Species from Cardinal Cienfuegos (1657-1739):
This life Christ the Lord Himself as High Priest alone sacrifices and offers inasmuch as by the sway of His human will he suspends or removes the vital actions miraculously produced, and determines not to elicit any further action or to use the instrumental power of producing them according to His will, until by a kind of resurrection in the commemoration of the resurrection in the commixture of the body and the blood He resumes the actual life and free use of instrumental power.
In his book A History of The Doctrine of The Holy Eucharist, Vol. 2, Darwell Stone writes this of Cardnial Cienfuegos proposal:
Upon this opinion he built up a theory that in the Eucharistic sacrifices our Lord offers this life of the senses and suspends these vital actions until the mystical representation of the resurrection in the commixture of consecrated elements at the placing of a fragment of the host in the chalice; and that this suspension constitutes the sacrifice.
As you may have gathered, this tradition is not exclusive to the Orthodox tradition. It is practiced in the Catholic tradition (at least it was when I was an altar boy 45 years ago) and in the Episcopal tradition as well. (4)
More post
- 📝 Who was the first Church Father to argue for executing heretics?
- 📝 Did Mormons have a "blood oath" ceremony before April 1990?
- 📝 Does any church denomination believe it possible to go one moment without sinning?
- 📝 Does the Bible say anything about chimeras or explains their purpose?
- 📝 If a Catholic priest absolves my sins without taking a confession, does it still count?
- 📝 Although the N.T. often speaks of Jesus as the Son of God, what's significant about the way the Apostle John uses that title?
- 📝 How is it that sinful people who do not believe, still get the blessings of the Lord?
- 📝 Which persons of the Trinity are attached to which noun in John 1:18?
- 📝 Who tells us that the whole Bible is inspired?
- 📝 Can a non-baptized Jehovah's Witness publisher date a non-believer?
- 📝 Is the Bible literally the word of God?
- 📝 Has anyone in history suffered God’s visible wrath by uttering disrespect & attack on the dignity of the Vicar of Christ?
- 📝 Seeming paradox arising from idea of eternal life
- 📝 (LDS view) Do animals have a possibility to eternal life and is this dependent on Jesus atonoment applied to them?
- 📝 Where is the prophecy of the star that the wise men followed?
- 📝 Want blessing of civil marriage
- 📝 Do any living, Reformed authors interpret ‘the life the eternal’ as anything other than an expression of the eternal Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ?
- 📝 How does uniting to Christ's suffering work?
- 📝 Why are we given details about what the descendants of Cain did? Is there special significance to these details?
- 📝 Through the Biblical story of Job, did God mean He is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14)?
- 📝 Why wasn't the Bible enough for the founding fathers of America?
- 📝 In Acts 25:10 Paul appeals to Caesar. What aspect of Roman law/citizenship was he invoking?
- 📝 Why do (some) Anglican vicars use 'sing-songy' voices?
- 📝 Was Jesus omniscient regarding earthly matters?
- 📝 What is the difference between the two creations of humans, according to those who believe they are in chronological order?
- 📝 How many are there of God's angels?
- 📝 Is the Catholic Church actively preparing for the contact with a highly advanced sentient alien species?
- 📝 Does any Catholic Liturgical Rite follow the Ad Orientem form of Holy Mass?
- 📝 What's the biblical basis for Abraham, David, etc. to be raised in the first resurrection?
- 📝 In Prophecy what does a beast represent?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why are the bread and wine mixed together in the Holy Eucharist during an Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy?
- 📝 Why do LDS use water and leavened bread in communion when the Jews used wine and unleavened bread?
- 📝 How are the bread and wine explained by those who forbid images of Jesus?
- 📝 Why do some churches eat leavened bread and wine for the Lord's Supper?
- 📝 In light of the list found in Isaiah 11:1-3, why are there seven gifts of Holy Spirit and not six?
- 📝 In Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Lutheranism, what are the main explanations on the matter of why Jesus Christ needed to be baptized?
- 📝 Are there any compelling reasons to prevent a layperson from administering the bread and wine in accordance with 1 Corinthians 11:17-34?
- 📝 If we receive infinite grace through bread and wine as the Catholic theology say, why does a person still sin against God?
- 📝 Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the synoptic gospels?
- 📝 Why do we use the order "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"?
- 📝 When does the bread and wine become Body and Blood?
- 📝 What are the major differences between Eastern and Western Orthodox Christianities?
- 📝 What do Protestants who deny transubstantiation do with the remainders of wine and bread after the Eucharist?
- 📝 What are the key differences between the Western and Eastern Christianity?
- 📝 What is the basis for the practice of Intinction (the dipping of the bread into wine during the Eucharist)?
- 📝 Why did Daniel consider the allotment of food and wine to be wrong for him to eat?
- 📝 Why do Protestants say: "In Jesus' name. Amen.", whereas Catholics say: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."?
- 📝 Why did the Western and Eastern churches react to their respective states so differently?
- 📝 Why are the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary such a big deal that all Catholics must believe in them?
- 📝 What are the differences between Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Nestorianism?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus, Father, and Holy Spirit are of the same nature but different personas?
- 📝 Are God, Son (Jesus) and The Holy Spirit Same?
- 📝 Are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit explicitly identified as "persons" in any writings directly associated with the Nicene Creed?
- 📝 Why are there Sibyls and Prophetesses in the Sistine Chapel?
- 📝 Why are the wicked resurrected only to be destroyed and sent to the Lake of Fire?
- 📝 Are there any major Protestant denominations that meet every day and are together all the time like the early church was?
- 📝 How can common believers in the Eastern Orthodox Church be sure that the Church's decisions are correct and not erroneous?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about this question- Why do Jesus and God have two seats in heaven when they are the same God?
- 📝 Why aren't the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches in communion with each other?
- 📝 According to Eastern Orthodoxy why did we inherit the sin of Adam and Eve?