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Concordia University *
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Course
223
Subject
Religion
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
7
Uploaded by DoctorSquirrelMaster956
Remembering the Last Supper vs. Eucharist
Remembering the Last Supper versus the Eucharist invites many discussions as well as debates;
amongst the various churches come varied interpretations of what Christ actually meant during
his last supper. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the interpretations of the Last Supper
within the different church denominations in order to understand the meaning of the different
liturgies,
but
ultimately
to
reveal
how
they
share
the same underlying principles. The
predominant church denominations I will examine in my paper are Catholicism, Orthodox and
non-Catholics in order to discover the range of different opinions and sacraments. I will discuss
the meaning of the Eucharist within Catholicism and Orthodoxism, contrasting it to the worship
of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance by the Non-Catholics. I will be focusing on the symbolism
of the bread and wine contra to the transubstantiation. Lastly, I will be reviewing the four
gospels, Mark, Mathew, Luke and John to compare and contrast their recounts of Jesus’s Last
Supper to discover if the message is truly even that different.
To Begin, I believe a brief description of the Last Supper is essential in order to understand the
differences between the disputes at hand. The story is retold in the New Testament and the Last
Supper took place during Passover, according to the gospels, Mathew, Mark and Luke, excluding
John, which was the night before Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. During this dinner, depending on
which gospel you review, Jesus broke bread, stating it represented his body and drank the wine,
saying it represented his blood. The reason I do not give exact quotations is that it differs
between the four gospels, which I will discuss in detail later. After being betrayed by Judas that
night, Jesus was killed the next day, therefore it is recognized as the Last Supper.
To start on this idea, I want to review Catholicism and its views of the Eucharist. The Eucharist
is a Holy Communion where sacramental bread, (a wafer made of wheat) and wine is served,
which transcends into the body and blood of Christ during the Holy communion. Catholicism
and Orthodox differ from most other churches when it comes to discussing what Jesus Christ’s
words meant during his last supper before his crucifixion. “The Catholic Church teaches that the
Eucharist was established by Jesus Christ on Holy Thursday, during the Last Supper that he
celebrated with his disciples "on the night before he was betrayed" (1 Cor 11:23) in anticipation
of the Cross and Resurrection” (O'Donoghue, 72) In Catholicism, the Eucharist is part of Mass
where the bread becomes Jesus’s flesh and the wine, becomes his blood. “In the Eucharist, a
fundamental communion, foreshadowing the future, is effected between the living and the dead,
between the individual and the community, between the human (Anthropos) and the cosmic
(cosmos), between God and humanity - and all of this is symbolized in the transformation of the
bread
and
wine
into
the
Body
and
Blood
of
Christ.
(Dermot,
472)
Therefore,
the
“metamorphosis” if you will, of the Eucharist, which referred to as transubstantiation, is the
substances (bread and wine) staying in their form, yet spiritually transitioning into Christ
himself. Orthodox Christians have somewhat similar beliefs, yet there are some disparities.
Orthodox believe that Jesus mystically presents himself within the bread and the wine. “The
Eucharist implies the real and personal presence of our Lord inside a person who desires to
receive it. We can say that it is “The Mystery in which, under the face of bread and wine, the
believers receive the real Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins and for
eternal life” (ApostolAche, 504) Therefore it is evident that the Catholics alongside the Orthodox
believe Christ becomes, or at least mystifies himself when the bread and wine are shared. This
practice differs between most Non-Catholics.
Transitioning to the other denominations, we must examine the latter, which holds a different
position than the sectors discussed above. Non-Catholics views fluctuate quite drastically from
Catholicism and Orthodox regarding what Christ truly meant during his last supper. The majority
of Non- Catholics view the Last Supper as the Lord’s Supper, as a point of remembrance of the
sacrifices Christ made for us. Denominations such as Protestant’s view the breaking of the bread
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