The 52nd International Eucharistic Congress is currently meeting in Budapest, Hungary. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Divine Liturgy offered in St. Stephen’s Basilica by Patriarch Youssef Absi, the Melkite-Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. I was also very pleased to hear the catechesis offered by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow.

In his catechesis, Metropolitan Hilarion tried to offer a basic overview of the Orthodox understanding of the Holy Eucharist. He highlighted our common belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the deifying effect of the Eucharist on the communicant. He also highlighted the writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian and his mystical experience of the Eucharist emphasizing our deep and intimate communion with Christ. Overall, it was a great talk and well worth watching. 

For many Latin-Rite Catholics, I’m sure this event was the first time to hear an exposition of an Eastern theology of the Eucharist. So, I thought in this little article that I would carry some of these themes forward and explain some basics about how Eastern Christians understand the Eucharist.

 

Doctrine

First, and as Metropolitan Hilarion made clear, our doctrine of the Eucharist is the same. We hold the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Ukrainian Catholic Catechism, Christ Our Pascha (no. 436), quotes St. John Damascene saying, “The bread and wine [of the Eucharist] are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body itself of the Lord.”

The Catechism continues in no. 441:

“While not investigating the manner of the consecration of the Eucharistic Gifts, the Holy Fathers emphasize how the earthly and the heavenly are united in these Gifts, as in Christ are united his divine and human nature.”

Here, we come to our first theological nuance (not difference). In the East, we don’t generally use the term “transubstantiation.” We certainly recognize the term as a Western and valid theological expression but we don’t use it. We prefer to leave the “how” of the sacraments to the realm of “mystery.” When standing before the greatness and power of God in his holy mysteries, all human language becomes mute (as Aquinas himself would admit). Additionally, the East never really had to confront the challenges of the Protestant Reformation, so the added explanation of “how” the transformation occurs was never necessary for the East.

Practice

One beautiful expression of Eucharistic piety that you’ll see if you watch any coverage of the Congress is Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. This practice is a unique Latin expression of Eucharistic piety, again stemming from the West’s confrontation with Berengar of Tours, and later, Protestantism.

We don’t have Eucharistic exposition in the East. We certainly do reserve the Blessed Sacrament for distribution to the sick. So, in every Eastern Church, we preserve Christ in the tabernacle and people are welcome to come in and pray before his Eucharistic Presence. We do not, however, expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration.

Again, here is an opportunity for nuance. In the East, as Metropolitan Hilarion rightfully stated, the emphasis is on how Christ in the Eucharist deifies us through eating. Turning to St. Symeon:

“And when we eat of it, when we eat worthily of His flesh, each one of us receives within himself the entirety of God made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, son of God and son of the immaculate Virgin Mary … Just as we all receive of His fullness, so do we all partake of the immaculate flesh of His all-holy Mother which He assumed, and so, just as Christ our God, true God, became her son; even so we too — O the ineffable love for mankind! — become sons of His mother, the Theotokos, and brothers of Christ Himself ...” (First Ethical Discourse).

The Eucharistic sacrifice, East and West, is consummated through eating and drinking. It’s in partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ that our deification is most fully impacted. St. Symeon describes this as becoming sons of the Theotokos and brothers and sisters of Christ. So, the East maintains this emphasis. Not to say this point is not present in the West, because it is, however, the practice of piously exposing the Blessed Sacrament for prayer and devotions never took hold in the Eastern Churches. 

 

Together, a Eucharistic People

We often forget that East and West are two sides to the same coin in our doctrine and teaching. What looks like a difference that separates, upon further examination, is an emphasis that highlights some essential truth.

Our shared Eucharistic theology highlights our deep and abiding belief in his Real Presence. The nuances of our theology and ritual demonstrate our unique history and theological and liturgical development.

I’m very glad that the Eastern Catholic Churches and our Eastern theology of the Eucharist have been highlighted at the Eucharistic Congress in Hungary. We need more of this! We need more dialogue between Western and Eastern Catholics. There is so much richness in the Catholic faith, especially regarding the Eucharist, that to not expose oneself to the Eastern theological and liturgical tradition is a detriment to a more robust understanding of the gift of the Eucharist — Christ himself!

If you’ve never read the Eastern Fathers or attended a Byzantine Divine Liturgy, I’d challenge you to open yourself to the experience of the East. You won’t regret it!

(To this end, Father Daniel Dozier, Father Deacon Anthony Dragani, and I put together this little webinar: How to Attend a Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy. Enjoy! And you can also read the Ukrainian Catholic Catechism, Christ Our Pascha, online at RoyalDoors.net. The section on the Eucharist is nos. 431-446.)