Real Presence
Christ truly present in the bread and wine — affirmed widely, explained in rival ways
Real Presence is the conviction that Christ is truly and really present in the eucharistic bread and wine. Early witnesses include Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Cyril of Jerusalem. Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions affirm the presence, but they differ on how to explain it — through transubstantiation, sacramental union, and other accounts — while Reformed and memorialist traditions understand the Supper quite differently.
How it traveled
- 1 CorinthiansEphesus · 67explains
- JohnEphesus · 100explains
- The First ApologyRome · 165explains
- The Catechetical Lectures of S. CyrilJerusalem · 386explains
- The Great CatechismNyssa · 395explains
- On the MysteriesMilan · 397explains
- On the Holy SpiritMilan · 397explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the HebrewsConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Treatise Concerning the Christian PriesthoodConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. JohnHippo Regius · 430explains
- Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New TestamentHippo Regius · 430explains
- The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of TheodoretCyrrhus · 458explains
- The Letters and Sermons of Leo the GreatRome · 461explains
- Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90)Paris · 1274explains
- An Invitation to Holy CommunionZwolle · 1471explains
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · 1564explains
- Inquiry Concerning Qualification for CommunionNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril · Cyril of Jerusalem
Lecture XXII. (On the Mysteries. IV.) On the Body and Blood of Christ. 1 Cor. xi. 23 I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which He
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Secondly, because this position is contrary to the form of this sacrament, in which it is said: "This is My body," which would not be true if the substance of the bread were to remain there; for the s
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An Invitation to Holy Communion · Thomas à Kempis
THESE are all Your words, O Christ, eternal Truth, though they were not all spoken at Words of such tenderness, so full of sweetness and love, encourage me; but my sins frighten me and an unclean con
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
We have now to consider the manner in which Christ exists in this sacrament; and under this head there are eight points of inquiry: (1) Whether the whole Christ is under this sacrament? (2) Whether
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
But this is erroneous; because it detracts from the truth of this sacrament, to which truth it belongs that so long as the species last, Christ's body does not cease to be under them, as stated above
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An Invitation to Holy Communion · Thomas à Kempis
O MOST sweet Lord Jesus, how great is the happiness of the devout soul that feasts upon You at Your banquet, where there is set before her to be eaten no other food but Yourself alone, her only Lover,
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An Invitation to Holy Communion · Thomas à Kempis
O LORD my God, favor Your servant with the blessings of Your sweetness that I may merit to approach Your magnificent Sacrament worthily and devoutly. Lift up my heart to You and take away from me this
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
23. Those worthy masters, to show that they are of the letter, forbid us to deviate, in the least, from the letter. On the contrary, when Scripture calls God a man of war, as I see that the expression
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
29. Since they put so much confidence in his hiding-place of invisible presence, let us see how well they conceal themselves in it. First, they cannot produce a syllable from Scripture to prove that C
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
17. Some, in order obstinately to maintain the error which they have once rashly adopted, hesitate not to assert that the dimensions of Christ’s flesh are not more circumscribed than those of heaven a
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
For as Christ in regard to the bread and the cup said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” revealing to us the cause of the giving of the Mystery, and besides what else He said, declaring this to be a suf
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On the Mysteries · Ambrose of Milan
Of the mystical feast of the altar of the Lord. Lest any should think lightly of it, St. Ambrose shows that it is of higher antiquity than the sacred rites of the Jews, since it was foreshadowed in th
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
We have to consider the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ; under which head there are eight points of inquiry: (1) Whether the substance of bread and wine remain in this
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Some men accordingly, not paying heed to these things, have contended that Christ's body and blood are not in this sacrament except as in a sign, a thing to be rejected as heretical, since it is contr
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 3: Form cannot be changed into form, nor matter into matter by the power of any finite agent. Such a change, however, can be made by the power of an infinite agent, which has contro
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Secondly, because if the substantial form of the bread were to remain, it would remain either in matter, or separated from matter. The first cannot be, for if it were to remain in the matter of the br
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 3: As has been already stated (Q[75], A[5]), after the consecration of the bread into the body of Christ, or of the wine into His blood, the accidents of both remain. From which it
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 3: Further, Christ's body always retains the true nature of a body, nor is it ever changed into a spirit. Now it is the nature of a body for it to be "quantity having position" (Predic. iv).
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, As stated above (A[1]), any part of Christ is in this sacrament in two ways: in one way, by the power of the sacrament; in another, from real concomitance. By the power of the sacrament
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 1: Christ's body is not in this sacrament definitively, because then it would be only on the particular altar where this sacrament is performed: whereas it is in heaven under its ow
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