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→Real Presence
:I just bumped this to the top for more notice. [[User:Willibald|Willibald]] 23:48, August 23, 2006 (CDT)
::It may be confusing because it is a mystery.
::In a linked article Fr. [[Thomas Hopko]] it says: ''The mystery of the holy eucharist defies analysis and explanation in purely rational and logical terms. For the eucharist -- and Christ himself -- is indeed a mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven which, as Jesus has told us, is "not of this world." The eucharist -- because it belongs to God's Kingdom -- is truly free from the earth-born "logic" of fallen humanity.'' So all that can be said of real presence, I think, is that it is the <u>real presence of Christ</u>, his true Body and Blood. Orthodox Christians feel that it is participating in His sacrifice, and communing with all others who also participate.
::I''t is called a mystery,'' writes Saint [[John Chrysostom]] of the Eucharist, ''because what we believe is not the same as what we see, but we see one thing and believe another ... When I hear the Body of Christ mentioned, I understand what is said in one sense, the unbeliever in another.''
::And [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia|Bp. Kallistos (Ware) ]] says that this double character, at once outward and inward, is the distinctive feature of all the sacraments, like the Church, are both visible and invisible; in every sacrament there is the combination of an outward visible sign with an inward spiritual grace. At the Eucharist we receives what appears from the visible point of view to be bread and wine, but in reality we eat the Body and Blood of Christ.
::This probably should be explained on the [[Holy Mysteries]] page. [[User:Andrew|Andrew]] 08:42, August 25, 2006 (CDT)
==Christian Eucharist = Jewish Passover? ==
