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The Body and Blood
Do Orthodox believe when they take Holy Communion the flesh of Jesus suffers pain when we eat Him? Is the body dead when we eat Him? but isn't His body alive now in heaven?
Why does Eating Christs body and blood give life to a person? do we eat the Divinity of Christ as well since it is not separated from His humanity? Do we have life because we partake of His body which is united to His divinity? that kinda makes sense to me
I want to ask how can a person rid himself of doubt and have childlike faith till they die? what if I pray lead me not into temptation and I still get doubts.. as if God is letting the devil tempt me
Why does Eating Christs body and blood give life to a person? do we eat the Divinity of Christ as well since it is not separated from His humanity? Do we have life because we partake of His body which is united to His divinity? that kinda makes sense to me
I want to ask how can a person rid himself of doubt and have childlike faith till they die? what if I pray lead me not into temptation and I still get doubts.. as if God is letting the devil tempt me
Comments
1) Does Jesus still suffer when we eat Him?
I just want to answer- when the disciples ate His Body in the Last supper, did it sound like Christ was in pain?
No, the Eucharist is how the Church enjoys sacramentally the one sacrifice of the cross.
2)Is the body dead when we eat Him?
Can I just say, firstly, that you are a spirit that owns a body. St Irenaeus said that "the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receive the word of God(the Logos, Jesus) and become the Eucharist or the Body and the Blood.
Tertullian says, likewise, "The bread, which He took and gave to His disciples He, made His
own very Body by saying, “This is my Body.”
To me this means the Lord's Spirit descends on the bread, making it the flesh or bearer of His Spirit.
3) Eucharist and life.
[center]
For this table is the sinews of our soul, the bond of our mind, the foundation of our hope, our salvation, our light and our life,
When you see it set before you, say to yourself:
Because of His body I am no longer earth and ashes, no longer prisoner but I am free.
Because of this I hope for heaven, and to receive the good things therein, immortal life, the portion of angels, converse with Christ.
This Body, nailed and scourged, was more than death could stand against...
This is even that Body, the blood-stained, the pierced, and that out of which gushed the saving fountains: the one of blood, the other of water, for the world.
By It the soul is cleansed, by It it is beautified and inflamed.[/center]
St. John Chrysostom
[center]The Church grows from day to day in stature and in beauty by the cooperation and communion of the Logos, who condescends to us until now and continues His going out of Himself in the anamnesis(active remembrance) of His Passion.[/center]
Fr. Methodius of Olympis
[center]
To You we have offered this bread... We have offered also the cup... and make all who partake to receive a Medicine of life, for healing of every sickness and for strengthening of all advancement and virtue, not for condemnation.[/center]
Euchaloguim of Serapion
[center]This oblation of Your servants... that it be to us for the pardon of offenses and the remission of sins and for the great hope of resurrection from the dead and for the new life in the kingdom of heaven.[/center]
Liturgy of SS. Addai and Man
4) What we are eating?
We call this a "mystery", something we won't really understand. If this frustrates you, ask yourself the following: When Dad speaks about work do you understand what he is saying (I hope this works, but you get my meaning). It is life that things are beyond us. This is God's wisdom!
5) How to have childlike faith?
Pray continuously for it. Start having faith that your powerful Father can help you. I mean didn't you have faith of your limited earthly father when you were young?
Isn't it symbolic? when abouna does the litugry it turns into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, he prays on it. so i've been told it's symbolic, correct me if im wrong
it's not fully symbolic and it's not fully real flesh and blood. there have been a post about it. please search for it. i think it's called the Euchrist
http://tasbeha.org/content/community/index.php?topic=5423.0
Mina, can you please clarify what you mean by "not fully flesh and blood"? Because this is not symbolism AT ALL. When we say this becomes the real flesh and blood of Christ, it is the real flesh and blood of Christ.
this can help:
[quote author=Anglian link=topic=5423.msg72285#msg72285 date=1181463665]
The Orthodox teaching is that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Our Lord, but unlike the Catholics we do not presume to say how that happens; in other words we do not believe in transubstantiation in the way Roman Catholics define it. We accept, humbly, that this is a great mystery, and that there are many things that our feeble minds cannot understand about the ways of God.
But we most fervently believe that when we receive the body and blood of Our Lord, we receive Him in us, to our salvation.
Do Orthodox believe when they take Holy Communion the flesh of Jesus suffers pain when we eat Him? Is the body dead when we eat Him? but isn't His body alive now in heaven?
Christ does not suffer pain when we eat His Body and Blood. As far as I am aware, pain is a consequence of the fall, and as such is not a feature of the resurrected and transfigured body. It is the resurrected Christ we partake of. Christ is the Life, by partaking of His Body and Blood we become both spiritually and physically united with Him, and through this union with the Giver of Life, we ourselves receive life.
As I've understood it, the union between Christ's human and divine natures is one of hypostasis/person. It is not possible for us to consume the divine essence, but we do however partake of the divine energies of God when we receive the Holy Mysteries. Doubt is the product of sin. We are all sinners, and we all doubt in some way. Try to live according to the will of God - pray, fast, take holy communion, give alms, control what you say and do, don't judge others, always act with humility, etc. - and you'll find your doubts leaving you.
Thoughts that unsettle you, and that cause you to move away from God are from the devil. We cannot control which thoughts enter our head, but we can control what we do with them. If you dwell on such thoughts, you are entering into dialogue with the devil, and this usually has negative consequences unless we're very advanced spiritually.
Instead, when such thoughts come, be indifferent to them. Don't even think to yourself "Oh no, I'm having bad thoughts", just brush them aside as if they're nothing.
"I am not sure about all this, in my heart I don't really believe it and even my mind has doubts- but I heard You are great, You are merciful, that You can give me comfort, that You can quench the thirst and hunger for knowledge and for spiritual nourishment, that the answer is in You. In this hope that this is true, I pray to You, I will offer my life to You, in the hope that You will reveal Yourself to me, and myself to me, so in repentance and awe of Your glory I might live. Grant me serenity to accept that which I can't fathom. Grant me courage to hope in what I can not explain. Grant me strength to follow You, even through the narrow path. I will continue to read the Bible, hoping I will learn about You. I will continue praying to You, hoping that You will answer me. I will continue going to the Sanctuary, hoping that You will reveal Your glory. Use the little mustard seed of willingness to believe that I have, and have mercy on my treachery, so that I may have faith in You. I cry out with the ill child's father, imploring, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" For with You, all things are possible."
I want to know if Jesus was giving His actual body and blood at the last supper since He was not crucified yet