Eucharist, inChristianity,ritual commemoration ofJesus’Last Supper with hisdisciples. The Eucharist (from the Greekeucharistia for “thanksgiving”) is the central act of Christian worship and is practiced by most Christian churches in some form. Along withbaptism it is one of the twosacraments most clearly found in theNew Testament.

Origin in Scripture

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The story of the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus on the night before hisCrucifixion is reported in theSynoptic Gospels (Matthew 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24; and Luke 22:17–20) and in theFirst Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 11:23–25). According to theGospel accounts, Jesus established the practice at the Last Supper, a traditionalPassoverseder, when he blessed the bread, which he said was his body, and shared it with his disciples. He then shared a cup of wine with his disciples and told them that “this is the blood of mycovenant, which is poured out for many.” According toSt. Luke, Jesus called on his followers to repeat the ceremony in his memory, and the letters ofthe Apostle Paul and theActs of the Apostles in theNew Testament demonstrate that early Christians believed that they were to continue the celebration as an anticipation in this life of the joys of the banquet that was to come in the kingdom of God.

Historical development

It is clear that the earliest Christians regularly enacted the Eucharist. Originally, the rite was a repetition of the common meal of the local group of disciples with the addition of the bread and the cup signifying the presence of Jesus.St. Paul’s earliest record of the ordinance in his first letter to the Corinthians, written about 55ce, suggests that some abuses had arisen in conjunction with the common meal, oragapē, with which it was combined. It had become an occasion of drunkenness and gluttony. To rectify this,St. Paul recalled and reestablished the original institution and its purpose and interpretation as a sacrificial-sacramental rite. Fellowship meals continued in association with the postapostolic Eucharist, as is shown in theDidachē (a Christian document concerned with worship andchurchdiscipline written c. 100–c. 140), and in the doctrinal and liturgical development described in the writings of the early Church Fathers little was changed. During the late 2nd century the meal became vestigial and was finally abandoned. The Eucharist was originally celebrated every Sunday, but by the 4th century it was celebrated daily. The eucharistic formula was set in a framework of biblical readings, psalms, hymns, and prayers that depended in form somewhat on thesynagogue service. This remained one basis of the various liturgies that arose, including the Roman rite.

The “presence” of Jesus in the elements of bread and wine has been variously interpreted in actual, figurative, or symbolic senses, but the sacramental sense, as theanamnesis, or memorial before God, of the sacrificial offering on thecross once and for all, has always been accepted. A eucharistic theology gradually took shape in the apostolic andearly church without much controversy or formulation. Not until the beginning of theMiddle Ages did controversial issues arise that found expression in the definition of the doctrine oftransubstantiation at theFourth Lateran Council in 1215. This definition opened the way for the Scholastic interpretation of the eucharistic presence of Christ and of the sacramental principle, in Aristotelian terms. Thus,St. Thomas Aquinas maintained that a complete change occurred in the “substance” of each of the species, while the “accidents,” or outward appearances, remained the same. During theReformation, though themedieval doctrine was denied in varying ways by the reformers, it was reaffirmed by theCouncil of Trent in 1551. Holy Communion was retained as asacrament by most of theProtestant groups, except that those churches that see the supper solely as a memorial prefer to speak not of a sacrament but of an ordinance.