drinking a little wine?…St. Paul’s words are meaningless without the
dogma of the Real Presence.” ¹
The Fathers
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 7, 1 (c. 110 AD)
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not
confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh
which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised
up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes.”
St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 66 (c. 155 AD)
“For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but
since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and
had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught,
the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer
set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is
nourished is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnate Jesus...The
Apostles, in the Memoirs which they produced, which are called Gospels,
have thus passed on that which was enjoined upon them: that Jesus took
bread and, having given thanks, said, ‘Do this in remembrance of Me; this
is My Body.’ And in like manner, taking the cup, and having given thanks,
He said, ‘This is My Blood.’ And He imparted this to them only.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4, 33, 2 (c. 180 AD)
“If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could He rightly take
bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be His
Body, and affirm that the mixture in the cup is His Blood?”
St. Ephrem of Edessa, Homilies 4, 4 (ante 373 AD)
“And extending His hand, He gave them the Bread which His right hand
had made holy: ‘Take all of you eat of this, which my word has made holy.
Do not now regard as bread that which I have given you; but take, eat this
Bread, and do not scatter the crumbs; for what I have called My Body, that
1
Stephen K. Ray, Crossing the Tiber––Evangelical Protestants Discover the
Historic Church, Ignatius Press, 1997, p. 211.
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