In a recent thread, there was sufficient enough discussion of “grape juice in thimbles” vs. “wine in a common chalice” to merit bringing it into a fresh thread. Here are some humble thoughts…
Personally, I’m not convinced that there is one “biblical” method of partaking of the Sacrament. Indeed, the evidence we have from the early Christian period suggests that there was quite a bit of diversity among professing Christians. John’s Gospel may reference vestiges of a “bread and fish” Eucharist in the feeding of the five thousand and Andrew McGowan has an entire three hundred page monograph citing evidence for varied practices. See his, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals, Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999. If we cannot really count on a dominical consolidation of these varied sacramental practices before the forth century, I have trouble defending appeals to an original apostolic meal or an original apostolic mode of communion. One risks the conclusion that significant communities of the baptized functioned for significant periods of time without a valid eucharist. There just isn’t enough data to otherwise describe the hypothetical original or universal practice in any detail.
That being said, we do have the canonical New Testament and especially the early description of the eucharistic meal in 1 Corinthians 11. In that setting, we do seem to have something like a single cup and a single loaf. Artos and poterion are in the singular throughout. The same is true in the synoptic accounts of the last supper.
More importantly, the singleness of the bread at least seems to suggest an important ecclesiological symbolism. St. Paul writes, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. [1 Corinthians 10:16-17]
Although we ought to be careful in making claims for its universal or representative scope, it is important to note that the Didache picks up on this very theme and offers expanded commentary in the proto-anaphora of chapter nine:
We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which You made known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever.
Also interesting in this light is the refraction of the Johannine theology of Jesus as the single vine: “We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which You made known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory for ever.” It is not clear that this leads to a single chalice, but the continuities certainly suggest it.
I, of course, tend toward a more Catholic understanding of the mode of Christ’s eucharistic presence (defended elsewhere), but the many Reformed types frequenting this site would do well to note how the Anaphora of the Reformed Church (RCA/ CRC) reflects and expands on the Didache. Note the following:
And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf,
and as these grapes from many hills into one cup,
grant, O Lord that your whole Church may soon be gathered
from the ends of the earth into your kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sadly, the majority praxis in this communion contradicts the very prayer used to frame its eucharist. This kind of discrepancy in eucharistic praxis is the main reason why I left the Reformed church(es) for the Anglican Communion. This single instance wasn’t sufficient, but other and more serious differences piled up.
(But I digress…)
The use of wine is likewise different than mere grape juice. Wine is especially associated in the scriptures with celebration and is thus appropriate to the sacrament as an anticipatory participation in the eschatological feast of the Lamb. Wine is also a product of nature transformed by human culture. As such, it is again especially appropriate to the sociocultural dimension of the church as a community of resurrection.
Liturgical rites perform a ministerial function where they are performed clearly and are endowed with significance by the community participating in them (in this case, the Church universal). One really needs to ask, then, whether grape juice in thimbles serves to ornament the theological significance of the rite. It is my opinion that the function is wholly an accommodation to a-theological and modern hygienic phobias and that they are without ground in lived experience. Consider that Catholc, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican priests all consume the remaining wine in the chalice after the congregation communes and before the purification of the paten and chalice. Given that there is no historical record of an epidemic among clergy in the entirety of human history, it would seem that concerns over sanitation border on irrational hysteria.
Is Christ present in a eucharist celebrated with grape juice in thimbles? I could conclude “yes” for the same reason that I believe in the possibility of his presence in an ascetic eucharist celebrated without wine or in a eucharist with a rice flour host prepared to accommodate those with Celiac disease. Put differently (and in older theological terminology), the validity of “matter” is governed by the validity of “form” and “intention.” The three hang together and must be contemplated as a theological whole. Insisting, as does the Roman communion, on the stability of matter is a means to guarantee validity for a large Christian communion. Where one departs from that stability in either matter or form, one really needs to question theologically the relation of matter and form to intention. Can we intend theologically the full significance of the eucharist where matter and form are not in proper alignment? The answer could be “yes” but we are not automatically entitled to such assurance.
MJGP+
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