Editing Transubstantiation (section)

===Patristic period===
[[File:Eucharistic bread.jpg|thumb|right|A 3rd-century fresco in the [[Catacomb of Callixtus]], interpreted by the archaeologist [[Joseph Wilpert]] as showing on the left Jesus multiplying bread and fish, a symbol of the Eucharistic consecration, and on the right a representation of the deceased, who through participation in the Eucharist has obtained eternal happiness<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Early Symbols of the Eucharist |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05590a.htm |access-date=2017-05-31}}</ref>]]

Early Christian writers referred to the Eucharistic elements as Jesus's body and the blood.<ref name=suffer1/><ref name=suffer2/> The short document known as the ''Teachings of the Apostles'' or ''[[Didache]]'', which may be the earliest Christian document outside of the [[New Testament]] to speak of the Eucharist, says, "Let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, 'Give not that which is holy to the dogs'."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Didache |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-roberts.html |access-date=2017-11-12 |website=earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref>

[[Ignatius of Antioch]], writing in about AD&nbsp;106 to the Roman Christians, says: "I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of [[David]] and [[Abraham]]; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ignatius to the Romans |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-romans-roberts.html |access-date=2017-11-12 |website=earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref>

Writing to the Christians of [[Smyrna]] in the same year, he warned them to "stand aloof from such heretics", because, among other reasons, "they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again."<ref name="suffer1">{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans-roberts.html |access-date=2017-11-12 |website=earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref>

In about 150, [[Justin Martyr]], referring to the Eucharist, wrote: "Not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saint Justin Martyr: First Apology (Roberts-Donaldson) |url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-firstapology.html |access-date=2017-11-12 |website=earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref>

In about AD&nbsp;200, [[Tertullian]] wrote: "Having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, This is my body, that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. If, however, (as [[Marcion of Sinope|Marcion]] might say) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: Against Marcion, Book IV (Tertullian) |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03124.htm |website=newadvent.org}}</ref>

The ''[[Apostolic Constitutions]]'' (compiled {{circa|380}}) says: "Let the bishop give the oblation, saying, The body of Christ; and let him that receiveth say, Amen. And let the deacon take the cup; and when he gives it, say, The blood of Christ, the cup of life; and let him that drinketh say, Amen."<ref>{{Cite web |title=ANF07. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.ix.ix.ii.html |website=ccel.org}}</ref>

[[Ambrose]] of Milan (died 397) wrote:
{{Quote|Perhaps you will say, "I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?"&nbsp;...Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed.&nbsp;...For that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements?&nbsp;...Why do you seek the order of nature in the Body of Christ, seeing that the Lord Jesus Himself was born of a Virgin, not according to nature? It is the true Flesh of Christ which was crucified and buried, this is then truly the Sacrament of His Body. The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: "This Is My Body." Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks.<ref name="suffer2">{{Cite web |title=Church Fathers: On the Mysteries (St. Ambrose) |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3405.htm |website=newadvent.org}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Other fourth-century Christian writers say that in the Eucharist there occurs a "change",<ref>Cyril of Jerusalem, ''Cat. Myst.'', 5, 7 (Patrologia Graeca 33:1113): {{lang|grc|μεταβολή}}</ref> "transelementation",<ref>Gregory of Nyssa, ''Oratio catechetica magna'', 37 (PG 45:93): {{lang|grc|μεταστοιχειώσας}}</ref> "transformation",<ref>John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the betrayal of Judas, 6 (PG 49:380): {{lang|grc|μεταρρύθμησις}}</ref> "transposing",<ref>Cyril of Alexandria, On Luke, 22, 19 (PG 72:911): {{lang|grc|μετίτησις}}</ref> "alteration"<ref>John Damascene, On the orthodox faith, book 4, chapter 13 (PG 49:380): {{lang|grc|μεταποίησις}}</ref> of the bread into the body of Christ.

[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] declares that the bread consecrated in the Eucharist actually "becomes" (in Latin, {{em|fit}}) the Body of Christ: "The faithful know what I'm talking about; they know Christ in the breaking of bread. It isn't every loaf of bread, you see, but the one receiving Christ's blessing, that becomes the body of Christ."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=A2GyOPOqp-4C ''Sermons (230–272B) on the Liturgical Seasons'' (New City Press 1994), p. 37]; original text in [https://books.google.com/books?id=_P5Win6wF0wC Migne, ''Patrologia latina'', vol. 38, col. 1116]</ref>

[[Clement of Alexandria]], who uses the word "symbol" concerning the Eucharist, is quoted as an exception,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Willis|first=Wendell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88zcDQAAQBAJ&dq=symbolic+eucharist+clement+of+alexandria&pg=PA49|title=Eucharist and Ecclesiology: Essays in Honor of Dr. Everett Ferguson|year=2017|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-4982-8292-5|language=en}}</ref> although this interpretation is disputed on the basis of [[Alexandrian school|Alexandrian]] overlaps of symbology and literalism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05573a.htm|website=New Advent|title=The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist|last=Pohle|first=J.|year=1909}}</ref>