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Transubstantiation (Template:Langx; Greek: μετουσίωσις metousiosis) is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the Blood of Christ".<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This change is brought about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, "the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is the 'eucharistic species', remain unaltered".<ref name=":1" /> In this teaching, the notions of "substance" and "transubstantiation" are not linked with any particular theory of metaphysics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Catholic Church teaches that, in the Eucharistic offering, bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Wilfried Apfalter, "Science, Law, and Transubstantiation", Theology and Science 22:1 (2024) 172–183.</ref> The affirmation of this doctrine on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist was expressed, using the word "transubstantiate", by the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was later challenged by various 14th-century reformers, John Wycliffe in particular.<ref name="OEOR">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The manner in which the change occurs, the Catholic Church teaches, is a mystery: "The signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ."<ref name=":0" /> In Lutheranism, the terminology used regarding the real presence is the doctrine of the sacramental union, in which the "very body and blood of Christ" is received.<ref name="MattoxRoeber2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Voigt1917">Template:Cite book</ref> In the Greek Orthodox Church, the doctrine has been discussed under the term of metousiosis, coined as a direct loan-translation of transubstantiatio in the 17th century. In Eastern Orthodoxy in general, the Sacred Mystery (Sacrament) of the Eucharist is more commonly discussed using alternative terms such as "trans-elementation" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, metastoicheiosis), "re-ordination" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, metarrhythmisis), or simply "change" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, metabole).
In the Reformed tradition, a real spiritual presence is taught; this view is held in Anglicanism, especially by those of the Evangelical-Reformed tradition, though others including those of the High Church tradition hold to a corporeal presence.<ref name="González1987">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
HistoryEdit
SummaryEdit
From the earliest centuries, the Church spoke of the elements used in celebrating the Eucharist as being changed into the body and blood of Christ. Terms used to speak of the alteration included "trans-elementation".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The bread and wine were said to be "made",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "changed into",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the body and blood of Christ. Similarly, Augustine said: "Not all bread, but only that which receives the blessing of Christ Template:Em the body of Christ."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The term "transubstantiation" was used at least by the 11th century to speak of the change and was in widespread use by the 12th century. The Fourth Council of the Lateran used it in 1215. When later theologians adopted Aristotelian metaphysics in Western Europe, they explained the change that was already part of Catholic teaching in terms of Aristotelian substance and accidents. The sixteenth-century Reformation gave this as a reason for rejecting the Catholic teaching. The Council of Trent did not impose the Aristotelian theory of substance and accidents or the term "transubstantiation" in its Aristotelian meaning, but stated that the term is a fitting and proper term for the change that takes place by consecration of the bread and wine. The term, which for that Council had no essential dependence on scholastic ideas, is used in the Catholic Church to affirm the fact of Christ's presence and the mysterious and radical change which takes place, but not to explain Template:Em the change takes place,<ref name=ARCIC/> since this occurs "in a way surpassing understanding".<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The term is mentioned in both the 1992 and 1997 editions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and is given prominence in the later (2005) Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Patristic periodEdit
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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ignatius of Antioch, writing in about AD 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In about AD 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 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Apostolic Constitutions (compiled Template:Circa) 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ambrose of Milan (died 397) wrote: Template:Quote
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): {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref> "transelementation",<ref>Gregory of Nyssa, Oratio catechetica magna, 37 (PG 45:93): {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref> "transformation",<ref>John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the betrayal of Judas, 6 (PG 49:380): {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref> "transposing",<ref>Cyril of Alexandria, On Luke, 22, 19 (PG 72:911): {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref> "alteration"<ref>John Damascene, On the orthodox faith, book 4, chapter 13 (PG 49:380): {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref> of the bread into the body of Christ.
Augustine declares that the bread consecrated in the Eucharist actually "becomes" (in Latin, Template:Em) 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>Sermons (230–272B) on the Liturgical Seasons (New City Press 1994), p. 37; original text in 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>Template:Cite book</ref> although this interpretation is disputed on the basis of Alexandrian overlaps of symbology and literalism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Middle AgesEdit
Paschasius Radbertus (785–865) was a Carolingian theologian, and the abbot of Corbie, whose most well-known and influential work is an exposition on the nature of the Eucharist written around 831, entitled De Corpore et Sanguine Domini. In it, Paschasius agrees with Ambrose in affirming that the Eucharist contains the true, historical body of Jesus Christ. According to Paschasius, God is truth itself, and therefore, his words and actions must be true. Christ's proclamation at the Last Supper that the bread and wine were his body and blood must be taken literally, since God is truth.<ref>Chazelle, p. 9</ref>Template:Full citation needed He thus believes that the change of the substances of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ offered in the Eucharist really occurs. Only if the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ can a Christian know it is salvific.<ref>Chazelle, p. 10</ref>Template:Full citation needed
In the 11th century, Berengar of Tours stirred up opposition when he denied that any material change in the elements was needed to explain the fact of the Real Presence. His position was never diametrically opposed to that of his critics, and he was probably never excommunicated, but the controversies that he aroused (see Stercoranism) forced people to clarify the doctrine of the Eucharist.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 Template:ISBN), article Berengar of Tours</ref>
The earliest known use of the term transubstantiation to describe the change from bread and wine to body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist was by Hildebert de Lavardin, Archbishop of Tours, in the 11th century.<ref>John Cuthbert Hedley, Holy Eucharist (1907), p. 37. John N. King, Milton and Religious Controversy (Cambridge University Press 2000 Template:ISBN), p. 134</ref> By the end of the 12th century the term was in widespread use.<ref name=ODCC/>
The Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215 spoke of the bread and wine as "transubstantiated" into the body and blood of Christ: "His body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine, the bread and wine having been transubstantiated, by God's power, into his body and blood".<ref>Template:Catholic. of Faith Fourth Lateran Council: 1215, 1. Confession of Faith, retrieved 2010-03-13.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Catholic scholars and clergy have noted numerous reports of Eucharistic miracles contemporary with the council, and at least one such report was discussed at the council.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Ryan, S. and Shanahan, A. (2018) How to communicate Lateran IV in 13th century Ireland: lessons from the Liber Examplorum (c. 1275). Religions 9(3): 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9030075</ref> It was not until later in the 13th century that Aristotelian metaphysics was accepted and a philosophical elaboration in line with that metaphysics was developed, which found classic formulation in the teaching of Thomas Aquinas<ref name="ODCC">Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 Template:ISBN), article Transubstantiation</ref> and in the theories of later Catholic theologians in the medieval period (Robert Grosseteste,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Giles of Rome, Duns Scotus and William of Ockham).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Stephen E. Lahey, "of Adams, Some later medieval theories ..." in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 63, issue 1 (January 2012)]</ref>
ReformationEdit
During the Protestant Reformation, the doctrine of transubstantiation was heavily criticised as an Aristotelian "pseudophilosophy"<ref>Luther, M. The Babylonian Captivity of the Christian Church. 1520. Quoted in, McGrath, A. 1998. Historical Theology, An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford. p. 198.</ref> imported into Christian teaching and jettisoned in favor of Martin Luther's doctrine of sacramental union, or in favor, per Huldrych Zwingli, of the Eucharist as memorial.<ref>McGrath, op.cit. pp. 198–99</ref>
In the Reformation, the doctrine of transubstantiation became a matter of much controversy. Martin Luther held that "It is not the doctrine of transubstantiation which is to be believed, but simply that Christ really is present at the Eucharist".<ref>McGrath, op.cit., p. 197.</ref> In his On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (published on 6 October 1520) Luther wrote:
In his 1528 Confession Concerning Christ's Supper, he wrote: Template:Quote
What Luther thus called a "sacramental union" is often erroneously called "consubstantiation" by non-Lutherans. In On the Babylonian Captivity, Luther upheld belief in the Real Presence of Jesus and, in his 1523 treatise The Adoration of the Sacrament, defended adoration of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.
In England, the Six Articles of 1539 prescribed the death penalty for any who denied transubstantiation. This was changed under Elizabeth I. In the Thirty-nine Articles of 1563, the Church of England declared: "Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions".<ref>Thirty-Nine Articles, article 28</ref> Laws were enacted against participation in Catholic worship, which remained illegal until 1791.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
For a century and half – 1672 to 1828 – transubstantiation had an important role, in a negative way, in British political and social life. Under the Test Act, the holding of any public office was made conditional upon explicitly denying Transubstantiation. Any aspirant to public office had to repeat the formula set out by the law: "I, N, do declare that I do believe that there is not any transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of the bread and wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever."
Council of TrentEdit
In 1551, the Council of Trent declared that the doctrine of transubstantiation is a dogma of faith<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and stated that "by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."<ref name=CT13/> In its 13th session ending 11 October 1551, the Council defined transubstantiation as "that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood – the species only of the bread and wine remaining – which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation".<ref name="CT13">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This council officially approved use of the term "transubstantiation" to express the Catholic Church's teaching on the subject of the conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, with the aim of safeguarding Christ's presence as a literal truth, while emphasizing the fact that there is no change in the empirical appearances of the bread and wine.<ref name="britannica">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> It did not however impose the Aristotelian theory of substance and accidents: it spoke only of the species (the appearances), not the philosophical term "accidents", and the word "substance" was in ecclesiastical use for many centuries before Aristotelian philosophy was adopted in the West,<ref name="Sophia">Template:Cite journal</ref> as shown for instance by its use in the Nicene Creed which speaks of Christ having the same "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (Greek) or "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (Latin) as the Father.
Since the Second Vatican CouncilEdit
Template:Annotated image The Catechism of the Catholic Church states the Church's teaching on transubstantiation twice.
It repeats what it calls the Council of Trent's summary of the Catholic faith on "the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood [by which] Christ becomes present in this sacrament", faith "in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion": "[B]y the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As part of its own summary ("In brief") of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the sacrament of the Eucharist, it states: "By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1640; 1651)."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Church's teaching is given in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in question and answer form: Template:Quote
The Anglican–Roman Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission stated in 1971 in their common declaration on Eucharistic doctrine: "The word transubstantiation is commonly used in the Roman Catholic Church to indicate that God acting in the eucharist effects a change in the inner reality of the elements."<ref name="ARCIC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Opinions of some individuals (not necessarily typical)Edit
In 2017 Irish Augustinian Gabriel Daly said that the Council of Trent approved use of the term "transubstantiation" as suitable and proper, but did not make it obligatory, and he suggested that its continued use is partly to blame for lack of progress towards sharing of the Eucharist between Protestants and Catholics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Traditionalist Catholic Paolo Pasqualucci said that the absence of the term in the Second Vatican Council's constitution on the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium means that it presents the Catholic Mass "in the manner of the Protestants". To this Dave Armstrong replied that "the Template:Em may not be present; but the Template:Em is".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For instance, the document Gaudium et spes refers to the "sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man are gloriously changed into His Body and Blood, providing a meal of brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet" (Chapter 3).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Thomas J. Reese commented that "using Aristotelian concepts to explain Catholic mysteries in the 21st century is a fool's errand", while Timothy O'Malley remarked that "it is possible to teach the doctrine of transubstantiation without using the words 'substance' and 'accidents'. If the word 'substance' scares people off, you can say, 'what it really is', and that is what substance is. What it really is, what it absolutely is at its heart is Christ's body and blood".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
General belief and doctrine knowledge among CatholicsEdit
A Georgetown University CARA poll of United States Catholics<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in 2008 showed that 57% said they believed that Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist in 2008 and nearly 43% said that they believed the wine and bread are symbols of Jesus. Of those attending Mass weekly or more often, 91% believed in the Real Presence, as did 65% of those who merely attended at least once a month, and 40% of those who attended at most a few times a year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>
Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, the percentage of belief in the Real Presence was 86% for pre–Vatican II Catholics, 74% for Vatican II Catholics, 75% for post-Vatican II Catholics, and 85% for Millennials.<ref>CARA Catholic Poll: "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among U.S. Catholics", p. 55Template:Dead link: "Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a month, Millennial Generation Catholics are just as likely as Pre-Vatican II Catholics to agree that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist (85 percent compared to 86 percent). Vatican II and Post-Vatican II Generation Catholics are about 10 percentage points less likely to believe that Christ is really present in the Eucharist (74 and 75 percent, respectively)." Indicated also in the diagram on the same page.</ref>
A 2019 Pew Research Report found that 69% of United States Catholics believed that in the Eucharist the bread and wine "are Template:Em of the body and blood of Jesus Christ", and only 31% believed that, "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus". Of the latter group, most (28% of all US Catholics) said they knew that this is what the Church teaches, while the remaining 3% said they did not know it. Of the 69% who said the bread and wine are Template:Em, almost two-thirds (43% of all Catholics) said that what they believed is the Church's teaching, 22% said that they believed it in spite of knowing that the Church teaches that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. Among United States Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week, the most observant group, 63% accepted that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ; the other 37% saw the bread and wine as Template:Em, most of them (23%) not knowing that the Church, so the survey stated, teaches that the elements actually become the body and blood of Christ, while the remaining 14% rejected what was given as the Church's teaching.<ref name="Pew Report">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Pew Report presented "the understanding that the bread and wine used in Communion are Template:Em of the body and blood of Jesus Christ" as contradicting belief that, "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus".<ref name="Pew Report" /> The Catholic Church itself speaks of the bread and wine used in Communion Template:Em as "signs" Template:Em as "becoming" Christ's body and blood: "[...] the signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In a comment on the Pew Research Report, Greg Erlandson drew attention to the difference between the formulation in the CARA survey, in which the choice was between "Jesus Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist" and "the bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present", and the Pew Research choice between "during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus" and "the bread wine are Template:Em of the body and blood of Jesus Christ". He quotes an observation by Mark Gray that the word "actually" makes it sound like "something that could be analyzed under a microscope or empirically observed", while what the Church teaches is that the "substance" of the bread and wine are changed at consecration, but the "accidents" or appearances of bread and wine remain. Erlandson commented further: "Catholics may not be able to articulately define the 'Real Presence', and the Template:Sic 'transubstantiation' may be obscure to them, but in their reverence and demeanor, they demonstrate their belief that this is not just a symbol".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
TheologyEdit
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Catholic ChurchEdit
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While the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation in relation to the Eucharist can be viewed in terms of the Aristotelian distinction between substance and accident, Catholic theologians generally hold that, "in referring to the Eucharist, the Church does not use the terms substance and accident in their philosophical contexts but in the common and ordinary sense in which they were first used many centuries ago. The dogma of transubstantiation does not embrace any philosophical theory in particular."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This ambiguity was recognized also by then-Lutheran theologian Jaroslav Pelikan,Template:Efn who, while himself interpreting the terms as Aristotelian, states that "the application of the term 'substance' to the discussion of the Eucharistic presence antedates the rediscovery of Aristotle. [...] Even 'transubstantiation' was used during the twelfth century in a nontechnical sense. Such evidence lends credence to the argument that the doctrine of transubstantiation, as codified by the decrees of the Fourth Lateran and Tridentine councils, did not canonize Aristotelian philosophy as indispensable to Christian doctrine. But whether it did so or not in principle, it has certainly done so in effect".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The view that the distinction is independent of any philosophical theory has been expressed as follows: "The distinction between substance and accidents is real, not just imaginary. In the case of the person, the distinction between the person and his or her accidental features is after all real. Therefore, even though the notion of substance and accidents originated from Aristotelian philosophy, the distinction between substance and accidents is also independent of philosophical and scientific development."<ref>Paul Haffner, The Sacramental Mystery (Gracewing Publishing 1999 Template:ISBN), p. 92</ref> "Substance" here means what something is in itself: take some concrete object – e.g. your own hat. The shape is not the object itself, nor is its color, size, softness to the touch, nor anything else about it perceptible to the senses. The object itself (the "substance") has the shape, the color, the size, the softness and the other appearances, but is distinct from them. While the appearances are perceptible to the senses, the substance is not.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The philosophical term "accidents" does not appear in the teaching of the Council of Trent on transubstantiation, which is repeated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.<ref>There were two editions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the 1990s. The first was issued in French in 1992, the second in Latin in 1997. Each was soon translated into English.</ref> For what the Council distinguishes from the "substance" of the bread and wine it uses the term species:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites the Council of Trent also in regard to the mode of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist:
The Catholic Church holds that the same change of the substance of the bread and of the wine at the Last Supper continues to occur at the consecration of the Eucharist<ref name="P41" />Template:Rp<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> when the words are spoken in persona Christi "This is my body ... this is my blood." In Orthodox confessions, the change is said to start during the Dominical or Lord's Words or Institution Narrative and be completed during the Epiklesis.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Page needed
Teaching that Christ is risen from the dead and is alive, the Catholic Church holds, in addition to the doctrine of transubstantiation, that when the bread is changed into his body, not only his body is present, but Christ as a whole is present ("the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity"). The same holds when the wine is transubstantiated into the blood of Christ.<ref name="P41" /> This is known as the doctrine of concomitance.
In accordance with the dogmatic teaching that Christ is really, truly and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine, and continues to be present as long as those appearances remain, the Catholic Church preserves the consecrated elements, generally in a church tabernacle, for administering Holy Communion to the sick and dying.
In the arguments which characterised the relationship between Catholicism and Protestantism in the 16th century, the Council of Trent declared subject to the ecclesiastical penalty of anathema anyone who
The Catholic Church asserts that the consecrated bread and wine are not merely "symbols" of the body and blood of Christ: they are the body and blood of Christ.<ref name="USCCB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It also declares that, although the bread and wine completely cease to be bread and wine (having become the body and blood of Christ), the appearances (the "species" or look) remain unchanged, and the properties of the appearances also remain (one can be drunk with the appearance of wine despite it only being an appearance). They are still the appearances of bread and wine, not of Christ, and do not inhere in the substance of Christ. They can be felt and tasted as before, and are subject to change and can be destroyed. If the appearance of bread is lost by turning to dust or the appearance of wine is lost by turning to vinegar, Christ is no longer present.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The essential signs of the Eucharistic sacrament are wheat bread and grape wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper: "This is my body which will be given up for you. ... This is the cup of my blood ..."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When the signs cease to exist, so does the sacrament.<ref>"[I]f the change be so great that the substance of the bread or wine would have been corrupted, then Christ's body and blood do not remain under this sacrament; and this either on the part of the qualities, as when the color, savor, and other qualities of the bread and wine are so altered as to be incompatible with the nature of bread or of wine; or else on the part of the quantity, as, for instance, if the bread be reduced to fine particles, or the wine divided into such tiny drops that the species of bread or wine no longer remain" (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, III, q. 77, art. 4).</ref>
According to Catholic teaching, the whole of Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, is really, truly and substantially in the sacrament, under each of the appearances of bread and wine, but he is not in the sacrament as in a place and is not moved when the sacrament is moved. He is perceptible neither by the sense nor by the imagination, but only by the intellectual eye.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
St Thomas Aquinas gave poetic expression to this perception in the devotional hymn Adoro te devote:
An official statement from the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission titled Eucharistic Doctrine, published in 1971, states that "the word transubstantiation is commonly used in the Catholic Church to indicate that God acting in the Eucharist effects a change in the inner reality of the elements. The term should be seen as affirming the fact of Christ's presence and of the mysterious and radical change which takes place. In Catholic theology it is not understood as explaining how the change takes place."<ref name="Douglas2015">Template:Cite book</ref> In the smallest particle of the host or the smallest droplet from the chalice Jesus Christ himself is present: "Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ."<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1356–1381, number 1377, cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641: "Nor should it be forgotten that Christ, whole and entire, is contained not only under either species, but also in each particle of either species. 'Each,' says St. Augustine, 'receives Christ the Lord, and He is entire in each portion. He is not diminished by being given to many, but gives Himself whole and entire to each.Template:'" (Quoted in Gratian, p. 3, dist. ii. c. 77; Ambrosian Mass, Preface for Fifth Sunday after Epiph.) The Catechism of the Council of Trent for Parish Priests, issued by order of Pope Pius V, translated into English with Notes by John A. McHugh, O.P., S.T.M., Litt. D., and Charles J. Callan, O.P., S.T.M., Litt. D., (1982) TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., Rockford, Ill. Template:ISBN. p. 249 "Christ Whole and Entire Present in Every Part of Each Species".</ref>
Eastern ChristianityEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:More citations needed section As the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament took place in the Western Church after the Great Schism, the Eastern Churches remained largely unaffected by it. The debate on the nature of "transubstantiation" in Greek Orthodoxy begins in the 17th century, with Cyril Lucaris, whose The Eastern Confession of the Orthodox Faith was published in Latin in 1629. The Greek term metousiosis ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is first used as the translation of Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the Greek edition of the work, published in 1633.
The Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches, along with the Assyrian Church of the East, agree that in a valid Divine Liturgy bread and wine truly and actually become the body and blood of Christ. In Orthodox confessions, the change is said to start during the Liturgy of Preparation and be completed during the Epiklesis. However, there are official church documents that speak of a "change" (in Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or "metousiosis" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) of the bread and wine. "Μετ-ουσί-ωσις" (met-ousi-osis) is the Greek word used to represent the Latin word "trans-substanti-atio",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"The Holy Orthodox Church at the Synod of Jerusalem (date 1643 A.D.) used the word metousiosis—a change of ousia—to translate the Latin Transsubstantiatio" (Transubstantiation and the Black Rubric).</ref> as Greek "μετα-μόρφ-ωσις" (meta-morph-osis) corresponds to Latin "trans-figur-atio". Examples of official documents of the Eastern Orthodox Church that use the term "μετουσίωσις" or "transubstantiation" are the Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (question 340)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the declaration by the Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem of 1672:
The way in which the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ has never been dogmatically defined by the Eastern Orthodox Churches. However, St Theodore the Studite writes in his treatise "On the Holy Icons": "for we confess that the faithful receive the very body and blood of Christ, according to the voice of God himself."<ref>[Catharine Roth, St. Theodore the Studite, On the Holy Icons, Crestwood 1981, 30.]</ref> This was a refutation of the iconoclasts, who insisted that the eucharist was the only true icon of Christ. Thus, it can be argued that by being part of the dogmatic "horos" against the iconoclast heresy, the teaching on the "real presence" of Christ in the eucharist is indeed a dogma of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
ProtestantismEdit
LutheranismEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Further Lutherans explicitly reject transubstantiation<ref>Luther, Martin (1537), Smalcald Articles Template:Webarchive, Part III, Article VI. Of the Sacrament of the Altar, stating: "As regards transubstantiation, we care nothing about the sophistical subtlety by which they teach that bread and wine leave or lose their own natural substance, and that there remain only the appearance and color of bread, and not true bread. For it is in perfect agreement with Holy Scriptures that there is, and remains, bread, as Paul himself calls it, 1 Cor. 10:16: The bread which we break. And 1 Cor. 11:28: Let him so eat of that bread."</ref> believing that the bread and wine remain fully bread and fully wine while also being truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ.<ref name="Brug2-4">Brug, J.F. (1998), The Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in The Lord's Supper:: Contemporary Issues Concerning the Sacramental Union Template:Webarchive, pp. 2–4</ref><ref name="BasicDocs">Schuetze, A.W. (1986), Basic Doctrines of the Bible (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House), Chapter 12, Article 3</ref><ref name="WELS-Transubs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="WELS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lutheran churches instead emphasize the sacramental union<ref>VII. The Lord's Supper: Affirmative Theses Template:Webarchive, Epitome of the Formula of Concord, 1577, stating that: "We believe, teach, and confess that the body and blood of Christ are received with the bread and wine, not only spiritually by faith, but also orally; yet not in a Capernaitic, but in a supernatural, heavenly mode, because of the sacramental union"</ref> (not exactly the consubstantiation, as is often claimed)<ref name="WELSconsubs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and believe that within the Eucharistic celebration the body and blood of Jesus Christ are objectively present "in, with, and under the forms" of bread and wine (cf. Book of Concord).<ref name="Brug2-4" /> They place great stress on Jesus's instructions to "take and eat", and "take and drink", holding that this is the proper, divinely ordained use of the sacrament, and, while giving it due reverence, scrupulously avoid any actions that might indicate or lead to superstition or unworthy fear of the sacrament.<ref name=BasicDocs/>
In dialogue with Catholic theologians, a large measure of agreement has been reached by a group of Lutheran theologians. They recognize that "in contemporary Catholic expositions, ... transubstantiation intends to affirm the fact of Christ's presence and of the change which takes place, and is not an attempt to explain how Christ becomes present. ... [And] that it is a legitimate way of attempting to express the mystery, even though they continue to believe that the conceptuality associated with "transubstantiation" is misleading and therefore prefer to avoid the term."<ref name="Luth">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Reformed churchesEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Reformed tradition (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Classical Anglican) holds John Calvin's view of "pneumatic presence" or "spiritual feeding", a Real Presence by the Holy Spirit for those who have faith. Calvin "can be regarded as occupying a position roughly midway between" the doctrines of Martin Luther on one hand and Huldrych Zwingli on the other. He taught that "the thing that is signified is effected by its sign", declaring: "Believers ought always to live by this rule: whenever they see symbols appointed by the Lord, to think and be convinced that the truth of the thing signified is surely present there. For why should the Lord put in your hand the symbol of his body, unless it was to assure you that you really participate in it? And if it is true that a visible sign is given to us to seal the gift of an invisible thing, when we have received the symbol of the body, let us rest assured that the body itself is also given to us."<ref>McGrath, op.cit., p.199.</ref>
The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarises the teaching:Template:Quote
AnglicanismEdit
Transubstantiation is generally rejected in Anglicanism. Template:Quote
Thomas Cranmer, the guiding figure of the Protestant Reformation in England, aligned himself with the Eucharistic theology of John Calvin, which is reflected in the 28th Article of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England: "the Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavently and spiritual manner." This view is the real spiritual presence (pneumatic presence) and is held by denominations of the Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Reformed Anglican) tradition.<ref name="González1987"/><ref name="Elwell2001">Template:Cite book</ref>
The Eucharistic teaching labeled "receptionism", defined by Claude Beaufort Moss as "the theory that we receive the Body and Blood of Christ when we receive the bread and wine, but they are not identified with the bread and wine which are not changed",<ref>Claude B. Moss, The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology (London: SPCK 1943), p. 366, cited in Brian Douglas, A Companion to Anglican Eucharistic Theology (Brill 2012), vol. 2, p. 181</ref> was commonly held by 16th and 17th-century Anglican theologians. It was characteristic of 17th century thought to "insist on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but to profess agnosticism concerning the manner of the presence". It remained "the dominant theological position in the Church of England until the Oxford Movement in the early nineteenth century, with varying degrees of emphasis". Importantly, it is "a doctrine of the real presence" but one which "relates the presence primarily to the worthy receiver rather than to the elements of bread and wine".<ref>Crockett, William R. (1988). "Holy Communion". In Sykes, Stephen; Booty, John. The Study of Anglicanism. Philadelphia: SPCK/Fortress Press. p. 275. Template:ISBN</ref>
Anglicans generally consider no teaching binding that, according to the Articles, "cannot be found in Holy Scripture or proved thereby", and are not unanimous in the interpretation of such passages as John 6<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> and 1 Corinthians 11,<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> although all Anglicans affirm a view of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist: some Anglicans (especially Anglo-Catholics and some other High Church Anglicans) hold to a belief in the corporeal presence while Evangelical Anglicans hold to a belief in the pneumatic presence. As with all Anglicans, Anglo-Catholics and other High Church Anglicans historically held belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist but were "hostile to the doctrine of transubstantiation".<ref name="Poulson1999">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A major leader in the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, Edward Pusey, championed the view of consubstantiation:<ref name="Rigg1895">Template:Cite book</ref>
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However, in the first half of the twentieth century, the Catholic Propaganda Society upheld both Article XXVIII and the doctrine of transubstantiation, stating that the 39 Articles specifically condemn a pre-Council of Trent "interpretation which was included by some under the term Transubstantiation" in which "the bread and wine were only left as a delusion of the senses after consecration";<ref name="CPS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> it stated that "this Council propounded its definition after the Articles were written, and so cannot be referred to by them".<ref name=CPS/>
Theological dialogue with the Catholic Church has produced common documents that speak of "substantial agreement" about the doctrine of the Eucharist: the ARCIC Windsor Statement of 1971,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and its 1979 Elucidation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Remaining arguments can be found in the Church of England's pastoral letter: The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
MethodismEdit
Methodists believe in the real spiritual presence of Christ in the bread and wine (or grape juice) while, like Presbyterians, rejecting transubstantiation.<ref name="Elwell2001"/><ref name="Collins2025"/> Methodism inherited the Reformed view of the Lord's Supper through the Twenty-five Articles, in which Article XVIII posits a real spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, noting that the "body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner."<ref name="Elwell2001" /><ref name="Mahoney2024">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Collins2025">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to the United Methodist Church, "Jesus Christ, who 'is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being',<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> is truly present in Holy Communion."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
While upholding the view that scripture is the primary source of Church practice, Methodists also look to church tradition and base their beliefs on the early Church teachings on the Eucharist, that Christ has a real presence in the Lord's Supper. The Catechism for the use of the people called Methodists thus states that, "[in Holy Communion] Jesus Christ is present with his worshipping people and gives himself to them as their Lord and Saviour".<ref name="Methcat">Template:Cite book</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
Footnotes Template:Notelist
Notes Template:Reflist
Bibliography
- Wilfried Apfalter, "Science, Law, and Transubstantiation.", Theology and Science 22:1 (2024) 172-183.
- Burckhardt Neunheuser, "Transsubstantiation." Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, vol. 10, cols. 311–314.
- Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (1991), pp. 369–419.
- Otto Semmelroth, Eucharistische Wandlung: Transsubstantation, Transfinalisation, Transsignifikation (Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 1967).
- Richard J. Utz and Christine Batz, "Transubstantiation in Medieval and Early Modern Culture and Literature: An Introductory Bibliography of Critical Studies", in: Translation, Transformation, and Transubstantiation, ed. Carol Poster and Richard Utz (Evanston: IL: Northwestern University Press, 1998), pp. 223–256."
External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Sister project
- "Transubstantiation" in Catholic Encyclopedia
- Pope Paul VI: Encyclical Mysterium fidei
- Pope Paul VI: Credo of the People of God
- Eastern Orthodox Church statements on transubstantiation/metousiosis
- The Antiquity of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation
Template:Christian theology Template:History of Catholic theology Template:Real presence Template:Authority control