A Word from Theodore of Mopsuestia

From his Commentary on Matthew.

[Christ] did not say, "This is the symbol of My Body, and this, of My Blood," but, "This is My Body and My Blood," teaching us not to look upon the nature of what is set before us, but that it is transformed by means of the Eucharistic action into Flesh and Blood.

(Yeah, yeah. Theodore was anathemized by Rabulas of Edessa, and St. Cyril of Alexandria called him a "Father of the Nestorian Blasphemy." That has little bearing on the fact that he employs some very nice phrasing here to lay the smack down on folks who would say that the Eucharist is "just a symbol.")

File Under: Eucharist