PROTESTANT GREAT ERRORS AND GREATER HERESIES PART FOUR

PROTESTANT GREAT ERRORS AND GREATER HERESIES

PART FOUR

CONCERNING THE EUCHARIST

"Amen, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink." 

   This is an important reason for publishing the series: Protestant Errors and Greater Heresies. First it is beneficial that we all know what the truth is, and are able to defend those truths, for this is our sacred duty. Due to various relationships with Protestant and Roman Catholics, many Orthodox, who do not understand the Faith, can easily be influenced to accept falsehoods, and they many Protestants are highly skilled in quoting passages from the Holy Bible 

    Concerning one of their biggest errors is what the Eucharist is. Without searching the Scripture for the truth, they just proclaim against the center of Orthodox worship which is the Holy Eucharist or Thanksgiving. The Orthodox Eucharist continues to preserve the truths taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, which have been held sacred in the Church Christ founded for almost two thousand years. From the beginning, the Church celebrated the Eucharist, offering bread and wine mingled with water and offered to the Lord in remembrance of Him, according to His commandment. The Divine Liturgy includes the invocation of the Priest asking the Holy Spirit to change the bread into the Body of Christ and the cup into the Blood of Christ. Of course these prayers are answered as they conform the the commandment of Christ.

 In general, Protestants have not and do not accept these Scriptural truths. There are many other Scriptural truths that they do not accept, such as the requirement of a priesthood, and the seal of the New Covenant which was established by the shedding of the blood of Christ – this is the legacy preserved in the Church and will be supported by the proceeding paragraphs.

 Jesus told the Jews who were following Him and His disciples:

 “I am the bread which came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore, strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Amen, amen, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him. As the Living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead; he that eats of this bread shall live forever. These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum (John 6:48-58). 

  It is impossible to read these words of Christ and not connect them to what He teaches in the following paragraph, so let us go to the night in which He was betrayed. For on that night, He did not celebrate the Jewish Passover, but the New Covenant, the New Passover or Pascha, not with the sacrifice of lamb’s blood, but with the sacrifice on the Cross of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God!

 “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them saying, This is my body which is given to you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after the supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 19-20).

Also: 

  “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and broke it and gave it to them and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And He said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many”          (Mark 14:22-24).

 Accomplishing these things, he ordered that what He did be perpetuated, therefore He gave the Church the firm order to do what He said and did. That is, to offer the bread and wine in the Church by His priests, and after giving thanks to the Father, asking that He change the bread and wine, by the Holy Spirit, into the Body and Blood of Christ. And those who refuse these truths are like the Jews that who disgustingly walked away from Christ, when He told them that they must eat His flesh and drink His Blood. This is a bloodless sacrifice, for no blood is shed when it is offered, it is the one sacrifice of Christ perpetuated until the end of time.

Finally, to support this irrefutable truth, St. Paul testifies:

  “For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, That the Lord Jesus the same night on which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said: Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; this do, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death until He comes. 

  Wherefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died”                                 (1 Cor. 11 23-30).

   “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (1 Cor. 10:16).

 The word communion, means to share which is done by Orthodox Christians who have  approached with the fear of God faith and love, for two-thousand years.

   It is not at all surprising for in the natural world, men plant fields with vegetables which we eat,  our bodies then changes these foods into our flesh and blood. Our Lord established these natural land mystical laws, for nothing is difficult for Him. His will and words, Take eat, this is my Body, make it happen.




The night on which He was betrayed, was a solemn night, and Jesus, knowing He will be crucified on the next day as He foretold, taught these vital truths to His disciples. The blood which He is about to shed and His death on the Cross will establish the New Covenant which He made with them and all believers. His death was necessary but voluntary, and His life-giving death put death to death. 

"And He said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.”

    With all this evidence, it is blasphemous to reject and mock the greatest gift God could give to man, the eating and drinking of the Godman, who invites us, saying: “Take, eat, this is my body.”  Faithless Protestants, need to acquire this saving faith, for rejecting these truths, leaves them without divine life, because they refuse the generous offer of Christ the Lifegiver. All their lives they will eat animal food but shun Christ who offers himself as heavenly food for the faithful.  

    Their forefathers broke away from the corrupt papacy long ago and rejected anything they didn’t like. They never searched for the ancient Church founded by Christ. The reformers were deluded erroneously believing that the Papacy was the Church, but not understanding that it went into apostasy from the Church hundreds of years earlier. Undertaking such a task as reforming the Church, they ignore the teaching of Christ, that: “The gates of Hades will not prevail against His Church”. In rejecting the Church, they end up rejecting their own salvation. In rejecting the holy Eucharist, they condemn themselves to spiritual starvation and death.

   Their triumphalism based on quoting what’s in the Bible is of no benefit. What good is the Bible and knowing it by heart, if one is shut out of the kingdom?  What good is it if we fail to keep His commandments? For it is the keepers of Christ’s commandments that genuinely prove their love for him, as He says: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” 

   Foolish ones, how can you dogmatize that communion just represents Christ and is not Christ?  When Christ clearly says, “Take eat, this is my body,” why do you change His words to Take eat, this means my body? Then you change St. Paul’s words: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? You changed these words to “It is not the communion . . . ! Did Christ not know how to express himself?  Did Paul also not express himself clearly? You claim to love the Bible, but it is evidently only particular parts that you pick and choose. How could St. Paul be more explicit with his explanation? And how would he declare that partaking unworthily, could cause sickness and even death, if it is only bread and wine, when he says: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died, as St. Paul describes.”  With these words, how can anyone dare to ignore the great danger of sickness and death, even worse, when you assert that it is just ordinary bread and wine? Do not scoff at the Apostle Paul, for his teaching did not come from Peter or any other Apostle, but was directly made known to him by Christ himself.

    It has been clearly demonstrated by the proper use of Scripture, that the Biblical evidence supports the correct teaching preserved in the Orthodox Church established by the Lord and His Apostles.

  Christ is the living Bread which came down from heaven, and when he told the Jews that He was that bread which came down from heaven, and that they must eat Him like food, they abandoned him and remained in their sins. The Protestants do not differ from the Jews, for Christ says that they must eat Him, being the true Bread that came down from heaven, and they ignore Him. How then do they dare to preach His Gospel and follow a different gospel, and how can they escape condemnation?

     The celebration of the Eucharist is the epicenter of Orthodox worship, offered throughout the world, wherein is received His lifegiving Body and Blood. The power that is in this great mystery is very great for when the Holy Spirit changes the bread and wine, this has cured both physical and spiritual sicknesses; it thoroughly cleanses us from sin, strengthens us against evil, and sanctifies our bodies and souls. It deifies our spirits, rendering communicants holy, healthy and eternally happy.