Tag Archives: First Corinthians

Corpus Christi 2023, part 2

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An icon of Christ as celebrant of the Eucharist, with the four evangelists and four bishops—SS. John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, James of Jerusalem, Gregory the Great—credited with composing the four Eucharistic services of the Orthodox Church; the Holy Gifts on the altar; the anaphora on Low Sunday; the elevation at Low Mass during Easter Week; the hospitality of Abraham hosting the three angels, a “type” of the Eucharist.



One of things that scared those who denied Christ’s presence in the Eucharist was that if true—if Christ is really and truly present somehow in the Eucharistic bread and wine—then how could anyone dare to receive it? How could anyone of us dare to stretch out their hands or open their mouths unless they were as pure as the angels themselves?

Taking St. Paul’s admonition seriously, without discerning the body—without adequate self-examination and preparation to receive the Eucharist—a person would be eating and drinking judgement on themselves. And the people who denied that Christ is present in the Eucharist weren’t wrong to be frightened. It is an awesome thing to dare to reach out and touch—much less, consume!—the bread of the Eucharist if it truly is Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ.

But St. Paul didn’t say the Corinthians had to be pure or sinless. He said they had to be worthy. Worthiness is a very different thing. To be worthy to touch, to be worthy to consume the Body of Christ does not mean to be sinless. As several English theologians in the 1600s and 1700s pointed out, to be worthy is to be committed to self-examination, committed to repentance, committed to always turning around, changing direction, re-orienting myself towards Christ.

So I must always prepare to approach the Table by examining myself, reviewing what I have done and who I have been during the time since I last approached the Holy Table. Examine myself, measure myself against our standard—which is Christ—and determine how I might, in perhaps some single small way, turn my back on that person that I do not want to be and take some small step closer to being the person I was made to be in Christ.

To be worthy of receiving Holy Communion, to dare to touch the Corpus Christi, I must be committed to self-examination and repentance. One of those English theologians, Simon Patrick[1] in 1660, suggested using a phrase from the Gospel that Greek and Russian Christians use as they approach the chalice: “Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”

The thief crucified with Christ acknowledged Jesus as Lord and reoriented his life—turning his back on his image of himself as a victim who was owed whatever he could take from other people—and he asked Jesus to make a place for him in the Kingdom. What was Jesus’ answer? “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” If we approach the chalice with the self-examination, the reorientation of our lives, the words of the thief—Remember me in your kingdom—Christ makes the same promise to us: Today you will be with me in paradise. Today you will begin to live forever.

[1] Bishop of Ely, Mensa Mystica, or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. (Prayer Book Spirituality, p. 283)

Maranatha!

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Christ, vested as a medieval bishop, distributes the Holy Communion to the apostles: on one side, St. Peter leads six others to receive the Holy Bread while St. Paul, on the other side, leads five others to receive from the Holy Cup. In the Didache, the celebrant invites the faithful to Holy Communion: “Let grace come and this world pass away.” The faithful answer: “Maranatha!”


If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be anathema. Maranatha! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love for all of you in Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 16:22-24)

These sentences are part of the postscript, the “P.S.” that St. Paul adds in his own handwriting at the end of this first letter to the parish in Corinth. “Anathema” is “cursed” and is the same word the ecumenical councils use when denouncing the teachings that were condemned: “If anyone teaches that the Word is not divine in the same way the Father is divine, let that person be anathema!” Anathema marks those who are excluded from the fellowship of the Church, the Body of Christ.

Although St. Paul had difficult and challenging things to say to the Corinthians, he repeatedly stresses his love for them and that he does not want any one of them to be lost or cast aside. His love for the Corinthians–as a parish community and for each of them personally–is always his prime motivation.

“Maranatha!” can be translated several ways, which is why many translations today leave it untranslated. It can mean, “Come, our Lord!” Or it can mean, “Our Lord comes!” Both meanings are appropriate and maybe St. Paul meant the Corinthians to hear both meanings at the same time. Liturgical practice–described in the Didache— from about the same time that St. Paul was writing these words used “Maranatha!” as the people’s response to the invitation to receive Holy Communion at the Eucharist.

By this one word–Maranatha!–Paul strikes fear into them all. But not only that: he points out the way of virtue. As our love for God’s coming intensifies, there is no kind of sin which is not wiped out.

St. John Chrysostom (4th century), Homily 44 on 1st Corinthians

St. Paul expected his letter to be read at the Eucharist so his comments about the holy kiss and “Maranatha” are also connections to what the parish is about to do: pray together, exchange the Kiss, give thanks, and receive Holy Communion.

“Maranatha!” indeed.

Offering = Fellowship with the Saints

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Everyone was expected to bring something to offer at the Eucharist, even if it was only the clean water to be mixed with the chalice. No one expected to receive a portion of the Holy Gifts in Communion if they had not first offered something themselves, no matter how humble. The offering of bread, known as “prosphora,” are an expression of fellowship with the saints on earth as well as the saints in heaven.


Concerning the collection for the saints, as I have ordered the churches of Galatia, so you should do likewise. On the first day of the week let each one of you put aside whatever he or she has gained, so that the collection doesn’t take place when I come. (1 Cor. 16:1-2)

Among the early Christians, there was no modern plumbing in the churches. No one could turn on a faucet to fill a cruet with water. If water was needed—and it was needed to mix with the wine in the chalice—then someone had to bring it to church from a well or a fountain. And among the early Christians, everyone was expected to bring something to offer at the Eucharist: most people probably would not bring cash but they could bring food or clothing to share with the poor. They brought the bread and wine to be placed on the altar. In Rome, orphans–who had nothing and were themselves the recipients of charity–brought the clean water to mix with the chalice for Holy Communion.

Taking a collection of some sort was standard practice at the Eucharist. Offerings (prosphora, in Greek) were a sign that the people making the offering had given themselves and their whole lives to God. The prosphora—food, clothes, money—collected for the saints was an important expression of fellowship, whether the people (“the saints”) receiving the prosphora were local or far away. Making an offering—bringing prosphora—to the Eucharist was an expression of fellowship with the needy saints on earth as well as with the glorious saints in heaven.

St. Paul is organizing a relief effort for the Christians in Jerusalem because there was a famine and severe need there. He is asking all the churches he has founded or visited to contribute to this collection. He will make sure the money gets delivered to Jerusalem, but he wants the local parishes to collect the money before he arrives so that he doesn’t have to wait for the collection itself to be made; he just wants to pick up the money they have already collected and send it on. He was afraid it would take too long if the local parishes waited to take up the collection and that it would arrive in Jerusalem too late.

St. Paul is organizing this relief effort for the Christian community in Jerusalem to demonstrate that he has no animosity or ill will for Christians who were not Gentiles. He is working to relieve the hunger and needs of the Jewish Christians who might have suspected that he thought Gentile Christians were better in God’s eyes than the Jewish Christians were. St. Paul wants to demonstrate that he does not think more highly of Gentile Christians and that all Christians are united in Christ.

St. Paul instructs the Christians in Corinth to organize the collection on Sundays, “the first day of every week,” at the celebration of the Eucharist. Many churches still call the bread brought to church for the Eucharist prosphora. The life of devotion to Christ and public service to the poor go hand-in-hand at the Eucharist. Fellowship with Christ cannot be divorced from fellowship with those in need.