The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

speaks distinctly of that very flesh which was put to death upon the cross,
and was raised in glory by the Father." Thirdly. The effects imputed to the
Eucharist by Ignatius are entirely inconsistent with the supposition of its
being a mere memorial or a mere spiritual communion. He imputes to it
the power of producing the resurrection to eternal life; not that he denies
that the wicked shall rise again, but that like St. Paul, when he speaks of
attaining unto the resurrection of the dead, he means the resurrection in its
true glory, as a rising to eternal life. The medicine of immortality, the
antidote to death, the spring of life in Christ forever, can be no other than
Christ's flesh itself--the organ of His whole work. KAHNIS. 411 "From
these words it follows with certainty that Ignatius regarded the consecrated
elements as the media of a Divine impartation of life, consequently as more
than bare symbols;" and EBRARD 412 admits, "When he calls the
Eucharist a medium of immortality, it is clear that he was thinking not of a
bare, subjective memory of Christ, but of an actual appropriation of Christ
and of all His graces." Fourthly. So far from the early Church, as
represented in Ignatius, being indifferent to the doctrine held in regard to
the Lord's Supper, we find that it is distinctly marked as a heresy,
practically resulting in the eternal death of those who held it, that the
Eucharist is not the flesh of our Saviour. Taking then the simple and direct
interpretation of Ignatius, we find him in perfect affinity with the Tenth
Article of the Augsburg Confession: 1st. In the assertion that the true body
and blood of our Saviour--that which suffered and that which was raised-is
present in the Eucharist, actually constituting it. 2d. That true bread and
true wine are present. 3d. That the bread and wine given and taken are the
means by which the body and blood are imparted. When he says, That the
cup is for the uniting ("enosis") of Christ's blood, the "enosis" points
distinctly to that specific idea which Paul expresses when he says, The cup
is the communion of Christ's blood, and which our Church expresses by
saying that the blood is in, with, and under the cup. The word "enosis" is
used by the Fathers to indicate the uniting of two things, and is most
frequently used for the uniting
411 Dogmat. II. 195.
412 Abendm. I. 256.