# Treatise III - On the Sacrament of Christian Unity or On the Most Holy Eucharist [[Mirae caritatis ]] - "This Sacrament it, as it were, the very soul of the Church; and to it the grace of the priesthood is ordered and directed in all its fullness and in each of its successive grades.... Most abundant, assuredly, are the salutary benefits which are stored up in this most venerable mystery, regarded as a sacrifice.... For it is a divine Victim which is here immolated; and accordingly thorough this disngnity of the Godhead demands: infinite in value and infinitely acceptable is the gift which we present to the Father in his only-begotten Son: so that for his benefits to us we not only signify our gratitude, but actually make an adequate return." Therefore the mystery of the Eucharist is the soul of the Christian life, the center of the entire liturgical worship of the Church. ## On the institution itself of the Eucharist "The question about the origin of the Eucharist has been discussed very much by recent Rationalists and Modernists" (cf. [[Modernism]]) The Modernists, who wish to say that the Eucharist was not directly instituted by Christ, tend to answer the following questions thusly: - a) What was the true meaning of the Last Supper conducted by Christ the Lord? - 1) *purely symbolic*: the Supper is a real comparison, or parable, signifying the love of Christ for his disciples, especially in the breaking of bread, or also the violent death of Christ. - 2) *symbolic-dynamic*: the Supper not only signifies, but in a certain sense also effects something else, e.g., the food/drink itself; fraternal charity; a new covenant; final salvific will of Christ. - 3) *eschatelogical*: the Supper forshadowed the heavenly banquet - b) How did that Supper, in its historical development, become the present-day Eucharist? *Foundation*: In the beginning, Christians commemorated only the Last Supper, not the Passion nor was there faith in the real presence of Christ. - 1) Some hold that Paul introduced the sacred meals to the Christian community, combining the Last Supper narrative with Greek mysteries. - 2) Some accept the above yet hold that further sources on this process cannot be procured. - 3) *Syncretism*: the "mysterious" aspect is Hellenistic; the sacrificial aspect is some development of a Jewish rite. - 4) *Two-form celebration*: essentially syncretist, however, that two forms (Alexandrian and Roman) existed where Hellenism mixed with two different approached to the Last Supper.