Eucharist

The Eucharist is a Christian sacrament and liturgical rite in which bread and wine commemorate Jesus’s Last Supper. Christian traditions differ on how Christ is present and how the rite should be understood.

Words of Institution: The biblical words in which Jesus identifies bread and wine with his body and blood at the Last Supper. These words anchor the Eucharistic prayers and explain the rite’s connection to Jesus’s meal.
Sacramental Union: The Lutheran teaching that Christ’s body and blood are truly present with the bread and wine in the sacrament. It affirms real presence while rejecting the Catholic account of a change in substance.
Last Supper: The final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, as narrated in the New Testament. The Eucharist takes its foundational meal and words from this event.
Mass: The principal Eucharistic liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church and some other Western Christian traditions. It is the characteristic form of Eucharistic worship in Roman Catholic practice.
Fourth Lateran Council: A 1215 council of the Roman Catholic Church that defined teachings including the doctrine of transubstantiation. Its definition gave the doctrine a formal place in Catholic teaching.
Anamnesis: Liturgical remembrance that makes a past saving event present to a worshipping community. Eucharistic remembrance is understood as more than recalling a meal from the past.
Memorialism: The view that the Lord’s Supper primarily commemorates Jesus’s death rather than conveying Christ’s bodily presence. It contrasts with traditions that understand the Eucharist as a means of real presence.
Passover: The Jewish festival commemorating the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. The Last Supper’s setting and symbolism are often interpreted in relation to this festival.
Divine Liturgy: The Eucharistic worship service of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. Its prayers and ceremonial structure express Eastern Christian understandings of the sacrament.
Protestant Reformation: A sixteenth-century movement that divided Western Christianity and established Protestant churches. Disagreement over the Eucharist became a major point of conflict among reformers and Catholics.

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