In another remarkable passage [300] Cyril gives a further explanation of the effect of consecration: "In the New Testament there is heavenly Bread and a Cup of salvation, sanctifying soul and body: for as the Bread corresponds to the body, so also the Word (ho logos) is appropriate to the soul." With this language of Cyril we may compare further what is said by Gregory of Nyssa in the context of the passage already quoted: "Just then, as in the case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also in a kind of way looks on a human body, for by being within this it becomes this, so in that other case the Body into which God entered (to theodochon soma), by partaking of the nourishment of bread was in a certain sense the same with it, since that nourishment, as we have said, is changed into the nature of the body: for that which is proper to all men is acknowledged also in the case of That Flesh, namely, that That Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was changed into the dignity of Godhead. Rightly then do we believe that now also the bread which is sanctified by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For even that Body was once virtually (te dunamei) bread, but has been sanctified by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh."
In this passage we have the full explanation of what Irenæus meant when he said that the elements "by receiving the Word of God become the Eucharist," and what Cyril meant by saying that "as the Bread corresponds to the body, so also the Word is appropriate to the soul." Their common doctrine is, that besides the Body and Blood of Christ, that is, His Humanity offered upon the Cross for our redemption, His Divine Nature, the Word is also present, and that it is by receiving the Divine Word that the Bread is made the Body of Christ. "The fathers," says Touttée, "often play upon the ambiguity of the term, saying at one time that the Divine Word, at another that the word and oracles of God nourish our soul. Both are true. For the whole life-giving power of the Eucharist is derived from the Divine Word united with the flesh which He assumed: and the whole benefit (fructus) of Eucharistic eating consists in the union of our soul with the Word, by meditation on His mysteries and words, and conformation thereto [301] ." O si sic omnia!
In this view the Bread and Wine are signs or figures of the natural Body of Christ crucified, but they are also much more, they are endued by the Divine Word, and through the operation of the Holy Ghost, with the life-giving power of the same Body and Blood of Christ,--a power which being imparted to the faithful recipient makes him to be "of the same body and the same blood with Christ," thereby assuring him of the resurrection of the body to eternal life, and at the same time strengthening and refreshing the soul by its being united through faith with the Word, and being thus made "partaker of the Divine nature."
This is not the language of the Western Church, whether Roman, Lutheran, or Anglican, but it is the language of the earliest Greek Fathers, and of Cyril, as is partly and reluctantly admitted by so cautious a writer as Dr. Waterland. After referring to the passage quoted above from Justin Martyr (Apol. i. 66) he proceeds: "There is another the like obscure hint in Irenæus, which may probably be best interpreted after the same way. He supposes the elements to become Christ's body by receiving the word (Word). He throws two considerations into one, and does not distinguish so accurately as Origen afterwards did between the symbolical food and the true food." The elements, Waterland adds, "are made the representative body of Christ; but they are at the same time, to worthy receivers, made the means of their spiritual union with Christ Himself; which Irenæus points at in what he says of the bread's receiving the Logos, but should rather have said it of the communicants themselves, as receiving the spiritual presence of Christ, in the worthy use of the sacred symbols [302] ."
Again, in c. vii., he says more explicitly of Irenæus, what is equally true of Cyril; "Least of all does he favour the figurists or memorialists; for his doctrine runs directly counter to them almost in every line: he asserts over and over, that Christ's body and blood are eaten and drunk in the Eucharist, and our bodies thereby fed; and not only so, but insured thereby for a happy resurrection: and the reason he gives is, that our bodies are thereby made or continued members of Christ's body, flesh, and bones."
From this view of Cyril's doctrine concerning the Sacramental elements we can easily understand in what sense he applies the terms " type" and "antitype" to the Eucharistic elements. "The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist having two parts, an outward and an inward, and the outward part having been instituted by our Blessed Lord with a certain relation to the inward, and gifted with a certain significance of it, nothing is more natural than that the titles, type, antitype, symbol, figure, image, should be given to the outward part [303] ." Add to this that, according to Cyril's doctrine as already explained, the bread after the Invocation, without ceasing to be bread, not only signifies but also is the Body, and we see how natural it was for him to say in one passage that "His Body bore the figure of bread [304] ," in another that "in the figure of bread the Body is given [305] ." The Body which "is given" cannot be an absent Body of our Lord, but must be that Sacramental Body, of which Cyril goes on to say in the same sentence that it is "distributed to our members." Thus the Bread broken is a type or figure of Christ's Body as crucified for us; and by virtue of its union with the Divine Word it becomes the life-giving Body, which makes the faithful recipient to be, in Cyril's words, "of the same body and same blood with Christ."
Another term applied by Cyril and other Greek Fathers to the sacramental elements is "antitype."
In Mystag. ii. § 6, where Baptism is called "the counterpart (antitupon) of Christ's sufferings," the meaning is clearly explained by the context: for in § 5 the reality of Christ's sufferings is emphatically and repeatedly contrasted with the figurative representation of the same; and this figurative representation no less emphatically contrasted with the real and actual bestowal of the grace of salvation: en eikoni he mimesis, en aletheia de he soteria,....hina te mimesei ton pathematon autou koinonesantes, aletheia ten soterian kerdesomen.
We have thus a clear distinction of (1) the res sacramenti,' Christ's Death and Resurrection, (2) the sacramentum' or sign,' the outward form of Baptism, and (3) the virtus sacramenti,' our real participation in the benefits of Christ's Passion, "a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness." Thus, as Cyril adds at the end of the section, Baptism "has the fellowship by representation of Christ's true sufferings," it is the spiritual counterpart in us of that which was actual in Him.
In Mystag. iii. § i, speaking of the Chrism, Cyril says, "Now ye have been made Christs (Chrisoi) by receiving the antitype of the Holy Ghost, and all things have been wrought in you by imitation, because ye are images of Christ:" and again, "there was given to you an Unction, the antitype of that wherewith Christ was anointed, and this is the Holy Ghost."
Here again we have (1) the res sacramenti,' the anointing of Christ with the Holy Ghost at His Baptism, (2) the sacramental sign or figure, the anointing of the baptized, and (3) the spiritual benefit received in the gift of the Holy Ghost, for, as Cyril adds at the end of § 3, "while Thy body is anointed with the visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the Holy and Life-giving Spirit." In these passages we see a distinction between tupos and antitupos. The former is simply the outward sign or figure; the latter includes with the sign the spiritual counterpart in us of the thing signified, the benefits of Christ's Passion in the one case, the gift of the Holy Ghost in the other.
It only remains to inquire whether there is the same distinction in the meaning of the words as applied to the Holy Eucharist.
In Mystag. v. § 20, Cyril informs us that during the Administration the words, "O taste and see that the Lord is good," were sung: and in reference to that passage he adds, "In tasting we are bidden to taste not bread and wine, but the antitypical Body and Blood of Christ." To taste "the antitypical Body" is therefore to taste "that the Lord is good," whence it clearly follows that "the antitypical Body" is not the mere sign or figure of Christ's own natural Body, but the sacramental and spiritual counterpart of it, by which those who faithfully receive it are so united to Him, that their spirit, and soul, and body, are to be preserved entire without blame at His coming [306] .
[281] Cat. iii. § 3.
[282] Mystag. iii. § 3.
[283] Mystag. iii. § 3. In the same Lecture, § 7, the consecration of the bread and wine is said to follow "the Invocation of the Holy and Adorable Trinity."
[284] The History of Popish Transubstantiation, Ch. v. § 14.
[285] The Doctrine of the Real Presence, pp. 277-281.
[286] The Nature of Christ's Presence in the Eucharist, p. 483.
[287] 'All' hora me huponoeses ekeino to muron psilon einai. hosper gar ho artos tes eucharistias meta ten epiklesin tou hagiou Pneumatos ouk eti artos litos, alla soma Christou, houto kai to hagion touto muron ouk eti psilon, oud' hos an eipoi tis koinon met' epiklesin, alla Christou charisma, kai Pneumatos hagiou parousia tes autou theotetos energetikon ginomenon.
[288] Cat. iii. 3.
[289] Mystag. iii. 3. On the translation see note on the passage.
[290] Ib. i. § 7.
[291] On this reading, see Mystag. iv. § 2, note 4.
[292] Of Transubstantiation, Ch. vi. § 14.
[293] Mystag. v. § 7.
[294] Real Presence, p. 144. See note 8, below.
[295] Mystag. iv. §§ 1, 3.
[296] Ib. v. § 15.
[297] See Pusey, R. P. p. 151, note 3: "Dr. Gaisford, on my applying to him, kindly answered me,--sunanaliskesthai. It appears to me that this word can only be explained by a periphrasis. The writer appears to me to mean that the elements are not thrown off like ordinary food, but that they become blended or assimilated to the body, and waste away as the body wastes away.' Mr. Field gives the same meaning.
[298] V. ii. § 3.
[299] Oratio Catechetica, c. xxxvii. The whole chapter should be read with the Rev. W. Moore's notes in this Series, Vol. V. pp. 504-506.
[300] Mystag. iv. § 5.
[301] Mystag. iv. note 4.
[302] Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, c. V.
[303] Pusey, R. P. p. 94.
[304] Cat. xiii. § 19: to soma autou kata to euangelion tupon epheren artou.
[305] Mystag. iv. § 3: en tupo gar artou didotai soi to soma.
[306] 1 Thess. v. 23, quoted at the end of Mystag. v. § 23.