Have you ever been to a church
service from a different Christian
denomination?
Would you? Why/why not?
If you did, was there
anything that surprised
you/ you liked/ made you
feel uncomfortable?
Different Christian attitudes to the
Eucharist
• To Know different beliefs about the
Eucharist in different Christian
traditions
• To Understand the reason for these
differences
Who was Martin Luther ?
Martin Luther said there is only one power:
faith in Christ.
Which of these will Protestants reject as
incapable of bestowing salvation/
communicating God’s grace ?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Good works
Rituals eg sacraments
Priests
Blessed Objects eg holy water, altar
What difference will this make to the way Protestants
celebrate the Lord’s supper ?
What do other Christians believe ?
Draw an arrow, going from most to least catholic from top of your page
to the bottom. Put the different churches along this arrow, according to
how catholic they are.
All Protestants: There is no physical
Salvation Army/ Quakers Jesus is
the only priest, nobody / nothing can
hold any special spiritual powers –
there are no rituals eg sacraments,
and no priests. Worship is direct
contact with God, not through
symbols eg bread & wine: so they
don’t celebrate communion.
Orthodox Christians
Do believe the bread and wine
become the Real Presence, as
heaven comes down to earth in
the body/ blood of Jesus during
the Divine Liturgy (=mass). They
call how it happens “a holy
mystery”. They eat the bread
mingled with wine from a spoon.
presence of Jesus, only faith.
Non-conformists (methodists, baptists)
Only accept 2 sacraments: baptism and
“Holy Communion”. Do not use
“eucharist”.The bread and grape juice
(they don’t use wine) do not change. They
only symbolise the presence of Christ,
bring blessing from God and help unify
the believers as one. The service is a
COMMEMORATION (reminder) of what
Jesus did, not the actual act of sacrifice,
or his real presence.
Anglicans High anglicans are more like
Catholics, and believe in priests and the 7
sacraments. Others (low anglicans) only believ
in baptism and for them, Holy Communion is
like for the non-conformists
Eucharist
/ Mass
Catholics & Orthodox
High Anglicans
Holy
Communion
Service
No Celebration
of the Last
Supper
Low Anglicans
Non-Conformist Protestants
(Methodists, Baptists)
Quakers, Salvation Army
Importance of the Eucharist: what’s
the good of celebrating it ?
• For Catholics/ Orthodox ?
“If you do not eat my flesh, and drink my blood, you have no
life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I shall resurrect him on the last day.” Jn 6:54-57
- Salvation & promise of resurrection
- forgiveness of sin
- strength for living as God wants
- sharing in Christ’s life
For other Christians (not Eucharist, but Holy Communion)?
•spiritual nourishment & blessing from God
• learning what it means to be a disciple
Exam Question: choose one
(the one you’re less clear about)
• Explain the main differences between Catholic
and Protestant attitudes to the Eucharist. (8
marks)
• “The Eucharist is not important to Christians”
(6mks)
– Do you agree ? Give reasons for your opinion.
– Give reasons for why some people might disagree
with you.
Who said this?
(which Christian?)
1. The bread and juice are representative of the
body and blood of Christ, for us to remember his
act of sacrifice.
2. The Eucharist is heaven come down into the
body and blood of Jesus
3. To be holy or spiritual, you don’t need any
practices or rituals apart from faith.
4. The bread and wine are not bread and wine any
more. They are the whole Christ.