The Eucharist

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All sacraments come from Christ. The sacrament of the Eucharist IS Christ.
 
I think so. It is at the very heart of Christian life. God. Physically present. But close on the heals of the eucharist must be the sacrament of penance. Jesus calls the reconciled to Him to approach His Supper Table.

But without Baptism, we would not even be in communion with Christ and His Church.

Ahhhh, but without Holy Orders we would not have a priesthood, to teach and instruct and forgive us our sins …

Right. Back in a minute. I need to think about this a bit longer 😛 😛 😛
 
Well, Baptism and Confirmation are the Holy Spirit. No less a reception of God into ourselves than the Eucharist.

I don’t think there’s any way to “compare” the sacraments as far as which is “greatest” or “best”, etc, but I guess it all depends on what the OP means by greatest.
 
The Eucharist is truly the Most Blessed Sacrament for this reason: that while other sacraments manifest the grace of God when we make use of them, the Eucharist contains the Author of grace Himself, even before we receive it in Holy Communion.
 
The Eucharist is called the source and summit of the Christian Life (CCC 1324) from Lumen Gentium.

All sacraments are directed to the Eucharist.
 
Some Orthodox theologians have opined that there are either MANY sacraments/mysteries (since Orthodoxy has never defined how many officially)–or there is just one: the Church Herself, who is the pan-mystery that embraces them all.
 
bpbasilphx said:
Some Orthodox theologians have opined that there are either MANY sacraments/mysteries (since Orthodoxy has never defined how many officially)–or there is just one: the Church Herself, who is the pan-mystery that embraces them all.
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You are speaking over my head. There are seven sacraments in the Church. Is the Eucharist the greatest sacrament, or are all of the sacraments of the same value(benefit) and importance?
 
I think the answer is that the Eucharist is more than a sacrament -it is also the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is more than an “outward sign of inward grace”- it is Christ himself as someone alluded to earlier. In Baptism, the water is a sign of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t the Holy Spirit itself. We don’t genuflect to holy water.
 
Bouligny said:
You are speaking over my head. There are seven sacraments in the Church. Is the Eucharist the greatest sacrament, or are all of the sacraments of the same value(benefit) and importance?
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What His Grace is trying to say is that the East has two views:

View 1: The Eucharist is the single material focus of Christian life; everything else is preparatory for that, for that is the gateway to salvation.

View 2: All of the sacraments fragments of one singular sacrament; it is participation in the mystery of salvation expressed by participation in the corporate church is the only true sacrament, and the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, eucharist, reconciliation, unction, holy orders and matrimony are just framents of that one unifying sacrament, the Church.

Moreover, in Byzantine Thinking, these are not exclusionary.

Also, in Byzantine Thinking, the sacraments are not rigidly defined to the 7 major sacraments, just like Ordination is not just to major orders. The Ruthenian Catholic Metropolitan Church uses the term Ordination for Lectors, Acolytes, and Subdeacons, and these are given during the divine liturgy as are major orders (but in the aisle, not behind the Iconostas). They are also considered sacraments. In Byzantine (Catholic or Orthodox) Theology, all approved devotions and actions that bring one closer to Christ are sacraments. No “Sacrament vs Sacramental” division.

Different uses of the same terms, uses that the Romans have built into aritifical divisions. The Orthodox do hold that the following sacraments are of divine origin: Baptism, Confirmation/Chrismation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Deaconal, Priestly, and Episcopal ordination, annointing of the sick and dieing, and marriage… but they also acknowledge that others were given to the church without direct divine order, but the will of the church has made them pathways for grace: minor orders of ordination, the chotki, the Akathists, The Panahida, the celebration of the Liturgy, the divine office, and others…
… anything which brings grace is a sacrament.

And all sacraments are part of the metasacrament that is the Church.
 
1324 The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”[134] “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.”[135]
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1325 “The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.”[136]
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1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.[137]
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1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking.”[138]
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more:
forums.catholic-questions.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=4477372
 
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