66 "are to love unity. Was this Bread made out of one grain? Were there not many grains of wheat? But, before they came to be bread, they were sepa"rated one from the other; they became joined by "means of water, and by a certain bruising: for, "unless the wheat be ground, and be moistened with "water, it could never take the form we call bread. "It was the same with you, until you were, so to say, ground by the humiliation of fasting, and by "the sacrament of exorcism. Baptism and water came to you; you were moistened, that so you might come to the state of bread. But, even so, "there is no bread without fire. What, then, does "fire signify? It is the Chrism; for the oil which "makes our fire is the sacrament of the Holy "Ghost. . . . The Holy Ghost, therefore, comes; "after water, comes fire; and you are made Bread, "which is the Body of Christ. . Christ willed "that we should be his Sacrifice,-the Sacrifice of "God. . . Great, very great, are these mysteries! .. "Do you so receive them, as to take care that you "have unity in 991 your hearts." "Be one, by your "loving one another, by holding one faith, one hope, "and undivided charity. When the heretics receive "this Bread, they receive testimony against them"selves; for they are seeking to make division, "whereas this Bread is the sign of unity." The Scripture, speaking of the first Christians, says, that they had but one heart and one soul; and it is the unity which is signified by the Wine in the Holy Mysteries; "For," continues St. Augustine, "the "wine was once in so many bunches of grapes; but 'now it is all one, one in the sweetness of the chalice, "for it has gone through the crushing of the wine 66 3 1 Serm. ccxxvii. In die Paschæ. Ad Infantes, de Sacramentis. 2 Ibid. ccxxix. Fer. ii. Paschæ, de Sacramentis fidelium. 3 Acts, iv. 32. "press. So you, after those fastings, and labours, "and humility, and contrition, have come, in the "name of Christ, to the Chalice of the Lord; and you are there on that Table, and there in that "Chalice. You are there together with us, for we "have eaten together, and drunk together, and that "because we live together. Thus did Christ our "Lord," (by the Wine made one out of many grapes) signify us, and wished us to be one with him, and, by "his Table, consecrated the mystery of our peace and unity." 2 66 These admirable expressions of St. Augustine are but the substance of the doctrine regarding the holy Eucharist, held by the Church in the 4th Century. They give us the very essence of that doctrine, in all its fulness and in all the clearness of its literal truth; no other could have been given to Neophytes, who, up to that time, had been kept in complete ignorance of the august Mysteries, of which they were henceforth to partake:-as to the discipline of that secresy, we shall have to speak of it a little further on. The doctrine of the Eucharist here laid down by the great Bishop of Hippo, is identical with that given by all the Fathers. In Gaul, St. Hilary of Poitiers, and St. Cesarius of Arles; in Italy, St. Gaudentius of* Brescia at Antioch and Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom; at Alexandria, St. Cyril ;-all had the same way of putting this dogma of faith before their people. Christ is not divided: the Head and the members, the Word and his Church are inseparably one in the unity of the mystery instituted for the very purpose of producing that unity. And this unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who lived in the golden age of Christian eloquence, was reproduced by Paschasius Radbert, in the 9th Century, by Rupert 1 Serm. ccxxix. 2 Ibid. cclxxii. In die Pentecost. Ad Infantes, de Sacramentis. 3 Lib. viii. de Trinit. 4 Hom. vii. 5 Serm. ii. ad Neoph. In ep. i., ad Cor. Hom, xxiv. 7 Lib. x. in Johan. 8 De corp. et sang. Domini., cap. x. in the 12th,' and by William of Auvergne in the beginning of the 13th.2 It would be too long to give the names, and, still more, to quote passages, in testimony of how all the Churches, for the first twelve Centuries, looked upon the holy Eucharist in this same way, that is, as instituted for the purpose of union. If we follow this traditional teaching back to the apostolic source whence it originated, we shall find St. Cyprian, in the age of Persecution, speaking to his people upon the union between the divine Head and his members, which is the necessary result of the holy Sacrament; he shows this, not only by the nature of bread and wine, the essential elements for the consecration of the mysteries, but, likewise, by the mingling of water with the wine, in the eucharistic cup: the water, he says, signifies the faithful people; the wine denotes the Blood of Christ; their union in the chaliceunion necessary for the integrity of the Sacrificeunion the most complete and inseparable-expresses the indissoluble alliance between Christ and his Church, which consummates the Sacrament.3 The same St. Cyprian shows that the Unity of the Church by the Chair of Peter, which is the subject of one of his finest treatises, is divinely established on the sacred Mysteries; he speaks enthusiastically of the multitude of believers, the Christian unanimity, being held together, in the bonds of a firm and indivisible charity, by the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in his Sacrament, and Christ in his Vicar, is, in reality, but the one same Rock that bears the building which is erected upon it; the one sole Head, visible in his representative, his Vicar, and invisible in his own substance, in the Sacrament. This sentiment of union, as the result of the 1 De div. Off., lib. ii., c. 2. 2 De Sacrament, Euchar. cap. iv. 3 Ep. lxiii. Eucharist, was rooted in the soul of the early Church; her very mission was to bring about the union of all the children of God, that were dispersed throughout the world; and, when the violence of her enemies obliged her to provide her children with some secret sign, whereby they might recognise each other, and not be recognised by pagans or persecutors or blasphemers, she gave them the mysterious ICTHUS, the FISH, which was the sacred symbol of the Eucharist. The letters which form the greek word for fish, (icthus,) are the initials of a formula in the same language, which gives this sentence: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. The Fish is shown to us, in the Book of Tobias, as a figure of Christ, who is the food of the wayfarer; casts out the devil by his virtues; and gives light to the world, grown old in iniquity. Again: it is not without a prophetic and mysterious purpose, that the fish is mentioned in Genesis, as being blessed by the Creator, at the commencement of the world, just as man himself was.3 It goes with the bread which is miraculously multiplied in the Gospel, when our Lord prefigures the marvels of the Eucharist. It is brought again to our notice, after the Resurrection; it is found lying on hot coals, and is offered by Jesus, together with bread, as a repast to seven of his disciples, on the banks of lake Tiberias. Now, what is this Fish? this Bread? The Fathers answer: Christ is the Bread of that mysterious repast; he is the Fish taken from living water, and is roasted on the altar of the Cross by the fire of his love, and feeds the Disciples on his own substance, and offers himself to the entire world as the true ICTHUS. No wonder, then, that we find this sacred symbol on almost everything that the 1 St. John, xi. 52. 3 Gen. i. 22, 28. 2 Tob. vi. 4 St. John, xxi. 9. 5 St. Paulin. Ep. xiii; St. Aug. Confess. xiii. 23; St. Ambr. Hymn. Pasch.; Prosp. African. De promission. Christians of the first three centuries possessed; on precious stones, rings, lamps, inscriptions, paintings, there was the Fish, in some shape or other. It was the watchword, the tessera of the Christians, in those days of persecution. An inscription of the 2nd Century, discovered, in modern times, at Autun, thus speaks of the Christians: "This divine race of the "heavenly ICTHUS, this noble hearted race, receive "from the Saviour of the Saints, the nourishment "which is sweet as honey, and drink long draughts "of the divine fount, holding ICTHUS in their "hands." A holy Bishop of Asia Minor, of that same early period, by name Abercius of Hierapolis, who was divinely led into various lands, everywhere recognises the disciples of Christ by the holy Fish, which makes all, however separated by distance, to be one. "I have," says he, shortly before the close of his life of travel, "I have seen Rome; I have be"held the queen city, in her robes and sandals of "gold; I have made acquaintance with the people "decked with bright rings. I have visited the country of Syria, and all her cities. Passing the Euphrates, I have seen Nisibis; and all people in "the East were in union with me, for we all formed "but one body; everywhere, faith presented to all, "and gave, as nourishment, to all, the glorious and "holy ICTHUS, which came from the only fount, and "was taken by the most pure Virgin." " 66 66 This, then, was the bond of that mighty union between Christians, which was such a puzzle to the pagan world; and the more the real cause of that unity was kept concealed from its eyes, so much the more violent was the fury wherewith it attacked the Church. Our Lord had said: Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine.3 1 Inscript. Augustod. SPICILEG. SOLESM. I. 3 St. Matth. vii. 6. |