A shortened version of a longer piece, for brevity ...
The ascended body of the Christ is a spiritual body that transcends cosmological space and time.
Evidenced in the post-resurrection appearances, His deified body enjoys a total mastery over its corporeality. He transcends all times and all places, but in this state He is able to make himself present at any time and place of his choosing.
Christ no longer exists on the same ontological plane as the objects of bread and wine; in their turn, bread and wine belong under the same ontological categories as flesh and blood. Because He transcends the world, he can identify with an object in the world, without compromising the constitution of either. The 'replacement' of substance is unnecessary.
The Eucharist becomes the body and blood of Christ. This is not a physical or chemical transformation, because He does not belong to the order of physical or chemical entities. The transmutation does not resolve, abolish, or contradict this difference. Rather, the entire being of the bread and wine now belong to another 'world', another order of being, and one that is ontologically prior to their physical, chemical existence:
"16because in him were created all things in the heavens and on earth ... all things were created through him and for him; and he is before
all things, and all things hold together in him" (Colossians 1:16-17).
The bread and wine assimilated to Him – yet they do not lose their “thingness” in the world. All of their physical properties remain unchanged.
Philosophical note:
This is not a 'transformation' for only different things belonging to the same order or categories of things can be transformed (transform = across-form, thus from this form to that form in a horizontal movement, as it were). Things that belong to different orders or natures are transmuted (transmute = across-change) the one into the other, while preserving their own mode of being in their own realm.
The body of Christ, being manifested in the bread and wine, does not cease being a spiritual body, abiding above this world. And in becoming Christ’s body and blood, which now belong to His supra-mundane state, the bread and wine do not lose their being in this world.
Interestingly, the Fathers never attempt any philosophical explanation or analysis of the Eucharist. Rather than going to Plato or Aristotle, they went directly to the Gospel, which they saw spoke of something beyond philosophy.
The ascended body of the Christ is a spiritual body that transcends cosmological space and time.
Evidenced in the post-resurrection appearances, His deified body enjoys a total mastery over its corporeality. He transcends all times and all places, but in this state He is able to make himself present at any time and place of his choosing.
Christ no longer exists on the same ontological plane as the objects of bread and wine; in their turn, bread and wine belong under the same ontological categories as flesh and blood. Because He transcends the world, he can identify with an object in the world, without compromising the constitution of either. The 'replacement' of substance is unnecessary.
The Eucharist becomes the body and blood of Christ. This is not a physical or chemical transformation, because He does not belong to the order of physical or chemical entities. The transmutation does not resolve, abolish, or contradict this difference. Rather, the entire being of the bread and wine now belong to another 'world', another order of being, and one that is ontologically prior to their physical, chemical existence:
"16because in him were created all things in the heavens and on earth ... all things were created through him and for him; and he is before
all things, and all things hold together in him" (Colossians 1:16-17).
The bread and wine assimilated to Him – yet they do not lose their “thingness” in the world. All of their physical properties remain unchanged.
Philosophical note:
This is not a 'transformation' for only different things belonging to the same order or categories of things can be transformed (transform = across-form, thus from this form to that form in a horizontal movement, as it were). Things that belong to different orders or natures are transmuted (transmute = across-change) the one into the other, while preserving their own mode of being in their own realm.
The body of Christ, being manifested in the bread and wine, does not cease being a spiritual body, abiding above this world. And in becoming Christ’s body and blood, which now belong to His supra-mundane state, the bread and wine do not lose their being in this world.
Interestingly, the Fathers never attempt any philosophical explanation or analysis of the Eucharist. Rather than going to Plato or Aristotle, they went directly to the Gospel, which they saw spoke of something beyond philosophy.
