FATHER LIAM SAYS: During
the Preparation of the Gifts at Mass
– the priest or deacon adds a little water to the wine in the chalice. This has been done since the earliest
Christian times. But why? It was customary in ancient times to add a
little water to the wine that people drank with their food so a little water
was mingled with the wine at the Eucharist table as well. But the words that are said to accompany the
action give a deeper meaning: ‘By the mystery of this water and wine may we
come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our
humanity.’ The mixing of water and wine
reminds us of the Incarnation – the Son of God taking upon himself our human
nature. It symbolises our hope of
participating in the life of Christ himself.
St.
Cyprian of Carthage, one of the great theologians of the early Church in North
Africa writes at great length about this very point. He became Bishop of Carthage – present day
Tunis – about the year 250 AD. He guided
the Church at Carthage through a period of persecution and turmoil for ten
years until his martyrdom during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian. In his early years as Bishop he went into
hiding for a time to escape execution under the Emperor Decius. Upon his return he was criticised by some for
not publicly holding his ground before the attacks of the Roman powers – but he
was convinced that he could be of more help to his people alive than dead.
A
number of Cyprian’s writings have come down to us including a letter he wrote
to a neighbouring Bishop in 253. This
letter is entirely dedicated to the celebration of the Eucharist. It was through this Bishop, Caecilius, that
Cyprian became a Christian in 246. In
this letter he mentions the Aquarian heresy.
There was a group of Christians who used to celebrate – or attempt to
celebrate – the Eucharist using bread and water instead of bread and wine. Cyprian doesn’t give details about the origin
of this practice – he does not know where it came from nor does he find fault
with any of his neighbouring bishops. It
seems that the practice came about from a fear that some Christians had of
being accused, by the Roman authorities, of practicing the Christian faith.
In
mid-third century Carthage, the Eucharist, Cyprian tells us, was often
celebrated in the morning. Earlier it
had been celebrated – after the example of Jesus at the Last Supper – in the
evening but it gradually began to be celebrated in the morning to commemorate
the Resurrection of the Lord. If wine
were used in the morning celebration of the Eucharist, those partaking in it
could be detected by merely smelling their breath. Cyprian encourages the morning Eucharist but
condemns the practice of omitting wine.
He invokes the instructions of the Lord himself at the Last Supper and
insists on being faithful to the tradition.
He stresses how the Gospel writers associate water as the symbol of
Baptism while bread and wine are used to depict the Sacramental action of the
Eucharist. To use water alone distorts
the whole meaning of what we are doing.
Water must be mixed with wine at the celebration of the Eucharist
because blood and water flowed from Christ’s side on Good Friday.
‘Thus
therefore in consecrating the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered,
even as wine alone cannot be offered.
For if anyone offer wine only, the blood of Christ is dissociated from
us. But if the water be alone, the
people are dissociated from Christ. When
both are mingled and are joined with one another by a close union there is
completed a spiritual and heavenly sacrament.
Thus the cup of the Lord is not water alone nor wine alone, unless each
be mingled with each other. So also, the
body of the Lord cannot be flour alone or water alone but both are united and
joined together and compacted in the mass of one bread. In this very sacrament our people are shown
to be made one, so that in like manner as many grains, collected and ground and
mixed together into one mass, make one bread – so in Christ who is the heavenly
bread we may know that there is one body with which we too are joined and
united.’
Cyprian
stresses that the Eucharist and Jesus’ death on the Cross are two dimensions of
a single mystery. His explanation of the
mingling of water and wine at the Eucharist show why the Eucharist and the
Cross are so intimately connected. If
there were no Last Supper then we would have no concrete sign of our union with
the Sacrificial death of Jesus. The
Eucharist gives us the strength and courage to follow the way of Jesus. Whether through Martyrdom or a life of
dedicated service to others. The
Eucharist is central to the Christian faith and Cyprian was adamant that it
should remain what Jesus intended it to be – a commemorative sacrifice that
maintains the intimate communion between him and the members of his body.
(Voices
from the Church Fathers – The Beauty of the Eucharist – Dennis J Bilby)
N.B. Lastly, apols
(apologies) if this article was srsly TL;DR (Seriously too long, didn’t read)!
