Anglican Eucharistic Theology - Sacramental Theology

Sacramental Theology

With the Eucharist, as with other aspects of theology, Anglicans are largely directed by the principle of lex orandi, lex credendi (i.e., "the law of prayer is the law of belief"). In other words, sacramental theology as it pertains to the Eucharist is sufficiently and fully articulated by the Book of Common Prayer of a given jurisdiction. As defined by the 16th century Anglican theologian, Richard Hooker, the sacraments are said to be "visible signs of invisible grace" while the Catechism of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer states that a sacrament is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given to us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to asure us thereof." It thus has the effect of conveying sanctification in the individual participating in the sacrament. According to the Catechism, in the Eucharist the outward and visible sign is "Bread and Wine" and the "thing signified", the "Body and Blood of Christ", which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper".

Sacraments have both form and matter. A form is the verbal and physical liturgical action, while the matter refers to any material objects used. In an Anglican Eucharist the form is contained in the rite and its rubrics, as articulated in the authorised prayer books of the ecclesiastical province. Central to the rite is the Eucharistic Prayer or "Great Thanksgiving". The matter is the bread and wine.

For the vast majority of Anglicans, the Eucharist (also called "Holy Communion", "Mass" or the "Lord's Supper"), is the central act of gathered worship and is the means by which Christ becomes present to the Christian community gathered in his name. For the majority of Anglicans this event constitutes the renewal of the Body of Christ as the Church through the reception of the Body of Christ as the Blessed Sacrament, his spiritual body and blood. In this sacrament, Christ is both encountered and incorporated. As such, the eucharistic action looks backward as a memorial of Christ's sacrifice, forward as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet and to the present as an incarnation of Christ in the lives of the community and of individual believers.