Coptic Orthodox Answers

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

My beloved, welcome now to the third part of our fourth lecture on the subject of deep diving into the Eucharistic theology of St. Cyril of Alexandria. So, my beloved, so far, this entire lecture has been focused on the subject of corruption. We've seen the state that humanity has found itself in. And in the second part of the fourth lecture, what we've discussed is the idea of how it is that the Eucharist can be a means of healing, but today, ultimately, the purpose is to realize that the Eucharist actually restores incorruptibility. It brings us back to that original state that God had intended for us. Let's go ahead and see how it does that.

Ultimately St. Cyril, he makes it very clear: in a very bold and short statement, he says:

''The holy body of Christ then gives life to those whom it enters and preserves them to incorruptibility when it is mixed with our bodies.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Volume 1)

When we take within us the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, it gives us life and it preserves us to incorruptibility. It is made very clear. The teachings of St. Cyril, which he has taken from those who came before him and which the Orthodox Church has taught for the longest of time ever since it was established by the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles, is that this is truly His own body and blood which gives us life and which brings us to a state of incorruption.

And so, this becomes the necessity to participate in the Eucharist. This is what shows us the importance, the urgency and the absolute necessity to participate in the Eucharist. It is not an option: it is an absolute necessity if I want to have life in me and if I want death to be conquered so that there is no more decay or corruption found within me. St. Cyril says again in his commentary on the Gospel of John... he says:

''In the same way then, we, even though we are corruptible because of the nature of our flesh, [we] leave our own weakness by being mixed with life and are transformed into the property of that life. It was necessary not only that the soul be recreated in newness of life by the Holy Spirit but also that this coarse earthly body be sanctified and called to incorruption by a coarser participation that is of the same kind as the body.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Volume 1)

What does this mean? He's saying we needed to allow our bodies to be mixed into... he says it here, by a coarser participation that is of the same kind as the body. We needed to allow

His body to enter into us. It now becomes something that we can take within us. This actually reminds me of a very beautiful analogy that one of our fathers, the bishops in the Coptic Orthodox Church, Abba Raphael once said, and it's a very beautiful analogy. He talks about how it is that if a child drinks something that is poisonous, the solution is not to simply say it's okay, I forgive you, I know you did something wrong; that doesn't solve the problem. The parent or the doctor who says to the child you really shouldn't have done that, but it's okay, I forgive you doesn't solve the problem. Why? Because the poison is inside him. That thing which is killing him needs to be cured, needs to be eliminated. And so, if the poison entered into the body in that way, so also the remedy must enter into the body. The same way that the poison became one with the subject who took it inside him, so also the remedy, the medicine, the solution, the antidote has to also be one with the subject who wants healing.

And so, this is what St. Cyril is saying. It has to be... He says what? We must leave our own weakness by being mixed with life and are transformed into the property of that life. Because He is life; because He is the Being who is incorruptible. By me... by becoming one with Him, by allowing Him to enter into us, we are then sanctified and called to incorruption.

And so the medicine, the antidote, the solution is found in the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, He conquers death and decay. By entering into us, He then removes that corruption. He then finds those states of death and He gets rid of them and this is the beauty of the risen Lord: this is His body and this is His blood. And so, St. Cyril here, he's speaking as if these are the words of Jesus. He's speaking as if these were the words of our Lord Himself... he says:

''I, therefore [he says], who came to be in them...'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Volume 1)

Who came to be where? In them, in His creation, in His beloved, in His children.

''I, (...) who came to be in them, that is, through my flesh...'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Volume 1)

And it's made very clear here; St. Cyril says that He comes to be in us, how? Through the Eucharist, through His flesh.

''I, (...) who came to be in them, that is, through my flesh, will raise on the last day those who eat. It was indeed impossible that the one who is life by nature not completely conquer decay and overcome death. Therefore, even though death, which sprang on us through transgression, forces the human body to the necessity of decay, nevertheless, since Christ comes to be in us through his own flesh, we will surely be raised.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Volume 1)

So what is he saying? Even though, because of human nature, we will eventually die, our bodies will eventually decay, that we will finally be... you know, they will bury us, they will put us in a box, they will put us underground, but we will be raised. Why? Because He has called us to be able to participate in this conquering of death. We will be raised, because He has placed Himself in us and just as He was raised from the dead, just as His body conquered death, having that body in us, we also will be raised through him. But it is beautiful how St. Cyril makes it very clear that He came to be in us through His flesh, through His flesh, through the Eucharist, my beloved. And so, by becoming... by coming and placing Himself inside us, He places His own attributes, His own strengths within us. And here, St. Cyril says:

''By placing his own good attribute into those who by their own nature are corruptible, and by pouring the life-giving power of the Spirit into them like a spark of fire, he refashions them completely, making them immortal.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, Volume 1)

Because He becomes one with us, He completely transforms us; He refashions us, he says. So imagine, if you wish, that He created and formed humanity into this beautiful piece of pottery. But then, death and sin entered into the world and so the pottery was distorted, the image was completely distorted. It's cracked, it's no longer what it was supposed to look like. It has lost its beauty, and in the process, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was created to be something better than this. But now, because He places his good attributes in us, because He places Himself in us, St. Cyril says what? He refashions us completely; He remoulds us; He makes us back into what we were supposed to be. We now look like the human being that we were always supposed to look like. And who is that human being that we are supposed to look like? His only begotten Son!

We can now become all that He is through the grace of the Holy Spirit. And this is what is beautiful about our faith: that Christ Jesus, according to St. Paul in the book of Colossians, is the icon of the invisible God. And now, we can become images of that image. If He is the image, He is the icon (εικόνα (ikόnα) means image), He is the image of the invisible God and we can become images of the image. This is what is beautiful. We can now be refashioned to be all that He is and to look like Him through the power of the Eucharist which conquers corruption.

My beloved, we have seen so far how it is that the Eucharist is now the source of a healing for the human being who is now in a state of corruption and now we can go back to that state of being incorruptible through Him by telling Him: Lord we want to be in You; we want to work through You; we want to be with You. And we can do all of these things through the power of the All-Holy Eucharist.

Next time, God willing, my beloved, we will take a look at how it is that not only is the Eucharist the solution to corruption, but the Eucharist is in and of itself what gives us life. It is life-giving, because it is the body of Him who, by nature, is life Himself. God willing, we will

discuss the Eucharist as life-giving, the true meaning of what it means to be alive. We will speak of the consequences of death and we will talk about how the Eucharist restores us back to this life. And God willing, we will take a look at all of that in our next segment. Until then, may the Lord bless you! To God be all glory now and forever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.

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