Your Bible question was:
> What is the eucharist?

The term "eucharist" is not found in our English Bible.  It is Anglicized
form of the Greek word, 'eucharisteo' ("give thanks, be thankful" or
thanksgiving) and is applied by many to the Lord's Supper or Communion.  In
the Bible, the Lord Jesus instituted a memorial of His body and blood and
commanded His disciples to partake of it (Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 11:23-26;
10:16).

By their traditions and creeds, the Catholic Church, and later
Protestantism, changed this simple memorial of Christ's death which we read
about in the New Testament.  They have changed its significance as well as
its name.  The Lord's Supper is never called a "sacrament" or The Eucharist
in the Bible - these are human doctrines started by men.

We must be careful to never alter the teachings of the NT.  God is not
pleased with such changes, and men lose their souls by doing so (read Gal.
1:6-10; 2 Jno. 9; Rev. 22:18-19).

The following encyclopedia article (with its URL link) provides some more information about "The Eucharist" from the Columbia Encyclopedia.  If you have further questions please feel free to write back.

Cordially yours,
Joe Price


INFOPLEASE.COM
http://www.infoplease.com/ce5/CE017461.html

EUCHARIST

Pronunciation: [yOOŽkurist] (key)

[Gr.,=thanksgiving], Christian sacrament that repeats the action of Jesus at
his last supper with his disciples, when he gave them bread, saying, "This
is my body," and wine, saying, "This is my blood." (Mat. 26; Mark 14; Luke
22; 1 Cor. 11.) Partaking is called communion. For Roman Catholics the
sacrament is a bloodless reenactment of the crucifixion and therefore an act
of sacrifice, but Protestant Christians reject the idea of the Eucharist as
sacrifice. The performance is called the Eucharistic liturgy; the Roman and
Anglo-Catholic liturgy is the Mass. The official Roman Catholic explanation
of the change taking place in the sacrament, called transubstantiation, is
that the substances of bread and wine are turned miraculously into the
substance of Christ himself, the elements changed retaining only the
appearance, taste, etc. (the accidents) of bread and wine. Catholic doctrine
holds that the Godhead is indivisible so every particle or drop thus changed
is wholly identical in substance with the divinity, body, and blood of the
Crucified Savior. The views of the Orthodox Eastern Church are similar. The
Anglican Church has not formally defined the sacrament. In receiving
communion the Christian attains union with Jesus, and all who partake are
mystically united. Traditionally in the Mass (but not in Eastern liturgies
of the Roman Catholic Church) others than the celebrant received the Host
only, a practice that arose from the difficulty of transport and storage of
wine, and perhaps also because wine is more easily spilled and dropped than
bread. In this communion in one kind the believer was held to receive the
same divine whole as the celebrant, who receives both kinds at the altar.
Communion in two kinds was restored in the Roman Catholic Church in the
liturgical renewal proclaimed at the Second Vatican Council. The Roman
Catholic and Orthodox churches set conditions for the reception of
communion, which is a sign of membership; to be "in communion with" means
mutual recognition of membership in the true church. Devotion to the
Eucharist (the Blessed Sacrament) is important in the Roman Catholic Church.
The object of the cult of the Blessed Sacrament is the Host reserved in
churches (see benediction and Corpus Christi). Every leader of the
Protestant Reformation attacked the traditional teaching of the Eucharist.
For the communion services in many Protestant churches, see Lord's Supper.

______________
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1993, Columbia
University Press. Licensed from Inso Corporation. All rights reserved.


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Joe R Price
joe@bibleanswer.com

Bible Answers
http://www.bibleanswer.com

Mt. Baker church of Christ
http://www.mtbakercofc.org/
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