| The Origin and Development of the
Eucharist: East and West Author: Deacon Andrew J. Gerakas, D.Min.
|
 |
The Eucharist is Christ's gift to his followers to sustain them as they journey to their eternal home. It is the source and summit of the Church's life and mission. As a sacrament, it is a visible sign of Christ's abiding presence -- body, blood, soul and divinity -- in our midst under the appearance of bread and wine. What does this mean? How can Christians of the East and West receive the Lord worthily? What must we bring to the altar? The biblical background and history of the Eucharist in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and a comparison of current practices, will be found here along with chapters on our joint Jewish and Greek heritage. Also reviewed are some of the doctrinal and organizational differences that continue to inhibt a return to intercommunion, the ultimate goal of both Churches in their desire to fulfill the Lord's prayer "that all may be one." Members of both communions will find much here to contemplate and consider. |
| Baptized and confirmed in the Orthodox Church, Andrew J. Gerakas, D. Min. has been a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church for some 25 years. It has been his lifelong dream and daily prayer before the Blessed Sacrament that the Churches of East and West will soon "break bread" together again at the same table of the Lord. His book, The Rosary and Devotion to Mary, now in its second printing, was published by St. Paul's Books and Media in 1988. |
|
"The Eucharist and ecumenical relations with the Eastern Churches are important topics that have been the focal points of much theological discussion in recent years. It is therefore fitting that Deacon Andrew Gerakas' The Origin and Development of the Holy Eucharist: East and West brings together these two realities in an enjoyable book that contains a number of insights into how theology of the Eucharist developed and which compares teh Orthodox and Catholic Theology of the Eucharist.
|