St Ambrose of Milan and the Thankful Leper

Every year on December 7 the Orthodox Church commemorates St Ambrose of Milan.  He was bishop of Milan in the fourth century and is, of course, a saint of the Church.  One of his works, The Mysteries, was extremely important for my conversion to the Orthodox Church, and subsequent ordination to the deaconate and then the priesthood.

St Ambrose of Milan

This work taught me, when I was a Protestant, that Holy Communion — the Eucharist — gives to the communicant the true, all-holy, and precious Body and Blood of the incarnate God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This epiphany occurred in 1992 when I was a student at a Protestant seminary.  Upon this revelation I was undone — my “apple cart was tipped over.”  I experienced a “paradigm shift.”  I went “through the looking glass.”  I had to ask some fundamental questions, among them being, “What is salvation?  Are we saved by more than faith alone?”  “What is reality?”  My dualistic understanding of matter and spirit was shattered — they are not separated by a great chasm, they intermingle with one another.

Specifically, I was confronted by these sentences found in The Mysteries:

Perhaps you may say:  “I see something else; how do you tell me that I receive the Body of Christ?” (9: 50).

It has been proven that the sacraments of the Church are more ancient; now realize that they are more powerful.  In very fact it is a marvelous thing that God rained manna on the fathers, and they were fed by daily nourishment form heaven.  Therefore, it is said: “Man has eaten the bread of angels.”  But yet all those who ate that bread died in the desert, but this food which you receive, this living bread which came down from heaven, furnishes the substance of eternal life, and whoever eats this bread “will not die forever;” for it is the body of Christ (9: 49).

St Ambrose quotes from the sixth chapter of St John’s Gospel, and more specifically the Bread of Life discourse that took place in the synagogue of Capernaum.  I had to read from St John’s sixth chapter myself over and over for the message of these verses to sink into my mind (I still refer to them quite frequently).

Your fathers ate the Manna in the wilderness and died.  This is the Bread which is coming down from heaven [katabainon], in order that if someone might eat of it might not die.  I am the Living Bread which came down [katabas] from heaven.  If someone might eat of this Bread he shall live forever, and the Bread which I will give is my Flesh in behalf of the world (St John 6: 49 -51). 

St John uses two different participle forms of the Greek verb katabainein, “to come down,” or “to descend.”

1. 1. Katabainon — substantival present passive form.  The present tense, or aspect, of a Greek verb implies an ongoing activity — no ending of the action is demanded.  This means there is a Bread which is continually coming down from heaven. 
   2. Katabas — a substantival aorist active form.  The aorist declares an action is completed. With this participle, our Lord refers to the Bread which is his Body which came down from heaven only once.  Katabas, thus, refers to his physical Body of the Incarnation that stood before those assembled in the synagogue.

The Living Bread

Again, St John 6: 50 informs us that there is a Bread which is continually coming down from heaven.  Our Lord then defines and clarifies what and who this Bread is in 6:51.  He most clearly states that this Bread which is continually descending from heaven is none other than his physical body of the Incarnation — the body that came down — once and for all which will be broken and given for the life of the world.  They are one and the same!

Perhaps one who denies this truth might think, “Well, by the time of St Ambrose the Church became confused about this matter and many others as well.” Wrong!  250 years earlier St Ignatius of Antioch —  himself a disciple of St John — gave to the church of Smyrna of these words regarding the Eucharist:

They [false teachers] abstain from the Eucharist and prayer, because they do not confess the Eucharist to be the Flesh [sarka – a feminine noun] of our Savior Jesus Christ.  The Flesh [taen, feminine article – sarka is its antecedent] which suffered for our sins, the Flesh [taen, feminine article– again sarka is the antecedent] which, by the goodness of the Father, was raised (Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans VII: 1).

The Apostolic Tradition of the Church, from St John the Apostle, through St Ignatius (early second century), through St Ambrose of Milan (fourth century), to this very day has always taught that by the Eucharist the Church is given our Lord’s Body and Blood.  To deny this is to deny the faith of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church!  To deny this truth is to imply that St John who observed, heard, and touched our Lord — the Incarnate Logos (see 1 John 1: 1- 5) is a liar.  And you accuse all the Fathers of the Church to be liars as well.

Hence, from all of this, especially from St John’s words, we are to understand that the Eucharist is a re-presentation of the Incarnation.  All that is of Christ — all that  he is, and all that he did and accomplished for our salvation — are re-presented anew to us.  A re-presentation of the Incarnation means that the hypostatic union also applies to the Eucharist.  Regarding Jesus of Nazareth the hypostatic union means that he is fully God and fully man.  These two natures are in an indivisible union in the one Person of Jesus, yet the two natures are not to be confused.  Then, regarding the Eucharist, it is fully Jesus’ Body and Blood and fully bread and wine — two “natures” exist in an indivisible union, yet they are not to be confused.  (As an aside, The Roman Catholic understanding of transubstantiation is a bit reminiscent of the error of Monophysitism — that there is only one nature of Jesus.  Thus, transubstantiation states there is only one nature of the Eucharist:  there is only Body and Blood, the bread and wine are simply incidentals.  With the teaching of transubstantiation the Eucharist is a bit misunderstood.)

In addition to the commemoration of St Ambrose of Milan, the day’s Gospel reading presents to the Church the account of the healing of ten lepers.  All were healed, but only one returns to worship and give thanks to Jesus for his healing:

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and was glorifying God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks to him.  Now, he was a Samaritan.  Now, in answering, Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed?  Where are the nine?  Was no one found returning to give glory to God but this foreigner?”  And he said to him, “Rise and go on your way; your faith has saved you!” (St Luke 17: 15 – 19).

Only one healed leper gave thanks to God.  Therefore, only one lived eucharistically.

Living eucharistically:  what do I mean by this phrase?  The Greek word eucharistia means thanksgiving.  St Paul gives this command to the Colossian church:  “And become thankful [kai eucharistoi ginesthe] (Colossians 3:15).  You can also say it this way, “Become Eucharists!”

When the Divine Liturgy comes to its conclusion a priest descends the solea and declares this:  “Let us go forth in peace!”  These words are not simply a command to direct us as we reenter the world.  These words give a commissioning, and a new liturgy begins with the empowering of the Eucharist that moves us to our departures.  St Paul writes,

Rejoice always.  Pray constantly.  Give thanks [eucharisteite] in, with, and for all things:  for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thes 5 – 16 – 18).

By giving thanks for not only the good and pleasant things of life, but also for the difficult and unpleasant things (and people) we live eucharistically.  Thus, if we live eucharistically we incarnate all we encounter — we bear Christ into all things and for all things.  Thus there can be transformations, and we are certainly formed more completely into the image of God, and Christ is more fully formed in us.  We are living Eucharists in the world, and we act as the thankful leper who glorified God!

In Christ,

Fr Irenaeus