The primal origin of the eucharist probably occurred far back in the
period of universal anthropophagy. Most savage and semi-savage peoples
have practiced cannibalism because they believed that by eating the
flesh of the dead they gained the qualities of the deceased. Just as
some Africans eat tiger to become brave, savages ate their courageous
foes to attain their virtues. Following this same idea further,
the belief was established that by consuming the flesh of a god,
supernatural powers might be acquired. Thus the early Christian
missionaries to the New World found such customs in Peru and Mexico.
Father Acosta described one of these festivals which occurred annually
each May in Mexico, wherein the statue of a god was made of dough, and
"killed" by an arrow in the hand of a priest. The god was then broken
in pieces which by means of "certain ceremonies ... were blessed and
consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idoll." These pieces the
priest gave "to the people in manner of a communion who received it
with such feare, and reverence, as it was an admirable thing, saying
that they did eate the flesh and bones of God."
Likewise came the idea that sacrifices to the gods in some way attained
godlike characteristics, and so the Guatemalan priests ate the bodies
of the sacrificed.
The words of the modern Roman priest, "hoc est corpus meum,"
which are supposed, by some magical influence, to cause the actual
transubstantiation in the celebration of the eucharist, remind one
forcibly of the dotting of the memorial Chinese tablet by a mandarin,
by which official act the spirit of the departed, to whom it is
dedicated, is presumed to take up residence in the new abode.
As a logical deduction from a given hypothesis, any Roman priest
is greater than the virgin. She conceived God but once, while the
priest may through his mass create the body of the Christ whenever
he so desires. Every time a priest performs this function he is the
father of God.
However, in spite of the absurdity of the practice, to deprive the
communion of the real presence is to make it a senseless and useless
ceremony. While the communicants believe in the efficacy of the wafer
as the actual body, there is reason for absorbing it, as they thus
unite themselves with the actual spirit of the Christ. But the moment
this dogma is rejected, the rite becomes futile, and nothing is more
ridiculous than its perpetuation in the Protestant churches. The
quibble that it is performed in memory of Jesus is a fallacy. In
Unitarian churches it is an arrant absurdity (one that is retained
in many cases simply because the old historical churches of that
denomination have inherited fine old communion plate which is proudly
displayed), and one can only respect and admire Ralph Waldo Emerson's
stand in the matter, when he preferred to relinquish his remunerative
and honorable pastorate in the Second Church of Boston (the only
pulpit he ever filled) rather than celebrate this anachronistic and
indefensible rite.
Jerome carried his reverence for the Eucharistic bread [1] so
far that he considered that the table on which it was consecrated,
together with the cloth in which it was wrapped, and the other utensils
connected with its service, were to be worshiped with equal respect as
that given the body and blood of the Savior. This theory led to the
consecration of altars, which by a decree of the Council of Epaone,
in 517, in imitation of the Jewish and pagan sacrificial altars, were
ordered to be of stone, which material had been originally chosen
as the most suitable material for the execution of the sacrifices,
whose blood should flow over it, without danger of absorption.
Another of the ancient pagan ideas which took a strong hold upon
Christianity and rose to an abnormal power during the middle ages
was that of monasticism with its accompanying asceticism. There is
scarcely a religion of ancient and modern times that does not recognize
asceticism as an element of its system. Buddha taught his disciples a
religion of abstinence, and, among the Buddhists, there are ordained
and tonsured priests, living in monasteries under vows of celibacy,
while there are similar asylums for women. Brahmanism also has its
orders of ascetics and Hinduism has its fakirs. Fasting and self-denial
were observances required by the Greeks of those who desired initiation
into the mysteries; the Jews observed many fasts; and the Egyptian
priests passed their novitiate in the deserts engaged in prayer and
living in caves. Like many other Christian customs, the monastic habit
probably came from Egypt, and it was considered by Gibbon to have
had a potent influence on the fall of the western empire, in that it
removed from active and useful life so many able-bodied men and women.