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:''This article is about the religious concept. For article about the sect, see The Body of Christ.''
The 'Body of Christ' is a term used by Christians to describe believers in Christ. Jesus Christ is seen as the "head" of the body, which is the church. The "members" of the body are seen as members of the Church. It is also the term used the the Apostle Paul to describe the Eucharistic Communion .

Contents

Roman Catholicism

Eastern Orthodox

References

See also

Roman Catholicism

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the term "Body of Christ" refers most specifically to the "bread" shared at the Eucharist, while the "wine" is referred to as the "Blood of Christ." After the Consecration, according to Catholic doctrine, the elements (or "gifts" as they are termed for liturgical purposes) are transformed (transubstantiated) into the actual Body and Blood of Christ. Catholic doctrine holds that the elements are not only spiritually transformed, but rather are actually (substantially) transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. The elements retain the appearance or "accidents" of bread and wine, but are indeed the actual Body and Blood of Christ. This is what is meant by Real Presence; the actual, physical presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.Other traditions accept this doctrine in various forms, often using the term “consubstantiation” to refer to a spiritual change into the Body and Blood, without changing the substance of the elements. For this reason, what remains of the sacrament after the Communion procession is reserved in the Tabernacle. The primary purpose of reservation is for bringing communion to the sick. Secondarily, the reserved sacrament serves as a focal point for private devotion and prayer as well as for public Eucharistic adoration.
The term is also used by the Roman Catholic Church to refer to the entire community of baptized individuals.
In the context of the local churches it is a metaphor used to describe the synchronicity between different localities and God. In this, God is the head and the people who make up the Church in each locality are termed "members of the body". The "members of the body" may look different or may perform different functions, but they all work as one under the will of the head (God). For example, a person who is a gifted orator is encouraged to use his or her talents to act as a mouthpiece for God. Other such personal strengths would be similarly applied towards the "expression of Christ". In this way people can be functioning and active members of the "Body of Christ".
The Body of Christ, meaning the entire community of Christians, is also called the Bride of Christ, for whom Christ will return.

Eastern Orthodox

The Eastern Orthodox Church also believes that the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine become the actual Body and Blood of Christ. It has authoritatively used the term "Transubstantiation" to describe this change, as in ''The Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church''^[1] and in the decrees of the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem.^[2]
The Orthodox see the description of the Church (''Ecclessia'') as the "Body of Christ" as being inextricably connected to Holy Communion. According to St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 35-107), the unity of the Church is expressed in Eucharistic terms. Just as there are many offerings made throughout the world on any given day, and yet all partake of one and the same Body of Christ, so the Church, though existing in many separate localities, is only one.

References

1. "The bread and wine are changed, or ''transubstantiated'', into the very Body of Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ" (question 339).
2. "In the celebration (of the Eucharist) we believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present, not typically, nor figuratively, nor by superabundant grace, as in the other Mysteries, nor by a bare presence, as some of the Fathers have said concerning Baptism, or by impanation, so that the Divinity of the Word is united to the set forth bread of the Eucharist hypostatically, as the followers of Luther most ignorantly and wretchedly suppose, but truly and really, so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, the bread is transmuted, ''transubstantiated'', converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord, Which was born in Bethlehem of the ever-Virgin, was baptised in the Jordan, suffered, was buried, rose again, was received up, sitteth at the right hand of the God and Father, and is to come again in the clouds of Heaven; and the wine is converted and ''transubstantiated'' into the true Blood Itself of the Lord, Which as He hung upon the Cross, was poured out for the life of the world" (Decree XVII).

See also

★ Church

★ Eucharist

★ Blood of Christ