Ignatius of Antioch, writing in about AD 106 to the Roman Christians, says: "I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life." The short document known as the Teachings of the Apostles or Didache, which may be the earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament to speak of the Eucharist, says, "Let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord for concerning this also the Lord has said, 'Give not that which is holy to the dogs'." A 3rd-century fresco in the Catacomb of Callixtus, interpreted by the archaeologist Joseph Wilpert as showing on the left Jesus multiplying bread and fish, a symbol of the Eucharistic consecration, and on the right a representation of the deceased, who through participation in the Eucharist has obtained eternal happiness Early Christian writers referred to the Eucharistic elements as Jesus's body and the blood.
The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has been believed since very ancient times. Įfforts at mutual understanding of the range of beliefs by these Churches led in the 1980s to consultations on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry by the World Council of Churches. The Real Presence is rejected or interpreted in light of "remembrance" (per certain translations of the New Testament) by other Protestants, including General Baptists, Anabaptists, the Plymouth Brethren, some non-denominational Christian churches, as well as those identifying with liberal Christianity, segments of the Restoration Movement, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The differences in the teachings of these Churches primarily concern "the mode of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper". There are a number of Christian denominations that teach that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, including Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East, the Moravian Church, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Irvingism and Reformed Christianity. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way.
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