Augustine, sermon 227. On the Easter liturgy: baptism, anointing, Eucharist.
Memor sum promissionis meae. Promiseram enim vobis, qui baptizati estis, sermonem quo exponerem mensae Dominicae Sacramentum, quod modo etiam videtis et cuius nocte praeterita participes facti estis. Debetis scire quid accepistis, quid accepturi estis, quid quotidie accipere debeatis. Panis ille quem videtis in altari sanctificatus per verbum Dei, corpus est Christi.
I remember my promise. For I had promised you who had been baptized a discourse in which I would expound the sacrament of the Lord’s table (dominica), which you see only now, and of which you were made partakers last night. You must know what you have received, what you will receive and what you must receive every day. This bread you see, sanctified on the altar by the word of God, is the body of Christ.
Calix ille, immo quod habet calix, sanctificatum per verbum Dei, sanguis est Christi. Per ista voluit Dominus Christus commendare corpus et sanguinem suum, quem pro nobis fudit in remissionem peccatorum. Si bene accepistis, vos estis quod accepistis.
This cup, or rather what this cup contains, sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ. By these things Christ the Lord willed to entrust his body and blood, which he shed for the remission of sins. If you have received them, you are what you have received.
Apostolus enim dicit: Unus panis, unum corpus, multi sumus. Sic exposuit sacramentum mensae Dominicae: Unus panis, unum corpus, multi sumus. Commendatur vobis in isto pane quomodo unitatem amare debeatis.
The apostle, in fact, says: “One bread, one body, [despite the fact that] we are many.” (1 Corinthians 10:17). So he expounds the sacrament of the Lord’s table: one bread, one body, we are many. In this bread, you are entrusted with the way in which you must love unity.
Numquid enim panis ille de uno grano factus est? Nonne multa erant tritici grana? Sed antequam ad panem venirent, separata erant; per aquam coniuncta sunt post quamdam contritionem.
Indeed, is this bread made from a single seed? Were there not many wheat seeds? But before they became bread, they were separated; they were reunited by water after a certain “contrition”.
Note: By the term “contritio” Augustine indicates both the seeds that are crushed and the spirit that is contrite, when he asks for baptism for the forgiveness of his faults.
Nisi enim molatur triticum et per aquam conspergatur, ad istam formam minime venit, quae panis vocatur. Sic et vos ante ieiunii humiliatione et exorcismi sacramento quasi molebamini.
For if wheat is not ground and sprinkled with water, it does not come at all to that form which is called bread. So you too, before the humiliation of fasting and the sacrament of exorcism, are like ground wheat.
Accessit baptismum et aqua quasi conspersi estis, ut ad formam panis veniretis. Sed nondum est panis sine igne. Quid ergo significat ignis, hoc est chrisma olei? Etenim ignis nutritor Spiritus Sancti est sacramentum.
Baptism has taken place and you are bathed in water, so that you can take on the form of bread. But there is no bread without fire. What, then, does fire mean? Is it the anointing (chrisma) of oil? Indeed, what nourishes the fire [the oil] is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit.
In Actibus Apostolorum advertite quando legitur; modo enim incipit liber ipse legi: hodie coepit liber qui vocatur Actuum Apostolorum. Qui vult proficere, habet unde. Quando convenitis ad ecclesiam, tollite fabulas vanas; intenti estote ad Scripturas. Codices vestri nos sumus.
Pay attention to the book of Acts when it is read: indeed, it is just now that this book begins to be read: today has begun the book called Acts of the Apostles. Anyone who wants to make progress has a starting point here. When you gather in church, put away the vain fables, pay attention to the Scriptures. We are your codexes [books].
Attendite ergo et videte, qua venturus est Pentecoste Spiritus Sanctus. Et sic veniet: in linguis igneis se ostendit. Inspirat enim caritatem qua ardeamus in Deum et mundum contemnamus et foenum nostrum exuratur et cor quasi aurum purgetur.
Pay attention, then, and see how the Holy Spirit will come at Pentecost. He comes in tongues of fire. Indeed, he inspires the gratuitous love (charitatem) by which we burn in God, we despise the world, our hay is consumed and the heart is purified like gold.
Accedit ergo Spiritus Sanctus, post aquam ignis et efficimini panis quod est corpus Christi. Et ideo unitas quodam modo significatur. Tenetis sacramenta ordine suo.
Then comes the Holy Spirit, after the water comes the fire, and you become this bread which is the body of Christ. And then, in a way, unity is signified. Remember the sacraments in their order.
Note: The sacraments in their order: First, Augustine recalled and explained the sacramental events of Easter night: the catechumens received baptism with water, confirmation with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and communion with bread. They are like wheat seeds that must first be ground, that is, they must approach baptism with a contrite spirit to receive forgiveness of sins and enter into a filial relationship with God; then, having become ground seeds, they must be sprinkled with water like flour to form a single dough, and then baked with fire by the Holy Spirit who inspires them with charity. In the passage that follows, Augustine explains how the Eucharistic meal is celebrated, step by step.
Primo, post orationem, admonemini sursum habere cor; hoc decet membra Christi. Si enim membra Christi facti estis, caput vestrum ubi est? Membra habent caput. Si caput non praecessisset, membra non sequerentur.
First of all, after prayer, you are warned that your heart must be in the heights [of heaven]: this is appropriate for the members [of the body] of Christ. Indeed, if you have become members of Christ, where is your head? Members have a head. If the head had not preceded, the members would not follow.
Quo ivit caput nostrum? Quid reddidistis in Symbolo? Tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Ergo in caelo caput nostrum. Ideo cum dicitur: Sursum cor, respondetis: Habemus ad Dominum.
Where has our head gone? What did you answer in the Symbol [of faith, in the Creed]?” On the third day he rose from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father”. So, our head is in heaven. So when we say, “The heart in the heights [of heaven],” you reply, “We have it near the Lord.”
Et ne hoc ipsum quod cor habetis sursum ad Dominum, tribuatis viribus vestris, meritis vestris, laboribus vestris, quia Dei donum est sursum habere cor, ideo sequitur episcopus, vel presbiter qui offert et dicit – cum respondent populus: Habemus ad Dominum sursum cor -: Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro, quia sursum cor habemus.
And so that you do not attribute having hearts in the heights near the Lord to your own strength, merits and efforts and since having hearts in the heights is a gift from God, behold, the bishop, or priest who offers [the sacrifice], continues and – after the people respond: “We have the heart near the Lord” – says: “We give thanks to the Lord our God,” since we have the heart in the heights.
Gratias agamus, quia nisi donaret in terra cor haberemus. Et vos attestamini dicentes: Dignum et iustum est, ut ei gratias agamus qui nos fecit sursum ad nostrum caput habere cor.
We give thanks because if he had not given, our heart would be on earth. And you also affirm, saying: “It is worthy and just that we should give thanks to him, who made our hearts be in the heights, next to our head.
Deinde post sanctificationem sacrificii Dei, quia nos ipsos voluit esse sacrificium suum, quod demonstratum est, ubi impositum est primum illud sacrificium Dei et nos – id est signum rei – quod sumus; ecce ubi est peracta sanctificatio dicimus Orationem Dominicam, quam accepistis et reddidistis.
Then, after the sanctification of God’s sacrifice, since he willed that we ourselves should be his sacrifice, which has been demonstrated [above], where first this sacrifice of God is deposited [on the altar] and what we are is signified by the material element [of bread]; behold, when sanctification is effected, we say the Lord’s prayer, which you have received and given back.
Post ipsam dicitur: Pax vobiscum et osculantur Christiani in osculo sancto. Pacis signum est: sicut ostendunt labia, fiat in conscientia, id est, quomodo labia tua ad labia fratris tui accedunt, sic cor tuum a corde eius non recedat.
After this, we say: “Peace be with you”, and the Christians embrace in a holy kiss. This is the sign of peace: according to what the lips show, so it is done in the conscience, that is, just as your lips meet those of your brother, so your heart does not depart from his heart.
Magna ergo sacramenta et valde magna. Vultis nosse quomodo commendentur? Ait Apostolus: Qui manducat corpus Christi aut bibit calicem Domini indigne, reus est corporis et sanguinis Domini. Quid est indigne accipere? Contemptibiliter accipere, irridenter accipere.
These, then, are great sacraments, very great indeed. Do you want to know how they are entrusted? The Apostle says: “Whoever eats the body of Christ or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:2). What does it mean to receive unworthily? To receive with contempt, to receive with derision.
Non tibi videatur vile, quia vides. Quod vides transit, sed quod significatur invisibile non transit, sed permanet. Ecce accipitur, comeditur, consumitur. Numquid corpus Christi consumitur? numquid Ecclesia Christi consumitur? numquid membra Christi consumuntur? Absit. Hic mundantur, ibi coronantur. Manebit ergo quod significatur, quamquam transire videatur illud quod significat. Sic ergo accipite ut vos cogitetis, unitatem in corde habeatis, sursum cor semper figatis. Spes vestra non sit in terra, sed in caelo; fides vestra firma sit in Deum, acceptabilis sit Deo. Quia quod modo hic non videtis et creditis, visuri estis illic, ubi sine fine gaudebitis.
Let this not seem worthless to you, because you see it. What you see passes away, but what is signified is invisible and does not pass away, but remains. Behold, it is received, eaten and consumed. But is the body of Christ consumed? Is the Church of Christ consumed? Are the members of Christ consumed? Let it not be so. Here [the members] are purified, there they are crowned. What is signified, then, will remain, though what signifies seems to pass away. So, then, receive by reflecting on yourselves, having unity in your heart and always fixing your heart in the heights. Let your hope not be on earth, but in heaven; let your faith be firm in God, and be for him acceptable. For what you do not see now, but believe, you will see there, where you will rejoice without end.
Note: On the notion of sacrament. The word sacramentum, etymologically indicates where there is something sacred, i.e. where there is the sacred presence of the divinity and therefore a tangible, visible reality that contains the sacred presence of the divinity. Here Augustine uses the word sacrament for every moment of the Easter liturgy, where an earthly reality is a sign of a divine spiritual reality at work in the spirit of man. The visible thing becomes a sacrament through Christ’s words, pronounced by the bishop or priest during the liturgy. Through the action of Christ’s words, simple earthly elements such as water, oil, bread and wine become signs of a spiritual reality. They signify the presence of God in the midst of men, his invisible action in the minds of men through visible elements that are a sign of what is happening in the minds of those who receive them. For example, those who worthily receive the Eucharistic bread are brought together like wheat seeds that form a loaf in the unity of the body of Christ. It is the spirit of Christ that makes this possible: if those who receive it do so with the right disposition, with dignity, with a contrite spirit, seeking unity, then all this will be given by God, and his sacred presence will be among men who give him thanks and are thus united with him. So, for example, bread is a sign, that is to say, it signifies the unity of Christians in God, achieved through Christ.
Augustine, sermon 272. On the Eucharist.
Hoc quod videtis in altari Dei, etiam transacta nocte vidistis: sed quid esset, quid sibi vellet, quam magnae rei sacramentum contineret, nondum audistis. Quod ergo videtis, panis est et calix; quod vobis etiam oculi vestri renuntiant: quod autem fides vestra postulat instruenda, panis est corpus Christi, calix sanguis Christi. Breviter quidem hoc dictum est, quod fidei forte sufficiat: sed fides instructionem desiderat. Dicit enim propheta: Nisi credideritis, non intellegetis.
What you see on the altar of God, you have also seen in the night that has passed: but you have not yet heard what it was, what it meant, nor the sacrament of what great thing it contained. What you see, then, is the bread and the cup; it is also what your eyes announce to you. However, what your faith needs to be taught is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the cup is the blood of Christ. What has been said is undoubtedly brief, which might perhaps suffice for faith: but faith desires instruction. Indeed, the prophet says: “Unless you believe, you will not understand.” (Isaiah 7:9 Septuagint).
Potestis enim modo dicere mihi: Praecepisti ut credamus, expone ut intellegamus. Potest enim in animo cuiusquam cogitatio talis suboriri: Dominus noster Iesus Christus, novimus unde acceperit carnem; de virgine Maria.
Indeed, at this point you might say to me: you taught us to believe, explain so that we may understand. Indeed, in someone’s soul might arise a thought like this: “We know from whence our Lord Jesus Christ took flesh, from the virgin Mary.
Infans lactatus est, nutritus est, crevit, ad iuvenilem aetatem perductus est, a Iudaeis persecutionem passus est, ligno suspensus est, in ligno interfectus est, de ligno depositus est, sepultus est, tertia die resurrexit, quo die voluit, in coelum ascendit;
As a child, he was nursed, he was nourished, he grew up, he was led to youth, he suffered persecution from the Jews, he was hung on a wood, on the wood he was killed, from the wood he was deposited, he was buried, on the third day he rose again, on the day he wished, he ascended into heaven;
illuc levavit corpus suum; inde est venturus ut iudicet vivos et mortuos; ibi est modo sedens ad dexteram Patris: quomodo est panis corpus eius? et calix, vel quod habet calix, quomodo est sanguis eius? Ista, fratres, ideo dicuntur Sacramenta, quia in eis aliud videtur, aliud intellegitur.
There he raised his body; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead; there he now sits at the right hand of the Father: in what way is the bread his body? And the cup, or what the cup contains, in what way is it his blood? For this reason, brethren, these things are called sacraments, because in them we see one thing and understand another.
Quod videtur, speciem habet corporalem, quid intellegitur, fructum habet spiritalem. Corpus ergo Christi si vis intellegere, Apostolum audi dicentem fidelibus: Vos autem estis corpus Christi, et membra.
What appears has a corporeal aspect, what is understood has a spiritual fruit. If, therefore, you wish to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle who says to the faithful: “Now you are the body of Christ and the members”. ( 1 Corinthians 12:17).
Si ergo vos estis corpus Christi et membra, mysterium vestrum in mensa Dominica positum est: mysterium vestrum accipitis. Ad id quod estis, Amen respondetis, et respondendo subscribitis. Audis enim, Corpus Christi; et respondes, Amen.
If, then, you are Christ’s body and members, it is your mystery which is on the Lord’s table: receive your mystery. Answer: “Amen” to what you are, and in answering give your assent. Indeed, you hear: “The body of Christ” and you answer: “Amen”.
Note: Augustine describes here the ritual of communion to the body of Christ: the priest points to the host and says: “The body of Christ” and the faithful who have received it answer “Amen”, i.e. I believe in it, so be it.
Esto membrum corporis Christi, ut verum sit Amen. Quare ergo in pane? Nihil hic de nostro afferamus, ipsum Apostolum identidem audiamus, qui cum de isto Sacramento loqueretur, ait: Unus panis, unum corpus multi sumus: intellegite et gaudete; unitas, veritas, pietas, caritas.
Be a member of the body of Christ, so that your “Amen” may be true. Why, then, in the bread? Let us listen to the Apostle himself, who, when speaking of this sacrament on several occasions, says: “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body.” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Understand and rejoice; unity, truth, piety, gratuitous love.
Unus panis: quis est iste unus panis? Unum corpus multi. Recolite quia panis non fit de uno grano, sed de multis. Quando exorcizabamini, quasi molebamini. Quando baptizati estis, quasi conspersi estis. Quando Spiritus Sancti ignem accepistis, quasi cocti estis.
One bread: who is this one bread? One body and many [who form it]. Remember that bread is not made from a single seed, but from many. When you received the exorcism, you were ground. When you were baptized, you were as if wet. When you received the fire of the Holy Spirit, you were as if cooked.
Estote quod videtis, et accipite quod estis. Hoc Apostolus de pane dixit. Iam de calice quid intellegeremus, etiam non dictum, satis ostendit. Sicut enim ut sit species visibilis panis, multa grana in unum consperguntur, tamquam illud fiat, quod de fidelibus ait Scriptura Sancta: Erat illis anima una, et cor unum in Deum: sic et de vino.
Be what you see, and receive what you are. This is what the Apostle said about the bread. As for the cup, what we could understand, even if it wasn’t said, he showed sufficiently. Indeed, just as it is with the visible aspect of bread, where many seeds are united into one, so it is with the wine, as Scripture says of the faithful: “They were of one mind and one heart in God” (Acts of the Apostles 4:32).
Fratres, recolite unde fit vinum. Grana multa pendent ad botrum, sed liquor granorum in unitate confunditur. Ita et Dominus Christus nos significavit nos ad se pertinere voluit, mysterium pacis et unitatis nostrae in sua mensa consecravit. Qui accipit mysterium unitatis, et non tenet vinculum pacis, non mysterium accipit pro se, sed testimonium contra se.
Brothers, remember what wine is made from. Many seeds hang from the cluster, but the liquid from the seeds melts into unity. Thus, the Lord Christ indicated that he wanted us to belong to him (pertinere) [be united with him], and he consecrated the mystery of our peace and unity on his table. Whoever receives the mystery of unity and does not keep the bond of peace, does not receive the mystery in his favor, but a testimony against himself.
Conversi ad Dominum Deum Patrem omnipotentem, puro corde ei, quantum potest parvitas nostra, maximas atque veras gratias agamus; precantes toto animo singularem mansuetudinem eius, ut preces nostras in beneplacito suo exaudire dignetur; inimicum quoque a nostris actibus et cogitationibus sua virtute expellat, nobis multiplicet fidem, mentem gubernet, spiritales cogitationes concedat, et ad beatitudinem suam perducat: per Iesum Christum Filium eius. Amen.
Turning to the Lord God the Father Almighty, with a pure heart, as far as our littleness allows, let us give him the greatest and truest thanksgiving; appealing with all our soul to his sole benevolence, so that in his good pleasure he may deign to answer our prayers. May he expel the enemy from our actions and thoughts by his power, multiply faith for us, govern our minds, grant us spiritual thoughts and lead us to his beatitude: through Jesus Christ his Son. Amen.