st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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turned,
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82 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
whereby we might once more become fit to enjoy the
presence of God. Now, for a man to be raised to
this new and better life, he needs the regeneration
which shall be his birth into it,
and the new food
which shall sustain him in it. Both these are supplied
us, and in a way to correspond to the two-fold wants
of our nature. The double birth for that two-fold
nature is in baptism ; wherein, as our body
rises from
the water, our soul is
quickened by the Holy Spirit.
The double food for the same composite nature is in
the Holy Eucharist; wherein the bread and wine
refresh man s
body; the outpouring of the Spirit, his
soul. The institution of the Lord s
Supper
is then
related. After Christ had eaten the old Passover
with His disciples, and thus fulfilled the old covenant,
He washed the feet of His disciples, presenting therein
a symbol of Holy Baptism. Then He brake the
bread, and gave
it to them, saying Take, : eat, this is
my body, broken on your behalf for remission of sins.
And in like manner he took the cup, of wine and
water, and gave them to partake of it, saying:" after
which follow the words of consecration. It will be
observed that Damascenus makes the washing of the
disciples feet to have been before, and not after, the
institution of the Lord s Supper, and that he uses this
inference to complete the parallel with baptism also,
:
that he speaks of wine and water, not wine alone, as
that which Christ took. To express the way in which
the consecrated elements become the Body and Blood
of Christ, he uses the words are changed and are
and borrows an illustration from the natural
processes of the human body. As bread by eating,"