Eucharistic Sacrifice and Facing East

There has been a flurry of Anglican social media activity on these topics in the past couple of weeks (here, here, and here).  I posted the final article (here) on my Facebook page, and an acquaintance sent me these thoughts (paraphrased by me):

"This article is about as backward thinking as I have seen recently.  Is God "out there" (as in liturgical East), or is God in the Body of Christ amongst the people with whom we worship (as in liturgical West)? When I am confronted with an altar against the wall, I celebrate from the north end, like the first Anglican church on this continent.  The idea of Eucharistic "sacrifice" is Roman Catholic thinking at its worst; the next thing will be transubstantiation."

This discussion is very interesting to me. I'm learning that many Episcopal clergy who went to seminary between 1965-1990 (ish) feel the way that my acquaintance does. In this view, Vatican II brought about a "rediscovery" in the Western Church of the two things that we're discussing: 1) versus populum celebrations; and 2) the Eucharist primarily as a meal (and less so, or not at all, as a sacrifice).  In contrast, my Facebook feed has been exploding over the past 2 weeks with coherent, well-thought-out articles about celebrating ad orientem and the Eucharist primarily as sacrifice.  All from Episcopal clergy, mainly from priests aged 45 and under, and from folks who affirm the ordination of women and the full inclusion of LGBT Christians in the life of the Church.

At seminary, the class I took on the Sacraments taught essentially what this article teaches about Eucharistic sacrifice.  It was taught by an Episcopal prof, 41 years old, with a ThD from General Seminary, using current-day Anglican and Lutheran textbooks.  In fact, my primary paper in that class was was entitled "Bloodless Sacrifice as found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer." 

The 20th century Liturgical Renewal Movement has brought about many changes to liturgical theology and practice in The Episcopal Church.  But many of us feel the baby has been tossed out with the bathwater.  The Eucharist is not just a holy meal, it's also a reenactment of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It's a thin place in which all time converges at that moment when Jesus was sacrificed for us at Calvary.  In other words, at the Mass, the clergy and people are transported to the green hill far away where our Lord was crucified.  Yes, it's a holy meal in which we are fed spiritual grace, but first and foremost it's a sacrifice.  We are fed spiritual food and drink, but only after Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

This is the foundation for the discussion of ad orientem celebrations of the Eucharist.  It is only with this theology in mind that it makes sense to face liturgical East.  The priest leads the people in praying toward Calvary.  The priest makes his or her sacrifice on behalf of the people - the same sacrifice that was made on the cross.

To address the point about how this "Roman Catholic thinking at its worst, the next thing will be transubstantiation."  Eucharistic sacrifice, and ad orientem orientation is entirely Anglican.  Rome is irrelevant to this discussion, except that when these ideas are traced, they existed in England prior to the Reformation. Also, transubstantiation isn't a scary word in my book.  It's not the word I use to describe what happens at the Eucharist.  Instead, I would say that before the Eucharistic Prayer, it's bread and wine, and after the Eucharistic prayer, it's the body and blood of Christ.  That's why we genuflect to the tabernacle, that's why we bow to the altar, that's why we prepare ourselves via confession and absolution before receiving the most precious body and blood of our Lord.

As a side note, I would never celebrate from the north side of the altar.  The catholic position is eastward or westward facing.  Either is permissible and sometimes appropriate; eastward facing makes the most sense to me.

 

I find this article to be refreshing and indicative that the Episcopal Church is rediscovering things that were lost in the 1970's.  Old things are being made new.  It's time to rediscover a Eucharistic theology that is coherent with both the early Church and with our post-Reformation identity.