Real presence. Outline of an ecumenical review

Abstract

The issue of an adequate description, a conceptual formulation and a theological interpretationof the gift of the Lord’s Supper, has been a concern of Christianity since ancient times. Thecircumspect observation in the Charta Oecumenica (2001) reads: ‘Fundamental differences infaith are still barriers to visible unity’. In the light of those difficulties, attempts have beenmade in recent years to work on a ‘Joint Declaration on the Lord’s Supper’. All churches anddenominations face the challenge to bring that which they learn of Jesus Christ’s sacramentalpresence from the New Testament. Some rapprochements have been achieved in the lastdecades. Some of those results are discussed in this essay.

Keywords

• Lord’s Supper
• Eucharist
• sacrament (of the altar)
• Real Presence
• Ecumenical dialogues
• Charta Oecumenica
• Transsubstantiation