On the First Eucharist

Abstract

To recover the institution of the Eucharistie thiasos it is desirable to restore (1) the meanings of Ex. 24:5-11; (2) the Jewish practice of Kinyan; (3) the idiom of «eating his pieces»; and (4) the widespread Asian legend of saints who gave their flesh and blood to save the lives of others. Then Isaiah 53 may be reviewed. Our sources are completed by (5) Jesus’s inventive self-definitions and (6) Paul’s and the evangelists’ midrashim on scraps of reminiscence. Yet (7) there is an aroma appropriate to the Messiah’s banquet promised at Cant 7:3(2).