The Real Presence in I Corinthians and Icons in Anglicanism

1. Saint Paul uses the striking language he does about one being 'guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord' and 'eating and drinking damnation to oneself' by not properly discerning the Body of the Lord precisely because of the Real Presence and the communion of charity which is the Lord's mystical Body the Church. Were the Eucharist merely a fellowship meal or the tokens of the Eucharist merely symbols (in the modern sense) of Christ, the language regarding damnation as a result of unworthy participation in the sacramental action would be hyperbolic at best and nonsensical at worst. Some biblical commentators often obfuscate the plain meaning of the text and try to spiritualise or typologise the meaning of the passage in such a way that the Real Presence is denied or avoided. It would be the worst kind of exaggeration and hyperbole to suggest that one endangers one's immortal soul or runs the risk of eternal damnation simply by mistreating bread and wine or getting drunk at supper and neglecting one's fellow diners. To say one is guilty of the very Body and very Blood of the Lord is to assert clearly that one has desecrated and profaned the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Apart from the Real Presence and its manifestation in the Eucharistic Communion of the Church's faithful, such language just does not make any sense at all and would in fact come across as the worst kind of moralism. Saint Paul's language fits only when one considers that when he says one may be guilty of the Lord's Body it is meant as a literal statement of fact. Then the solemnity and ominousness of Saint Paul's language fits exactly. 1 Corinthians 10 must be read with 1 Corinthians 11, and in that preceding chapter Saint Paul explicitly declares, 'is not the Bread that we break a participation in the Body of Christ? Is not the Cup of blessing which we share a participation in the Blood of Christ?' And he goes on to compare the Table of the Lord, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to the table of demons, pagan sacrifices. Taken together the contextual meaning is abundantly clear... at least to Catholics and Orthodox!

2. Some Anglicans have never been properly catechised regarding the theology of the Church on Icons, although many of those good souls have no objection to stained-glass windows or Altar crosses and crucifixes. We have in this case a lack of proper education and formation on the part of a few in the received Faith of the Anglican Church, which has always affirmed the dogmatic value of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, if not its practical application. The recovery of the actual practice mandated by Nicea II only came about in its totality in Anglicanism with the Oxford Movement and Catholic Revival, although the Caroline Divines and old High Churchmen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries certainly employed sacred art in churches. Lancelot Andrewes used a crucifix and incense, as did William Laud. Queen Elizabeth herself had a great crucifix in her private chapel. Oxford University erected a large statue of Our Lady at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin before Cromwell's war and the Interregnum. There is a continuous tradition of iconodulism in Anglicanism - but there has been iconoclasm from the puritan element in the Church as well. That puritan and rebellious streak, mercifully, has always been alien to the mainstream Incarnational theology of orthodox Anglicanism post 1559. The early Reformation period from 1547 to 1553 was very ugly and promulgated by men influenced by the Continental religious revolt - we should consider it exceptional and anomalous, and certainly not normative for Anglican doctrine and practice; Anglicanism moderated under Elizabeth and slowly intensified in its Catholic ethos under James I, Charles I, and Charles II - and, with bumps in the road, all the way up to the Tractarian Movement. The need today is for more vigorous and lucid theological formation in teaching and preaching, which will bring about the oneness of belief that we all desire. The matter of theology for us was settled with the Affirmation of Saint Louis (1977), which affirmed the ecumenical and dogmatic status of all Seven General Councils for the Anglican Tradition. Icons are a part of our received Tradition from the whole Catholic Church. We just have to let our people in on the secret...