Anglican-Orthodox Agreed Statement on the Mass

Here follows the text of the only official Anglican-Orthodox agreement which has ever been accomplished on the subject of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, established in 1935 in Bucharest, Romania. The Anglican-Orthodox Dublin Agreed Statement of 1984 states, 'nor have we considered how far the Eucharist may be regarded as a sacrifice.' That is, 'we have not discussed [the Bucharest Statement of 1935] in detail, nor, acting as a Joint Commission, have we yet expressed our agreement or otherwise with the six points that it contains.' Because later dialogues at Moscow and Dublin did not address the subject, the 1935 agreement remains the only official agreement between the two Churches to date:

A Report of the Conference held from Saturday, June 1st, to Saturday, June 8th, 1935, in the Patriarchal Palace of Bucarest, between the Commission of the Rumanian Church upon Relations with the Anglican Communion and the Church of England Delegation appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to confer with the same.

We, the Members of the aforesaid Rumanian Commission and Church of England Delegation, report to the Holy Synod of the Church of Rumania, and to His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as follows:

THE HOLY EUCHARIST

A statement was submitted by the Rumanian Commission to the Anglican Delegation, concerning the Holy Eucharist and was accepted unanimously by the latter in the following form:

1. At the Last Supper, our Lord Jesus Christ anticipated the sacrifice of His death by giving Himself to the Apostles in the form of bread blessed by Him as meat and in the form of wine blessed by Him as drink.

2. The sacrifice offered (prosenechtheisa) by our Lord on Calvary was offered once for all, expiates the sins as well of the living as of the dead, and reconciles us with God. Our Lord Jesus Christ does not need to sacrifice Himself again.

3. The sacrifice on Calvary is perpetually presented in the Holy Eucharist in a bloodless fashion (anaimaktos) under the form (Rumanian, sub chipul) of bread and wine through the consecrating priest and through the work of the Holy Ghost in order that the fruits of the sacrifice of the Cross may be partaken of by those who offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice, by those for whom it is offered, and by those who receive worthily the Body and Blood of the Lord.

4. In the Eucharist the bread and wine become by consecration (metabole) the Body and Blood of our Lord. How? This is a mystery.

5. The Eucharistic bread and wine remain the Body and Blood of our Lord as long as these Eucharistic elements exist.

6. Those who receive the Eucharistic bread and wine truly partake of the Body and Blood of Our Lord.

It was stated by the Anglican Bishops that in the Sacrament of the Eucharist 'the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper,' and that 'the Body of Christ is given, taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner,' and that after Communion the consecrated elements remaining are regarded sacramentally as the Body and Blood of Christ; further, that the Anglican Church teaches the doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice as explained in the Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to Pope Leo XIII on Anglican Ordinations; and also that in the offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice the Anglican Church prays that 'by the merits and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood, we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His passion,' as including the whole company of faithful people, living and departed.

Again, we have the Catholic Faith of the Anglican Tradition on the Eucharist unambiguously asserted in an ecumenical agreement with the Eastern Orthodox Churches. In 1935, the Church of England and the Romanian Orthodox Church achieved substantial agreement on the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist.