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Blood of Christ in Christian theology refers to (a) the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ primarily on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby; and (b) the sacramental blood present in the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, which is considered by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran Christians to be the same blood of Christ shed on the Cross. The Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and Lutherans, together with some Anglicans, believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Roman Catholic Church uses the term "Transubstantiation" to describe the change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Eastern Orthodox too have authoritatively used the same term to describe the change, as in ''The Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church''〔"The bread and wine are changed, or ''transubstantiated'', into the very Body of Christ, and into the very Blood of Christ" ((question 339 )).〕 and in the decrees of the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem.〔"In the celebration (of the Eucharist) we believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be present, not typically, nor figuratively, nor by superabundant grace, as in the other Mysteries, nor by a bare presence, as some of the Fathers have said concerning Baptism, or by impanation, so that the Divinity of the Word is united to the set forth bread of the Eucharist hypostatically, as the followers of Luther most ignorantly and wretchedly suppose, but truly and really, so that after the consecration of the bread and of the wine, the bread is transmuted, ''transubstantiated'', converted and transformed into the true Body Itself of the Lord, Which was born in Bethlehem of the ever-Virgin, was baptized in the Jordan, suffered, was buried, rose again, was received up, sitteth at the right hand of the God and Father, and is to come again in the clouds of Heaven; and the wine is converted and ''transubstantiated'' into the true Blood Itself of the Lord, Which as He hung upon the Cross, was poured out for the life of the world" ((Decree XVII )).〕 The Lutheran churches follow the teaching of Martin Luther in defining the presence of Christ in the Eucharistic elements as sacramental union (often misconstrued as consubstantiation), meaning that the fundamental "substance" of the body and blood of Christ are literally present ''alongside'' the substance of the bread and wine, which remain present. Lutherans too believe in and teach the Real Presence. Most Protestant churches reject the idea of the Real Presence; they observe Eucharistic rites as simply memorials. ==History== In the early Church, the faithful received the Eucharist in the form of consecrated bread and wine. Saint Maximus explains that in the Old Law the flesh of the sacrificial victim was shared with the people, but the blood of the sacrifice was merely poured out on the altar. Under the New Law, however, Jesus' blood was the drink shared by all of Christ's faithful. St. Justin Martyr, an early Church father of the 2nd century, speaks of the Eucharist as the same body and blood of Christ that was present in His Incarnation. The tradition continued in the Church in the East to commingle the species of bread and wine, whereas in the West, the Church had the practice of communion under the species of bread and wine separately as the custom, with only a small fraction of bread placed in the chalice. In the West, the communion at the chalice was made less and less efficient, as the dangers of the spread of disease and danger of spillage (which would potentially be sacrilegious) were considered enough of a reason to remove the chalice from common communion altogether, or giving it on only special occasions. However, it was always consecrated and drunk by the priest, regardless of whether or not the laity partook. This was one of the main issues in the Protestant Reformation . As a consequence, the Catholic Church first wanted to eliminate ambiguity, reaffirming that Christ was present both as body and as blood equally under both species of bread and wine. As time went on, the chalice was made more available to the laity. After the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church gave a full permission for all to receive communion from the chalice at every Mass involving a congregation, at the discretion of the priest. See also Shroud of Turin#Blood stains for laboratory researches. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blood of Christ」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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