Feast Of St Joseph Quotes

Elder Arsenios continued, “During a major feast, Elder Joseph had such a strong desire to partake of the Holy Mysteries that his tears turned the ground to mud, and he berated himself as unworthy of the Body and Blood of our Saviour. “While in that state of great compunction, the dark cave suddenly lit up with heavenly light. He lifted his eyes. What did he see? A heavenly angel, holding in his hands a spoon with the Body and Blood of our Master. The angel whispered, ‘The Body and Blood of Christ. Monk Joseph, the servant of God, takes communion.’ The angel gave him Communion and disappeared.

Gutberlet answers this question suc cinctly as follows: " First and above all we uphold the idea of the mystical slaying of the sacrificial Victim by means of the double Consecration. In connection with this, the preparation of the food signifies the preparation of the slain lamb for the sacrificial feast. In this sense the preparation of the sacrificial food continues, supple ments, and completes the mystic slaying. Only a lifeless lamb that has been sacrificed can be eaten, as St. Gregory of Nyssa says. Because the Eucharist is also a Sacra ment, the Consecration, as an offering, reduces the Body of the Lord to the condition of food, which condition 18 fjS-r} r6 awfia IrtQvro* l» V. supra, pp. 162 sqq. 370 THE EUCHARIST AS A SACRIFICE is at the same time that of a sacrificial lamb/' 20 Cfr. i Cor. V, 7: " Etenim Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus — For Christ our pasch is sacrificed.