Thank you for sharing your Substack with me! It has been a pleasure reading your posts. You pointed out an essential part of communion that most of us sinners neglect. Maybe in today's temptations towards hyperindividualism it is the hardest part of the Christian life. Holy communion is integration which is both vertical (uniting with God) and horizontal (uniting with each other). Without the vertical integration, we become a social club. Without the horizontal integration, we have an atomized "just me and God" existence.
As St Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15, partaking unworthily of the Eucharist can harm us. This includes approaching the Eucharist in a state of unrepentant sin, includng callous or indifferent actions towards others. Communing in an unworthy manner may steepen us further in our sins, hardening our hearts toward our neighbor.
The Christian tradition, and Holy Scripture itself, points to us becoming fully realized in our human nature only when we are in right relation to others. The Bible plays with the singular and the plural, juxtaposing the unity of mankind's one substance with the distinction of persons within that one substance which are wholly unique and never interchangeable:
"...in the day that God created Adam, He made HIM in the likeness of God. Male and female he created THEM..." (Genesis 5:1-2)
"And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are indeed many members, but one body." (1 Corinthians 12:20-21)
The late Pope Benedict XVI, following the tradition of Augustine's analogy of the Godhead, suggested that mankind might be better understood, not as a collection of individual body-soul unions, but as a single physical/spiritual substance, with the individual persons being "relations within the one substance." For if we were truly created as individual, atomized instantiations of one single nature, why are no two human beings interchangeable, like tires in a factory?
If this conception of the human person as a "relation in substance" is accurate, then we can never genuinely be in right relation to God without also being in right relation to others. This is because Christ has truly united the created human substance to the uncreated divine substance. Any attempt to sever our connection with others is to, quite literally, sever our connection to God, right down to the material level.
Therefore, holy communion should be approached with the utmost seriousness. In the ancient Christian tradition, it is the very means by which God normally saves us and unites us to himself. While God can save anyone he wishes (thief on the cross), the normative means he provided for our salvation was taking on our human nature with no change to his divinity, and literally uniting his fully divine human body to ours, making us "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) and healing us from the inside.
The apostle John speaks of κοινωνία, ("koinonia," often translated as "fellowship" but understood by the Church Fathers more properly as "communion," and inseparable from the Eucharist, the very body and blood of the Lord Jesus which was sacrificed for us):
"If we say that we have communion with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have communion with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:6-7)
The tree of life in the Garden of Eden is Christ on the cross. We eat its fruit and become its branches on the tree.
What a deep reply! Thank you, Daniel. I do not have a deep response to give right now, but I do have several questions I would love for you to help me think through.
1. The notion of us being "relations within the one substance" is fascinating and opens many doors to understanding. It may even have ties to the work of Carl Jung and the "Collective Unconscious"? Regardless, when you say, "relations within the one substance" it begs the questions. Relations of what to what, exactly? If you are just essentially saying "of one part of the substance to another part" how can you tell where one part begins and ends? The notion of relationship by definition implies a certain amount of disguishment and distinction, right? Help me understand.
2. Christ as the tree of life is mind blowing! But then... Who is the other tree? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil..... 👀👀👀
1. If I understand the holy fathers correctly, the person is a particular relation is OF the entire substance TO the same entire substance. As you say, "how can you tell where one part begins and ends?" The point of understanding persons as 'relations in substance' is to avoid the pitfalls of your very question. For we have, in fairly precise sense, a division of the human substance into distinct bodies, but the boundaries are a little fuzzy; you took flesh from your mother in the womb, you very indirectly share flesh from your progenitor Adam, every cell in your body is different from when you were 5 but you are still the same person, etc. etc.
This conception of person as a "relation in substance" is not universally acknowledged as the right answer to "what is a person" in the Christian tradition, and it's much more popular in the west than in the east. It helps you, great, if not, I wouldn't worry about it.
2. I am unwilling to try to formulate my own opinion on any of these matters, so I will share what I read in the patristic tradition. Gregory Nazianzus (4th century) sees the tree of knowledge as the vision of God, which God intended for man to see when he was ready. St Ephraim the Syrian (also 4th century) sees it similarly like a veil (like the veil before the Holy of Holies), hiding God's full glory. Encountering God in this way gives us his wisdom and the knowledge of himself and ourselves.
Contrary to the atheist slanderers of our God, God never wanted us to remain ignorant, but always desired man to ask for and acquire this wisdom (e.g. 1 Kings 3:7-12). Whatever the tree is, the patristic tradition teaches that if approached in faith, humility, and love for God, it is a blessing, but if approached with selfishness and a desire to be like God without God, it is a curse.
Seeing the face of God in an unworthy manner makes manifest our own inadequacies and weakness, and causes us to cave inwards in our desires, leading to our spiritual and physical death (Exodus 33:20), but seeing the face of God in faith and love divinizes us with the uncreated light of God (Exodus 33:11, Exodus 34:29) .
I also will need some time to read and digest the PDF you shared. If the answers to my questions are found within there, feel free to just say so and I can do the work of digesting it without making you rehash what is already been written there.
Thank you for sharing your Substack with me! It has been a pleasure reading your posts. You pointed out an essential part of communion that most of us sinners neglect. Maybe in today's temptations towards hyperindividualism it is the hardest part of the Christian life. Holy communion is integration which is both vertical (uniting with God) and horizontal (uniting with each other). Without the vertical integration, we become a social club. Without the horizontal integration, we have an atomized "just me and God" existence.
As St Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15, partaking unworthily of the Eucharist can harm us. This includes approaching the Eucharist in a state of unrepentant sin, includng callous or indifferent actions towards others. Communing in an unworthy manner may steepen us further in our sins, hardening our hearts toward our neighbor.
The Christian tradition, and Holy Scripture itself, points to us becoming fully realized in our human nature only when we are in right relation to others. The Bible plays with the singular and the plural, juxtaposing the unity of mankind's one substance with the distinction of persons within that one substance which are wholly unique and never interchangeable:
"...in the day that God created Adam, He made HIM in the likeness of God. Male and female he created THEM..." (Genesis 5:1-2)
"And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are indeed many members, but one body." (1 Corinthians 12:20-21)
The late Pope Benedict XVI, following the tradition of Augustine's analogy of the Godhead, suggested that mankind might be better understood, not as a collection of individual body-soul unions, but as a single physical/spiritual substance, with the individual persons being "relations within the one substance." For if we were truly created as individual, atomized instantiations of one single nature, why are no two human beings interchangeable, like tires in a factory?
https://www.communio-icr.com/files/ratzinger17-3.pdf
If this conception of the human person as a "relation in substance" is accurate, then we can never genuinely be in right relation to God without also being in right relation to others. This is because Christ has truly united the created human substance to the uncreated divine substance. Any attempt to sever our connection with others is to, quite literally, sever our connection to God, right down to the material level.
Therefore, holy communion should be approached with the utmost seriousness. In the ancient Christian tradition, it is the very means by which God normally saves us and unites us to himself. While God can save anyone he wishes (thief on the cross), the normative means he provided for our salvation was taking on our human nature with no change to his divinity, and literally uniting his fully divine human body to ours, making us "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) and healing us from the inside.
The apostle John speaks of κοινωνία, ("koinonia," often translated as "fellowship" but understood by the Church Fathers more properly as "communion," and inseparable from the Eucharist, the very body and blood of the Lord Jesus which was sacrificed for us):
"If we say that we have communion with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have communion with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:6-7)
The tree of life in the Garden of Eden is Christ on the cross. We eat its fruit and become its branches on the tree.
What a deep reply! Thank you, Daniel. I do not have a deep response to give right now, but I do have several questions I would love for you to help me think through.
1. The notion of us being "relations within the one substance" is fascinating and opens many doors to understanding. It may even have ties to the work of Carl Jung and the "Collective Unconscious"? Regardless, when you say, "relations within the one substance" it begs the questions. Relations of what to what, exactly? If you are just essentially saying "of one part of the substance to another part" how can you tell where one part begins and ends? The notion of relationship by definition implies a certain amount of disguishment and distinction, right? Help me understand.
2. Christ as the tree of life is mind blowing! But then... Who is the other tree? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil..... 👀👀👀
1. If I understand the holy fathers correctly, the person is a particular relation is OF the entire substance TO the same entire substance. As you say, "how can you tell where one part begins and ends?" The point of understanding persons as 'relations in substance' is to avoid the pitfalls of your very question. For we have, in fairly precise sense, a division of the human substance into distinct bodies, but the boundaries are a little fuzzy; you took flesh from your mother in the womb, you very indirectly share flesh from your progenitor Adam, every cell in your body is different from when you were 5 but you are still the same person, etc. etc.
This conception of person as a "relation in substance" is not universally acknowledged as the right answer to "what is a person" in the Christian tradition, and it's much more popular in the west than in the east. It helps you, great, if not, I wouldn't worry about it.
2. I am unwilling to try to formulate my own opinion on any of these matters, so I will share what I read in the patristic tradition. Gregory Nazianzus (4th century) sees the tree of knowledge as the vision of God, which God intended for man to see when he was ready. St Ephraim the Syrian (also 4th century) sees it similarly like a veil (like the veil before the Holy of Holies), hiding God's full glory. Encountering God in this way gives us his wisdom and the knowledge of himself and ourselves.
Contrary to the atheist slanderers of our God, God never wanted us to remain ignorant, but always desired man to ask for and acquire this wisdom (e.g. 1 Kings 3:7-12). Whatever the tree is, the patristic tradition teaches that if approached in faith, humility, and love for God, it is a blessing, but if approached with selfishness and a desire to be like God without God, it is a curse.
Seeing the face of God in an unworthy manner makes manifest our own inadequacies and weakness, and causes us to cave inwards in our desires, leading to our spiritual and physical death (Exodus 33:20), but seeing the face of God in faith and love divinizes us with the uncreated light of God (Exodus 33:11, Exodus 34:29) .
I also will need some time to read and digest the PDF you shared. If the answers to my questions are found within there, feel free to just say so and I can do the work of digesting it without making you rehash what is already been written there.