Holy Communion: A Rookie Anglican Guide to the Eucharist

Each Sunday, in churches across the Anglican tradition, the faithful come forward to receive a piece of bread and a sip of wine, being told that these are the body and blood of Christ. It is an ancient practice that traces back to the words of Jesus himself. So, what happens during a liturgical service of Holy Communion—also known as the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper? What exactly occurs when we receive Holy Communion?

What is Holy Communion?

Jesus instituted Holy Communion on the night before his trial and crucifixion (Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). It continues the pattern of sacred meal and sacrifice that runs throughout Scripture—from the Passover meal of Israel’s deliverance to the breaking of bread in the early Church (Acts 2:42).

Early Christians understood this meal as both a remembrance of and participation in Christ’s death and resurrection. St. Paul wrote,

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 10:16

The Eucharist serves as both a thanksgiving (from the Greek eucharistia) and a communion (koinonia) with Christ and with one another in his Body, the Church.

Real Participation

The traditional Anglican theology of Holy Communion strikes a balance between the extremes of Roman Catholic transubstantiation (the bread and wine cease to be those elements, fully becoming the body and blood of Christ) and the memorialist view of the Radical Reformation (commonly held amongst modern evangelicals, where the elements are merely symbolic and a memorial of Christ’s death). We believe the Eucharist is both a memorial of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice and a means by which believers truly partake in the benefits of that sacrifice. The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion describe it as

…a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ’s death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.

Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, Article XXVIII

Thus, the sacrament acts as more than a mere symbol—it is an effectual sign through which Christ communicates his grace to the faithful. However, the Articles carefully avoid defining the manner of Christ’s presence, affirming only that “the Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual manner,” rather than through the physical transformation of the elements. In the words of Lancelot Andrewes,

We deny not the truth of His Body and Blood; we deny not the real presence of both; but we hold it a real presence, not a corporal one. The Presence is real, yet spiritual.

Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), “Sermon on the Resurrection”

How Does It Work?

Many early Anglicans, such as Richard Hooker (1554–1600) and Alexander Nowell (1517–1602), framed our participation in Christ’s body and blood in the sacrament as one enacted by the receiver’s faith. Hooker writes,

The real presence of Christ’s most blessed body and blood is not therefore to be sought for in the sacrament, but in the worthy receiver of the sacrament.

Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V, chapter 67, section 6 (V.67.6).

Others, such as bishops Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626) and Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667), believed that the elements, after consecration, carried the spiritual presence of Christ more objectively. Taylor writes,

After the minister… hath rightly prayed, and blessed or consecrated the bread and the wine, the symbols become changed into the body and blood of Christ, after a sacramental, that is, in a spiritual real manner.

Jeremy Taylor, The Real Presence and Spiritual of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament

However, both recognized that to take the sacrament in a life of unbelief or unrepentance of sin is not to receive the spiritual gifts of Christ’s body and blood but to eat and drink condemnation on oneself. In the words of Bishop Nicholas Ridley (1500–1555),

Evil men do eat the very true and natural body of Christ sacramentally, and no further; as St. Augustine saith. But good men do eat the very true body, both sacramentally, and spiritually by grace.

Nicholas Ridley, Oxford Disputation, The Works of Bishop Ridley

Both reflect the Anglican desire to hold together both the sacrament’s divine mystery and its reasonableness. In Holy Communion, we actually participate in Christ, what Hooker called a “real participation” in his life and grace.

The Overall Structure:

Most services of Holy Communion—including those throughout the Anglican tradition—depict a fourfold journey of the Church

1. from the world into the eternal presence of God through
2. Word,
3. Sacrament, and
4. back into the world again

This macro-structure of the Eucharist finds a biblical precedent in Jesus’s exposition of the Scriptures (Word) before making himself known to two disciples in the breaking of the bread (Sacrament) at Emmaus (Luke 24:13-34). Also, it follows the early Church’s example of devoting themselves “to the apostles’ teaching [Word] and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread [Sacrament] and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

The Liturgy of Holy Communion

This is the structure found in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. The exact order of certain elements has changed over time, and there are significant differences between this order and that of the classic Prayer Book of 1662. The 2019 BCP provides a method of reordering the text to the 1662 structure in the “Additional Directions” on pg. 142.

1. Entrance

Processional

The Processional, though not mandated, in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer, often begins the service: following Christ, represented by the processional cross, God’s people enter God’s presence. The choir, acolytes, and lay ministers lead the procession after the crucifier carrying the processional cross. After the acolytes come any deacons and priests assisting. Finally, the celebrant priest enters last as the servant of all—”The last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:6). A long-held custom is to bow toward the cross as it passes, in reverence for Christ’s atoning death on the cross for us. As they reach the altar table, the clergy and other servers may also bow in reverence for the spiritual gift of Christ’s body and blood we are preparing to receive there.

Opening Acclamation

The opening Acclamation states the destination of our entire journey: the Kingdom of the Triune God.

Celebrant: Blessed be God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for Purity

Through the Collect for Purity, then, the people ask for the Holy Spirit’s cleansing to enable proper worship.

2. The Liturgy of the Word

Praise, Prayer, Lessons, and Sermon

After singing praises to a holy and merciful God (Psalm 5:11), and being gathered together in prayer (Matthew 18:20) by the Collect of the Day, the people are ready to hear the Word of God, first read aloud in the Lessons (if all are read, one from the Old Testament, one Psalm, one from an Epistle or other New Testament book, and one from a Gospel). A priest then proclaims and expounds one or more of these in the Sermon (1 Timothy 4:13).

Creed

The Church then responds to God’s Word by confessing the Nicene Creed as a summary of its faith in both God and his Word.

Prayers of the People

If heard correctly, God’s Word should bring concern for God’s world, for which the community then intercedes in the Prayers of the People (1 Timothy 2:1).

Confession and Absolution

Before the Liturgy of the Word of God leads to the Liturgy of the Holy Communion, the people must heed two warnings.

First, they heed Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 to examine themselves before partaking of the Eucharist through the Confession of Sin:

…We acknowledge and lament our many sins and offenses,
which we have committed by thought, word, and deed
against your divine majesty,
provoking most justly your righteous anger against us.
We are deeply sorry for these our transgressions;
the burden of them is more than we can bear...

They then receive the priest’s declaration of Absolution.

Peace

Second, they heed Christ’s warning in Matthew 5:23-24 to reconcile with one another before coming to worship by exchanging the Peace, for Christ’s peace is both vertical (with God) and horizontal (with others):

The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And with your spirit.

3. The Liturgy of the Sacrament

Offertory

The Liturgy of Holy Communion begins with the Offertory, in which God’s people offer him their very selves, symbolized by the bread, wine, and money as the fruits of human labor. During the Offertory, the celebrating Priest, along with a deacon and/or acolyte, will prepare the altar table for the consecration of Holy Communion.

Great Thanksgiving

Then comes the Great Thanksgiving to God, in which, at the phrase “lift up your hearts” (sursum corda), the anaphora (Eucharistic prayer) takes place as the Church itself is lifted up, as an offering, into the heavenly sanctuary (Chan, Liturgical Theology, 142).

Sanctus and Benedictus qui venit

Along with the angels in heaven, the Church praises God for his holiness in the Sanctus (“Holy”; Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), and welcomes Christ’s presence in the Eucharist through the Benedictus qui venit (“Blessed is he who comes”; Psalm 118:26; Matthew 21:9, 23:39).

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Oblation and Epiclesis

The celebrant then offers (oblation) the gifts of bread and wine to God, and invokes (epiclesis) the Holy Spirit to sanctify both the gifts and the people—that they may rightfully receive the Sacrament in anticipation of God’s eschatological kingdom.

Prayer of Consecration and Words of Institution

The redemptive acts of God, which enable the anaphora, are remembered (anamnesis) throughout the following Prayer of Consecration, culminating in the Words of Institution, in which the celebrant remembers and re-presents Christ’s words at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28 parr.). After the rest of the Prayer of Consecration, the people join in saying the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).

The Prayer of Humble Access

We then pray the Prayer of Humble Access, which beautifully expresses the Church’s reverent approach to the mystery of Christ’s presence in the sacrament. Rooted in our unworthiness and God’s mercy (Matthew 8:8, Mark 7:28), it begins with the confession, “We do not presume to come to this your Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.” The prayer acknowledges our dependence upon God’s grace alone, even as we ask for a genuine and sanctifying participation in Christ’s Body and Blood.

Fraction (Breaking of the Bread)

The celebrant then breaks the bread, declares Christ’s redemptive role as the Church’s Passover (Exod 12; 1 Cor 5:7b), and invites the people to partake of his Body and Blood.

Distribution of Communion

The celebrant, deacon, and, if necessary, lay Eucharistic ministers (LEMs) then distribute the bread and wine in these words, which beautifully reflect the Anglican understanding of both the real presence and memorial aspects of the sacrament:

The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you, preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remebrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for you, and be thankful.

Book of Common Prayer (2019)

4. Exit

Post-Communion Prayer, Benediction, and Dismissal

In the Post-Communion Prayer, the people thank God for his provision and ask for his blessing as they are sent back out into the world

…that we may continue in that holy fellowship,
and do all the good works that you have prepared for us to walk in…

We then receive this blessing in the celebrant’s benediction (Luke 24:50; John 14:12), before being sent out into the world to serve Christ (Matthew 28:16-20). Then, after the celebrating priest blesses the congregation, the deacon issues a dismissal, inviting us to carry the message of Christ out into the world.

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Image: Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash.