Eucharist And Resurrection

Ὁπότε οὖν καὶ τὸ κεκραμένον ποτήριον καὶ ὁ γεγονὼς ἄρτος ἐπιδέχεται τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ γίνεται εὐχαριστία καὶ σῶμα Χριστοῦ, ἐκ τούτων τε αὔξει καὶ συνέστηκεν ἡ τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν ὑπόστασις, πῶς δεκτικὴν μὴ εἶναι τὴν σάρκα λέγουσι τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἥτις ἐστὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος, τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος καὶ αἵματος τοῦ Κυρίου τρεφομένην καὶ μέλος αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχουσαν; Καθὼς ὁ μακάριος Ἀπόστολός φησιν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἐφεσίους ἐπιστολῇ ὅτι Μέλη ἐσμὲν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ, οὐ περὶ πνευματικοῦ τινος καὶ ἀοράτου ἀνθρώπου λέγων ταῦτα, τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα οὔτε ὀστέα οὔτε σάρκας ἔχει, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν ἀληθινὸν ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας, τῆς ἐκ σαρκῶν καὶ νεύρων καὶ ὀστέων συνεστώσης, ἥτις καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου ὅ ἐστιν αἷμα αὐτοῦ τρέφεται καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου ὅ ἐστι σῶμα αὐτοῦ αὔξεται. Καὶ ὅνπερ τρόπον τὸ ξύλον τῆς ἀμπέλου κλιθὲν εἰς τὴν γῆν τῷ ἰδίῳ καιρῷ ἐκαρποφόρησε, καὶ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ διαλυθεὶς πολλοστὸς ἠγέρθη διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ συνέχοντος τὰ πάντα, ἔπειτα δὲ διὰ τῆς σοφίας τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς χρῆσιν ἐλθόντα ἀνθρώπων καὶ προσλαμβανόμενα τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐχαριστία γίνεται, ὅπερ ἐστὶ σῶμα καὶ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὕτως καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα σώματα ἐξ αὐτῆς τρεφόμενα καὶ τεθέντα εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ διαλυθέντα ἐν αὐτῇ ἀναστήσεται ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ καιρῷ, τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῖς χαριζομένου εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός, ὃς ὄντως τῷ θνητῷ τὴν ἀθανασίαν περιποιεῖ καὶ τῷ φθαρτῷ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν προσχαρίζεται, ὅτι ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται, ἵνα μὴ ὡς ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἔχοντες τὴν ζωὴν φυσιωθῶμεν καὶ ἐπαρθῶμέν ποτε κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀχάριστον ἔννοιαν ἀναλαβόντες, πείρᾳ δὲ μαθόντες ὅτι ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνου ὑπεροχῆς ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως τὴν εἰς ἀεὶ παραμονὴν ἔχομεν, μήτε τῆς περὶ τὸν Θεὸν δόξης ὡς ἔστιν ἀστοχήσωμεν, μήτε τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν ἀγνοήσωμεν, ἀλλ’ εἰδῶμεν τί ὁ Θεὸς δύναται καὶ τί ἄνθρωπος εὐεργετεῖται, καὶ μὴ σφαλῶμέν ποτε τῆς ἀληθοῦς περὶ τῶν ὄντων ὡς ἔστι καταλήψεως, τουτέστι Θεοῦ τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ μήτι γε, καθὼς προείπαμεν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἠνέσχετο ὁ Θεὸς τὴν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἡμῶν ἀνάλυσιν, ὅπως παντοίως παιδευθέντες ἐν πᾶσιν εἰς τὸ μέλλον ὦμεν ἀκριβεῖς, μήτε Θεὸν μήτε ἑαυτοὺς ἀγνοοῦντες; Εἰρηναίος Λυώνος, Έλεγχος και Ανατροπή της Ψευδωνύμου Γνώσεως, βιβλίον Ε' Κεφ β' Source: Migne PG 7.1125b-1128b

When, then, the mixed cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made, from which the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which flesh is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him? As the blessed Paul says in his Epistle to the Ephesians: 'We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.' 1 He does not say these things of some spiritual and invisible man, 'for a spirit has not bones nor flesh,' 2 but of that dispensation of the true man, of flesh, and nerves, and bones, which flesh is nourished by the cup which is His blood and increases from the bread which is His body. And as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground produces fruit in its season, and as a grain of wheat falling into the earth decomposes and then rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ, so also our bodies which are nourished by it, and placed in the earth, and decompose in it, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God giving to them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, He who freely gives immortality to that which is mortal, and incorruption to that which is corruptible, 3 because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness, 4 in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, with ungrateful minds exalted against God, but learning by experience that from Him who is and not from our own nature we have eternal duration, we neither underrate that glory which surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature, so that we know what God can do and what good is done to man, and never err in the true comprehension of things as they are, that is, concerning God and man. And might it not be, as I have said, that God permitted our dissolution into the earth for this, that we, being instructed in every way, may be accurate in everything to come, being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves? Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 2 1 Ephes 5.30 2 Lk 24.39 3 1 Cor 15.53 4 2 Cor 12.3