Communion as a Spiritual Technology

Exploring why many religions have their own form of ritual feasts; and how Christianity takes it to a higher level.

Introduction

Before I get to the main subject of the article, I would like to respond to a common argument against Christianity that I regularly hear from internet atheists, pagans and gnostics. It goes something like this:

“Christianity isn’t the first religion to practice communion. Other mystery religions had communal feasts, like Mithraism and the cult of Dionysus; Christianity just copied them.”

To this I would reply: Yes, Christianity is not the first religion to practice ritual communal meals. However, that does not mean Christianity ‘copied’ anyone. In fact, Christ’s institution of the Eucharist was founded on the already existing religious feast of Passover, which had existed for hundreds of years at that point. Passover was a feast in remembrance of the moment in Exodus when God commanded the Israelites to paint lamb’s blood over their door frames, thus indicating to the angel of death to pass over that household:

⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸ Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰ You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. […] ¹⁴ ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

- Exodus 12

Here we clearly see a religious ritual feast instituted by God thousands of years before Christ. In Orthodoxy, we view the slaughtering of the Passover lamb as foreshadowing Christ, the Lamb of God whose Blood takes away the sins of the world. Which is why Christianity never claimed to be ‘original’ about the Eucharist, because the Eucharist itself is the finalization of an already existing feast which was established by God.

But regardless, we don’t determine whether or not something is true based on how original it is. Religious rituals are not patents we are trying to copyright. Most religious behaviors and rituals are human universals; they are inherent to our nature.

If two cavemen were to discover fire on opposite sides of the earth, would you say one copied the other? Of course not. If the underlying mechanics of a technology are true for one person to discover, they are true for everyone. That means that multiple religious groups can develop some form of ritualistic feast simultaneously without having to imitate one another, especially since eating food is such a rudimentary part of reality. Sharing a meal together is an extremely primal and ancient form of bonding with fellow human beings; it’s no wonder that many cultures individually elevated this mundane act into a form of sacred sacrament.

To make the argument that “Christianity isn’t true because other religions ritually ate food together before” is silly. So now that we have established that communal feasts are a universal religious ritual, let’s examine why we do it and what their purpose is.

How Does Communion Work?

As I have mentioned in my previous articles, I view religious practices and magic in a very mechanical way. Because of that, I perceive rituals as ‘technology of a metaphysical nature.’ Here is how Merriam-Webster defines ‘technology’:

1a: the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area.

• 1b: a capability given by the practical application of knowledge.

2: a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge

Rituals are physical actions we perform in order to achieve a desired outcome through metaphysical means. They require technical knowledge in order to perform; the technique of the performer also influences the outcome.

In the case of communal feasts, the desired outcome is to become one with your god and your fellow communicants.

But how does something as simple as bonding over a meal enable us engage with spiritual beings? Simply put:

You are what you eat.

When you eat something, you are making it your body. There is no longer any distinction between you and the food, since your body has broken down its constituent parts and distributed them throughout itself. You become one with the food. Likewise, if your fellow communicants are dining on the same food, you are becoming one with each other since you are actively constructing your bodies out of the same substance. If you and someone else are eating the same substance, you are both made of the same substance. You become more alike with one another, since your bodies are of the same exact materials. As the old Hermetic principle goes: “Like attracts like.”

You can see the concrete benefits of this ritualistic behavior in something as simple as a family dinner, especially if the family is religious and says a prayer together before they eat. In fact, the most recent scientific literature proves the benefits undeniably:

Overall, results show that frequent family meals are inversely associated with disordered eating, alcohol and substance use, violent behaviour, and feelings of depression or thoughts of suicide in adolescents. There is a positive relationship between frequent family meals and increased self-esteem and school success. Studies show substantial differences in outcomes for male and female children and adolescents, with females having more positive results.

Source: National Library of Medicine

No wonder why we have such a mental health crisis in this country: even a simple ritual such as eating dinner as a family has become such a rare occasion. St. Paisios, a modern Orthodox saint, pointed this out:

It destroys a family if each person comes home, at whatever hour he wants, and eats alone without reason.

Eating together is a simple part of life that we take for granted, but its metaphysical implications can not be understated.

Becoming an Offering

These facts about eating food together are not only true for the physical substrate of the food, but also the metaphysical properties of the food. If you are eating food that has been ritually offered to a god, you are quite literally becoming one with the offering once you eat it. You are not just eating a piece of bread, you are eating a piece of bread that has also been ‘eaten’ by a god. If you consecrate the offering in the name of a certain spirit, you are quite literally making your body the offering by extension. You are not only bonding with your fellow communicants in body, but also in soul.

If we examine the etymology of ‘communion’, we can already see the concept of unification implied within the word itself. To ‘commune’ with someone is to become of the same ‘community’; a community is something that is both one and many, just like how the Holy Trinity is both one and many. We are made in the image of God so we are meant to live like God, which means we are meant to live in communion with our fellow man. Christ Himself states that this is the purpose of Holy Communion right after he institutes the Eucharist at the Last Supper:

²⁰ Neither pray I for [the apostles] alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; ²¹ That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. ²² And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: ²³ I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. ²⁴ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. ²⁶ And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

- John 17

To see this same principle reflected in ancient paganism, here is an example of ritual wine consumption by the cult of Dionysus:

The original rite of Dionysus (as introduced into Greece) is associated with a wine cult (not unlike the entheogenic cults of ancient Central America), concerned with the grapevine's cultivation and an understanding of its life cycle (believed to have embodied the living god) and the fermentation of wine from its dismembered body (associated with the god's essence in the underworld). Most importantly, however, the intoxicating and disinhibiting effects of wine were regarded as due to possession by the god's spirit (and, later, as causing this possession).

Source: Wikipedia

The Dionysian ‘mysteries’

In the realm of Western occultism, we will find that ritual communion is a central practice in occult groups who practice ceremonial magic. Fun fact: the famous magic words “hocus pocus” are most likely a derivative of the Latin phrase “hoc est enim corpus meum”, which means “this is my body.” Western Orthodox and Roman Catholic priests would say this phrase during the liturgy in order to call down the Holy Spirit and transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood. Magicians may have sensed the ‘magic power’ of these words but misheard the phrase, then appropriated it for their own ritual purposes this phrase.

To see a clear example of eucharistic ritual in Western occultism, here is a quote from the infamous occultist and magician Aleister Crowley:

A Eucharist of some sort should most assuredly be consummated daily by every magician, and he should regard it as the main sustenance of his magical life. It is of more importance than any other magical ceremony, because it is a complete circle. The whole of the force expended is completely re-absorbed; yet the virtue is that vast gain represented by the abyss between Man and God.

The magician becomes filled with God, fed upon God, intoxicated with God. Little by little his body will become purified by the internal lustration of God; day by day his mortal frame, shedding its earthly elements, will become in very truth the Temple of the Holy Ghost. Day by day matter is replaced by Spirit, the human by the divine; ultimately the change will be complete; God manifest in flesh will be his name.

While I believe that Crowley was a blasphemous and degenerate antichrist, he was undeniably smart and understood the significance of ritual perfectly well. Keep in mind, however, that Crowley’s ‘eucharist’ consisted of an amalgamation of human reproductive fluids. Also, the ‘gnostic mass’ he created to ritually consume this unholy eucharist was a blatant copy of the St. Basil Liturgy, which he saw in an Orthodox Church during his time in Russia. So although he was definitely NOT a Christian, his understanding of communion can not be separated from the Christian paradigm he was born into.

Which leads me to my next point: Christianity utterly transformed the theology of communion and all other religious cults in the West would go on to be influenced by it. Gnostics and pagans will accuse Christianity of ‘copying’ other religions, the reality is quite the opposite: Christianity irreversibly changed the concept of communion for everyone else.

What makes Christianity different?

Christ as the High Priest, eternally serving communion to us.

I want to make something very clear regarding the Orthodox belief in the Eucharist: it is not just a mere ritual, it is a divine mystery.

If you are what you eat, then that means if you can eat God, you become God. The more we eat Christ, the more we become like Christ. When you take Holy Communion, you are becoming immortal, perfect, and complete.

St. John Chrysostom, my beloved patron saint from whom I take my pen-name, says this is the Lord’s purpose for establishing communion:

Our Lord says: “I feed you with My own flesh, desiring that you all be nobly born, and holding forth good hopes for your future.… I have willed to become your Brother. For your sake, I shared in flesh and blood, and, in turn, I give you the flesh and the blood by which I became your kinsman.” This blood causes the image of our King to be fresh within us.

Remember what we said about the spiritual benefits of eating dinner as a family? This is the highest form of a family dinner. You are sitting down and eating dinner together with God AND the entirety of His Church. You are sitting down to eat God with every single Christian throughout history who has partaken of the same chalice. This is why in the Bible, those who are in paradise are often described as “dining at Abraham’s table.” Christ regularly compares the Kingdom of Heaven as a wedding feast:

People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

- Luke 13:28-29

Even more mysterious is the fact that Christ is both the host and the meal!

Unusual imagery that many Christians might not be used to.

In Orthodox iconography, it is not uncommon to see icons of the infant Christ in the communal chalice. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the eternal Passover Lamb that has been sacrificed for us to eat.

Other religious cults, like the cult of Dionysus, would merely see the communal food as the ‘common food’ being offered to the god and then eaten. Christians believe the Eucharist to be the literal Body and Blood of God. Not a metaphor, but the actual thing:

For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, “This do in remembrance of Me, this is My body;” and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, “This is My blood;” and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done.

- St. Justin Martyr (source)

As we can see at the end of this excerpt, St. Justin claims that the cult of Mithras began to imitate Christianity in their communal meals. There is archeological evidence from Mithraic cult sites, such as plates and forks, which indicate there were communal feasts held by the group. But St. Justin states that after the advent of Christianity, the Mithraic cultists began to place a common cup of wine and bread on an alter in order to imitate the Christian liturgy.

Since Dionysus and other pagan gods were incorporeal spirits without physical bodies, their cult members would see these gods as being embodied in the archetypal forces they rule. As stated in the Wikipedia quote from earlier, the grape vine would’ve been seen as the ‘embodiment’ of the disembodied god Dionysus. If the vine is the god’s ‘body’ then the wine would be the god’s ‘blood’ in a metaphorical sense. The Dionysian cultists would worship Dionysus as the wine itself; the sensation of ecstatic drunkenness would be seen as being possessed by god.

However, the God of Christianity became a physical human being; He has a human body and human blood. Christ is not the god of bread and wine, He is the God of the universe. Whereas all wine would be seen as the blood of Dionysus, only wine that has been ritually blessed by Christ through the priest becomes the Blood of Christ. When Christianity first started spreading throughout the Roman Empire, one of the reasons the Romans persecuted the Church was because they thought it was a cannibalistic cult. No religious group before Christianity ever believed they were eating the body and blood of a human being who was God incarnate. As Tertullian said in 200AD:

Having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, This is my body, that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. If, however, (as Marcion might say) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us.

But to be clear, the Orthodox do not believe in the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. We do not believe that the substance of the bread and wine magically transforms into the substance of human flesh and blood. We believe that the bread and wine IS ALSO the Body and Blood of Christ in a mystical symbolic union. Just like how Christ is both fully God and fully human without a confusion in either nature, the Eucharist is also fully divine and fully mundane. How does this happen? God only knows. That is why we refer to the Eucharist as a mystery.

We can analyze the symbolic mechanisms of the Eucharist as much as we want, but at the end of the day, this sacrament was not instituted by a mere man and we will never fully understand it from an internal perspective. This was revealed to us by God Himself; we will never fully comprehend the Eucharist just like how we will never fully comprehend God. As much as we may try and intellectualize it, there is still always an element of the sacrament that will be beyond us. This is why the Orthodox Church refers to the sacraments as ‘mysteries.’

You are what you eat. This is the central principle for all communion rituals.

Given this fact, we are left with a massive question: what do you want to be unified with?

In my opinion, I think becoming one with the transcendent and uncreated God who made us in His image is the obvious choice.