Holy Qurbana

 

Ann:  Welcome back, Glad to see you.

Pastor: Praise the Lord, I am fine by God’s grace. You look tired!

Ann: I just came from Church after the Holy Qurbana and was spending some time in meditation and praying.

Pastor: We are told to celebrate ‘Qurbana' just as remembrance.

Ann: Remembrance of what?

Pastor: Remembrance of Passover.

Ann:  Everyone celebrated Passover by killing a lamb.  How did our Lord celebrate it?

Pastor:  Our Lord didn't kill a lamb.  He celebrated it by blessing bread and wine.

Ann: What did our Lord say when he blessed it?

Pastor: He blessed and said “you have to do this forever in my remembrance”.

Ann:  What did our Lord say taking bread and wine in His hand before giving to the apostles.

Pastor:  “This is my body.”

Ann:  After blessing the wine what did our Lord say?

Pastor: “this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.” This only means remembrance or symbolism.  It is a misnomer and superstition to say that blessed bread has Jesus in it and partaking in Holy Qurbana means eating Jesus etc.  Come on!  May be these are in the canons of the traditional churches but not in the Bible.  With this, you can mislead only the naïve.

Ann:  I  hope you would, at least talk about Holy Qurbana, with reverence. If our faith and belief about Holy Qurbana is biblical, what you said so far will be a great mistake.

Pastor:  Don’t tell me that the bread and wine in the cup (chalice) is Jesus Christ.  This is something we do for his remembrance. When I  tell a biblical truth, how can it be a mistake?

Ann:  Calm down (smiles). Let us discuss it. I hope you have no problem with Biblical verses.

Pastor: The bread is never Jesus Christ. By blessing, the bread will not transform to Jesus Christ. Bread remains and will remain always as bread. No difference to it at any time.

Ann: So, you say, all breads are alike?  Haven’t you read in the Bible about some breads that are different?

Pastor:  No, not in the Bible. Bread is not holy and no difference between them.

Ann: Read 1 Samuel 21:5

Pastor: “But the priest replied to David, “I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread. If the men have abstained from woman, you may eat some of that”

Ann: Now are you convinced that there are Holy Bread and regular bread.

Pastor: (silence)

Ann:  Read Mathew  12:3,4

Pastor: 'He said to them “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?”

Ann: Again read 1 Kings 19:7,8

Pastor: “but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him (Elijah) and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!”  He got up ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.”

Ann:  In all this cases the bread mentioned is not the same as ordinary bread.  There are more verses in the bible. Our Lord took 5 breads and gave to 5000 people. It is was also a different bread..

Pastor:  Yes, I agree.  But what I am saying is that there is no evidence that Jesus is in the bread and wine..

Ann: There is biblical evidence. Let us examine.

Pastor:  You did not answer me. I am asking about the trick which transforms the bread into Jesus.  Is Christ residing in a bread?

Ann:  As per Gods command, when Moses put his stick down it became a snake and when he took it by its tail it became a stick. When he hit the red sea with it, the sea was parted. And he did many wonders with it. This is because, the Spirit of God was on it.

Pastor:  It had the power of God. Praise the Lord

Ann:   When a dead body was touched on the remains of Elijah, the man rose from dead. So this saint’s remains had the Spirit of God.

Pastor:  I agree fully

Ann:  We can also see The Spirit of the Lord dwelled in

Pastor : Yes.  These were all the works of the Holy Spirit, but they were not God. What I am objecting to is that you are claiming that the bread is God.

Ann: I agree, they were all not God.  But we can see the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in all these.

Pastor:  I agree to all this. Now prove to me that your bread is God.

Ann: Let us examine the evidences on by one. One more thing, during Old Testament times there were sacrifices for the remission of sins

Pastor:  It is in the Bible. Lamps and birds were offered as sacrifices

Ann: So for the remission of sins and for the communion with God, sacrifice is required. The Lamp of the Passover was killed as a  deliverance from the slavery and for salvation of Israelites by God.

Pastor:  Yes

Ann: Didn’t God decide to celebrate Passover for all generations?  Didn’t our Lord too celebrate Passover?

Pastor:  Yes, but our Lord did not kill a lamb

Ann: True; That is a major difference.  He celebrated the Passover by not killing a lamp. He celebrated the Passover in a new way.

Pastor:  I agree to all this. All these are in the Bible.  But that is not our subject. Prove to me that there is Christ in the bread.

Ann:  I am coming to it. We have just seen that Christ celebrated Passover in a new way. So while establishing the Passover, what did Jesus say; please read Mathew  26:26.

Pastor:  “While they were eating, Jesus took bread said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to the disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body”  Then he took a cup, gave thanks,  and gave it to them, saying , “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins”

Ann: This same incidence is described by Mark in 14:22 and by Luke in 22:19. But in John 6:48-5, our Lord explains more about this.  Please read this passage.

Pastor:  “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that come down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Ann: So I our Lord promised that He will give a bread of life which:

1)  came from heaven 

2)  it is for the life of the world 

3)  one who eats it, will live for ever

4)  it is His flesh ( or body). 

So how did he fulfill this promise? He fulfilled this promise by establishing a new covenant by giving bread and wine – which is his body and blood – to his disciples.  More explanation in John 6:55-58.  Please read this.

Pastor: “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have  life because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven. “

Ann: Here our Lord has blessed the bread and wine in his hands and converted it into his blood and body and then clearly talked about the heavenly fruits one will get, if one eats them.

Pastor: It is not correct to interpret the versus like this. Our Lord has commanded many things through symbolisms and  analogies. He has commanded that he is the true wine (John 15:1).  Does this mean that he is really wine?  It was only an analogy (symbolism).   I will not agree to these kinds of interpretations.

Ann: That is fine. But you have to agree to the versus.  Let us look at the full verse

“I am the the true vine, and my  Father is the vine grower.  … I am the wine and you are the branches. ….. He takes away every  branch in me that does not bear fruit. ….. Remain in me, as I remain in you.  Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me…

Whoever remains in me and I am in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. “.  So  our Lord amphitheatrically said here that we have to be in him to bear fruits.  Otherwise we would not get the fruits of heaven.  You are saying that is not required?

Pastor:  No, not that. I said it was just a symbol

Ann:  Is this a symbol? Isn’t that how our Lord revealed a truth in an analogy?  Apostle Paul also says the same thing. Paul said that  Jesus Christ is the head and church is His body. For salvation you have to be in that church. (Ephesians 1:21,23  Colossians 1:24)

Pastor : Our Lord has said that he is the gate. Is he really a ‘gate’?

Ann: Yes. He said “I am the gate.  Whoever enters through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture“, which means that without going through Him no one enters the kingdom of heaven.  It is also seen in 1 Timothy 2:5  that “There is only one mediator between God and the human race Christ Jesus, himself human” . See, only through this one mediator, only through this one gate and only through Jesus, we can enter the Kingdom of God.  That is why our Lord said that he is the gate. He also commanded that “I am the light”, “I am the way“, and “I am the truth” etc. Isn’t it all true? Any doubt on this?

Pastor: Jesus said ‘This is my body.’ What I am saying is that this is also an analogy (symbolism) just like all these.

Ann: What is your understanding of an analogy?  Our  Lord took the bread and wine in His hands and looked to the Father and blessed it and gave to the disciples saying ‘This is my blood and body’ and commanded them to eat it. Is this an analogy or symbolism? The disciples obeyed him and ate it. Is this an analogy too?  We have obeyed it till this day as per His command.  Is this an analogy?

Pastor:  How can it be true, if not an analogy?

Ann: Look at the following versus

Then he empowered the disciples to do likewise till the end of the world. This is why the bread and wine becomes His body and blood.

Pastor:  “… for this is my blood of the covenant…”  Still I am doubtful as if this wasn’t an analogy?

Ann:  In the Old testament the sacrifice was by shedding of the blood. But our Lord replaced this sacrifice with a new bloodless sacrifice. How? Our Lord blessed the bread and wine and converted it into His blood and body. “The bread that I will give is my flesh” ( John 6:51).  “ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink “ (John  6:55), “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”  (John  6:56). [2]. Are all this analogies?  Disciples ate and drank His food and drink. How can all this be an analogy?

Pastor: ( Silence)

Ann:  Pastor, just tell me this.  Our Lord took the bread and wine in his hands and blessed and broke it and gave to the disciples and said

·        “Take and eat; this is my body”

·        “Drink from it, ..for this is my blood”

·        “This is the bread of life that comes down from heaven “

·        “The bread that I will give is my flesh”

·        “Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died”

·        “But whoever eats this bread may not die. But will live for ever”

            After commanding this way, He gave his body and blood to the disciples. You still think this is an analogy? Read  John  6:52

Pastor : “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”

Ann:  These are the people who heard directly from our Lord. They did not feel it was a analogy. If it were, they would not have said in this manner. They understood that our Lord was referring to his body and blood. Isn’t it?

Pastor: Yes, I think so

Ann: Jesus Christ clearly, without any doubt, proclaimed that the blessed bread and wine are indeed His body and blood. How did some of the disciples feel about it? What they understood and felt is in John  6:60. Please read it.

Pastor: “Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This is hard; who can accept it?”

Ann: The Jews who heard our Lord felt  “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat” (John 6:52).  When our Lord made this  statement, even the apostles who traveled with our Lord all the time and heard our Lord’s words from His mouth, understood that  Jesus was the heavenly bread and wine and what He gave the disciples were His own body and blood.  And so they felt it extremely difficult to obey it or believe it.

Given these biblical evidences, it is not correct to argue that this is just an analogy.  Our aim is to know the Biblical truth. Isn’t it?

Pastor: So what you are telling me is that the bread and wine is really transformed to our Lord’s body and blood?

Ann:  Am I saying this?  No I am not.  Our Lord said it. You just read the verse from the Bible.

Pastor:  I agree. Then tell me this. Where does Christ exist in the bread ? Above it, or under it, or in between?

Ann: Good question.  I have heard that once a protestant bishop said in a court something like this.  ‘We do not believe that Christ exists either under or above or in between the bread.  But we believe the bread has our Lord’s presence.

Pastor:  Isn’t it true?  Can’t we think that way also?

Ann: It is not true. Here is why. When the angels proclaimed to the shepherds that Jesus was born, they went to the manger in Bethlehem

Pastor: True

Ann: Whom did they see and praise?

Pastor: Infant Jesus

Ann: Was that child, God?

Pastor: Yes He was

Ann: So where did God exist in that child?  Was God in the head, hands, legs or inside?

Pastor: Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord.  What question is this? Wasn’t that infant God?

Ann : Yes.  That infant was God.  No doubt.  In the Holy Communion established by Jesus Christ the bread and wine were transformed into body and blood by our Lord’s words. Then why would you want to ask, on which side of the bread is Christ? You felt uncomfortable when I asked on which side of the infant was God.  Just like that you need not ask which side of the bread is Christ.  Because the bread and wine are transformed into the His body and blood in Holy Communion.

Pastor: Has the apostles ever believed that the bread and wine were transformed into body and blood?  Any Biblical evidence for it? Isn’t it all interpretations in the later years? Have they ever participated in a Holy Communion?

Ann:  This is an apostolic faith and practice. They celebrated the Holy Qurbana.

Pastor:  Without biblical evidence I will not agree to it.

Ann:  This church has apostolic succession. Every thing we do has been handed over by the apostles. You need biblical evidence for all. I told you that the Church is the prime authority on everything. But you continue to look to the bible for evidences.  But the Church does nothing that is not in the bible.  I will give ample proofs

 

Ann : Please read  Acts 2:42

Pastor: “They devoted to themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers”  So this is it? Does ‘breaking of bread’ mean Qurbana?

Ann: The word ‘breaking of bread’ is not as it seems. Some Bibles use the term celebration of holy mysteries. The syriac usage is  ‘Baksayo Evu - kari- sthia ‘. 

The word Evu - kari- sthia – is translated to English as Eucharist. Here is the dictionary. Please read the meaning of the word Eucharist.

Pastor: ( Reads) Lord’s supper; or sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Ann : I hope you are clear about the meaning of it. It means the Lords supper or Qurbana or sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.  So it is clear from this that the apostles celebrated ‘breaking of the bread’ or Lord’s supper or Holy Qurabana. Read Acts 2:46.

Pastor: “Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes” ( Acts  2:46)

Ann: Here also we can see that the Apostles regularly celebrated the Holy Qurbana or breaking of the bread.  Read Acts  20:7

Pastor: ”One the first day of the week when we gathered to break the bread, Paul spoke....” ( Acts  20:7)

Ann: The first day of the week, that is on Sundays - they celebrated Holy Qurbana.  We also celebrate Holy Qurbana on Sundays as per the Bible and this apostolic tradition. Apostles taught how to celebrate it to their disciples and those church fathers to their disciples and so it continues till this day. Read  1 Corinthians 10:16

Pastor: ”The cup of the 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?”

Ann:  By participating in the Holy Qurbana, Christ lives in us and we live in Christ. This blessed union of the two is called the Holy Communion in Christ.  St. Paul is categorically saying here that the bread and wine are transformed into Lord’s blood and body.

Pastor: Ann, I have a question.  By partaking the Holy Qurbana, Christ lives in us and we live in Christ and we join Christ and become a holy communion in Christ.  If this is true, after partaking this Holy Sacraments many consume alcohol and quarrel and fight with each other.  Some other say lies and some others kill. Some don't pray and so on. Is this your faith and act?

Ann: Our  faith and acts are defined in 1 Cori  11:26-29

Pastor: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore who ever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily[3] will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.  A  person should examine himself [4]and so eat the bread and drink the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body,  eats and drinks judgment himself”

Ann:  This is our faith and belief.  If anyone is guilty regarding His Blood and Body, he himself is responsible for the judgment of God on him. Here also Paul is making it clear that the bread and wine is not just some bread and wine, but has been transformed into our Lord’s blood and body.

Pastor: Praise the Lord. What you told me is from the Bible.  I am convinced about the importance of the Holy Qurbana. I had never thought so much about this. Since there are so many Biblical evidence, do you know any other arguments against this Holy Sacrament?

Ann: Same as the one you told me before. What they are arguing is that Our Lords commands, life, acts, and all what apostles did were really analogies .

Pastor: Is that all?  But the Biblical evidences are against this argument?

Ann: That is all I have heard.  I don’t know if there is anything  more? Our Lord commanded  ‘This is my body and  blood and eat it till the end of the world’ The human opponents says “This is not your body nor your blood.  We will not eat it.  We will not continue it till the end of the world.  This is an analogy or parable.  We will not believe . We will not obey.”  But we church members cannot be like that.  We will obey our Lord now and for ever .

Pastor: Praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord.  I am very glad.  I thought that Holy Qurbana was just a tradition of the orthodox  churches. Now I understand its truth, holiness, sanctity, seriousness and the need for it. There are clear and undeniable evidences.

Ann: I am glad you learned it.  Here are a few quotes from the Apostolic ‘didache’ (Apostolic Canon) written at around AD 140 just over 40 years after  Apostle John died:

 

 

 

Pastor:  Ann.. wonderful.  I have to ask you some thing …

Ann:  What is it?

Pastor : Well, can I come to the church next week ?

Ann:  We all will be glad.  Angels will rejoice over your coming back.  See, most human beings if they are convinced they are wrong, their pride will keep them from submitting to the Lord. You have submitted to the Lord’s commands

Pastor:  Is there any thing I have to do to join the church?

Ann:  Where were you baptized before?

Pastor: I was born in the Syrian Orthodox church, as a Jacobite. There we had no Bible teachings, no prayer groups, nor any spiritual fellowship. Then the Pentecostal church members came and started their songs, prayers, and fellowship.  I joined them and was born again. But at first I was baptized in the Jacobite church.

Ann:  If you were baptized in this church before, you need not be baptized again. You just have to accept the faith of the church. This the priest can help you with.

 

The order of  the Holy Qurbana (The Liturgy)

 

Tradition says that on the 1st day after Pentecost the Apostles consecrated MOORON and on the next day the Holy Qurbana was offered by St. James the brother of our Lord as he received it from our Lord Himself which fact had been attested by scholars.  Adrian Fortesque says “The Syrian rite is the 1st, that we find formally drown up. The liturgy of  St. James from which all other Syrian Rites are derived. The Church of Constantinople had a liturgy of its own attributed to St. Basil. It seems to be a modification of the Syrian Rite. The Armenian liturgy is modified from that of the Constantinople.  It is only among the Copts and Jacobites the ancient rites of Mark and St. James are celebrated.” (Orthodox Eastern Churches).

 

So many church fathers have written about Eucharist. But I will quote St. Ignatius (AD  110) our Patron and second Patriarch.

“Take care to use one Eucharist for there is one flesh to our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup I the union of His blood”

 

How to receive?

  1. Receive after confession and absolution with faith, reverence prayer and fasting.

a)      In the OT to receive the commandments (Ex  19:9)

b)      Preparation for sacrifice  Exodus 30:18-21

c)      In the NT  1 Cori  11:28,29

  1. Before receiving you have to reconcile with who we have offended (Mat 5:23-24)

  2. Reconcile with those who have offended us  (Mat  6:14)

  3. Pray to God for mercy and remission of sins

  4. Refrain from conjugal relation from communion

  5. Refrain from vain talk and temporal work after communion

  6. Refrain from talking with non-Christians before communion (canon)

  7. Never communicate from the hands of heretics (canon)

 

The Effects:

  1. Nourishment of the soul

  2. Eternal life  (John  6:53)

  3. Close relationship with Lord  (15)

  4. The Food for the long journey

  5. It brings to naught the old man in us and enlivens the ‘new man‘ in us

  6. For remission sins.  No remission of sins without our receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord.

  7. The un-baptized, the lapsed to heresies, the excommunicated are not allowed to communicate

  8. Inter-communion only with those churches who are in one Faith with the Holy Church.

  9. Children are allowed to communicate (Roman catholic church discontinued the ancient practice in 13th century and confirmed it in the Trent synod   21st session , 4th decree)

 

Sacrifice of the Holy Mass

Outline given by St. Cyril of Jerusalem AD  315-386

1.      Washing of  hands of the priest

2.      The Kiss of Peace

3.      “Your Hearts aloft……”

4.      “Let us give thanks to the Lord”

5.      Then we make mention of the heaven  and the earth

6.      The Blessing of the Bread and Wine using the same words uttered by our Lord

7.      “We call up on God to send the Holy Spirit that He may make the bread , the Body of Christ and the wine the Blood of Christ”

8.      We  call up on God for  (Tubden)

a)      the common peace of the Churches

b)      for the welfare of the world for the afflicted

c)      for Kings

d)      for the Holy Apostles

e)      for the holy  Fathers and Bishops who have already fallen asleep

f)        for all among us who have already fallen asleep

9.      “Our  Father who art in Heaven ….”

10.   Priest prays : “Holy Things to the holy (the offerings laid out are Holy  having received the visitation of the Holy Spirit and you are holy having been deemed worth of the Holy Spirit.  The holy things thus correspond to the  holy persons. There is truly only One who is truly holy holy by nature. We too are holy not by nature rather by participation and discipline and prayer.

11.   The singing

12.  The procession

13.  Holy Communion

(You can note that we celebrate our Qurbana in the same way….)

It is really wonderful that the Anaphora (the order of liturgy) of Syrian Orthodox Church is in every respect the same as that of the early centuries. Scholars of note has admitted that the Liturgy of St. James the brother of our Lord, is the oldest, and is in the possession of the Syrian Orthodox Church as that of St. Mark, in the possession of the Coptic church.

 

St Cyril says: “Keep these tradition inviolate and preserve yourself from offences. Do not cut yourself off from communion”

 

[1] Also some times pronounced as Kurbana or in English it is called Eucharist or Holy Communion which means  gift or sacrifice.

[2]  Jesus said  that he will reside in any one who ever eat his blood and flesh

[3] ie with out  having grasped  and internalized the meaning of his death for them, they will have to answer for the body and blood ie will be guilty of a sin against  the Lord himself. ( 1 Cori 8:12)

[4] The Greek word is similar to that of  “approved”  which means “having tested  and found true”

 

St. Ignatious Sunday School, Dallas

http://www.stignatious.com