''Metousiosis'' is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

term () that means a change of ''

ousia ''Ousia'' (; grc, οὐσία) is a philosophical and theological term, originally used in ancient Greek philosophy, then later in Christian theology. It was used by various ancient Greek philosophers, like Plato and Aristotle, as a primary ...

'' (, "essence, inner reality").

History

The declaration of the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem is quoted by J.M. Neale (''History of Eastern Church'', Parker, Oxford and London, 1858) as follows: "When we use the word ''metousiosis'', we by no means think it explains the mode by which the bread and wine are converted into the Body and Blood of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

, for this is altogether incomprehensible ..but we mean that the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Lord, not figuratively or symbolically, nor by any extraordinary grace attached to them ..but ..the bread becomes verily and indeed and essentially the very true Body of the Lord, and the wine the very Blood of the Lord."

Theology and dogmatic status

The

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

's 1672 Synod of Jerusalem released what the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' called "the most vital statement of faith made in the Greek Church during the past thousand years". Philip Schaff wrote in his ''Creeds of Christendom'': "This Synod is the most important in the modern history of the Eastern Church, and may be compared to the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...

. Both fixed the doctrinal status of the Churches they represent, and both condemned the evangelical doctrines of Protestantism ..the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation (μεταβολή etabolí μετουσίωσις etousiosis is taught as strongly as words can make it." ''The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity'' states: "The Greek term ''metousiosis'', which is comparable to the Latin '' transsubstantiatio'', does appear in

astern This list of ship directions provides succinct definitions for terms applying to spatial orientation in a marine environment or location on a vessel, such as ''fore'', ''aft'', ''astern'', ''aboard'', or ''topside''. Terms * Abaft (preposition ...

Orthodox liturgical and theological texts – though not as often as other vocabulary (e.g., ''metastoicheiosis'', a "change of elements"). A. Osipov states that the Eastern Orthodox use of the Greek word μεταβολή (''metabole''), meaning "change", and the Russian преложение in relation to the Eucharist should not be taken as equivalent to the word "transubstantiation", which has been rendered as ''metousiosis''.Проф. А. Осипов. Μεταβολή или transsubstantiatio?
/ref> Nikolaj Uspenksij appeal to

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who, when speaking of other doctrines, drew analogies from the Eucharist and spoke of it as bread and wine, but as having also a heavenly nature. Some Eastern Orthodox theologians thus appear to deny transubstantiation/metousiosis, but in the view of

Adrian Fortescue Adrian Henry Timothy Knottesford Fortescue (14 January 1874 – 11 February 1923) was an English Catholic priest and polymath. An influential liturgist, artist, calligrapher, composer, polyglot, amateur photographer, Byzantine scholar, an ...

, what they object to is the associated theory of substance and accident, and they hold that there is a real change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

Eastern Orthodox use of the term ''metousiosis''

The first edition of ''The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church'', known also as ''The Catechism of St. Philaret'', did not include the term ''metousiosis''; but it was added in the third edition: "In the exposition of the faith by the Eastern Patriarchs, it is said that the word ''transubstantiation'' is not to be taken to define the manner in which the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of the Lord; for this none can understand but God; but only thus much is signified, that the bread truly, really, and substantially becomes the very true Body of the Lord, and the wine the very Blood of the Lord

The official Greek version of this passage (question 340) uses the word "metousiosis". Writing in 1929, Metropolitan of Thyatira Germanos said that an obstacle to the request for union with the

presented in the 17th century by some

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bishops was that "the Patriarchs were adamant on the question of Transubstantiation", which, in view of the

Thirty-Nine Articles The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

, the Anglican bishops did not wish to accept.

Oriental Orthodox

The

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...

does not use a term corresponding to transubstantiation/metousiosis, but it speaks of "change" and rejects the Protestant denial of "the reality of the change of the bread and wine to the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ".Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, "Transubstantiation"
/ref>

References

External links

''The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church'', questions 338-340
{{Byzantine Rite, state=expanded Eastern Orthodox theology Christian terminology Greek words and phrases ru:Пресуществление