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Epiclesis

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Written by The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

epiclesis,  (Greek: “invocation”), in the Christian eucharistic prayer (anaphora), the special invocation of the Holy Spirit; in most Eastern Christian liturgies it follows the words of institution—the words used, according to the New Testament, by Jesus himself at the Last Supper—“This is my body . . . this is my blood” and has a clearly consecratory character. The epiclesis specifically asks that bread and wine be made the body and blood of Christ, and the actual change (Greek: metabolē) is attributed to the Holy Spirit. It reflects the prevailing sacramental theology of the Eastern Church, which interprets the effectiveness of the sacraments as an answer of God to the prayer of the church rather than as a result of the vicarious powers of a priest pronouncing the appropriate formula. The epiclesis also maintains the trinitarian character of the eucharistic prayer, which is addressed to the Father, commemorates the saving action of the Son, and invokes the power of the Spirit.

In the 14th century the epiclesis became an issue in the polemics between Greeks and Latins, because all Eastern eucharistic prayers included an invocation of the Holy Spirit while the Roman canon of the mass did not. Most modern scholars agree that there had been an epiclesis, in the original Eucharist of the early church of Rome, in addition to the other Latin eucharistic prayers. Medieval Latin theology, however, allowed for the disappearance of the epiclesis since it was believed that the consecration of bread and wine and their transubstantiation into the body and blood of Christ took place when the priest pronounced the words of institution.

The question of the epiclesis was debated at the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–45), but no formal definition was made. The medieval Latin view was then endorsed by the Council of Trent (1545–63), but the liturgical reforms adopted in Roman Catholicism after the second Vatican Council (1962–65) have included the introduction of an epiclesis in the canon of the mass. This epiclesis, however, is placed before the words of institution so that the consecratory function of the latter can still be maintained.

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