Quod pro nobis dominus prior fecit

: eucaristia e igreja: estudo e tradução da Carta 63 de São Cipriano de Cartago

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the sacrament of the Eucharist from the perspective of patristic literature. For this purpose, we will employ as a source the text of Letter 63 from Saint Cyprian of Carthage, regarded as the earliest known “essay” on the Eucharist. Sensitive to the coherence between the Lex orandi and the Lex credendi, Cyprian struggled for the defense of the ritual and liturgical practice of the Church, which offers wine mixed with water in the eucharistic chalice, attending to the profound link between christology, eclesiology and sacramentology. In this paper, we will present, translate, and study the Letter 63 of Cyprian, seeking to demonstrate how, despite his pastoral rather than theological background, the author argues and justifies his pastoral position in defense of liturgical and ecclesial tradition. In this defense, rather than a mere “canonical” or circumstantial response from a pastor aware of “liturgical abuses”, we find a comprehensive Eucharistic theology, grounded in Scripture, which implicitly asserts that the Church makes the Eucharist, and that the Eucharist makes the Church. It is primarily this clarity and contemporary relevance at both theological and pastoral level that we seek to examine in this African pastor of the 3rd century.

Date of Award	6 Nov 2024
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Isidro Lamelas (Supervisor)