From a Sermon by Eutychius of Constantinople:
I have greatly longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer. The Lord’s eating of the passover before he suffered was clearly symbolic and sacramental, because but for the passion it would not have been called the passover. He immolated himself sacramentally when, after supper, he took bread into his own hands, gave thanks, held it up and broke it, mingling himself with the sacred element. In the same way he also mixed the cup containing fruit of the vine; he gave thanks, showed it to God the Father, and said: Take, eat; and, Take, drink. This is my body, and This is my blood.
I have greatly longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer. The Lord’s eating of the passover before he suffered was clearly symbolic and sacramental, because but for the passion it would not have been called the passover. He immolated himself sacramentally when, after supper, he took bread into his own hands, gave thanks, held it up and broke it, mingling himself with the sacred element. In the same way he also mixed the cup containing fruit of the vine; he gave thanks, showed it to God the Father, and said: Take, eat; and, Take, drink. This is my body, and This is my blood.
Everyone receives the Lord’s sacred body
and precious blood in their entirety, even though each receives only a portion,
for the mingling enables them to be shared among all without division. A seal
imparts its complete image to everything it is impressed upon, yet remains a
single seal. It is not diminished by use, nor is it altered in any way no
matter how many impressions are made. The sound produced by the human voice
goes out on to the air, yet remains a single sound. Carried on the air, it
reaches the ears of all in full strength. No one hears more or less of it than
anyone else. The same complete and undiminished sound comes to all its hearers,
however numinous they may be; and yet it is a physical phenomenon, for sound is
nothing but the vibration of air.
No one, then, after the sacramental
sacrifice and the holy resurrection, should have any doubt regarding the
incorruptible, immortal, holy, and life-giving body and blood of the Lord. Once
infused into the sacred elements through the liturgical rites, they communicate
their own properties no less than do the aforementioned examples. They are
wholly present in every part, for then the Lord’s body dwells corporally, that
is to say, substantially, all the fullness of the divine nature of the Word of
God. The breaking of this precious bread signifies his sacrificial death, and
so he spoke of the passover as something to be longed for because it was to
bring us salvation, immortality, and perfect knowledge.
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