Abstract

When talking about the ecclesiogenic role of the Eucharist John Paul II emphasizes the significance of the union with Christ, or the communion. The Eucharist, being the communion with Christ, builds the Church. However, in an ontological order, out of all three dimensions of the Eucharist (commemoration, sacrifice, banquet), John Paul II considers the dimension of sacrifice [the sacrificial dimension] as the most important. On this basis the following conclusion arises. The foundation of the communion is re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as well as this sacrifice being joined by people of all times. Building the Church through the communion is a result achieved by re-presenting and performing Christ’s sacrifice. On the believers’ part, this building the Church consists in conscious inclusion of their spiritual sacrifices into Christ’s only sacrifice, and on Christ’s part – in unifying these sacrifices with His own sacrifice. It is impossible to separate ultimately the
ecclesiogenic power of the sacrifice from that of the banquet as they mutually overlap by their very nature. The Eucharist builds the horizontal communion (communion among people), originating from the vertical communion (communion with God) and leading to it.