Holy Eucharist Teachings by the Fathers of the Church
Fathers of the Church - Cyprian (251 A.D.)
[The Lapsed 15-16m 251 A.D.]
He [Paul] threatens, moreover, the stubborn and forward and denounces them saying, ‘Whosoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” [1 Cor 11: 27]. All these warnings being scorned and condemned [lapsed Christians will often take communion] before their sin is expiated, before confession has been made of their crime, before their conscience has been purged, by sacrifice and by the hand of the priest, before the offense of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased [and so] violence is done to his body and blood; and they sin now against their Lord more with their hand and mouth than when they denied their Lord.
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