Budapest, Hungary, Sep 8, 2021 / 18:01 pm
Orthodox believers are called to pursue deification, or divine qualities, according to a Russian Orthodox leader. The most powerful way to do this, he says, is through the Eurcharist.
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev spoke with EWTN about the importance of the Eucharist at the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 6. His comments came after he delivered the event’s opening catechesis. While there are many differences between Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believers, he stressed that they share the same understanding of the Eucharist.
“We all believe that in the Eucharistic bread and wine, we have not some kind of symbolic presence of Christ, but his full and real presence,” Metropolitan Alfeyev, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, explained during an interview with Matthew Bunson, executive editor and EWTN News Washington Bureau chief and Fr. John Paul Zeller, employee chaplain of EWTN.
He highlighted that Orthodox believers treat the Eucharist in a special way.