The Saint Anselm Journal 10.2 (Spring 2015) 17 Leo the Great and Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Eucharist Hans Feichtinger In his homilies and letters, Leo the Great displays an understanding of the Eucharist that is organically connected to his views on the church and, more importantly, to his Christological doctrine. Leo’s remarks on the Eucharist demonstrate how for him the Eucharistic presence of Christ, conceived in very realistic terms, is at the heart of the Christian life, both individual and ecclesial. Within the context of the many other ways in which the incarnate Christ, after his ascension, remains connected and present to his Church, the Eucharist constitutes the highpoint of how he stays with his disciples until he will come again as judge, bringing to completion his mission as the one savior and mediator. Comparing Leo’s statements with Balthasar’s more elaborate reflections of the Eucharist shows how profoundly similar their views are, especially with regard to the deep connection between Christology, Ecclesiology, and Eucharistic theology, but also how Balthasar was more influenced by the Greek Fathers he studied than by the post- Augustinian, Latin tradition, for which Leo stands, with its strong Christological focus and its way of preserving a distinct sense of how the church, while strengthened by Christ’s sacramental presence, is waiting for his eschatological return. Introduction “Hoc est enim corpus meum – Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei”: These two phrases are at the basis and at the heart of all Eucharistic theology. From early on, the Christians were looking at the Eucharist in terms of a representation of the Christ event and in terms of a presence of Christ. As rightly pointed out in N. Healy’s paper, at “the heart of the Church’s faith in the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament is the affirmation that Christ has communicated nothing less than the very substance of his life” (under 2 nd thesis). This statement, however, presupposes, that at the heart, or at the basis, of the Church’s faith in the Eucharist is the conviction that in this sacrament Christ is present in a unique way. Over the course of the centuries in which Christian dogma developed, it became ever more clear that the mode of that presence surpasses or, rather, includes all other forms of divine presence in the world. Hans Urs von Balthasar developed his thought, notably about the Church and the Eucharist, on the basis of his engagement with patristic theology, with an emphasis on some of the Greek Fathers, but also including later Catholic, western developments. He thus contributed to what is called “Eucharistic ecclesiology,” which, while formally developed during more recent times, is rooted in Christian antiquity. Among the Western Fathers, Augustine pays special attention to the connection between Eucharist and Church, both understood as the Body of Christ; Ambrose focuses more on the transformation of the Eucharistic gifts. The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is a kind of middle way between a merely symbolic and a sensually realistic concept of the Eucharistic transformation, capable of preserving its personal and spiritual dimension. The Council of Trent takes up this understanding, though in famously cautious terms (DH 1652, 1642).