Eucharist means “thanksgiving” (gratitude). In it, Christ gives himself to us so that we can give ourselves to him and to our neighbours. That is why the Most Holy Eucharist manifests and creates our communion with God and with people equally, through it we become one body, in other words, the Church. (We Walk with Christ: Youth Catechism, p. 106)
But unlike Baptism and Chrismation, which we receive only once, we receive the Mystery of the Eucharist throughout our lives, since it is through this Mystery that we grow in the grace received in Baptism and Chrismation—the grace to be sons and daughters of God. For this reason our Church offers Communion to the newly baptized. (Christ – Our Pascha, 431)
The Communion of the Apostlesicon, as also the icon of the Mystical Supper, depicts that which takes place at the Liturgy: Christ is offering the Communion of his Body and Blood to his apostles, who represent all the faithful. (Christ – Our Pascha, 435)
The Church solemnly confesses and teaches that at the Liturgy we receive the true Body of Christ—a
guarantee of the fact that the Church is the Body of
Christ. In order then that we may become this not by love only, but in very deed, let us be blended into that flesh. This is effected by the food which He has freely given us, desiring to show the love which He has for us. On this account He has mixed up Himself with us; He has kneaded up His body with ours, that we might be a certain One Thing, like a body joined to a head. For this belongs to them who love strongly. (Christ – Our Pascha, 436)
Christ offers his Body and Blood in a way accessible to human beings: “Since it is man’s custom to eat [bread] and to drink water and wine he [Christ] connected his divinity with these and made them his Body and Blood in order that we may rise to what is supernatural through what is familiar and natural.” (Christ – Our Pascha, 438)
In the Eucharist, Christ offers us participation in his life, a life both divine and human (i.e., theandric). He does this out of merciful love, not because of our merits. The highest expression of this love is Christ’s sacrifice in blood on Golgotha, the memorial of which is the bloodless sacrifice—the Eucharist. (Christ – Our Pascha, 442)
The condition for receiving Holy Communion worthily is a clean conscience, repentance for sins before God, and reconciliation with our neighbour: “[On] every Lord’s day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned.”
(Christ – Our Pascha, 446)
Indeed, Baptism is the first Mystery that a person receives to become a Christian. Along with Baptism, the Mystery of Anointing with Holy Myrrh (Chrism) is celebrated, at the same time the newly baptized person also receives Holy Communion – he or she participates in the Mystery of the Eucharist. These three Mysteries are called the Mysteries of Christian Initiation, because through them we become members of the Church, we receive the grace from God and enter into the life of the Most Holy Trinity. (We Walk with Christ: Youth Catechism, p. 104)
Through Baptism the newly baptized is born to eternal life, through Anointing with Holy Myrrh (Chrism) – “he or she breathes by the Holy Spirit,” and through the Eucharist – he or she receives the “food of eternal life,” which Christ gives for his or her growth in the new life, in other words, divinization. (We Walk with Christ: Youth Catechism, p. 106)