No body is saying that the words of Jesus is false (be VERY careful here)..
No Christian believed that the bread and wine literally turned into blood and flesh for the first several centuries of Chriatianity
Yes they did. I have quoted them in their own words, and can quote many more.
I was a universally accepted belief for first 1500 years that the Eucharist is the fresh and blood of Christ.
Catholic and Orthodox Churches all maintained the same belief from the Apostles.
The majority of Christianity in the past and the majority of Christianity today hold to this central Christian belief.
But like the Early Church Fathers wrote, they believed that there was a change in the meaning of the bread and wine (not a literal change to the elements).
This is not denying Jesus' words. It is in keeping with the actual teachings of the Apostalic and Early Church.
The bread and wine, of course, remains bread and wine. BUT they are in that moment the blood and body of Christ - not because they magically turn Christians into pagan cannibals but because the bread and wine take on a covenantal significance greater than bread and wine.
It was shortly after the reformation that the first deniers of the real presence became more prevalent, a small minority but they began a generational denial through some denominations.
The desupernaturalisation of Christianity began, along with the denial of the effect of Baptism.
“It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, ‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.’ And who doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold life. I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint.” Basil, To Patrician Caesaria, Epistle 93 (A.D. 372).
“You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made, it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wonderous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ…When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body.” Athanasius, Sermon to the Newly Baptized, PG 26, 1325 (ante A.D. 373).
Through from the disciples of the Apostles through all the centuries East and West, the reality of Jesus body and blood in The Eucharist has been maintained faithfully to today.
