ure of wine with water in the symbol represents the spiritual
process, and lastly does not fail to attribute to the holy food a
relationship to the body.[296] It is true that Origen, the great
mysteriosophist and theologian of sacrifice, expressed himself in
plainly "spiritualistic" fashion; but in his eyes religious mysteries
and the whole person of Christ lay in the province of the spirit, and
therefore his theory of the Supper is not "symbolical," but conformable
to his doctrine of Christ. Besides, Origen was only able to recognise
spiritual aids in the sphere of the intellect and the disposition, and
in the assistance given to these by man's own free and spontaneous
efforts. Eating and drinking and, in general, participation in a
ceremonial are from Origen's standpoint completely indifferent matters.
The intelligent Christian feeds at all times on the body of Christ, that
is, on the Word of God, and thus celebrates a never ending Supper (c.
Cels. VIII. 22). Origen, however, was not blind to the fact that his
doctrine of the Lord's Supper was just as far removed from the faith of
the simple Christian as his doctrinal system generally. Here also,
therefore, he accommodated himself to that faith in points where it
seemed necessary. This, however, he did not find difficult; for, though
with him everything is at bottom "spiritual," he was unwilling to
dispense with symbols and mysteries, because he knew that one must be
_initiated_ into the spiritual, since one cannot learn it as one learns
the lower sciences.[297] But, whether we consider simple believers, the
antignostic Fathers or Origen, and, moreover, whether we view the Supper
as offering or sacrament, we everywhere observe that the holy ordinance
had been entirely diverted from its original purpose and pressed into
the service of the spirit of antiquity. In no other point perhaps is the
hellenisation of the Gospel so evident as in this. To mention only one
other example, this is also shown in the practice of child communion,
which, though we first hear of it in Cyprian (Testim. III. 25; de laps.
25), can hardly be of later origin than child baptism. Partaking of the
Supper seemed quite as indispensable as baptism, and the child had no
less claim than the adult to a magical food from heaven.[298]

* * * * *

In the course of the third century a crass superstition became developed
in respect to the conceptions of the Church and the mys