ssionis eius mentionem in sacrificiis omnibus facimus, passio est enim
domini sacrificium quod offerrimus, nihil aliud quam quod ille fecit
facere debemus;" c. 9.: "unde apparet sanguinem Christi non offerri, si
desit vinum calici." 13; de unit. 17: "dominicae hostiae veritatem per
falsa sacrificia profanare;" ep. 63. 4: "sacramentum sacrificii
dominici." The transference of the sacrificial idea to the consecrated
elements, which, in all probability, Cyprian already found in existence,
is ultimately based on the effort to include the element of mystery and
magic in the specifically sacerdotal ceremony of sacrifice, and to make
the Christian offering assume, though not visibly, the form of a bloody
sacrifice, such as secularised Christianity desired. This transference,
however, was the result of two causes. The first has been already
rightly stated by Ernesti (Antimur. p. 94) in the words: "quia
eucharistia habet [Greek: anamnesin] Christi mortui et sacrificii eius
in cruce peracti, propter ea paullatim coepta est tota eucharistia
sacrificium dici." In Cyprian's 63rd epistle it is still observable how
the "calicem in commemorationem domini et passionis eius offerre" passes
over into the "sanguinem Christi offerre," see also Euseb. demonstr. I.
13: [Greek: mnemen tes thysias Christou prospherein] and [Greek: ten
ensarkon tou Christou parousian kai to katartisthen autou soma
prospherein]. The other cause has been specially pointed out by Theodore
Harnack (l.c., p. 409 f.). In ep. 63. 2 and in many other passages
Cyprian expresses the thought "that in the Lord's Supper nothing else is
done _by_ us but what the Lord has first done _for_ us." But he says
that at the institution of the Supper the Lord first offered himself as
a sacrifice to God the Father. Consequently the priest officiating in
Christ's stead only presents a true and perfect offering when he
imitates what Christ has done (c. 14: "si Christus Jesus dominus et deus
noster ipse est summus sacerdos dei patris et sacrificiam patri se ipsum
obtulit et hoc fieri in sui commemorationem praecepit, utique ille
sacerdos vice Christi vere fungitur, qui id quod Christus fecit imitatur
et sacrificium verum et plenum tunc offert in ecclesia deo patri, si sic
incipiat offerre secundum quod ipsum Christum videat obtulisse"). This
brings us to the conception of the repetition of Christ's sacrifice by
the priest. But in Cyprian's case it was still, so to speak, only a
notion vergi