St. Irenaeus of Lyons - Lost Fragment #37

I found something interesting on the New Advent site. It's one of St. Irenaeus' lost fragments of writing:

Those who have become acquainted with the secondary (i.e., under Christ) constitutions of the apostles, are aware that the Lord instituted a new oblation in the new covenant, according to [the declaration of] Malachi the prophet. For, "from the rising of the sun even to the setting my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice;" as John also declares in the Apocalypse: "The incense is the prayers of the saints." Then again, Paul exhorts us "to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." And again, "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips." Now those oblations are not according to the law, the handwriting of which the Lord took away from the midst by cancelling it; but they are according to the Spirit, for we must worship God "in spirit and in truth." And therefore the oblation of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure. For we make an oblation to God of the bread and the cup of blessing, giving Him thanks in that He has commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment. And then, when we have perfected the oblation, we invoke the Holy Spirit, that He may exhibit this sacrifice, both the bread the body of Christ, and the cup the blood of Christ, in order that the receivers of these antitypes may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform these oblations in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views, but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons of wisdom.



This short piece has many interesting details. First, he mentions the "secondary contituions of the apostles", a reference to unwritten apostolic tradition perhaps? Second, there is what St. Irenaeus actually declares to be apostolic teaching, that the the bread and cup of blessing are made an "oblation to God". Of course, this is the actual practice of the older churches that hold to apostolic tradition (Catholic, Orthodox, even Anglican) but among extreme sola Scriptura groups this idea and practice for the Lord's Supper does not exist. Third, he references the importance of the oblation with respect to invocation of the Holy Spirit used to "exhibit the sacrifice" of the body and blood of Christ. Finally, he mentions that those who perform the oblations are called sons of wisdom, since he mentions the Jews perhaps he has the concept of a Christian ministerial priesthood.

UPDATE: I found out that there is some contention as to the authenicity of the quoted fragment. For more information that matter check Pfaff's Faked Fragments.

However, Irenaeus did speak on the Christian oblation in his work Against Heresies. For example in Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 17 Irenaeus compares the oblations of the Levitical priesthood to that of the Christian dispensation:

5. Again, giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits of His own, created things—not as if He stood in need of them, but that they might be themselves neither unfruitful nor ungrateful—He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks, and said, "This is My body.". And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to which we belong, He confessed to be His blood, and taught the new oblation of the new covenant; which the Church receiving from the apostles, offers to God throughout all the world, to Him who gives us as the means of subsistence the first-fruits of His own gifts in the New Testament, concerning which Malachi, among the twelve prophets, thus spoke beforehand: "I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord Omnipotent, and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands. For from the rising of the sun, unto the going down [of the same], My name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure sacrifice; for great is My name among the Gentiles, says the Lord Omnipotent;"—indicating in the plainest manner, by these words, that the former people [the Jews] shall indeed cease to make offerings to God, but that in every place sacrifice shall be offered to Him, and that a pure one; and His name is glorified among the Gentiles.

There Irenaeus states substantially the same as in the first quoted "lost fragment". The apostles taught that the bread and the cup is "the new oblation of the new covenant", that these are offered to God.

Also Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 18 further expounds upon Chapter 17 but also restates the idea that the Churh received that the bread and cup become the body an blood and are an oblation to the God.