The Cross and the Eucharist in Early Christianity

The Cross was present at the Eucharist in early Christianity as an idea a gesture and an object. Over timethese different actualizations of the quintessential symbol of Christianityhave generated important questions about their meaning and function among them: is the Eucharist a meal and/or a sacrifice? Can the sign of the Cross illuminate the absence of a Roman epiclesis? Is it pertinent -historically and theologically - to use an altar Cross? In this study Daniel Card explores the relation between the Cross and the Eucharist. Offeringathorough and fresh reading of patristic and Roman liturgical texts he identifies their emphases and common themes on the Cross and the Eucharist and demonstrates their significance for the liturgical debates of recent decades.