Is the Eucharist a sacrifice, and if so, of what kind?
Earliest statement of each found so far: Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only, Tertullian, c. 220; Propitiatory sacrifice, Origen of Alexandria, c. 245.
What the early Church said, in their own words →
- Oriental Orthodox placements rest mainly on Coptic and Ethiopian church texts. The Armenian texts checked so far are brief, and Syriac and Indian Orthodox texts are not yet checked.
a passage teaches it a passage rejects it authorship uncertain defined after this timeline ends
Not a sacrificeBaptist8 reject it · Confession 1523 →
Sacrifice of praise and commemoration onlyLutheranReformedAnglicanBaptist2 teach it · 3 reject it · Confession 1530 →
Propitiatory sacrificeCatholicOrthodoxOriental Orthodox3 teach it · 1 rejects it · Defined 1562 →
The positions
Not a sacrifice Baptist
What it holds: The Supper is a remembrance of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice and is not itself a sacrifice in any sense.
the mass is not a sacrifice, but is a remembrance of the sacrifice and assurance of the salvation which Christ has given us.Huldrych Zwingli, Sixty-Seven Articles, Article 18 (1523)
Formally defined: Zwingli, Sixty-Seven Articles (1523)
No early passage in the works searched so far states it yet.
Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only LutheranReformedAnglicanBaptist
What it holds: The Supper includes a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and commemorates Christ's sacrifice, but Christ is not offered to God in it and it obtains no forgiveness for the living or the dead.
The other species is the eucharistic sacrifice, which does not merit the remission of sins or reconciliation, but is rendered by those who have been reconciled, in order that we may give thanksApology of the Augsburg Confession, XXIV.19 (1531)
In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to his Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sins of the quick or dead; but only a commemoration of that one offering up of himselfWestminster Confession of Faith, 29.2 (1646)
Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fablesThirty-Nine Articles, Article XXXI (1571)
Formally defined: Augsburg Confession XXIV and Apology XXIV (1530-31); Thirty-Nine Articles XXXI (1563/71); Westminster 29.2 (1646)
Earliest statement: Tertullian, c. 220
Propitiatory sacrifice CatholicOrthodoxOriental Orthodox
What it holds: In the Eucharist the one sacrifice of Christ is offered to God without bloodshed, and it obtains mercy and forgiveness for the living and the dead.
that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner, who once offered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the crossCouncil of Trent, Session 22, ch. 2 (1562)
it is a true and propitiatory Sacrifice offered for all Orthodox, living and deadConfession of Dositheus (Synod of Jerusalem), Decree 17 (1672)
The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrificeCatechism of the Catholic Church, 1367
Be well knowledgeable of the sublime value of the sacrifice between your hands. He is Christ Emmanuel who sacrificed Himself for you.CopticChurch.net, Sacraments: Eucharist
Formally defined: Council of Trent, Session 22 (1562); Synod of Jerusalem (1672)
Earliest statement: Origen of Alexandria, c. 245
Common ground
These are affirmed by more than one position, so a passage saying only this counts for none of them.
- Christ's sacrifice on the cross was once for all and complete (all positions affirm this)
- The Supper remembers or proclaims Christ's death
- Thanksgiving and praise are offered at the Eucharist (praise and propitiatory positions both affirm it)
- Calling the Eucharist an 'offering' or 'sacrifice' with no statement of what is offered or for what purpose (decides between no-sacrifice and the others only)
- Malachi 1:11 'pure offering' applied to Christian worship without further specification
Every deciding passage, earliest first
The Didache, c. 100
On the Lord's day, when you come together, break bread and give thanks after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure. If anyone has a dispute with a fellow believer, that person must not join you until they are reconciled, so that your sacrifice may not be defiled. For this is what the Lord said: 'In every place and at every time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations' (Malachi 1:11).
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Translation in progress
Irenaeus of Lyons, c. 180
The Church's offering, which the Lord commanded to be offered throughout the world, is regarded as a pure sacrifice before God and is accepted by Him; God does not need a sacrifice from us, but the one who offers is glorified in the very act of offering, provided his gift is accepted. Gifts presented to a king demonstrate honor and affection, and the Lord, desiring us to offer in all simplicity and innocence, taught this when He said: when you bring your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go first and be reconcile…
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Translation in progress
Tertullian, c. 220
For this is the spiritual sacrifice that has abolished the old sacrifices. “What use to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” God says. “I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. For who has required these things from your hands?” (Isaiah 1:11–12). What God has sought instead, the gospel teaches. “The hour is coming,” Jesus says, “when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For God is spirit, and so He requires such worshippers” (John 4:23–24). We are the true worshippers and the true priests, who pr…
- Teaches: Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only
- Rejects: Propitiatory sacrifice
Translation in progress
Tertullian, c. 220
In the same way, many people think that on fast days they should not take part in the prayers of the sacrifices, because the fast day must be ended when the body of the Lord has been received. Does the Eucharist, then, undo a service devoted to God, or does it bind us more closely to God? Will your fast day not be more solemn if you also stand at the altar of God? When the body of the Lord has been received and reserved, both things are preserved: participation in the sacrifice and performance of the duty. If the fast day takes its name from a military example, for we are also God's army, then…
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Translation in progress
Origen of Alexandria, c. 245
With God permitting, then, and secondly the bishops, and thirdly the presbyters and the people too, I will speak again of what is stirring me at this point. The offering is always made to God Almighty through Jesus Christ, as offering his divinity to the Father. Let the offering not be made twice, but to God through God.
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Translation in progress
Origen of Alexandria, c. 245
For we must sacrifice the true sheep, if we have been made priests or offer equally with the priests, and we must roast and eat his flesh. And if this has not happened in the passion of the Savior, then his passion is not a type of the Passover. Rather, the Passover becomes a type of Christ himself, who is sacrificed by us (Exodus 12:8–9) (1 Peter 2:5).
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
- Rejects: Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only
- Teaches: Propitiatory sacrifice
Translation in progress
Cyprian of Carthage, c. 258
nst the sacrifice of Christ, faithless in place of faith, sacrilegious in place of religion, a disobedient servant, an impious son, a hostile brother. Despising the bishops and abandoning the priests of God, he dares to set up another altar, to make another prayer with unlawful words, to profane the truth of the Lord's victim through false sacrifices, and does not know that whoever strives against God's ordinance is punished by divine judgment for the audacity of his rashness.
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
John Chrysostom, c. 407
And yet he received him alive and brought him down unharmed. How then did he not spare him? Because, he says, I judge such sacrifices not by the outcome of events but by the intention of those who chose beforehand. The hand did not slaughter, but the intention slaughtered. The sword did not stain the boy's throat, it did not cut his neck—yet it is a sacrifice even without blood. The initiated know what this means. And that sacrifice was made without blood precisely because it was going to be a type of this one. Do you see the image being sketched beforehand in the Old Testament? Do not doubt t…
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Augustine of Hippo, c. 430
Since this is so, we should not think that anything reaches the dead for whom we are caring except what we solemnly pray for them through the sacrifices of the altar, of prayers, and of alms. Yet these do not benefit all for whom they are offered, but only those for whom, while they lived, provision was made that they might benefit. But because we cannot discern who these are, we ought to offer them for all the baptized, so that none of those to whom these benefits can and should reach may be passed over. For it is better that these things be in excess for those whom they neither harm nor help…
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
- Rejects: Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only
- Teaches: Propitiatory sacrifice
Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
Cyril: So then the matter is fruit-bearing, O Palladius, and a mystical word has also been woven for it, I think, carrying the riddle up unto Emmanuel, and unto us ourselves; and I will speak again as I am able. For when the holy and true tent has been shown in this world—that is, the Church—Christ conspicuous in it many-formedly and all but from us and for us is brought forward as a sacred victim to God and Father, a ransom and exchange of the life of all, one worth-all. For when the Only-begotten has become human as one from us, he has brought himself forward to God and Father, as some first…
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
- Rejects: Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only
- Teaches: Propitiatory sacrifice
Translation in progress
Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
Cyril: …for we approach the holy things, for no other grace, than so as to share the holy Christ through the unspeakable and spiritual sacrifice. And the vessels serving the sacrifices are also thoroughly cleansed, so that they may not become for some other, nor may the things having liturgized for the sacred be carried under to humans’ needs. And the law has been kept, and is saved in churches. And that being blessed is fitting for those playing-the-man, the law will clarify again saying: ‘Every male among the priests will eat them.’ (Leviticus 6:30)
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Translation in progress
Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
Cyril: …and, having offered up the praise together with the perfect, he departs from the still more mystical, and is barred from the sacrifice upon Christ. In this way well the law was pre-voicing the economy, and ordered the sacrifice of the praise to be made upon leavened breads, and in unleavened flatbreads. Each of the named, as I at least think, under-signaling a form of life; for the leavened bread will be a type of life and living not yet cleansed through the holy baptism, nor indeed altogether released from worldly uncleanness; and unleavened flatbread, of the already wiped in Christ t…
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
Translation in progress
Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
Cyril: But whether then in churches according to multitude the victim should be brought near by us, or whether then it should be done in other places, and somehow each one, or also somehow according to two, and three, and still more, undistinguished is the standing of those accustomed to hymn-speak, and having run together unto this; for, together with those already cleansed through the holy baptism, the one still a catechumen also joins in offering up the victim of praise (Psalm 116:13) (Acts 4:32);
- Rejects: Not a sacrifice
- Teaches: Sacrifice of praise and commemoration only
Translation in progress
How this was made
Every whole work in the library on 21 October 2026 was searched for this question. Works added since then are not searched yet. The short excerpts on the topic pages (many from Tertullian, Justin, Irenaeus and Ignatius) join the search once their English has been checked against the Greek or Latin original: 94% of them (1,814 of 1,925) have passed that check, and the rest are still held out, so an early witness may occasionally be missing from these lanes. Two AI models from different labs judged each passage against all the positions at once, seeing them only as letters, without names or churches. A third model settled disagreements, and Claude reviewers then checked every deciding verdict against the passage and, for the earliest dates, against the Greek or Latin. A writer's silence is never counted.
The evidence is only as deep as the works searched: 1st century: 5 writers, 2nd century: 23 writers, 3rd century: 22 writers, 4th century: 18 writers, 5th century: 11 writers, 6th century: 5 writers, 8th century: 1 writer. The lanes are redrawn when the search is run again.