The pre-conference event of the 51st International Eucharistic Symposium organized in Budapest (September 5-12, 2021) was held on September 3-4, 2021 in Esztergom, Hungary.
Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria, along with other distinguished theologians and internationally renowned professors, discussed the essence of the Mystery of the Eucharist as a central point of the Christian faith as well as the various aspects of Eucharistic worship in Christianity.
In the context of a series of lectures on the afternoon of September 3, the Metropolitan expounded upon the subject “The Eucharist in the Orthodox Church – Experience of the Kingdom of God on earth.”
According to Orthodox theology, the Metropolitan of Austria stated, while receiving the Holy Communion, the faithful received the experience of God and already participated in the Eternal Life in Heaven.
For one who receives the Holy Communion, the heavenly Kingdom is a concurrence of many time moments: the past, the present and the future are merged as a timeless point, as a moment of divine eternity.
According to the Metropolitan, the Mystery of Eucharist is a Liturgy, a work for the salvation of the people, an act for the community of believers, not a private affair.
Emphasizing that the ecumenical dimension of Eucharistic theology also covers man’s responsibility for the unity of all divine Creation, he hoped that in the future theology both in the East and the West would focus on the study of the Eucharist.