Eucharist Eucharist The Eucharist (; also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper, among other names) is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper; giving his disciples bread and wine during the Passover meal, Jesus commanded his followers to "do this in memory of me" while referring to the bread as "my body" and the cup of wine as "the new covenant in my blood". Through the Eucharistic celebration Christians remember both Christ's sacrifice of
Eucharist mainly of readings from scripture (the Bible) and a homily preached by a priest or deacon and is essentially distinct and separate from the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which comprises the entirety of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, so the Eucharist itself is only about one half of the Mass. (It is also possible and permissible in the Latin Rite for a priest to consecrate and distribute the Eucharist outside the ritual structure of the Mass—such an event is often called a communion service—but it is much more common to celebrate a full Mass.) Among the many other terms used