Christian Communion Through the Ages Quiz

Answer: Passover

Passover in the Jewish tradition commemorates the time when the tenth plague was inflicted upon the Egyptians, this being the killing of the firstborn. The Hebrews were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb, and seeing this the spirit of the Lord would spare them, or "pass over" them.

Although Christian tradition does not stress that the bread was unleavened, it would have been - Jewish custom forbids the consumption of leavened bread at Passover.

Answer: The Upper Room

This is described in Mark 14:15. The Upper Room is also the name of a popular daily devotional guide that has been published since 1935.

Answer: Judas

All twelve disciples are shown in this great painting; they are depicted in four groups of three each. It is unclear to what extent da Vinci's depiction has influenced modern etiquette rules, which tell us not to put our elbows on the table at meals.

Answer: transubstantiation

The term "transubstantiation" began to be widely used during the twelfth century. At the Fourth Council of the Lateran, convened by Pope Innocent III in 1215, the church formally endorsed this term by stating that "His body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine, the bread and wine having been transubstantiated, by God's power, into his body and blood."

Answer: red hot iron

Luther explained that if you put a piece of iron into a fire, it will become red hot. Although this combines the iron and the fire, each nevertheless retains its own separate identity. So it is with communion, according to Luther.

Answer: Quakers (Society of Friends)

Quakers do not practice either baptism or communion. They choose to believe instead that the whole of life is sacramental, and they therefore refuse to designate any particular observance or practice as being more sacred than any other. The frequency of communion in the other choices varies widely, from every Sunday for the Mormons, to four times a year for the Seventh-day Adventists, to once a year for the Jehovah's Witnesses (and then only the 144,000 members called the "anointed class" have the right to participate).

Answer: thanksgiving

This term is used by Mark, Matthew and Luke in their accounts of the last supper. Hence, it is not surprising that second-century Christian writers used Eucharist as their standard name for this meal.

Answer: John Calvin

John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the major figures of the Protestant Reformation. Although born in France, he emigrated to Switzerland, where he did most of his work during the Reformation, including writing his book "Institutes of the Christian Religion". Calvin rejected both the Catholic view of transubstantiation, and the Lutheran view of sacramental union.

But neither did he accept the Anabaptist view, which held that communion was (only) a symbolic way of renewing one's covenant with God and with each other. Calvin stressed the presence of the Holy Spirit during the communion service.

Answer: divorced people who have remarried

The teaching of the Catholic church is that that those who remarry after divorce are living in sin unless they refrain from sex. Since this is a public sin, and the policy of the church is the non-admission of public sinners to the Eucharist, it follows that this group should be denied communion, according to the Pope.

Answer: John Kerry

The Boston Archbishop issued a statement in 2003 that pro-choice Catholics are in a state of grave sin and should not take communion. Following up on that, the St. Louis Archbishop forbade Kerry from taking communion while Kerry was campaigning in the area in February of 2004. Needless to say, a huge controversy ensued.