Embodied Liturgical Experience as an Extension of the Eucharist

Historically, Christianity has always emphasized the embodiment of liturgical experience. Liturgy is not merely a metaphysical phenomenon, but one that is lived out and is, in turn, formative of the human being. To this end, the liturgy encompasses the totality of human experience to completely immerse the human being within itself. This includes the senses of smell, hearing, vision, touch, and, ultimately, taste. This uniting thread that runs throughout the human senses is teleologically directed toward the Eucharist. The Eucharist, being the climax of liturgy, is not a disembodied magical occurrence, but is, most fundamentally, formative of the human being. As the perpetuation of the incarnation throughout human history, the Eucharist calls people to be, most authentically, human beings, re-forming them into the likeness of God—the likeness of he who is known in the Eucharist. This paper will attempt to answer the question: How can the physical stimuli presented throughout the liturgy be understood as ‘Eucharistic’? Through a Coptic Orthodox theological hermeneutic, but drawing from a wider range of patristic and modern authors, this paper will attempt to answer this question by looking at how created things are ‘Eucharistic’ insofar as they reveal God. The paper will look at the possibility of primary knowledge—that is knowledge through experience—and the necessity of this form of knowledge within the scope of the liturgy. Finally, it will be shown how the liturgy offers a way to embody a narrative, thus immersing the human being into a way through which they are formed and experience the liturgy as Eucharist.