Reasoning steps: Eucharist: sacrifice

Verdicts: S5 · Eucharist: sacrifice. Shared notes and post-750 development: eucharist.

S05.1 (was eucharist/E2): Eucharistic sacrifice

Step S05.1.1: Scripture

Mal 1:11; 1 Cor 10:16–21 (table and altar parallel); Heb 13:10 (“we have an altar”); Heb 7:27, 9:25–28, 10:10–14 (once for all, ἐφάπαξ). The tension: the Eucharist is a sacrifice, yet Christ’s offering is unrepeatable.

Step S05.1.2: Patristic evidence

didache-euc-s1, irenaeus-euc-s1, cyprian-euc-s1.

Step S05.1.3: Weighing decision

Reading A: the Eucharist is a true sacrifice offered by the Church (Cyprian: “true and full sacrifice”). Reading B: it is a sacrifice of praise only. A is chosen. The Didache and Irenaeus read Mal 1:11 as fulfilled in it, and Cyprian makes the priest offer what Christ offered. Whether it is propitiatory, and how it relates to the cross, is not systematized before 750. That is Trent’s 1562 precision.

• Confidence: High (sacrifice); medium–low (propitiatory, as later defined)

Step S05.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

See the proximity tiers.

• Scripture (benchmark): Heb 7:27; 9:25–28; 10:10–14 (ἐφάπαξ): Christ’s offering is unrepeatable; there is a sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15) and Mal 1:11. Propitiatory re-offering lacks textual support. (Scripture confidence: medium)
• Key sources by tier: Didache (T1, w 1.0); Irenaeus (T2, w 0.8); Cyprian (T3, w 0.6). Proximity factor: 0.8 (mean tier weight of 3 key source(s)).
• Assessment: ‘Sacrifice’ language is early (Didache 14, T1; Mal 1:11). The propitiatory re-offering defined at Trent lacks both T1–T2 and biblical support (Heb 10:10–14, ἐφάπαξ). Verdict unchanged; its split confidence already records this.