Metousiosis is a Greek mystical term that literally means "a great change of essence." It is the basis for the doctrine of the Real Presence -- a doctrine that states that Christ is objectively present, par excellence, in the Holy Eucharist. It has been expounded by Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Christian divines. It has also been elucidated by later Lutheran, Anglican, and Old-Catholic divines. Real Presence is a doctrine of many Christian traditions that Jesus the Christ is physically present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist or Holy Communion. ... The term Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the churches of Eastern Christian traditions that keeps the faith of only the first three ecumenical councils of the undivided Church - the councils of Nicea, Constantinople and Ephesus. ... Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ...

In Christian theology, it refers to the comprehensive action of the Holy Spirit in the celebration of the sacrament (mystery) of the Holy Eucharist. In this action, the hypostasis ("that which gives meaning to") of the bread and wine are changed by the mystery into the full reality of the Risen Christ -- in the Humanity and the Divinity together, as truly as being Jesus of Nazareth present in the flesh and blood; the hypostases of the partakers in the mystery are changed by the mystery; and the communicants of the mystery are commissioned by the mystery to live-forth the mystery into the world. In the process, the Church's sacrifice of praise and the sacrifice of Christ are mystically at-one; hence, taking part in the mystery is also taking part in the at-one-ment of Christ's eternal sacrifice that was lived-out on Calvary. The anamnesis -- calling to mindfulness and presence -- thereby is effectually salvific. During the action of this "calling Christ to mind," especially during the epiclesis (calling forth of the Holy Spirit) during the consecratory Eucharistic prayer (which is variously called the anaphora, or the canon missae or, simply, the Great Thanksgiving), participants pray that, by God's Holy Spirit, their gifts will be transformed and made whole, that they will be transformed and made whole by them, and that they will go forth to transform the world and make it whole. This Divine work of transformation is the metousiosis. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A sacrament is a Christian rite that mediates divine grace. ... In modern colloquial English, a mystery is a subgenre of detective fiction (see mystery fiction). ... The Eucharist is the rite that Christians perform in fulfillment of Jesus instruction, recorded in the New Testament, to do in memory of him what he did at his Last Supper. ... This article is about the figure known by both Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ. For other usages, see Jesus (disambiguation). ... The Atonement is the central doctrine of Christianity: everything else derives from it. ... Anamnesis (from Greek ana-, up and mimnēskein, to recall), or medical history, is the process in which physician obtains information about patients health status by asking specific questions or by asking such questions of other people that know the person and can give suitable information (in this case... In Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches, the epiclesis (also sometimes spelled epiklesis, since it is a transliterated Greek word) is that part of the prayer of consecration of the Eucharistic elements (bread and wine) by which the priest invokes the Holy Spirit. ... To consecrate an inanimate object is to dedicate it in a ritual to a special purpose, usually religious. ...

As a comprehensive mystical idea, the concept of metousiosis differs considerably from the scholastic philosophical formula of transubstantiation, which was a medieval Roman Catholic doctrine that, at one time, sought to define the method of the change of the elemetns of bread and wine, and the exact mode of Christ's presence. Transubstantiation is the belief held by many Christian denominations that the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus during Consecration. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

• see Real Presence
• see Comparative Eucharistic Theologies

For a strong exposition of the idea of metousiosis in the communal love-feast and Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Lord's Supper, see: Saepius officio Real Presence is a doctrine of many Christian traditions that Jesus the Christ is physically present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist or Holy Communion. ...