The Holy Eucharist: The Cleansing and Healing Power of the Blood of Jesus Christ

Introduction to Orthodox Eucharistic Theology

In the Orthodox Church, the Holy Eucharist (Communion) is the most sacred and central sacrament, called “the sacrament of sacraments.” In Greek, Eucharistia means “thanksgiving,” because the Eucharist is the offering of thanks for the great grace that God has revealed to us through His Son Jesus Christ.

At the heart of Eucharistic theology is the mystery – the real, actual presence of Christ’s Body and Blood in the form of bread and wine. According to Orthodox teaching, this is not merely symbols or remembrance, but true participation in Christ’s divine life. As St. John of Damascus (8th century) taught: “The bread and wine are not a representation of Christ’s Body and Blood, but Christ’s own deified Body and Blood.”

On the Cleansing and Healing Power of the Blood of Jesus Christ

Biblical Testimony of Christ’s Blood

In Holy Scripture, the Blood of Christ is central to the theme of redemption and purification:

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come… he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Heb 9:11-12)

“The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” (Rev 1:5)

Dogmatic Explanation

Orthodox dogmatics teaches that the Blood of Christ possesses cleansing and healing power on three levels:

1. Redemptive Power (Apolytrosis)

The Blood of Christ shed on Golgotha paid the full price for our sins. As the Holy Apostle Paul writes: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Eph 1:7)

Christ, being simultaneously fully God and fully man, was able to offer a sacrifice of infinite value. His innocent Blood, shed on the cross, broke the power of death and sin. As St. Gregory the Theologian taught: “What is not assumed is not healed; but what is united with God is also saved.”

2. Cleansing Power (Katharsis)

The Blood of the Eucharist cleanses the believer’s soul and body. This is not merely moral or symbolic cleansing, but actual, ontological change at the essential level of the human being.

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:54-55)

St. Cyril of Alexandria explains: “Christ’s Blood is not merely human blood, but the Blood of the divine-human person, which carries within itself life-giving power and cleanses us from all defilement.”

3. Healing and Deifying Power (Theosis)

The highest goal of Orthodox theology is theosis – deification. Through participation in Christ through the Blood of the Eucharist, we become partakers of His divine nature:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness… so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Pet 1:3-4)

St. Athanasius the Great expressed this in his famous saying: “God became man so that man might become god” (not essentially, but through grace).

Liturgical Theology of the Eucharist

Anamnesis – Remembrance

The Eucharist is not merely a recollection of past events, but the actual presence of those events today. As Christ said: “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

The Greek word anamnesis means more than simple remembering – it is making a past event present, so that we participate in Christ’s sacrifice, His death and resurrection.

Epiclesis – Invocation of the Holy Spirit

In the Orthodox liturgy, the priest prays that the Holy Spirit will descend and transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ:

“Send down Your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here presented, and make this bread the precious Body of Your Son… and that which is in this cup, the precious Blood of Your Son.”

This emphasizes that the Eucharist is not a human work, but God’s work in our midst.

Koinonia – Communion

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16)

Receiving the Eucharist means entering into living, personal communion with Christ and with the entire Body of the Church.

Prayer Before the Holy Eucharist

Before approaching the Eucharist, Orthodox Christians pray to prepare their hearts. Here is the traditional prayer series:

The Creed

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that You are truly the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first. I believe also that this is truly Your most pure Body and that this is truly Your precious Blood. Therefore, I pray to You: have mercy upon me and forgive me my transgressions, voluntary and involuntary, in word and deed, known and unknown, and make me worthy without condemnation to partake of Your most pure Mysteries for the remission of sins and for life everlasting. Amen.

Prayer of St. John Chrysostom

O Lord, I believe and confess that You are truly Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners of whom I am first. I believe also that this is truly Your most pure Body and that this is truly Your precious Blood. Therefore, I pray to You: have mercy upon me and forgive me my transgressions and make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Your most pure Mysteries, for the remission of sins and for life everlasting. Amen.

Prayer for the Power of Christ’s Blood

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, from whom flows the river of life! Your most precious Blood, which was shed on Golgotha, cleanses me from all sin. Your Passion and Blood are my redemption, my purification, my peace.

Just as it is written from the foundation of the world: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22), so also my heart needs the cleansing of Your Blood. You said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).

Precious Redeemer, I come to You like the woman with the issue of blood, who touched the hem of Your garment and was healed (Matt 9:20-22). Let me touch the power of Your Blood and be healed in soul, spirit, and body.

Cleanse me, as You called the leper: “I will; be clean” (Matt 8:3). Wash me with Your Blood, that I may become white as snow, as David prayed: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow!” (Ps 51:7)

Your Blood is the river that flows from the temple of God (Ezek 47:1), which heals everything it touches. Let it flow through my heart and cleanse me from all sin, from all evil, from all that is not of You.

Let Your Blood come into my heart as the Day of Atonement offering, which the high priest carried into the Holy of Holies (Lev 16), and cover my sins forever. Amen.

The Liturgical Moment of Receiving Communion

As believers approach the Holy Chalice, the priest says for each believer:

“The servant of God (name) partakes of the precious Body and Blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and life everlasting.”

The believer responds: “Amen.”

Then the priest gives them Communion (bread and wine together) from the spoon with the words:

“Receive, eat! This is the Body and Blood of Christ, for the remission of your sins and life everlasting.”

Prayer After the Holy Eucharist

After receiving Communion, believers pray in thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving

Prayer of Thanksgiving to our Lord Jesus Christ

I thank You, O Lord my God, that You have not rejected me, a sinner, but have deemed me worthy to be a partaker of Your holy Things. I thank You that You have allowed me, though unworthy, to partake of Your pure and heavenly Gift. But, O Master, who died and rose for our sake, and granted us these Your awesome and life-giving Mysteries for the well-being and sanctification of our souls and bodies, let them be to me for the healing of soul and body, for the averting of everything adverse, for the enlightenment of the eyes of my heart, for the peace of my spiritual powers, for faith unashamed, for love unfeigned, for the fulfillment of wisdom, for the keeping of Your commandments, for an increase of Your divine grace, and for the attainment of Your kingdom; that preserved by them in Your holiness, I may always remember Your grace and no longer live for myself but for You, our Master and Benefactor. And thus, when I have passed from this life in the hope of eternal life, may I attain everlasting rest, where the voices of those who feast is unceasing and the joy of those who behold the ineffable beauty of Your countenance is boundless. For You are the true Desire and the unutterable Gladness of those who love You, O Christ our God, and all creation sings Your praise forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Basil the Great

O Master Christ God, King of the Ages and Maker of all, I thank You for all the good things You have given me and for the Communion of Your most pure and life-giving Mysteries. I pray to You, therefore, O good Lord and Lover of mankind: keep me under Your protection and in the shadow of Your wings; and grant me with a pure conscience, even to my last breath, worthily to partake of Your holy Things for forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.

For You are the Bread of Life, the Source of holiness, the Giver of good things, and to You we send up glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer for the Continuing Power of Christ’s Blood

Dear Lord Jesus, now Your most precious Blood is in me, flowing through my veins, filling my heart, sanctifying my spirit. As the apostle Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

Let Your Blood continue to cleanse me daily. As it is written: “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7) – not once, but continually, every day, every moment.

Protect me with Your Blood, as the children of Israel were protected by the blood of the Passover lamb (Exod 12:13). Let Your Blood be a sign in my life, that the Destroyer will not touch me, but pass over me.

Grant that Your Blood may be in me a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14), healing, renewing, and deifying me more and more each day. Amen.

The Prayer of the Blood of Jesus – Theological and Practical Treatment

Dogmatic Foundation of the Blood Prayer

The Prayer of the Blood of Jesus is not merely a pious exercise, but a practice deeply rooted in dogmatic truth. It is based on the following theological truths:

1. Christ’s Blood is Divine and Human

Christ’s Blood is not merely human blood, but the Blood of the God-Man. The Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) defined that in Christ there are two natures – divine and human – united in one Person without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.

This means that Christ’s Blood carries divine power:

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

2. Blood is the Carrier of Life

The Bible teaches that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev 17:11). Therefore, Christ’s Blood carries His life – divine, eternal, immortal life. By partaking of His Blood, we partake of His life.

3. Blood Speaks to God

According to the Letter to the Hebrews, Christ’s Blood “speaks” on our behalf:

“You have come… to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12:24)

Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance (Gen 4:10), but Christ’s Blood cries out for mercy and forgiveness.

How Does the Blood of Jesus Cleanse?

Orthodox theology explains the cleansing power of Christ’s Blood on three levels:

1. Juridical Level – Justification

“Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Rom 5:9)

On Golgotha, Christ offered Himself in our place. His innocent Blood paid the full price for our sins. God’s justice is satisfied, and now His mercy can flow freely.

2. Ontological Level – Essential Cleansing

Christ’s Blood not only changes our juridical status before God, but also our actual condition. It cleanses our heart, mind, and spirit:

“For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ… purify our conscience from dead works!” (Heb 9:13-14)

3. Mystical Level – Communion with God

The highest level is that through the Blood of Christ we enter into living, personal communion with the Holy Trinity:

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:56)

This is not merely the removal of external sins, but the reception of new life that transforms us from within.

Practicing the Prayer of the Blood of Jesus

In the Orthodox tradition, there are several ways to invoke the power of Christ’s Blood in prayer:

Short Blood Prayer (for repetition in the heart)

“Lord Jesus Christ, cleanse me with Your most precious Blood.”

or

“Blood of Jesus, cleanse me!”

Extended Blood Prayer

Precious Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, You who said: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28).

I come to You as the woman with the flow of blood, who said: “If I only touch his garments, I will be made well” (Mark 5:28). Let me touch the power of Your Blood!

Your Blood was shed in the Garden of Gethsemane, where You prayed so intensely that “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). This Blood was the beginning of my redemption.

Your Blood flowed through the crown of thorns, when wicked soldiers “twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head” (Matt 27:29). This Blood sanctified my thoughts.

Your Blood poured from the scourges, when they “took him and flogged him” (Matt 27:26). This Blood bore my diseases and pains: “With his wounds we are healed” (Isa 53:5).

Your Blood flowed from the nails, when “they have pierced my hands and feet” (Ps 22:16). This Blood frees my hands and feet to serve You.

Your Blood flowed from the cross, when “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). This Blood and water is the source of my new birth.

Precious Jesus, Your Blood “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). I pray:

• Cleanse me from sin that I know and sin that I do not know
• Cleanse me from hereditary curses and sufferings
• Cleanse me from spiritual attacks and temptations
• Cleanse my memories of painful experiences
• Cleanse my future with the protective power of Your Blood

Just as the people of Israel marked their doorposts with the blood of the Passover lamb and the Destroyer passed over (Exod 12:23), so mark the doorposts of my life with Your Blood, that all evil may pass over me.

Let Your Blood speak on my behalf: “The sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:24). When Satan accuses me day and night (Rev 12:10), Your Blood speaks for me and proclaims: “Paid! Cleansed! Freed!”

“They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev 12:11). I testify: the Blood of Jesus has conquered! I stand under His Blood! I am covered by His Blood! Amen and Amen!

Theological Systematization of the Power of Christ’s Blood

Seven Aspects of the Power of the Blood

Based on the teachings of Orthodox theologians, especially St. John of Damascus and St. Maximus the Confessor, we can distinguish seven main aspects:

1. REDEMPTIVE POWER (Lytrosis)

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” (Eph 1:7)

Christ bought us back (redeemed us like a slave). The Blood was the ransom price: “You were ransomed… with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Pet 1:18-19)

2. PROPITIATORY POWER (Hilasmos)

“He is the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 2:2)

Christ’s Blood reconciled between God’s justice and human sin. As Paul writes: “Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Rom 3:24-25)

3. SANCTIFYING POWER (Hagiasmos)

“Jesus… suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” (Heb 13:12)

The Blood not only cleanses from sin, but sanctifies – makes us holy, sets us apart for God’s service.

4. HEALING POWER (Iasis)

“By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Pet 2:24)

Christ’s Blood heals the soul, spirit, and body. In the Orthodox tradition, the Eucharist is also used in prayers for physical healing, believing that Christ’s Body and Blood bring health to the whole person.

5. PROTECTIVE POWER (Skepen)

Just as the blood of the Passover lamb protected the children of Israel (Exod 12), so Christ’s Blood protects us from spiritual enemies:

“They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev 12:11)

6. UNIFYING POWER (Koinonia)

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16)

The Blood unites us with Christ and with one another. We become one Body, one Blood.

7. DEIFYING POWER (Theosis)

The highest power is that through the Blood of Christ we become partakers of the divine nature:

“That through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Pet 1:3-4)

Practical Guide to Preparing for the Eucharist

Preparation (usually 3-7 days before)

1. Fasting – In the Orthodox tradition, one fasts before the Eucharist (usually from animal foods)
2. Repentance – Confession to a priest, examination of conscience
3. Forgiveness – Reconciliation with everyone: “If you are offering your gift at the altar… first be reconciled to your brother.” (Matt 5:23-24)
4. Intensification of Prayer – Especially reading psalms and prayer of the heart
5. Charity – Acts of love: “Love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pet 4:8)

At the Moment of Communion

Approaching the Chalice:

• Hands crossed over chest in the form of a cross
• Prayer in the heart: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
• Giving name to the priest
• Receiving Communion: “Amen”
• Kissing the chalice with reverence

After Communion

“Abide in me, and I in you… Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” (John 6:56; 15:4-5)

After Communion, it is recommended:

1. Silence and Prayer – At least 15 minutes in contemplation
2. Gratitude – Reading prayers of thanksgiving
3. Abstaining from Sin – Especially on that day
4. Practicing Love – Doing good to others

Conclusion: The Eucharist as a Foretaste of the Kingdom

The Eucharist is not merely a ritual or symbol. It is the most real, most concrete participation in God’s life that is given to us here on earth. As St. John Chrysostom writes:

“When you approach the Chalice, approach as though you were approaching not a human being, but the flaming seraphim who surround the throne. And when you see the bread being distributed and the cup being drunk, think that this is the Ruler sitting on the throne, with heavenly hosts around Him, bending toward you.”

At the heart of Eucharistic theology is paradox and mystery: God becomes food and drink; the eternal enters time; the invisible becomes visible; earth meets heaven.

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” (John 6:54)

This is not the future, but the present. In receiving the Eucharist we already taste eternal life, we already have a place near God, we are already transformed into His likeness “from one degree of glory to another by the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).

Finally, the words of thanksgiving from the Divine Liturgy:

“We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have found the true Faith: we worship the undivided Trinity, for the Trinity has saved us.”

Amen. So be it. Lord Jesus, may Your most precious Blood cleanse, heal, and sanctify us now and forever. Amen.