Did the early church fathers (early christians) write about the Eucharist really being the body of Christ?

Question

If so, which ones?

Answer 1

Yes. Try Paul.
See:
http://one-faith-of-god.org/new_testament/apocrypha/founders_christianity/founders_christianity_0020.htm

By the way, this dogma is totally heretical to the true teachings of Jesus a dedicated vegetarian and founder of the Nazarenes, a sect of the Essenes.
See:
http://one-faith-of-god.org/new_testament/apocrypha/nazarenes/nazarenes_0010.htm

This is why in the earliest days of reformation against the teachings of Paul and the Vatican- the new churches sought to raise the words of Jesus and living a good moral life as more important than the rituals and superstitions of the Catholic Church.

Answer 2

No this is a pagan tradition that has been taught by the Catholic Church.
Mithraism was a religion in the Roman Empire in the 1st through 5th centuries A.D. It was very popular among the Romans, especially among Roman soldiers, and was possibly the religion of several Roman emperors. While Mithraism was never given “official” status in the Roman empire, it was the de-facto official religion until Constantine and succeeding Roman emperors replaced Mithraism with Christianity. One of the key features of Mithraism was a sacrificial meal, which involved eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a bull. Mithras, the god of Mithraism, was “present” in the flesh and blood of the bull, and when consumed, granted salvation to those who partook of the sacrificial meal (theophagy, the eating of one’s god). Mithraism also had seven “sacraments,” making the similarities between Mithraism and Roman Catholicism too many to ignore. Constantine and his successors found an easy substitute for the sacrificial meal of Mithraism in concept of the Lord’s Supper / Christian Communion. Sadly, some early Christians had already begun to attach mysticism to the Lord’s Supper, rejecting the Biblical concept of a simple and worshipful remembrance of Christ’s death and shed blood. The Romanization of the Lord’s Supper made the transition to a sacrificial consumption of Jesus Christ, now known as the Catholic Mass / Eucharist, complete.

Answer 3

Yes, they absolutely did.
http://www.catholic.com/library/Real_Presence.asp

Ignatius of Antioch
Justin Martyr
Irenaeus
Augustine

...and more.

One charge the pagan Romans lodged against the Christians was cannibalism. Why? You guessed it. They heard that this group of people regularly met to eat human flesh and drink human blood. Did the early Christians say: "wait a minute, it's only a symbol!"? Not at all. When trying to explain the Eucharist to the Roman Emperor around the year 155AD, St. Justin did not mince his words: "For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's word took flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from him . . . is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:KQEKf84YN4gJ:www.hayyeuthuongnhau.org/homily/homilyA04-05/download.php%3Ffname%3D./40%2520hours%2520-%2520We%2520want%2520to%2520see%2520Your%2520face!.doc+155AD+cannibalism+catholic&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us

Answer 4

They had no need to write about the Eucharist as this was taken as faith and part of their understanding, that all that was taught by the Apostles, was fact and not open to question.
The belief that Christ was really and truly present was held until the reformers changed this doctrine.
It is a fact that Jesus spoke in only two ways when teaching the people, by parable and by solemnity we cannot come to believe that His words to the Apostles concerning His Body and Blood was parable as this would be to insult the solemnity of His words,when He said to them about eating His flesh and drinking His blood many walked away and left Him, but Peter held fast saying`To whom can we go, You alone have the message of eternal life`.
The idea that Christ`s words `He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have life and I shall raise him up on the last day` cannot refer to anything other than what He meant it to be.

Answer 5

John 6:32, 51-52: "Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven... I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is My Flesh, for the life of the world."

Answer 6

Yes they did.

One of the earliest Christian documents is the Didache, known as the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which probably dates from the 1st century. Sections 9 and 10 deal with the Eucharist [Gk. Eucharistias] and prayers of thanks which allude to the Mass. It contains this warning, "... let noone eat or drink of this Eucharist unless he has been baptized in the name of the Lord.

St. Ignatius of Antioch: Therefore arm yourselves with gentleness, renew yourselves in faith, which is the Flesh of the Lord, and in charity, which is the Blood of Jesus Christ." His most famous passage says:

I am God’s grain, and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts in order that I may be found [to be] pure bread for Christ. My love has been crucified, and there is in me no fire of material love, but rather a living water, speaking in me and saying within me, ‘Come to the Father.’ I take no pleasure in corruptible food or in the delights of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who is the seed of David; and for drink I want his Blood which is incorruptible love.

Charity is no concern to them, nor are widows and orphans or the oppressed . . .They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins and which, in his goodness, the Father raised . . .

Be careful to observe [only] one Eucharist; for there is only one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup of union with his Blood, one altar of sacrifice, as [there is] one bishop with the presbyters and my fellow-servants the deacons.

St. Justin Martyr: For we do not receive these as common bread and common drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have learned that the food over which thanks has been given by the prayer of the word which comes from him, [see 1 Cor 11: 23-26; Lk 22; 19] and by which are blood and flesh are nourished through a change, is the Flesh and Blood of the same incarnate Jesus.

St. Irenaeus who heard the preaching of Bishop Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John: "Our bodies, receiving the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible but have the hope of resurrection to eternal life."

"I have no taste for the food that perishes nor for the pleasures of this life. I want the Bread of God which is the Flesh of Christ, who was the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood which is love that cannot be destroyed."

-"Letter to the Romans", paragraph 7, circa 80-110 A.D.


St. Cyprian of Carthage: "So too the the sacred meaning of the Pasch lies essentially in the fact, laid down in Exodus, that the lamb - slain as a type of Christ - should be eaten in one single home. God says the words: 'In one house shall it be eaten, ye shall not cast its flesh outside.' The flesh of Christ and the Lord's sacred body cannot be cast outside, nor have believers any other home but the one Church.",

-"The Unity of the Catholic Church". Ch.8, circa 249-258 A.D.,

Answer 7

The belief in "god" seems to be ubiquitous through the ages.
We know, for example, that the ancient Egyptians believed in their gods so fervently that they built massive structures like the Great Pyramid -- still today one of the largest and most enduring human constructions ever created. Despite that fervor, however, we know with complete certainty today that the Egyptian gods were imaginary. We don't build pyramids anymore and we do not mummify our leaders.
More recently we know that tens of millions of Romans worshiped Zeus and his friends, and to them they built magnificent temples. The ruins of these temples are popular tourist attractions even today. Yet we know with complete certainty that these gods were imaginary because no one worships Zeus any more.
Much more recently, we know that the Aztec civilization believed in their gods so intensely that they constructed huge temples and pyramids. In addition, Aztecs were so zealous that they were sacrificing hundreds of human beings to their gods as recently as the 16th century. Despite the intensity, however, we know today that these gods were completely imaginary. The Aztecs were insane to be murdering people for their gods. Killing a person has no effect on rainfall or anything else. We all know that. If the Aztec gods were real, we would still be offering sacrifices to them.
Today's "God" is just as imaginary as were these historical gods. The fact that millions of people worship a god is meaningless.
The "God" and the "Jesus" that Christians worship today are actually amalgams formed out of ancient pagan gods. The idea of a "virgin birth", "burial in a rock tomb", "resurrection after 3 days" and "eating of body and drinking of blood" had nothing to do with Jesus. All of the rituals in Christianity are completely man-made. Christianity is a snow ball that rolled over a dozen pagan religions. As the snowball grew, it freely attached pagan rituals in order to be more palatable to converts. You can find accounts like these in popular literature:
• "The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictograms of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual - the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of "God-eating" - were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions."
• "Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras - called the Son of God and the Light of the World - was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday or Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans."
It is extremely hard for a Christian believer to process this data, but nonetheless it is true. All of the "sacred rituals" of Christianity, and all of Christianity's core beliefs (virgin birth, resurrection, etc.) come straight from pagan religions that were popular around the time of Jesus. Articles like this and this can help you learn more. Once you understand the fundamental truth of Christianity's origins, the silliness of this whole thing becomes apparent.
Obviously the pagan believers, from whom Christianity derived its myths, worshipped gods that were imaginary. And thus our "God" today is just an extension of these imaginary forerunners. All human gods are imaginary.

Understanding the Rationalizations
A Christian will often rationalize this situation by saying, "Yes, the Egyptians and the Romans worshipped false Gods, but Christianity is real. Just look at the billions of people who believe in Jesus Christ." This strength-in-numbers rationalization may feel comforting, but it is meaningless. The fact that millions of people worship a god is meaningless.
It was once the case that everyone believed the world to be flat. Widespread belief did not change the fact that the world is a sphere. The scientific and observational evidence that we have available today is undeniable -- the world is a sphere.
All scientific evidence shows that God is imaginary. So does all historical evidence. What Christians believe is pure mythology, just like every other mythology that mankind has dreamed up.

Answer 8

Yes, absolutely.

Answer 9

No, of course not. Once again, it is the "Masonry" of the Catholic Church that is apparent here. Transmogrification, as I believe they call it, wasn't even practiced in the early Christian church. It is yet another "Apostate Addendum" as I like to call so many of the blunders made by man in his attempt to see God, which is askewed by his motivation, to be God.

Answer 10

NO