This connection can be seen further in St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, and St. Cyprian of Carthage, St. Maximus the Confessor, and up to St. Nicholas Cabasilas (14th century), where we first encounter the definition of the Church. Attempting to define what the Church is, St. Nicholas Cabasilas says that “the Church is defined,” that is, contained, “in the sacraments.” Explaining his statement “in the sacraments” more specifically, he writes, “If someone could see Christ’s Church, he would see nothing else but the Lord’s Body itself.” Moreover, he speaks decisively, using the expression “nothing else,” that is, “only” the Lord’s Body, “only” the Divine Eucharist39. And further, he says, “Therefore, there is nothing incredible in the fact that the Church is defined in the sacraments”40, that is, there is nothing strange in the fact that the Church is identified in its sacraments. Speaking of “sacraments,” as seen from the above passages, he means not the seven sacraments about which we read in catechisms, but the Divine Eucharist. “Sacraments” are the Eucharist. Similarly to how we say in the Liturgy: “Let us stand aright, having partaken of the Divine, Holy, Pure, Immortal, Heavenly, Life-creating, Awesome Mysteries of Christ…”, – and all words are used in the plural, indicating what today we call the Divine Eucharist.
Therefore, the Church is the Theanthropic Sacrament (where God and man live one life); it is the unity of human nature in the Hypostasis of Jesus Christ, and the plurality of human hypostases in the Grace of the Holy Spirit (that is, the Hypostatic unity of the Divine and human nature in the Hypostasis of the Son of God Jesus Christ and the plurality of hypostases of the Divine and creatures, which are in mutual Divine Trinitarian Love, in mutual perichoresis, mutual penetration: I in You, and You in Me… each Hypostasis in each… all in one (each), and one (each) in all…). Christians testify that this Theanthropic Sacrament, the Sacrament of the Church, is actualized in the Divine Eucharist, in the partaking of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, in consuming the Hypostasis of the Son of God. This is beautifully depicted in one of the verbal Icons, written by Christians, namely the Gospel according to (according to the testimony of) John the Theologian, which in its essence is a depiction of the essence of the Church, that is, the Divine Eucharist (unlike the synoptic Gospels, in which the external side of the Sacrament of the Eucharist is iconically depicted). The Lord testifies that the purpose of the Son’s coming into the world is to give eternal life to all that the Father has given Him. “And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God (the Father – V.A.), and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Therefore, to be Happy, that is, to have Eternal Life, according to the Lord, – is to know (to recognize) the Father and the Son. And this is identical to what (the purpose of the existence of all things) the Lord prays for: “That they all may be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, let them also be in Us, – that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory that You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in unity.” Elsewhere the Son says how Eternal Life, Happiness, is achieved: “The will of Him who sent Me is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life… whoever believes in Me has eternal life. I am the bread of life… This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourself. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life… For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven… whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Therefore, the Lord directly and unequivocally testifies that Eternal Life, Happiness, is achieved only through consuming the Heavenly Bread (the Body and Blood of the Son of God Jesus Christ), the Living Bread, the Hypostatic Bread, and whoever does not consume the Heavenly Food (the Hypostasis of the Logos) does not have life in himself. “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, – and I live by the Father, – so he who feeds on Me will live through Me.” Therefore, according to the words of the Lord, Eternal Life (knowing the Father and the Son) is accomplished for each creaturely hypostasis in the Eucharist, when it, consuming the Hypostasis of the Son (under the appearance of Bread and Wine in the 2nd form of existence), abides in Him, and the Son in it, but the Father and Son are one: the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father, therefore, knowing in the Eucharist the Son, we know the Father!.. Therefore, Eternal Life, the Father and the Son, we recognize in the Divine Eucharist! The Son testifies that no one comes to the Father (does not become Happy, does not reach the fullness of being), except through the Son! The Church is the Body of the Son – the Eucharist! The Son lives by the Father, and whoever eats the Son, will live by the Father through Him. Creaturely hypostases enter the fullness of being through the Son, have access to the Father only in the Son by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Church! The Kingdom of God is when all are one, and this absolute unity is accomplished in the Eucharist, when we (creaturely hypostases) know ( “eat”) Christ and in Him by the Holy Spirit recognize the Father, merge into the stream of Divine Hypostatic Trinitarian Life (perichoresis of the Divine Hypostases and the hypostases of the saints: each Hypostasis (including the Three Divine Ones) in all Other Hypostases, and all Other Hypostases (including the Three Divine Ones) in it; each Hypostasis resides in each Hypostasis – this is the Sacrament of the Church, the Sacrament of Eternal Hypostatic Life – Sacrificial, Kenotic, Trinitarian (to give, to receive and “not to be” for the sake of Others – see above) Love).