o dominis_, nay, the _sanguis Christi_ and
the _dominica hostia_ as the object of the eucharistic offering.[277]
Thirdly, he expressly represented the celebration of the Lord's Supper
as an incorporation of the congregation and its individual members with
Christ, and was the first to bear clear testimony as to the special
importance attributed to commemoration of the celebrators ("vivi et
defuncti"), though no other can be ascertained than a specially strong
intercession.[278] But this is really the essential effect of the
sacrifice of the supper as regards the celebrators; for however much the
conceptions about this ceremony might be heightened, and whatever
additions might be made to its ritual, forgiveness of sins in the strict
sense could not be associated with it. Cyprian's statement that every
celebration of the Lord's Supper is a repetition or imitation of
Christ's sacrifice of himself, and that the ceremony has therefore an
expiatory value remains a mere assertion, though the Romish Church still
continues to repeat this doctrine to the present day. For the idea that
partaking of the Lord's Supper cleansed from sin like the mysteries of
the Great Mother (magna mater) and Mithras, though naturally suggested
by the ceremonial practice, was counteracted by the Church principles of
penance and by the doctrine of baptism. As a sacrificial rite the Supper
never became a ceremony equivalent in effect to baptism. But no doubt,
as far as the popular conception was concerned, the solemn ritual copied
from the ancient mysteries could not but attain an indescribably
important significance. It is not possible, within the framework of the
history of dogma, to describe the development of religious ceremonial in
the third century, and to show what a radical alteration took place in
men's conceptions with regard to it (cf. for example, Justin with
Cyprian). But, in dealing with the history of dogma within this period,
we must clearly keep in view the development of the cultus, the new
conceptions of the value of ritual, and the reference of ceremonial
usages to apostolic tradition; for there was plainly a remodelling of
the ritual in imitation of the ancient mysteries and of the heathen
sacrificial system, and this fact is admitted by Protestant scholars of
all parties. Ceremonial and doctrine may indeed be at variance, for the
latter may lag behind the former and vice versa, but they are never
subject to entirely different conditi