The Burning Coal: Eucharist in the Old Testament
By Curtis J. Mitch

One of the seraphim is sent to Isaiah with a burning coal which he took from the altar with tongs. This is clearly a symbol of Christ, who, on our behalf, offered himself up to God the Father as a pure and unblemished spiritual sacrifice with a most pleasing fragrance. In the same way, Christ is received from the altar. We must, however, explain why Christ is like a burning coal. It is customary in Holy Scripture for the divine nature to be likened to fire. God appeared in this way to the people of Israel as they stood before the Lord at Horeb, which is Mount Sinai. [1]A similar interpretation of the call of Isaiah is offered by St. John of Damascus, a priest and monk from Syria who lived at the Mar Saba monastery in Palestine until his death in A.D. 749. Insisting upon the actual presence of Christ’s body and blood in Blessed Sacrament, he exhorts communicants:
Wherefore, in all fear and with a pure conscience and undoubting faith let us approach . . . let us receive the body of the Crucified One. With eyes, lips, and faces turned toward it, let us receive the divine burning coal, so that the fire of the coal may be added to the desire within us to consume our sins and enlighten our hearts, and so that by this communion of the divine fire we may be set afire and deified. [2]Here we have two of the ancient Greek Fathers discovering the same mystery in Isaiah 6. The literal sense of the passage—what the words mean in their original, historical context—is all about Isaiah’s encounter with the Lord in the eighth century B.C. But the spiritual sense of the passage—what this encounter prophetically signifies about Christ and his work of salvation—is about the glorious transformation that takes place in us when we receive the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. There are several dimensions to this mystery of the “burning coal.” First, according to the sacramental interpretation of Cyril and John, the purging of Isaiah’s unclean lips shows us that Holy Communion is a purifying encounter with the Lord. Receiving him on our lips has the effect of burning away our venial sins (CCC 1393–94). Second, the fire that touches Isaiah’s mouth shows us that Holy Communion is a deifying encounter with the Lord. The fire that glows in the ember is the divinity of Christ, and this is the gift that he communicates to us in the sacrament, enabling us to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4). Finally, the prophetic ministry entrusted to Isaiah suggests that Holy Communion is a commissioning encounter with the Lord. In other words, when we receive the sacramental coal from the Lord’s altar, we are equipped to bring the gospel to the world. That, after all, is what the Eucharistic liturgy is ultimately about. It cleanses us and sanctifies us for a purpose—to go forth as witnesses to the living Word of God. It is called a Mass (Missa in Latin) because it concludes with a commissioning or sending forth (missio in Latin) of the faithful to fulfill God’s plan for their lives (CCC 1332). [hr] [1] Commentary on Isaiah 6.6. Translation slightly adapted from Isaiah: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators, ed. and trans., Robert Louis Wilken with A. R. Christman and M. J. Hollerich, The Church’s Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 82. [2] On the Orthodox Faith 4.13. Translation slightly adapted from Saint John of Damascus, Writings, trans. Frederic H. Chase, Jr., The Fathers of the Church, vol. 37 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1958), 359.
