Maybe our earliest image of the Last Supper – from the Catacombs of Domitilla, 100s AD
The Last Supper
At the Last Supper, Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine.
What’s the Last Supper?
History of Passover
History of Christianity
Roman religion
All our ancient Rome articles
Jesus appears to Peter
Then shortly after Jesus was crucified, he appeared to Peter and again gave him bread and wine. Jesus told Peter that whenever he ate bread during the Mass, it would turn into the flesh of Jesus inside him, and whenever he drank wine during the Mass, it would turn into the blood of Jesus. We call this transubstantiation. In this way every Christian could be part of God. And Jesus would be constantly reborn into the world.
Where does bread come from?
What about wine?
Wait, so what is Communion?
Communion is part of Christian Mass today, when a priest gives every Christian in the church a piece of bread (a Communion wafer) and a sip of wine. Many Christians believe that the bread and wine transform inside them into the body and blood of Jesus, so they can have Jesus inside their own body.
What is a priest?
What is Christian mass?
More Christian vocabulary
What is excommunication?
Later on, Christian bishops developed the idea of excommunication. If people were bad, or made the bishops angry somehow, they would not be allowed to take communion (to eat the bread and wine) anymore. Without the bread and wine – without taking communion – people could not get into Heaven.
More about excommunication
What are bishops?
This is a video of people taking Communion
More about excommunication
More about the Christian mass
And more about baptism
Bibliography and further reading about Communion:
