Analytic metaphysics of Eucharistic time

According to the teaching of modern Eastern Orthodox theologians, Eucharistic liturgy brings about a supernatural transcendence beyond the boundaries of time, which allows for an identification of the Eucharist with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary. In order to provide a philosophical analysis of the claim, we suggest four different approaches to solving the metaphysical problem of contemporaneity of the two temporally distant events. Two of them exploit the concept of time travel; the third approach establishes the Platonistic relation between the events; the fourth one deals with multilocation of the event in time. Each of the four approaches has its strengths and weaknesses, and each of them requires its followers to make either a theological or a philosophical sacrifice. The whole enterprise of the temporal interpretation of the Orthodox teaching on the Eucharistic sacrifice does not comply with the requirements of analytic metaphysics.

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