Rituals

The Words of Institution

Also Known As The institution narrativeOriginal Term Verba testamenti

Liturgical Rituals

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Words of Institution." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/rituals/the-words-of-institution.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Words of Institution. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/rituals/the-words-of-institution

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-words-of-institution,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Words of Institution},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/rituals/the-words-of-institution},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Origin The apostolic church; Paul's account, written in the 50s CE, is the earliest to survive

The words of institution are the account of what Jesus did and said over the bread and cup on the night before he died, recited in almost every eucharistic rite in Christendom. They are the four words the whole Western argument turns on, this is my body, and the churches that disagree about everything else in the sacrament all say them. What the recitation is doing is itself disputed. The Latin tradition came to hold that the words are the form of the sacrament and that the change happens as they are spoken; the Byzantine tradition holds that the invocation of the Holy Spirit which follows is where the church asks and receives; and the Reformed and memorialist churches read them as a warrant and a proclamation rather than as a formula that effects anything. The New Testament preserves four accounts, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and the first letter to the Corinthians, and they do not agree word for word, which means every liturgical text is already a choice among them.

Facts

Position Profile

Key Text

Matthew 26:26 to 29; Mark 14:22 to 25; Luke 22:15 to 20; 1 Corinthians 11:23 to 26 1

Disputed

Scholarly Note

The four New Testament accounts differ, and the shorter and longer texts of the Lukan passage have been argued over for more than a century 1

The words of institution, Jesus's words over the bread and cup at the Last Supper, survive in a shorter and a longer form in the manuscript tradition of Luke's Gospel, and New Testament textual critics divide over which is earlier. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, third revised edition, edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (2005), records one camp holding the shorter Lukan text is original and the longer form a later assimilation to the wording Paul gives in 1 Corinthians, and another camp holding the reverse, that the longer form is original and the shorter an early scribal abbreviation. The method is textual criticism, weighing the surviving Greek manuscript witnesses for each reading, their date, geographic distribution and internal consistency, since no autograph survives to settle the question directly. The choice materially changes the shape of the passage read in worship, and because the manuscript evidence itself is genuinely divided, both readings remain in print in current critical editions rather than one having displaced the other.

Meaning

Literal Meaning

The Latin term behind the English name, verba institutionis, means literally the words of establishing rather than describing any content of the words themselves; the name identifies the formula by the founding act it reports, Christ instituting the rite, not by what the words say or by any effect later theology attributes to reciting them. 1

Status

Status Within the Tradition

Read as the command to be obeyed and the death to be proclaimed 3Baptist

Status Within the Tradition

Read as the warrant and the promise, not as a formula that effects a change in the elements 4Calvinism (Reformed)

Status Within the Tradition

Recited within a prayer whose invocation of the Spirit is where the church understands the gifts to be sanctified 5Eastern Orthodoxy

Status Within the Traditionthe subject's own account

The form of the sacrament; the change is held to take place as the words are spoken 6Roman Catholicism

Practice

Who Performs It

Clergy or ordained officiants 2

Liturgical and Scriptural Role

Recited within the anaphora in the historic rites; read aloud from scripture as the warrant for the action in the Reformation orders 2

Identity

Also Known As

The verba 1

Attributions

Tradition

Christianity 1

Purpose

Across the traditions that dispute how the words act, reciting the full narrative aloud during the service has a shared, older purpose that predates any of those disputes: it serves as the rite's own proof text, letting the gathered congregation hear for itself, within the service, the dominical warrant the church claims for what it is doing, rather than taking that warrant on the church's word alone. 2

Origins

Origin Period

The apostolic church; Paul's account, written in the 50s CE, is the earliest to survive 1

Place of Origin

Roman Judaea and Galilee 1

Historical Origin

The Words of Institution are drawn from the New Testament accounts of the Last Supper in the synoptic gospels and Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, which record Jesus identifying the bread and cup with his body and blood. 1

Scholarship and Forensics

Scholarly Note

One ancient anaphora contains no institution narrative at all, and the Holy See judged eucharists celebrated with it valid in 2001 7

Learn More

Four Accounts That Do Not Agree

The New Testament preserves the institution four times, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and the eleventh chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians, and no two are identical. They fall into two families. Mark and Matthew have Jesus say of the cup that it is his blood of the covenant, poured out for many; Luke and Paul have him call it the new covenant in his blood. Paul and Luke carry the command to do this in remembrance of him, and Mark and Matthew do not. Paul's is the earliest text to survive, written some twenty years before the first gospel, and he introduces it as something he received and passed on rather than as his own report, which makes it evidence of a liturgical formula already in use.

Luke complicates matters further. A group of early manuscripts gives a shorter text that stops after the first mention of the cup, and the longer text, with the bread given for you and the cup of the new covenant, is the one printed in most modern editions. Which is original has been argued for more than a century, and the choice changes the shape of the passage.

Every liturgy therefore begins by choosing. The Roman Canon, the Byzantine anaphoras and the Reformation orders each assemble a text out of the four accounts, with additions of their own: the Roman rite's for you and for many, and the Byzantine rite's take, eat, are pieces of that assembly. There is no single scriptural wording for a church to simply copy, and there never was.

The Moment of Consecration, and a Rite That Has None

The Latin schools of the Middle Ages asked when exactly the bread becomes the body, and answered that it happens as the priest speaks the words of Christ, which are the form of the sacrament. The practice of elevating the host immediately afterwards, so that the people could see and adore, dates from the same period and follows from the same answer. The Council of Florence stated the position in its fifteenth century decree for the Armenians, and Trent assumed it.

The Byzantine churches ask the question differently and answer it differently. The narrative is recited, and then the priest asks God to send the Holy Spirit upon the gifts, and it is at that invocation that the church understands its prayer to be granted. Greek theologians from the fourteenth century onwards made the point polemically against the Latins, and Latin theologians replied in kind, so a difference of emphasis in the liturgies hardened into a controversy between the churches. Modern liturgical scholarship on both sides tends to treat the whole prayer as consecratory and the search for a single instant as a scholastic question the early texts do not answer.

Then there is a rite that settles the matter by having no narrative at all. The Anaphora of Addai and Mari, the ancient East Syriac prayer still used by the Assyrian Church of the East, contains no institution account in its received text. In 2001 the Holy See issued guidelines accepting eucharists celebrated with it as valid, on the ground that the words are present in the prayer in a dispersed form. That judgement is pastorally narrow and theologically large, and it is still being argued over.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Belongs to Tradition

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Kept in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first denomination in the United States founded by Black people. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Kept in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Anglican Communion

Kept across the provinces of the Anglican Communion. The words of institution stand in the Prayer of Consecration, and the Articles deny that the sacrament was ordained to be gazed upon or carried about.

Anglicanism

The words of institution stand in the Prayer of Consecration, and the Articles deny that the sacrament was ordained to be gazed upon or carried about.

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

Armenian Apostolic Church

Kept in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The institution narrative stands within the anaphora in each of these rites.

Baptist

The words of institution are read as the warrant for the Supper, which is a memorial act of obedience.

Source The Baptist Faith and MessageSouthern Baptist Convention

Calvinism (Reformed)

The words of institution are read as a warrant for the action, and the Reformed rite makes the reading of them a separate declaratory act.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Kept in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Christianity

Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

Church of Cyprus

Kept in the Church of Cyprus, autocephalous since the Council of Ephesus in 431. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Church of England

Kept in the Church of England, the province from which the Prayer Book tradition comes. The words of institution stand in the Prayer of Consecration, and the Articles deny that the sacrament was ordained to be gazed upon or carried about.

Church of Greece

Kept in the Church of Greece. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Church of Ireland

Kept in the Church of Ireland. The words of institution stand in the Prayer of Consecration, and the Articles deny that the sacrament was ordained to be gazed upon or carried about.

Church of Scotland

Kept in the Church of Scotland, the established Presbyterian church of that country. The words of institution are read as a warrant for the action, and the Reformed rite makes the reading of them a separate declaratory act.

Church of Sweden

Kept in the Church of Sweden, which retained the historic episcopate through the Reformation as few Lutheran churches did. The words of institution are the heart of the rite, and Lutheran theology locates the presence of the body and blood in Christ's own words rather than in a prayer of the church.

Church of the Nazarene

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Coptic Orthodoxy

Kept in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The institution narrative stands within the anaphora in each of these rites.

Dutch Reformed Church

Kept in the Dutch Reformed tradition, which holds the Heidelberg Catechism among its confessional standards. The words of institution are read as a warrant for the action, and the Reformed rite makes the reading of them a separate declaratory act.

Eastern Orthodoxy

The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Source Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic ChurchIsabel Florence Hapgood (compiler and translator)

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Kept in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the see of first honour among the Orthodox churches. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Kept in the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The institution narrative stands within the anaphora in each of these rites.

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Kept in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The institution narrative stands within the anaphora in each of these rites.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Kept in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The words of institution are the heart of the rite, and Lutheran theology locates the presence of the body and blood in Christ's own words rather than in a prayer of the church.

Free Methodist Church

Kept in the Free Methodist Church. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Georgian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has used its own language and script in worship since the fifth century. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Global Methodist Church

Kept in the Global Methodist Church, formed in 2022. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Greek Orthodox Church

Kept in the Greek Orthodox churches. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Lutheranism

The words of institution are the heart of the rite, and Lutheran theology locates the presence of the body and blood in Christ's own words rather than in a prayer of the church.

Source The Formula of ConcordJakob Andreae, Martin Chemnitz, Nikolaus Selnecker and others

Maronite Church

The words of institution are said in Syriac even where the rest of the liturgy is in Arabic or in a local language.

Methodism

The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Source The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist ChurchUnited Methodist Churchthe holders' own account

National Baptist Convention of America

Kept in the National Baptist Convention of America International. The words of institution are read as the warrant for the Supper, which is a memorial act of obedience.

Oriental Orthodoxy

The institution narrative stands within the anaphora in each of these rites.

Source The Egyptian or Coptic Church: A Detailed Description of Her Liturgical ServicesO. H. E. KHS-Burmester

Presbyterianism

The words of institution are read as the warrant for the table, and the fencing of the table follows them.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account

Progressive National Baptist Convention

Kept in the Progressive National Baptist Convention. The words of institution are read as the warrant for the Supper, which is a memorial act of obedience.

Roman Catholicism

The words of institution stand at the heart of the Roman canon, and Western theology has traditionally located the consecration in them.

Source General Instruction of the Roman Missal, third typical editionCongregation for Divine Worshipthe holders' own account

Romanian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the one Orthodox church of the Byzantine tradition whose language is Romance. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Russian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Slavonic recension of the Byzantine books. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Serbian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

The Episcopal Church

Kept in the Episcopal Church, whose own Prayer Book descends from the Scottish rather than the English line. The words of institution stand in the Prayer of Consecration, and the Articles deny that the sacrament was ordained to be gazed upon or carried about.

The United Methodist Church

Kept in the United Methodist Church. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The institution narrative is recited within the anaphora, but the consecration is not located in it.

Wesleyan Church

Kept in the Wesleyan Church. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Part Of

The Anaphora

The institution narrative sits inside the great prayer in the historic rites.

Source The Shape of the LiturgyGregory Dix

Related To

The Epiclesis

Why this is disputed. The two candidates for the moment of consecration, and the order in which they stand differs East and West. Eastern Orthodox liturgy places the epiclesis after the words of institution and treats the Holy Spirit's invocation as integral to consecration, while the Latin scholastic tradition holds the words of institution alone effect the change, and the two churches have never resolved which position is correct.

Source Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal ThemesJohn Meyendorff

The Lord's Supper

Read as the warrant for the action in the Protestant orders.

Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

The Mass / Eucharist

Recited at every celebration of this rite.

Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

The Real Presence in the Eucharist

The four words the whole Western argument turns on.

Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

Transubstantiation

Why this is disputed. Named as the form of the sacrament in the Latin tradition, on the scholastic view that Christ's own recorded words effect the change in the elements at the moment they are spoken. Eastern Orthodox theology treats the epiclesis, the invocation of the Holy Spirit that follows, as equally or more essential, so which moment consecrates is a real difference between the two traditions rather than a difference of emphasis alone.

Source Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal ThemesJohn Meyendorff

Sources

1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition

F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005View the Source

2. The Shape of the Liturgy

Gregory Dix, Dacre Press, 1945View the Source

3. Baptist Confessions of Faith

William L. Lumpkin, Judson Press, 1959View the Source

4. Institutes of the Christian Religion

John Calvin, 1559View the Source

5. Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes

John Meyendorff, Fordham University Press, 1979View the Source

6. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition

Holy See, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997the holders' own accountView the Source

7. The Byzantine Rite: A Short History

Robert F. Taft, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1992View the Source

General Instruction of the Roman Missal, third typical edition

Congregation for Divine Worship, Congregation for Divine Worship, 2002the holders' own accountView the Source

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion

Church of England, 1571the holders' own accountView the Source

The Egyptian or Coptic Church: A Detailed Description of Her Liturgical Services

O. H. E. KHS-Burmester, Societe d'Archeologie Copte, Cairo, 1967View the Source

The Westminster Confession of Faith

Westminster Assembly, 1646the holders' own accountView the Source

The Baptist Faith and Message

Southern Baptist Convention, 2000View the Source

The Formula of Concord

Jakob Andreae, Martin Chemnitz, Nikolaus Selnecker and others, 1577View the Source

Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church

Isabel Florence Hapgood (compiler and translator), Houghton Mifflin, 1906View the Source

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church, The United Methodist Publishing Housethe holders' own accountView the Source

Open Questions (2 open questions)

Did the Anaphora of Addai and Mari ever contain an institution narrative that was later lost, or has it never had one?

The received East Syriac text has no institution narrative, and the Holy See judged eucharists celebrated with it valid in 2001 on the ground that the words are present in the prayer in a dispersed form. Whether the narrative was omitted, was lost in transmission, or was never there is argued from the manuscript tradition and from the structure of the prayer, and this run could not establish which reading holds the field.

What would resolve this A study of the earliest East Syriac manuscript witnesses and their variants, set against the structure of the related Syriac anaphoras, together with the responses published by liturgical scholars to the 2001 guidelines.

Liturgical history; Syriac manuscript studiesDivinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition

Is the shorter or the longer text of the Lukan institution narrative original?

A group of early witnesses gives a shorter text of Luke 22 that stops after the first mention of the cup, and the longer text, printed in most modern critical editions, gives the bread and a second cup. The two readings shape the passage differently and the argument has run for more than a century. This run recorded the dispute on this page but did not establish where the weight of current textual scholarship sits.

What would resolve this A current survey of the manuscript evidence and of the argument over the Western non-interpolations, with the editorial reasoning of the major critical editions set side by side.

New Testament textual criticismDivinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition

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