I’m not Catholic, but given the rest of my mother’s family is, I’ve been to enough masses to know what it is.
I’ve heard the word, thought it was just another branch of christianity - Protestant, Methodist, Eucharist
Thanks for fighting my ignorance on that. I also consulted ex-Catholic Romola des Loups for advice and she assures me that I’m *supposed * to be confused about the whole thing. So I’m happy. 
I knew it was a Catholic ritual, mainly through it being mentioned in fiction. I was never interested enough to look up the details.
I don’t know anymore, this thread is confusing me.
I think it appears to be what I said and something more.
Jim
“And Jesus said, 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
THWACK!
“Knock it off, Mom!”
That’s what it is in the Episcopal Church. One of the sacraments. One is baptism and the other is communion. During the holiday they call it Easter Service with Holy Eucharist. At least that’s what it said when I looked it up. 
I wasn’t raised in the church, but I attended a United Methodist seminary for grad school before becoming an atheist. (Yeah, it’s complicated.)
I definitely know about Eucharist through my education. I find it a bit odd that it is thought of as a Catholic term, since at seminary it was encouraged as an ecumenical alternative to the other names that tend to vary by denomination (Mass, Lord’s Supper, etc.)
ETA: I had to look it up to be sure I remembered correctly, but in the Catholic tradition, “Communion” refers specifically to that portion of the Mass in which the elements are distributed to the congregation. In Protestant usage, it (like Eucharist), refers to the entire Sacrament.
If I recall my Episcopal Enquirer’s Classes correctly, Eucharist is the service in which communion is received by those attending.
I’m Catholic and I’ve met theoretically-Catholic people about my age (late 30s) who, after I identified an image in a restaurant as Our Lady of Guadalupe asked me “how do you know that’s what it is?” and “is there a difference between the Virgin and any other saint?”
And yes, I know what the Eucharist is. The sacrament usually refered to as “communion”. Well, at least in Spanish Eucaristía refers to the Sacrament, not to the ceremony: Eucaristía de los Enfermos (Eucharist of the Ill) is when it’s brought to somebody’s house and delivered without a Mass. It also refers to the consecrated form and wine themselves (again, Spanish, I don’t want to get into a theological-linguistic debate).
I’m Jewish and was raised atheist, and I knew what the Eucharist is. Of course, I took enough classes in religious studies in college to earn a BA in the subject.* I guess it’s not really a common phrase.
*there was too much overlap with my actual major, anthropology. If I’d dropped the anthro, I could have had an RS degree, but I was damned if I’d spent all that time reading about pot sherds for nothing.
Of course I’ve heard of it. I stopped giving my thanks when they stopped giving the wine.
I heard of it in the church and that is the official word for it, that I also saw in books.I am Orthodox and we do this when we go to church and drink the wine and eat the bread.From what I understand, Eucharist is only this part, the rest of the prayers are the usual liturgy.
Question to Nava, *Gigi ** & Caridwen:
So the Eucharist is the Wafer and the Wine {grape juice} and what exactly?
I am missing a key part here and I always thought it was just the Wafer and the Wine. Between the three of you, I see it is something more, but what exactly?
This is from the Catholic Encyclopedia
It appears the mystery part is the portion I bolded. Does this match what what you were all saying?
Jim
- Not surprising, I am an agnostic that left the RCC when I was 8.
In the RC Church, the bread and the wine mystically become the body and blood of Jesus during the sacrament of the Eucharist.
Yeppers. But I think I first heard the term when I went off to college; there was an Episcopal chapel on campus. Before then, I’d just heard it referred to as “Holy Communion” or “the Lord’s Supper.” Even the Episcopal school I attended from 7th-10th grades referred to it as Communion, IIRC.
It’s got two closely related definitions. It is not, despite this thread, limited to Catholic usage, although theirs is the most well-known, I’m sure.
The first definition refers to the **ritual **during which a congregation shares food. The meaning of this varies by faith. For Catholics, the Eucharistic Ritual, also known colloquially as Communion, is a sacrament - a ritual believed to show that the church as a whole and the people in it as individuals have received the Grace of God. For some Wiccans and other neopagans, it’s to build community and share in the bounty of the God and Goddess in their manifestations as the force of growth (God) and the earth (Goddess).
The second definition refers to the **foodstuffs **used during the ceremony known as the Eucharist. The foodstuffs vary by religion or sect. The Catholics, of course, use wafer and wine/juice that is actually and literally turned into Jesus’s actual body and blood through the ritual and miracle of transubstantiation. It is also actually and literally still wafer and wine/juice. Don’t think about it too hard, it’s a miracle. For Episcopalians, bread and wine. For many Wiccans, the Eucharist is apples and juice or tea. For Ceremonial Magickians, it is fourfold - scent, heat of fire, wine and salt/wafer. For other neopagans, it may change to relate to the theme of the holiday or the Priestesses choice. (My personal favorite being the common Beltane Eucharist of chocolate dipped fruit and mead!)
So one consumes the Eucharist during the Eucharist, if you will.
In the Orthodox church is the same, the wine is Jesus Christ`s blood and the bread ( I never saw wafer being used ) is his body.And when you eat these, it is like Jesus is entering your body and soul and you become one. Probably that is why the Catholics call it the Holy Communion.
At least this is what I understand of this ritual.
Thought I knew, but guess I didn’t. After reading this thread I know a lot more. Ignorance fought?
I have little vague memories of tasteless wafers that served as the bread. Perhaps calling it a wafer is not correct.
Jim