The Lord's Supper

This article presents the first French translation of the theological text The Lord's Supper by Father Nicolas Afanassieff, published in Russian in Paris in 1952. It is a complete translation of a foundational monograph, made accessible for the first time to a Western readership. The central idea concerns the ecclesiological meaning of the Eucharist: Afanassieff develops his conception of the local Church constituted and manifested in the eucharistic assembly, thereby laying the groundwork for what would come to be called eucharistic ecclesiology. The contribution of this text is considerable both theologically and historically: it allows us to grasp the genesis of Afanassieff's thought prior to its later developments, and offers French-speaking scholars direct access to a work that has profoundly marked Orthodox theology in the twentieth century and influenced ecumenical dialogue.