4. CHALICE / CUP

 CHALICE / CUP

Chalice or Cup is a symbol of life, as it can contain fluids for maintenance of life. In Egyptian culture, the chalice was believed to have a magical power, so it was used by soothsayers.

In the Bible, contents of the chalice/cup can signify either blessings or destruction. Isaiah speaks to Jerusalem: "Rouse yourself, rouse yourself, stand up O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath..." (Isa51:17). Ezekiel prophesied regarding Samaria: "A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria" (Ezek 23: 33).

The chalice or cup can signify the blessings of God in abundance, as in Psalm 23: 5: "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows". Here God is the host, who prepares a rich banquet. Overflowing cup is symbol of a life filled with God's graces. Wine can also denote God's salvation.

Raising the chalice/cup in thanksgiving was a usual ritual of the opening of Sabbath and the Seder of Passover. "What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord" (Ps 116: 12-13). The pious have the firm hope: "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup, you hold my lot" (Ps 16: 5). Here the cup is a metaphor for the lot of life. The Book of Revelation speaks of the lot of those who worship the Beast and Its image: "...they will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger..." (Rev 14: 10).

Jesus spoke of his own life in terms of "chalice": "Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?" (Jn 18:10). Jesus asked the Sons of Zebedee: "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" (Mt 20: 22). Here "drinking of the cup" means undergoing the passion and death. That is verified by the fact that on the Mount of Olives Jesus prayed: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done" (Lk 22: 42). After the last supper Jesus prayed blessings over the cup and said to the disciples: "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26: 27ff).

In one of the earliest narratives on Eucharist, St. Paul writes to Corinthians: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1Cor 11: 26). The Eucharistic chalice is here the symbol of eternal life.

In the Christian art the bread and chalice were reminiscent of the offering of Melchizedek consisting of bread and wine (Gen 14: 18). Cross and Chalice were breadesignative symbols of Christianity, as opposed to Jewish Religion.