{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 126,
  "chapterName": "1881. Keshub Chunder Sen’s Rite of Holy Communion",
  "pageFrom": 232,
  "pageTo": 232,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 232,
      "ocrText": "232\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nwe are Hindus, we cannot help admiring the superior and exalted\nethics which Christ brings to us. You cannot deny it, you cannot\nset it aside. It is from God The divinity of Jesus-yes, that is\nthe great subject on which I desire to discourse. Christ is a good\nman, a great man, we have learnt to love, honour and esteem.\nChrist as a moral teacher of the highest order we are at this moment\nready to enshrine in our hearts...\nIt appears to me that Christ held earnestly and consistantly\nwhat I should, in the absence of a better expression, call the doctrine\nof divine humanity... From his very early life he seized this great\nand philosophical idea of divine humanity, and throughout his\ncareer he carried it out, with wonderful logical consistency, in all its\nbearings, speculative and practical...\n126. KESHUB CHUNDER SEN'S RITE OF\nHOLY COMMUNION (1881 A.D.)\nKeshub Chunder Sen adopted modes of worship from several\nreligions in his religion, which he called the New Dispensation'.\nHis first celebration of Holy Communion was reported by an eye\nwitness on 6th March 1881. Cited in J. Richter, A History of Chris-\ntian Missions in India, pp. 374-375.\nThe Hindu apostles of Christ, as they call themselves, assembled\nafter prayer in a refectory, and seated themselves upon the bare\nfloor, their legs folded beneath them. Rice was then brought in\non a silver trencher, and water in a small jug. The officiating\npriest read the dedicatory words from Luke 22, and then prayed:\nO Holy Spirit, touch this rice and this water and change their\ncoarse substance into sanctifying spiritual forces, in order that,\nas we eat, we may assimilate them in our bodies just as the flesh\nand blood of all saints is assimilated in Jesus Christ. Satisfy the\nhunger and thirst of our souls with the rice and water placed before\nus by Thee. Make us strong through the power of Christ, and\nnourish us with holy living. After the rice and the water had been\nconsecrated, they were handed round to those present in small\nportions. They ate and drank solemnly and praised God, the God\nof the prophets and the saints.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}