I have been presenting some ideas about our belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. It is our belief that in the Holy Eucharist the bread and wine   offered and consecrated are changed into the holy body and precious blood of Christ. This is one of the essential beliefs of our faith. We share this belief with Orthodox Christians.
In the wider context of change, God, by His incarnation in the Person of the Son, effected the change of all humankind into His image and likeness. This is the why Eastern Christians talk about Theosis, that is deification. What is offered to us by the Incarnate Christ, through the Eucharist and through our being faithful to our discipleship, is a change that will reach to the roots of our being – not some change simply in how we are regarded, nor even a change in our behavior (though that will certainly take place), but a fundamental change so that the roots from which our actions flow are transformed, deified, and what others experience at our hands is the cherishing love of God Himself. We were created and placed on earth to discover this meaning of life.

Mystical Supper

The language of symbolism does not conflict with the language of change in the Eucharist. The symbols (transformed bread and wine) point to the change involved in the whole cosmos, through the human and with the human, as it is drawn more deeply into union with God. If we emphasize the symbolic world within which the mysteries operate, then we shall see the world of the sacraments opening up and indeed corresponding more closely to the way the notion of mystery is used by the Fathers. In other words, as we see the changed bread and wine as symbols of changed humanity and creation, we begin to understand what God accomplished through His entrance into His creation.

The Eucharist is a true symbol of what happens to us when we embrace the Way of Jesus – when we are truly changed and become, like Jesus, the Anointed of God.

As you know, Roman Catholicism offers philosophical ideas about the change that is produced within the bread and wine of the Eucharist in order to secure the idea of the Real Presence of Christ. It is a dogma that the very substance of the bread and wine are changed, although the accidents (the external characteristics) of these two foods, remain the same, giving the appearance of bread and wine but truly becoming the Body and Blood of Christ.
This is a mystery. Eastern Christianity doesn’t attempt to explain how it happens but, rather, focuses on the fact that it also represents what happens to us if we truly embrace the Jesus way of living. When we live as Jesus lived we are transformed into God’s image and likeness.