Article  XXX

OF BOTH KINDS^[1]

The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay‑people: for both the parts of the Lord’s Sacrament, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.

The error repudiated by this Article, the depriving of the congregation of the Cup in the Holy Communion, is one peculiar to the Roman Church.  The Orthodox Greek and other Eastern Churches, as well as the Protestant and Reformed Churches, all administer the Sacrament in both bread and wine.  The root of the Roman custom lies in the doctrine of Transubstantiation.  It is, of course, very proper that the mediating signs of the Lord’s Body and Blood should be highly esteemed and reverently treated, as a rubric at the end of the Communion Office provides; but if it is believed that the Elements are converted into the very Body and Blood of Christ, a special dread will attach to their misuse, either deliberately or by accident.

The initial step in withholding the cup from the laity was taken in the practice of dipping the bread in the wine that began in the 7th century, and was condemned by the Third Council of Bracara (675 A.D.).  But for centuries there was no uniform rule on the question.