Why do we believe in the one Sacrifice that is offered on multiple altars?

The answer

There are no multiple sacrifices like the High Priest used to offer in the past, for we offer the same sacrifice every day, or in other words we fulfill the remembrance of the sacrifice (ἀνάμνησις, anamnesis). We believe in one altar, despite its multiplicity, for they are all together the one holy tomb of the one body of Christ. St. John Chrysostom says, “Do we not offer every day? We offer indeed, but making a remembrance of His death, and this [remembrance] is one and not many … For we always offer the same, not one sheep now and tomorrow another, but always the same thing: so that the sacrifice is one … Christ is one everywhere, being complete here and complete there also, one Body … so also [He is] one sacrifice … It is not another sacrifice, as the High Priest, but we offer always the same, or rather we perform a remembrance of a Sacrifice.”¹⁴⁹⁰

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty