In the Eastern model of the Eucharist (originating with the Orthodox, and shared to some extent by the Reformed, some Evangelical Anglicans, e.g., Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel, Methodists via John Wesley), the Holy Spirit exercises a distinct mission since the ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father. The celebrant represents the worshiping community (acting in persona ecclesiae). The Son is at the right hand of the Father and is made mediately present through the invocation of the Holy Spirit, who descends on both people and gifts as a result of the epiclesis, the request for the Holy Spirit to make the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ and to sanctify both the elements and the community.
“I haven’t got the strength to read it all.”
Find it. Its worth the read and then thinking about it.
“How accurate is this with respect to the Orthodox?”
I think it is remarkably if not completely accurate, considering the source. The priest certainly is at a certain level representing the people in the Eucharistic Community in his liturgical role and as the representative of the bishop he is also an Icon Of Christ. The description of the epiklesis is a good one and is eminently Trinitarian.
“the request for the Holy Spirit to make the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ and to sanctify both the elements and the community.”
This is almost exactly the prayer of the priest at the epiklesis.
As you may have noticed, Alex, I have felt that true Anglicans are surprisingly Orthodox in certain aspects of their theology, more so even than most Latins of the past 1000 years. In that sense I think they have preserved pieces of the original Orthodoxy of the very early Church of Britain and Scotland. It may be that this “Orthodox race memory” explains in part the ease with which most converts from Anglicanism to Orthodoxy make the transition.