On the participation of the faithful in the Eucharist
The practice of communion and preparation for it has changed and taken on different forms in the history of the Church.
Already in the apostolic era, the Church established the tradition of celebrating the Eucharist every Sunday (and, if possible, more often: for example, on the days of remembrance of martyrs), so that Christians could constantly be in communion with Christ and with each other (see, for example, 1 Cor. 10, 16–17; Acts 2, 46; Acts 20, 7). All members of the local community participated in the weekly Eucharist and received communion, and refusal to participate in Eucharistic communion without sufficient grounds was subject to censure: “All the faithful who enter the church and listen to the scriptures, but do not remain in prayer and holy communion to the end, as Those who commit disorder in the church should be excommunicated from church communion” (Apostle Rule 9 of the saints). The early Christian practice of receiving communion at each Divine Liturgy remains an ideal today, being part of the Tradition of the Church.
At the same time, the quantitative growth of the Church in the 3rd and especially the 4th centuries led to changes, including in liturgical life. With the increase in the number of days of remembrance of martyrs and holidays, Eucharistic meetings began to be held more and more often, and the presence of every Christian at them began to be considered by many desirable, but optional - as well as participation in communion. The Church contrasted this with the following canonical norm: “All who enter the church and listen to the Holy Scriptures, but, due to some deviation from order, do not participate in prayer with the people, or turn away from the communion of the holy Eucharist, let them be excommunicated from the Church until they confess, they will show the fruits of repentance, and will ask for forgiveness, and thus will be able to receive it” (2nd canon of the Council of Antioch).
However, the high ideal of constant readiness to receive the Holy Mysteries has proven difficult to achieve for many Christians. Therefore, already in the works of the Holy Fathers of the 4th century there is evidence of the coexistence of different practices regarding the regularity of communion. Thus, St. Basil the Great speaks of communion four times a week as the norm: “To receive communion every day and partake of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ is good and beneficial, since [Christ] Himself clearly says: He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life. <…> Every week we receive communion four times: on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, as well as on other days, if the memory of a saint occurs” (Epistle 93 [89]). Less than half a century later, St. John Chrysostom notes that many - including monastics - began to receive communion once or twice a year: “Many receive communion of this Sacrifice once throughout the year, others twice, and others several times. Our words apply to everyone, not only to those present here, but also to those in the desert, because they [also] receive communion once a year, and often once every two years. What? Who should we approve? Are those who [take communion] once [a year], or those who often, or those who rarely? Neither one nor the other, nor the third, but those who receive communion with a clear conscience, with a pure heart, with an impeccable life. Let such people always begin; but not such [should not receive communion] even once [a year]” (Conversations on the Epistle to the Hebrews 17:4).
In the 4th century, the norm that had developed back in the pre-Nicene era about the obligatory Eucharistic fast was finally fixed - complete abstinence from food and drink on the day of communion until the moment of receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ: “Let the holy sacrament of the altar be performed by people who have not eaten” (41st [50- e] rule of the Council of Carthage; confirmed by the 29th rule of the Council of Trullo). However, already at the turn of the 4th–5th centuries, some Christians associated communion not only with the observance of eucharistic abstinence before the liturgy, but also, according to the testimony of St. John Chrysostom, with the time of Great Lent. The saint himself calls for more frequent communion: “Please tell me: starting communion once a year, do you really think that forty days is enough for you to cleanse your sins for the entire [this] period? And then, after a week, you indulge in the same things again? Tell me: if you, having recovered for forty days from a long illness, then again took up the same food that caused the illness, would you not have lost the previous work? Obviously so. If this is how physical [health] is structured, then even more so is moral health. [In total] forty - and often not forty - days you devote to the health of your soul - and you think that you have appeased God? <…> I say this not to forbid you to approach the Holy Mysteries once a year, but rather to desire that you always approach the Holy Mysteries” (Conversations on the Epistle to the Hebrews 17.4).
In Byzantium, by the 11th–12th centuries, a tradition had been established among the monastic community to receive communion only after preparation, which included fasting, testing one’s conscience before the monastic confessor, and reading a special prayer rule before communion, which originated and began to develop precisely in this era. Pious laypeople also began to focus on this same tradition, since monastic spirituality in Orthodoxy has always been perceived as an ideal. In its most strict form, this tradition is presented, for example, in the instructions of the Russian Typikon (Chapter 32), which, unlike the Greek, speaks of a mandatory seven-day fast before communion.
In 1699, an article entitled “Teaching News” was included in the Russian Service Book. It, in particular, contains instructions on the obligatory period of preparation for holy communion - during the four multi-day fasts, everyone can receive communion, and outside the fasts one should fast for seven days, but this period can be shortened: “If not, in addition to the four regular fasts, begin They will desire holy communion, but let them fast seven days before, and continue in church and household prayers (this is not in need: in need, for three days, or one day, let them fast immediately).”
In practice, an extremely strict approach to preparing for holy communion, which had positive spiritual aspects, however, led to the fact that some Christians did not receive communion for a long time, citing the need for worthy preparation. This practice of rare communion was, in particular, directed against the norm on the obligatory communion of all Christians of the Russian Empire at least once a year, contained in the “Spiritual Regulations”1: “Every Christian must partake of the Holy Eucharist often, and at least once a year. This is also our most graceful thanksgiving to God for the great salvation that the Savior’s death has wrought for us... For this reason, if a Christian seems to be moving away from Holy Communion, thereby revealing to himself that he is not in the Body of Christ, is not an accomplice of the Church "
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, pious people sought to receive communion during at least all four multi-day fasts. Many saints of that time, among whom were St. Theophan the Recluse, Righteous John of Kronstadt and others, called for people to approach the Holy Mysteries even more often. According to Saint Theophan, “the measure [of receiving communion] once or twice a month is the most measured,” although “nothing disapproving can be said” about more frequent communion2. Every believer can be guided by these words of this saint: “Participate the Holy Mysteries more often, as your spiritual father allows, just try to always approach with proper preparation and, moreover, with fear and trembling, so that, having gotten used to it, you do not begin to approach indifferently” 3.
The confessional feat of the Church during the years of persecution of the twentieth century prompted many clergy and church children to rethink the previously existing practice of rare communion. In particular, in 1931, the Provisional Patriarchal Synod, in its resolution of May 13, indicated: “The wish regarding the possible frequent communion of Orthodox Christians, and for the successful among them, every Sunday, is considered acceptable.”
Nowadays, many Orthodox people receive communion much more often than most Christians in pre-revolutionary Russia. However, the practice of frequent communion cannot be automatically extended to all believers without exception, since the frequency of communion directly depends on the spiritual and moral state of a person so that, in the words of Chrysostom, believers approach the communion of the Holy Mysteries “with a clear conscience, as much as possible for us” (Against Jews. Sermon III. 4).
III
Anyone preparing for holy communion undergoes a test of his conscience, which involves sincere repentance of his sins and revealing them to the priest in the Sacrament of Repentance. In conditions when many who come to churches are not yet sufficiently rooted in church life, and therefore sometimes do not understand the meaning of the Sacrament of the Eucharist or do not realize the moral and canonical consequences of their sinful acts, confession allows the confessing priest to judge the possibility of allowing the penitent to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ .
In some cases, in accordance with the practice that has developed in many parishes, a confessor can bless a layman to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ several times during one week (for example, during Holy and Bright Weeks) without prior confession before each communion, except in situations where the person wishing to receive communion experiences need for confession. When giving the appropriate blessing, confessors should especially remember the high responsibility for the souls of their flock, entrusted to them in the Sacrament of the Priesthood.
In some parishes there is a long wait for the laity to receive communion. This occurs due to the long communion of the clergy during conciliar services or the performance of confession after the communion verse. This state of affairs should be considered undesirable. The sacrament of repentance should be celebrated, whenever possible, outside the Divine Liturgy, so as not to deprive the confessor and the confessor of full participation in the joint Eucharistic prayer. It is unacceptable for a priest assisting at the liturgy to make confession during the reading of the Gospel and the Eucharistic canon. It is advisable to conduct confession mainly in the evening or before the start of the Divine Liturgy. In addition, it is important to establish fixed days and hours in parishes when the priest is required to be present to meet with those who wish to communicate with the pastor.
V
As noted in the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church (X. 2) and in the definition of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of December 28, 1998, the Church, while insisting on the need for church marriage, still does not deprive spouses in a marital union from communion of the Holy Mysteries, which is concluded with the assumption of all legal rights and obligations and is recognized as a legally valid marriage, but for some reason is not consecrated by a wedding. This measure of church economy, based on the words of the Holy Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 7:14) and canon 72 of the Trullo Council, is intended to facilitate the possibility of participation in church life for those Orthodox Christians who married before the beginning of their conscious participation in the sacraments Churches. Unlike adulterous cohabitation, which is a canonical obstacle to communion, such a union in the eyes of the Church constitutes a legal marriage (except for those cases where legally permissible “marriages” - for example, a union between close relatives or same-sex cohabitation, which are recognized in a number of countries, - from the point of view of the Church are unacceptable in principle). However, it is the duty of pastors to remind believers of the need not only to enter into a legally valid marriage, but also to consecrate it in a church ceremony.
Separate consideration is given to those cases where persons live together for a long time, often have children together, but are not in a church or state-registered marriage, and one of the parties to such cohabitation does not want to register the relationship or get married. Such cohabitations are sinful, and their spread in the world is opposition to God’s plan for man, is dangerous for the institution of marriage and cannot receive any recognition from the Church. At the same time, the confessor, knowing the circumstances of a particular person’s life, out of condescension towards human weakness, in exceptional cases, can allow the party who realizes the sinfulness of such cohabitation and seeks to enter into a legal marriage to receive communion. The cohabitant is not allowed to take communion if it is through whose fault the marriage is not concluded. If at least one of the cohabitants is in another marriage, then both parties cannot be admitted to communion without a canonical settlement of the situation and proper repentance.
IV
It is unacceptable to receive communion in a state of embitterment, anger, in the presence of serious unconfessed sins or unforgiven grievances. Those who dare to approach the Eucharistic Gifts in such a state of soul expose themselves to the judgment of God, according to the words of the Apostle: “Whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation for himself, without considering the Body of the Lord. That is why many of you are weak and many are dying.”
(1 Cor. 11:29-30).
When serious sins are committed, the application of the canons regarding excommunication from communion for long periods (more than one year) can only be carried out with the blessing of the diocesan bishop. If a priest abuses the right to impose reprimands, the issue may be referred to a church court.
The canons prohibit communion in a state of female impurity (2nd canon of St. Dionysius of Alexandria, 7th canon of Timothy of Alexandria). An exception may be made in case of mortal danger, as well as when bleeding continues for a long time due to a chronic or acute disease.
VI
Preparing children for Holy Communion has its own characteristics. Its duration and content are determined by the parents[1] in consultation with the confessor and must take into account the age, state of health and degree of church involvement of the child.
Parents who regularly bring their children to the Holy Chalice, which is a blessing, must strive to receive communion with them (if it is impossible for both parents to receive communion at the same time, take turns). The practice of parents giving communion to their children, but rarely proceeding to Holy Communion themselves, prevents the need to strengthen in the minds of children the need to participate in the Eucharistic meal.
The first confession before communion, according to the 18th rule of Timothy of Alexandria, is made upon reaching the age of ten years, but in the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, the first confession occurs, as a rule, at the age of seven years. At the same time, the age of making the first confession, as well as the frequency of making confession for a child aged 7 to 10 years during communion every Sunday, should be determined jointly by the confessor and parents, taking into account the individual characteristics in the development of the child and his understanding of church life.
For children under three years of age, the Eucharistic fast is not obligatory. According to tradition, from the age of three, children in Orthodox families are gradually taught to abstain from food and drink before receiving the Holy Mysteries. By the age of seven, a child should be firmly accustomed to receiving communion on an empty stomach. From this time on, the child should be taught to read prayers for holy communion, the content and volume of which are determined by the parents in accordance with the age, spiritual and intellectual development of the child.
Recipients must take full part in raising children in piety, including encouraging them to regularly partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and helping parents bring them to the Holy Chalice.
