Three-day fasting before Communion is a consequence of spiritual decline

Is it possible for an Orthodox Christian to receive communion without fasting and confession?

I'm a little confused on this issue. The fact is that I was allowed to take communion without fasting 2 times (maybe because I’m just starting my path to real faith), although I told the priests at confession that I wasn’t fasting, but was just confessing. And recently I confessed to a new priest, and I was told that (whoever would allow me to receive communion) would never receive communion without fasting and did not allow me to receive communion this Sunday, although I fasted on Friday, but not on Saturday. Do I now need to repent in confession that I took communion without fasting (when the priests allowed it)? And one more small point. I understand that it’s not good to discuss priests, but still, help me figure it out. The priest who allowed me to take communion without fasting had the longest line for confession. And who did not allow me to receive communion on Trinity, had few repentants. Afterwards I thought that many parishioners were going to the “good” priest. What if this is wrong? Maybe he allows many people to receive communion when they don’t need to. People like it and they go to him. How to understand where the truth is? I also wanted to add that, probably, I was not allowed to receive communion, because I didn’t want it myself: it was a very difficult week, and I thought that if I was allowed to receive communion, it would be very difficult for me to prepare prayerfully (I will be in this it is necessary to repent), a feeling of oversaturation with church life arose. How to deal with this? For me, apparently, as in the proverb “make a fool pray to God, he’ll bruise his forehead.” Still, the question remains: which priest is right? Is the majority right to go to the good priest? It’s easier for him, it turns out. Sorry it's so long.

—Thank you very much, and Happy Holidays to you! Yes, they can allow it, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to take communion. I prefer the first priests. No, there is no need to repent of this. People go to a good shepherd, not just a good one. He is more spiritual and more experienced, so they go to him. Why did you follow Christ? So that He would scold them? Yes, those people who go for this are right. Save Christ!

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What to Consider Before Deciding to Fast

There is simply no universally binding measure in the quantity and type of food. Then how to fast before Communion? The established customs of the Church are of a recommendatory nature, aimed at the majority of believers.

Therefore, in choosing your own measure of abstinence in food, it would be correct to personally consult with a priest. This measure is required in the following cases:

1. Health problems. A priest will never forbid a sick person to eat adequately.
2. Elderly or children's age. Infants are allowed to receive communion without confession and not on an empty stomach. Infants are given communion with one Blood. Children are very sensitive to the Shrine and are carried away peaceful and radiant.
3. Pregnant women and during breastfeeding. Strict fasting is prohibited for a nursing woman. The expectant mother is given significant relief, or the abolition of fasting. It must be remembered that the baby also becomes partakers of the Divine nature while in the womb. Therefore, depriving yourself of the sacrament during pregnancy is unacceptable.
4. Special circumstances (hard physical labor, travel, other external living conditions). The Lord always condescends to a person, so any life circumstances can change or cancel the fast.

How to behave after Communion: refuting 5 myths

What is more important to the Lord is a person’s heartfelt disposition, and not the external fulfillment of church orders. With the advice of your confessor, you can soften or tighten the measure of abstinence in food.

General rules for preparing for communion

Before Communion, Confession is obligatory - repentance for sins committed with the firm intention not to return to them again.
Photo: markmallett.com Adults under normal conditions begin Holy Communion strictly on an empty stomach. From midnight on the eve of the liturgy they do not eat or drink. The exceptions are small children, seriously ill, and dying.

A child from the cradle needs to be instilled with at least some habit of patience, so that by the age of 7 he will become a staunch and strong-willed Christian.

False fears look ridiculous, for example, swallowing water while brushing your teeth before the liturgy, or the inability to take medicine at a strictly prescribed time. These actions do not violate the fast.

It is a sin to allow yourself to enjoy tasty and excessive food.

Superstitions and formalism in spiritual matters are unacceptable. Women are not allowed to participate in the sacraments during menstrual bleeding, when they cannot take communion or even touch sacred objects (icons, the Cross, relics).

The Church, like a loving mother, protects its daughters these days and gives them the opportunity to endure the painful condition at home. Of course, relaxation or abolition of fasting in food does not cancel spiritual fasting.

In any case, you need to forgive all offenses and ask for forgiveness yourself, repent of all sins, firmly deciding not to repeat them again, refrain from empty and harmful information, take care of yourself, trying to spend the days holy and carefully before communion. Spouses abstain from sexual intercourse on the eve of communion.

For an adult, confession is required immediately before communion or the night before. You need to prepare for it in advance: before confession, review your actions since the last time you turned to the sacrament, bring repentance for what you have done, and be determined not to repeat previous sins.

The difference between Confession and Communion. Is one available without the other?

How to prepare for Confession.

Confession and Communion are two DIFFERENT Sacraments.

No preparation is required for Confession.

It is possible to confess without Communion. But you cannot receive Communion without Confession

(except for those parishioners who were blessed by the confessor).

The difference between Confession and Communion. Is one available without the other?

If you now want to begin Confession , but have not prepared for Communion, or do not yet know how to prepare for Communion, then you can begin Confession now in any case, without any obstacle. To do this, you will not need to know any special instructions, because... Confession does not require any special equipment. knowledge, and no special preparation.

But if you were preparing for Communion (for the first time), then you cannot begin it without Confession. The priest at Confession, in addition to accepting repentance from you, must find out what your idea of ​​the sacrament of Communion is, and perhaps correct you if you are mistaken. The priest must find out how you prepared for St. Communion, and perhaps I can correct you a little on this as well.

Forbidden menu

Fasting people will need to give up certain foods:

• meat food (sausages, sausages, any types of meat, lard);
• eggs and dishes containing them;
• offal (liver, lungs, heart);
• milk and fermented milk products;
• chocolate, confectionery;
• mayonnaise, ketchup, sauces, mustard;
• baked goods containing milk and eggs.

It is imperative to remove spices and spicy foods from the menu, which stimulate the appetite and desire to eat. On days of strict fasting, fish is also prohibited.

Alcohol and smoking are completely excluded. It is worth noting that these bad habits are unacceptable for believers not only during the period of fasting, but also on ordinary days.

Three days before Communion: how to fast if you have no strength

In addition, the priest at Confession must make sure that you are an Orthodox person, that you do not hold grudges or grudges against other people, that you do not have unrepentant mortal sins. All this needs to be clarified to the priest at Confession so that you do not accept the Sacrament of Communion to your condemnation and harm.

In this case, Confession is also part of the preparation for Communion: the soul prepares for Communion by repentance, remission of sins.

So, it is possible to confess without Communion, but it is impossible to receive communion without Confession (for the first time).

What is required to begin Confession?

To do this, it is enough to know your sins and have the desire to repent of them.

You can begin Confession regardless of whether you fasted or not, whether you ate today or not.

Are you standing in the temple now? Is Confession currently taking place in the church? Have you remembered your sins, have a desire to throw off the stone of sin - to confess? Go to Confession right now, you don’t need any instructions for this, you have everything you need: sins and repentance.

When a person decides to begin Confession for the first time, he usually remembers and realizes his greatest sins well; they lie “on the surface” of the soul. Go with them to Confession now, express all the sins that you remember now, and bring what you remember later to the next Confession. Do not put off your repentance “until tomorrow,” when you forget your sins, lose the determination to confess, become hardened in soul, and lose the ability to repent.

If you now have a ripe determination to confess in church, but at the moment Confession is not taking place in the church, and there is no priest in the church to ask if he has the opportunity to confess you now, then intend to confess at any upcoming service. Confession is performed at every evening service (during Lent - not at every evening service), which traditionally begins at 17:00 in all churches. In some churches, Confession is also performed during the morning service, which traditionally begins in all churches at 08:30. For accuracy, look at the schedule of services on the church fence of the temple, or ask church workers. Currently, all churches are gradually moving the celebration of Confession only to evening services.

If there is time before Confession: one or several days.

If you are planning to confess at the next divine service, then it is recommended to use the time of waiting for the day and hour of your Confession for preparation - penitential REFLECTION (testing your conscience, remembering your sins). If you confess for the first time, then you need to try to remember your sins throughout your entire life (starting from the age of seven - everything that is in your memory).

For your convenience, you can write down the sins you remember on a piece of paper, making a cheat sheet for yourself (so as not to forget). When you come to Confession, you can confess from memory, using, if necessary, a compiled list of sins, or you can simply read everything from a piece of paper. It is advisable to read it yourself.

When remembering your sins, you can use a hint to look at the general list of the most common sins, which can be found in a church store or on the Internet. A brochure with a list of sins, usually called “To help the penitent.”

Before going to Confession, you can read the canon of repentance at home, or the morning prayers, or the 50th Psalm, or the “Our Father” prayer, and simply say a prayerful sigh: “Lord, accept my repentance, grant me forgiveness of my sins.” .

But there is no mandatory requirement here, it is at your discretion. For Confession, it is enough to have awareness of your sins and repentance.

Before confession, you need to reconcile with the offenders and forgive the offenses.

Basic concepts about Confession.

All sins of which a person repents are forgiven . BUT! A necessary condition for receiving forgiveness of sins is personal forgiveness of offenses to one’s offenders.

Confessed sins do not need to be named next time at Confession, unless they were repeated again.

In subsequent Confessions, one must name the sins that the person still remembers, and those that repeated again.

5. How many times should you confess? How often?

On the day of Baptism, the human soul dresses in white clothes, in clothes of “light”, in clothes of “joy”.

After Baptism, a person gets these clothes dirty. And each of us stained these clothes with our sins.

But an Orthodox person differs from a non-church person (and from a formally Orthodox person) in that these “clothes” are regularly cleansed by the sacrament of Confession. Dirty spots have appeared, and it is unpleasant for an Orthodox person to be dirty, to walk around in such dirty clothes, and he rather hurries to Confession and repents of his sins. And he receives bright clothes again, and has spiritual joy. No matter how dirty a person’s soul is, no matter how great sins it defiles itself, if a person repents, then the Lord cleanses any dirt and clothes the person’s soul in bright clothes of joy and purity.

A non-church person, who considers his sins to be the norm of life, expresses approximately the following formulations: “Everyone lives “this way”, so there is nothing terrible in sins,” or speaks about sin: “It’s such a trifle,” or like this: “It’s nothing at all.” sin is what you call “sin,” etc.

Orthodox Christians, who keep the clothes of their souls clean, begin Confession regularly. Each person has their own frequency and depends on the degree of spiritual growth. Many people go to confession weekly—every Sunday or during the week.

All Orthodox Christians try to fulfill the 4th commandment of God’s Law: “Work six days, dedicate the seventh to the Lord Thy God,” and every Sunday they come to church: they thank God for the past week (for joys and sorrows), ask for God’s blessing on next week, and test their soul: what sins did you commit during the week? If they remember any sins, then they come up to Confession, repent of their sins, and leave the temple in bright robes of joy. This is the most optimal frequency.

Maybe postpone Confession “until tomorrow”?

Under what confession will forgiveness of sins be denied?

Hidden sins.

There are sins that a person cannot confess because he does not remember them; these are forgotten sins. Nothing can be done about this if the Lord does not open the person’s memory. With sincere repentance of known and unknown sins, the Lord forgives forgotten sins.

But if a person knows and remembers his sin for sure, but deliberately does not name it, for example, because of shame, then such a sin is called “hidden”, it becomes more serious, acquires greater severity, and condemnation. And the person leaves Confession with a heavy heart, with the realization that he did not have the courage, the determination to name his sin. But if it was difficult to name his sin, but the person overcame himself and still named his sin, then he leaves Confession with joy and a feeling of victory: it was hard, but the person won and received forgiveness.

Before Confession, the priest pronounces the following teaching:

“Behold, child, Christ stands invisibly, accepting your confession: do not be ashamed, and do not be afraid, but without justification, say everything that you have done, so that you may receive forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ. I am only a witness, and I testify before Him everything that you tell me, but if you hide anything from me, you will commit a grave sin. Be careful not to leave the hospital unhealed.”

Sins confessed on earth will be completely blotted out at the Judgment of God, but hidden and unnamed - then they will be revealed to everyone: a person’s conscience as a judge will stand before everyone, exposing all our sins to everyone. Then there will be a day of great shame and disgrace for some, and a day of great glory and reward for others.

Formulation of sins.

At Confession, a person has a temptation: to formulate his sin so that it looks insignificant, or excusable, forced. A person tries to minimize his sin. Or he makes excuses and wants to blame others for his sin. For example, he says: yes, I was angry, but I have “such!” the neighbors are bad. In general, you need to call your sin directly, as it is, without belittling it, and without making excuses: call black - black, white - white.

Sometimes at Confession a person wants to tell not his sins, but what a great righteous man he is, what deeds he performs, how he fasts, how he prays, or wants to tell some lengthy stories from his life about miraculous incidents with him, etc. No, at Confession one must not show off one’s virtues and boast, but say all the dirtiest things about oneself, the worst things, everything that one is ashamed of: it is this dirt that a person came to get rid of at Confession.

What about a person?

The angels would not be able to listen to our sins, but would burn us to ashes, so the Lord appointed for Confession the same person of flesh and blood, who himself had the experience of sin and repentance. If the Apostle Peter had not sinned, what kind of strict shepherd would he have been? But the Apostle Peter denied Christ three times, then repented, wept bitterly, and God forgave him and restored him to the apostolic rank. Likewise, every priest has many sins, struggles with them, repents, confesses, and God grants forgiveness. Those. the priest himself knows what sin, repentance and forgiveness are. And some priests accumulated many sins before becoming priests, and then repented and changed. Therefore, the priest, having personal experience of the forgiveness of his sins at Confession, rejoices for the repentant person, no matter what serious sins the person names: the more serious the sin, the greater the joy of his repentance and forgiveness.

The Church teaches that all the saints who had the same flesh and blood, had the same passions and temptations, but won, will also take part in the Judgment of God. Therefore, the saints will also be our accusers, because... had equal opportunities with us either to fall into sin or to overcome it.

The Sacrament of Confession was established not by man, but by God. The Lord gave power to His disciples to forgive sins, saying: “Whose sins you forgive, their sins are forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (John 20:23). And this power is transferred in the Church from the apostles to the real priesthood.

How to prepare for Confession.

Confession and Communion are two DIFFERENT Sacraments.

No preparation is required for Confession.

It is possible to confess without Communion. But you cannot receive Communion without Confession

(except for those parishioners who were blessed by the confessor).

The difference between Confession and Communion. Is one available without the other?

If you now want to begin Confession , but have not prepared for Communion, or do not yet know how to prepare for Communion, then you can begin Confession now in any case, without any obstacle. To do this, you will not need to know any special instructions, because... Confession does not require any special equipment. knowledge, and no special preparation.

But if you were preparing for Communion (for the first time), then you cannot begin it without Confession. The priest at Confession, in addition to accepting repentance from you, must find out what your idea of ​​the sacrament of Communion is, and perhaps correct you if you are mistaken. The priest must find out how you prepared for St. Communion, and perhaps I can correct you a little on this as well. In addition, the priest at Confession must make sure that you are an Orthodox person, that you do not hold grudges or grudges against other people, that you do not have unrepentant mortal sins. All this needs to be clarified to the priest at Confession so that you do not accept the Sacrament of Communion to your condemnation and harm.

In this case, Confession is also part of the preparation for Communion: the soul prepares for Communion by repentance, remission of sins.

So, it is possible to confess without Communion, but it is impossible to receive communion without Confession (for the first time).



Question to the Bishop. New answers

How to celebrate Easter? How to properly prepare for Holy Communion on Bright Week and how often to receive communion? What to do if a child does not allow you to attend the service? If there is discord in the family?.. Metropolitan Longinus of Saratov and Volsk answers questions from visitors to the portal “Orthodoxy and Modernity”.

Dear Lord! I ask for clarification on how to properly prepare for Holy Communion if you receive communion at several Liturgies in a row. Do you need to read the canons every time, or is consistency enough? And how often and correctly can one begin Communion during Holy and Bright Weeks? I did not receive a definite answer; respected priests answer differently. One allows one to begin on Easter and Bright Week without confession, but first read the Easter canon three times, the other does not recommend Communion at all on Bright Week, since repentance is replaced by rejoicing, and one cannot begin without confession. I also received different instructions regarding preparation and frequency. It even got to the point where, while listening to the advice of one, she confused the other. I ask for your blessings and prayers, Natalia

Dear Natalia! Issues of preparation for Holy Communion are discussed in great detail in the document “On the Participation of the Faithful in the Eucharist.” This document was widely discussed, was approved by the Bishops' Conference and approved by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2015. I once again recommend not only you, but all parishioners to read it very carefully.

The most important thing: every time we approach Holy Communion, we need to prepare. This preparation includes a prayer rule, attendance at the daily circle of worship that precedes the Liturgy, and cleansing of one’s conscience through confession. As for the rule, the document emphasizes: “An invariable part of prayer preparation is the following to Holy Communion, consisting of the appropriate canon and prayers. The prayer rule usually includes canons for the Savior, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel and other prayers (see “Rule for those preparing to serve, and for those who want to partake of the Holy Divine Sacraments, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” in the Following Psalter). During Bright Week, the prayer rule consists of the Easter canon, as well as the canon and prayers for Holy Communion.”

As for frequent communion, I think it can be correct in exceptional cases. For example, during Holy Week you can take communion on Maundy Thursday, and on Holy Saturday, and on Easter. I believe this is enough for a person living in the world, working and burdened with a family. I would advise monastics to receive communion on all days of Holy Week. But for the laity it is difficult.

As for confession, you need to test your conscience and, if there is a need for this, then you need to start confession at least before each communion.

During Bright Week, Christians who observe Lent begin Holy Communion, limiting their fast to not eating food after midnight. Confession - again, if necessary. All this talk about how “repentance is incompatible with rejoicing” and so on is home-grown theology of the kind about which the apostle said: “But turn away from worthless men and women’s fables” (1 Tim. 4:7). Unfortunately, some of our priests, especially older ones, are prone to this. Among young people there is another extreme: “Oh, let’s take communion indiscriminately, whenever and however you like.” This is also wrong.

I think that the criterion for the frequency of communion for a person living in the world may be the following: “I can take communion if the day before I can come to the evening service and normally, as required by the Rule, prepare for Communion, without neglecting my family and official responsibilities.” That is, if you can go to church every day in the morning and evening during Bright Week, read the Easter canon (once, not three, as someone told you) and the rule for Communion, and at the same time your family - husband, children , older relatives - they will not be indignant that you abandoned them, and you just go to church - please, take communion every day.

The bright holiday of Easter is ahead. How to meet him correctly?

You need to meet him in the Church. First of all, Easter should be a spiritual holiday, and not just an occasion for a feast. I always encourage people to spend less time, effort and attention on external things. You know, there are a number of pious superstitions: they say, on Maundy Thursday you must take a swim, wash the windows, wash the curtains, clean everything. In fact, this Thursday is called Pure and Great Thursday because of the greatness of those events that are remembered by the Church on this day. All kinds of culinary delights, Easter cakes, Easter - all this is very good, but should occupy a very small place in the life of a Christian. It’s bad when everything else is abandoned for the sake of this, and a person does not go to work because he is barely alive from all these harvesting and culinary feats. This year Easter conveniently coincides with civil holidays. This makes it possible to spend Christianly not only the day of Easter itself, but also to go to church and pray in the subsequent days of Bright Week. And then Easter joy will remain for a long time in the heart of a believer, which is what I sincerely wish for everyone.

Before the birth of my child, I regularly attended services, sang in the choir, and tried to live a full church life. After the birth of the child, this also worked, because the baby slept almost the entire service and did not distract anyone. Until he was a year old, it was possible to hold him in my arms and he could also be in church for most of the service without distracting anyone. But after a year he began to walk, and my spiritual life stopped there. I can no longer attend services because there is no one to leave the child with. Sometimes my husband can stay with him if he has a day off. Then I go to work. But this may be rare, and certainly does not fall on major church holidays.

Not just debt...

Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko

First of all, it is necessary to say about the beauty of the all-night vigil, its content, its spiritual and factual richness: the service reveals the history of the holiday, its significance, and meaning.

But since, as a rule, people do not understand what is read and sung in church, they simply do not perceive much.

It is amazing that the Russian Orthodox Church has preserved in its entirety a very complex, thoughtful service. For example, in Greece there is no such thing in parishes. They have adapted to modern life, and this is justified in its own way. There is no evening service, no vespers are served, the morning begins with Matins.

We serve both Vespers and Matins in the evening. This is a kind of convention, but it was thought out, and those who made the decision about this particular course of worship understood the charter better than us and decided that it would be more correct to maintain fidelity to tradition.

In Greece they made a different decision. Matins is served there, as a rule, according to one type. We have an all-night vigil - solemn, bright, colorful, during which many chants are sung. In Greece it’s more monotonous, but it’s fast. The entire service, including the liturgy, takes about two hours. But this is precisely in parish churches.

In monasteries, and especially on Mount Athos, the rules are preserved in all strictness. Their all-night vigil actually goes on all night.

With us, no, and this is also a kind of convention, a kind of reduction. But those who developed this decided to reduce it based on certain circumstances; they still wanted to preserve the beauty of Orthodox worship for the laity.

But here a difficulty arises - we live in the 21st century: we are busy, the distances are long, people are tired, the environment is terrible, health, or better yet, ill health, corresponds to it. Although I think that the peasants who worked tirelessly in the summer from morning to evening were more physically tired than we were. But still, they had enough strength to finish the work day early on Saturday, wash in the bathhouse and go to church for the all-night vigil, and in the morning for the liturgy.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with How many times is an Orthodox akathist supposed to be read?

It may be more difficult for us in some ways than for our recent ancestors; physically we are much weaker. But, nevertheless, we urge you not to hide behind your weaknesses, but to find strength and go to the all-night vigil, especially those who want to receive communion. So that they can confess on the eve of the liturgy without taking up the time of the Sunday service.

But if people have small children who have no one to leave with, or there are some other objective reasons, you cannot tell them: “If you have not been to the all-night vigil, then you will not receive communion.” Although it is possible to say so to someone: if a person showed sloppiness, laziness, relaxation...

Here you cannot be categorical and impose unbearable burdens on people, but you still need to call on them. A person must understand that it is worth the effort and attend the all-night vigil.

It is important to strive to ensure that our parishioners love the worship of our Church and consider it not only a duty, but also a joy to be present in church.

Is it necessary to fast for 3 days before communion?

Because of this, I become despondent that the holiday passes without Communion for me. Father blessed me to receive communion, coming with my child at least to the Eucharistic canon. But even when I come to the canon, the child still constantly runs around, distracts those praying, other children, and does not sit still. As a result, I approach the Chalice, irritated; there was no prayer. What to do in this case? I am very embarrassed after accepting the Mysteries like this. I'm afraid this is a condemnation. How to teach a child to serve (he is now 2 years old)? After all, we gave him communion from birth and continue to do so? Love

Dear Love! You need to endure the situation in which you find yourself, at least not to get annoyed, not to be discouraged and not to despair. What happens to you is natural; in most cases, when children grow up, this is exactly what happens. I think that here you need to be content with not such an intense church life, not such frequent communion as you are used to, understanding that maternal duties, if they are fulfilled with dignity, are no lower in the eyes of God. The point is that everything we do in our lives, we must do for God. And just as we go to church for God, pray, and try to clear our conscience, in the same way we must raise our children for God. And if you perceive this situation not as some kind of burden, as a burden that has suddenly fallen on you that you want to throw off, but as obedience, a new stage in your life, then everything will work out, everything will be fine.

Dear Lord! I'm asking for advice. My husband and I have been married for 4 years and have two small children. Things have become difficult in the family lately. My husband takes out his bad mood on me, throws out the irritation accumulated at work, and finds fault. Because of a “wrongly” prepared dinner, he may not speak for days or lash out with such anger that it becomes scary. He doesn’t want to talk or discuss problems, he even said that he could divorce me, he doesn’t care. It may seem strange, but I still believe that my husband loves me. I understand that I need to endure, humble myself, I pray for him, I ask for forgiveness both when I feel guilty and when I don’t. Sometimes he apologizes himself, I forgive, but I am bothered by the fact that there is a residue in my soul, it is difficult to communicate after his apology, I seem to myself to be a hypocrite. I know that it is necessary to thank God for sorrows, but I often thank God with tears; when I experience resentment, I cannot accept sorrows with joy. Tell me, does the Lord need such “gratitude”? Isn’t this a condemnation of me? I'm afraid to anger the Lord by murmuring. Thank you in advance. Anastasia

Dear Anastasia! It is a pity that your husband is not close to you internally and therefore does not share with you any problems that have arisen for him. I think you are doing absolutely the right thing. We need to pray more for him and try to win his good attitude and love again. God grant that you succeed.

Rubric “Questions to the Bishop”

Hello, please tell me how many times you can and how many times you need to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ in our modern times (it was different at different times, I read). If you have a link (email) to the source, I will be very glad to read it myself and enlighten others, since I have heard different information from priests, for example: it is better to take communion once a week, but at least once a month, preferably . And here’s another piece of information: once a month is enough, more often it’s not necessary (I was told this personally when I came again two weeks after my last Communion and I was not allowed to receive communion, I witnessed how a girl under 7 years old was not allowed to receive communion, referring to the sufficiency of once a month). Thank you.

Answer

Tags: resolutions of the Councils of the Church, rules of the Church on Communion

Historical information

The first of the Christians, the apostles of Jesus Christ, took communion every day, maintaining contact with God. Then fasting did not play such an important role, and much greater importance was given to a person’s thoughts on the eve of accepting the Savior’s Holy Sacrifice.

In apostolic times, the sacrament of communion was celebrated in the evening. But gradually it is transferred to the morning: so that believers have the opportunity to receive God’s food from the very morning, to cleanse their body and soul.

The tradition of arranging fast days before the Eucharist first appeared in the 4th century AD. The clergy of those times noted that Christians had cooled in their faith. Therefore, they began to encourage people to limit worldly entertainment and sexual pleasures before receiving the Holy Gifts. True, there was no talk about food restrictions then.

Fasting arises in Christianity a little later: three days a week, as well as according to fasts established by the church. And in the 9th century, the custom of fasting and food restrictions for 3-7 days arose.

As Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk says, there are no uniform requirements regarding three-day abstinence before communion. Each person needs to make his own decision about how much time he needs to fast. You can also contact your personal spiritual mentor with this question.