My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
THE HOLY EUCHARIST (HOLY COMMUNION)
By Father Anthony Alevizopoulos, PhD. of Theology, PhD. of Philosophy
The Holy Eucharist is the central event in the life of the Church. Through it the faithful become partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ (St. Matthew 26: 26-28; St. Mark 14:22-24; St. Luke 22:15-20; St. John 6:51-56; I Corinthians 11:24-26).
How can Christ offer us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink? This was a question which the Jews raised, and even some who followed Christ and were His disciples. Christ, however, insisted that they must do so, and explained that He was not referring to dead flesh but to His Body, which was united with the Holy Spirit, which vivifies (St. John 6:52; 60-63). In the Holy Eucharist bread and wine are offered and God accepts this oblation of man. He changes these elements and in turn offers them to man as His Body and Blood, as participation in the sacrifice which Christ offered on Golgotha "once and for all" (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 28). Before His Sacrifice on the Cross, Christ celebrated this "Supper" and commanded His disciples to do the same until His Second Coming, declaring that the "food" of His Body and the "drink" of His Blood were necessary for salvation (St. John 6:31-50; I Corinthians 11:23-29). This "Supper" as "food" and "drink" of the Body and Blood of Christ is not understood apart from, and independent of, the Sacrifice on Golgotha; it constitutes "participation" in this unique Sacrifice. The fact that the Holy Eucharist was celebrate before Christ's Sacrifice demonstrates that its identity with the sacrifice celebrate "once and for all" cannot be comprehended by human logic; it can be understood only "in mystery". The same holds true with the Holy Eucharist celebrated today within the Church.
Of course the Holy Eucharist also constitutes a remembrance of Christ's passion (St. Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24-25), but it is not only a remembrance. Already in the Old Testament it was celebrated (Malachi 1:11). Here is meant the sacrifice which according to the New Testament is offered on the Christian "altar" from which the Jews cannot eat (Hebrews 13:10). Saint Paul proceeds to a comparison of the Christian altar (the "table of the Lord"), with that of Israel of the flesh, and that of the idolaters. He underlines that participation in the Christian altar makes Christians partakers of the Body and Blood of the Lord. On the contrary the participation in the altar of the idols makes the idolaters "partakers of demons". The "Lord's table" then, is according to Saint Paul, the only true altar of the living God.
The Holy Eucharist constitutes the expression of God's great love for man. In the Person of Christ He Himself sought out apostate man. Now he feeds us with His own Body and Blood, just as a mother, full of tenderness and compassion, feeds her child, not with other food, but with her very own milk, which is her very blood. He condescends to our weakness and employs basic elements from our daily fare, bread and wine, which He changes into His Body and Blood.
Through the Holy Eucharist the purpose of the Divine dispensation is realized in the person of Christ, for it is the synaxis or gathering "into one" of God's scattered children (St. John 11:52), into one Body (I Corinthians 10:17), and the constituting of His Church. It is for reason that the gathering - synaxis for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is call a gathering "In Church" (E Ecclesia) (1 Corinthians 11:18) and "Kingdom of God". This is why the Liturgy begins with the phrase: "Blessed is The Kingdom of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit". A beautiful prayer of one of the early Christian liturgies expressed precisely this: "Just as this particle from the bread was as sheaves of wheat scattered on the mountains and became one bread, thus let Your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into the Kingdom".
The Holy Eucharist is presided over by the bishop of by a presbyter. It is not he, however, who performs the Eucharist: Christ is He "Who offers and is offered"; the priests are Christ's ministers, stewards of His Mysteries (I Corinthians 4:1). The laity also actively participate in what takes place; they are not passive witnesses. Liturgy means the "work or task of the people" [in Greek, λαός και έργον], that of God's entire people, not only the clergy, for the latter are included within God's people and do not stand above them. Each member has his ministry, in accordance with the gift he has received. The laity do not have as their own the special priesthood of the clergy, but neither do the clergy understand the lay element to be passive recipients of "what is being performed". Such a distinction between "performers" and "witnesses" in the Orthodox Liturgy is unacceptable.
The active participation of the faithful in the Holy Eucharist, the communicating of the Body and Blood of Christ is essential for salvation, for by it the faithful are kept alive spiritually. This is why the Orthodox Church offers Holy Communion to infants as well, in obedience to Christ's commandment (St. Mathew 18:2-5; 19, 13-15). The Orthodox Christian does not consider Holy Communion common food. He thus properly prepares for its reception through prayer and fasting. He follows the injunction of Saint Paul who assures us that Holy Communion is indeed True Communion of Christ's Body and Blood, and declares: "Let each man examine himself, and thus eat of this Bread and drink from this cup" (I Corinthians 19:16-21; 11,:26-28).
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Who May Receive Holy Communion in the Orthodox Church?
Orthodox Christians fully participate in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy when they receive the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Mysterion (Sacrament) of Holy Communion, as Our Lord commands (St. John 6:53). To receive Holy Communion in the Orthodox Church, one must be a practicing Orthodox Christian. This means that one must be baptized and/or chrismated in the Holy Orthodox Church and that his or her beliefs and lifestyle are in accordance with the holy teachings of the church.
In order to be properly prepared for this spiritual encounter with Christ, those seeking to receive Holy Communion should not be conscious of grave sin in their lives, having opened their hearts with prayer, fasted appropriately and lived with charity and love towards their fellow man. Because, as the holy Apostle Paul teaches, it is possible to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord "in an unworthy manner" and actually be "sinning against the Body and Blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:27-30), those who are aware of grave sin in their lives must participate in the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance/Confession - confess their sins and be reconciled to Christ Himself and His Church - before approaching the chalice to receive Holy Communion. (See 1 John 1:8-10; James 5:16; and John 20:19-23). Frequent reception of the Precious Body and Blood of Christ - at every Divine Liturgy, if possible - is encouraged for all practicing Orthodox Christians. This is in keeping with the ancient practice of the early Church and the teaching of the Holy Fathers. Saint Basil the Great, for example, writing to the Roman patrician Caesarius in 372 A.D. says that "to take Communion every day - to participate in the Body and Blood of Christ - is good and beneficial. For who can doubt that sharing in this Life is nothing else than living in many ways? We receive Communion four times each week - on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - and on the other days when there is the remembrance of a Saint" (Letter 90).
We always welcome those Christians not united with us in faith and life to our celebration of the Divine Liturgy. Sadly, the guidelines offered exclude those who are not of the Orthodox Christian faith from the reception of Holy Communion. Because we believe the reception of Holy Communion to be an action of the celebrating ecclesia that signifies a complete unity in matters of faith, life and worship, the reception of Holy Communion by Christians not united with us in faith and Tradition would imply a unity that does not exist in reality.
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George