Communion celebration

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In the Catholic Church, communion is a communion service in which the fellow celebrants receive Holy Communion from the tabernacle . In the communion celebration itself there is therefore no offering of the gifts , no prayer and therefore no change , since the Eucharistic figures were consecrated in an earlier mass . Communion celebrations always include a word service with biblical readings .

The communion celebration is led by a priest , a deacon , a communion helper or a divine service representative . In the celebration of the suffering and death of Christ on Good Friday , the communion celebration forms the third part after the word service and the veneration of the cross.

As a community celebration, the communion celebration must be distinguished from the giving of communion extra missam (outside the celebration of mass) to individuals who request it in the church (can. 918 CIC) or, especially the sick and dying, in a private apartment, in a hospital or other place , e.g. at the scene of the accident ( communion to the sick , communion to death ).

The prerequisite for these liturgical performances is the conviction of the permanent presence of Christ in the Eucharist (with the resulting practice of Eucharistic preservation and veneration ) as well as of the spiritual benefit of the “frequent communion” recommended by the church, i.e. the several times a week, even daily reception of the Eucharist.

On Good Friday

A special communion celebration, at which a priest presides over the liturgy, has been part of the celebration of the suffering and death of Christ on Good Friday in the Roman rite since the 7th century , as no holy mass is celebrated on the day of Christ's death . The Good Friday liturgy is embedded in the celebration of the Triduum Sacrums , the Easter celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, which begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday with the mass of the Last Supper and continues until the celebration of Easter Vigil and Easter Day. In the mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, the gifts for the simple communion celebration on Good Friday are also consecrated.

The omission of communion celebrations on Good Friday, which is practiced in some places in German-speaking countries, is not covered by the current ecclesiastical order and is controversial in liturgical science. The spiritual meaning of receiving communion on Good Friday is the intimate, sacramental union of believers in Christ with the suffering and dying Christ. On the other hand, the objection is that the communion celebration "disturbs the basic structure of the old Easter fasting, waiting for the risen Christ to come to the Easter Eucharist".

On weekdays

Communion can be held on other days of the year, for example because a Eucharistic celebration is not possible on site - for example due to a lack of priests . This also applies to funeral ceremonies and church weddings, which are presided over by a deacon. In parish churches, communion is to be offered on days without mass and also otherwise, if a group of believers asks for it “for a just cause”. It is not tied to a specific time of day.

In the early church monasticism of Palestine, communion was celebrated on the usual weekdays after every Vespers . In Taizé , at the end of the morning praise, the opportunity to receive communion from the tabernacle is offered every weekday, in both forms if desired.

On Sundays

Regarding Sundays , different attitudes can be observed within the Roman Catholic Church :

The Joint Synod of the West German Dioceses recommended in 1975, as a substitute in the event that no priest could be present, to hold a divine service with communion. A corresponding liturgical model was given to the congregations in No. 370 in Praise of God from 1975. The model offered in 1965 under the name of station service from the Holy See for Catholic diaspora East Germany tentatively allowed and 1,967 Catholic Roman Church extended to the whole Sunday communions.

The Vatican Directory “Sunday Congregation Service Without Priests” (Directorium de celebrationibus dominicalibus absente presbytero) of the Congregation for Divine Service of June 2, 1988 provides for communion to be given to the congregation in such emergencies: “If a mass is not possible, the pastor see to it that Holy Communion can be distributed. ”“ Of the various types of divine services which, according to liturgical tradition, are held when Mass cannot take place, the word service is highly recommended, which - where appropriate - can be completed through communion. In this way believers can be nourished with the word and body of Christ at the same time. 'For when they hear the Word of God they realize that the Lord's wonders which are proclaimed culminate in the Passover mystery , the memory of which is sacramentally celebrated in Mass and in which they partake by receiving Holy Communion' . ”-“ The celebration of a Sunday service instead of a mass consists of two parts: the word service and the distribution of communion. Nothing should be added to the celebration that is typical of the Mass, especially no preparation of gifts and no Eucharistic prayer. "

In Germany and Austria, on the other hand, there is now a widespread tendency or even instruction by the bishops to refrain from giving communion at word worship services (= celebrations of the Word of God ) that are celebrated instead of Sunday mass. According to the reasoning, this is intended to ensure that the faithful do not mistakenly equate Holy Mass and Communion. The fear of de-clericalization can also be seen as a reason. In the framework regulation “Liturgical Sunday celebration without priests” of the Diocese of Linz (1994), for example, it says: “When it comes to the question of giving communion, a path should be taken that takes the theological concerns about the distribution of communion just as seriously as the growing piety of communion. In order to maintain and promote the central position of the Eucharistic celebration, communion can be given occasionally, but not regularly. Word services should not be held with Communion if there is a mass on the same day. "

According to can. 918 CIC continues: If believers ask for a just reason to receive communion outside of the celebration of the Eucharist, “it is to be given to them outside of mass; the liturgical rites are to be observed ”. In this case, the ecclesiastical order provides for communion to be given out after a previous word service - short for individuals or extended for a community celebration. The corresponding liturgical book in its German-language edition bears the title Communion giving and Eucharist adoration outside of Mass and is part of the Roman Rituals (for the text see below).

In the Eastern Churches

One of the Eastern ecclesiastical counterparts of communion celebrations is the Byzantine liturgy of pre-sanctified gifts or the liturgy of the presanctification . It is celebrated in the Byzantine rite during Lent - up to the 14th century on each of its working days - as a combination of Vespers and giving communion to the community, always under the direction of a priest. In Hagia Sophia and elsewhere, communion celebrations were once planned for the wedding rite (coronation), for the imperial coronation and the Adelphopoisis ("celebration of acceptance in lieu of a brother"), up to the 14th century also on Good Friday. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem , a daily communion celebration on weekdays was part of the usual church service. The Palestinian form of the presanctification liturgy , named after the gentleman brother James , was out of use in the Middle Ages, but is currently experiencing a certain rebirth in Greece.

In addition, various forms of giving communion outside of Mass are common in the Eastern Churches, which are also performed by a deacon or, where given, a deaconess. Also maintained the administration of the hospital Communion and Viaticum .

See also

literature

Western church

Next to the missal :

Eastern Churches

  • S. Alexopoulos: The Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite. A Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Components (Liturgia Condenda 21). Peeters, Leuven 2009. ISBN 978-90-429-2109-2
  • Tat'jana I. Afanas'eva: Славянская литургия Преждеосвященных Даров XII-XV вв .: текстология и язык . Saint-Petersburg 2004. ISBN 5-288-03381-1
  • Ioannes M. Phountoules: Λειτουργία προηγιασμένων δωρων ̓Ιακώβου του ̓Αδελφοθέου. Thessalonike 1979.
  • Stéphane Verhelst: Les Présanctifiés de saint Jacques . In: Orientalia Christiana Periodica 61 (1995) 381-405.
  • T. Parayaday: A Communion Service in the East Syrian Church . Diss. Rome: PIO 1980 (unprinted)

Web links

Wiktionary: Communion celebration  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pius X., Decree Sacra Tridentina Synodus of the Council Congregation on the daily reception of the Holy Eucharist. In: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 38 (1905) 400-409, German: Anton Rohrbasser (Hrsg.): Heilslehre de Kirche. Documents from Pius IX. until Pius XII. Paulusverlag, Freiburg / Schw. 1953, 126–132 No. 193: “Christ and the Church Desire that all believers should go to the Lord's table daily”; see. Heinrich Bleienstein: The frequent and daily communion of the believers. Your permissiveness and increased fertility in the light of history . In: Geist und Leben 26 (1953) 167-188.
  2. ^ Congregation for Divine Worship: Circular "On the Celebration of Easter and its Preparation" . January 1988. No. 64: "The order of the celebration of the passion and death of Christ, which comes from the old tradition of the Church, (namely: word worship, veneration of the cross, communion celebration) should be strictly and faithfully adhered to and may not be changed by anyone arbitrarily." ( PDF ; 194 kB); see. the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium , No. 22 § 3.
  3. ↑ Hansjörg Auf der Maur: Celebrating in the rhythm of time I. Gentlemen's festivals in the week and year. Regensburg 1983, ISBN 3-7917-0788-4 ( Church service. Handbook of liturgical science. Part 5.), p. 137; Roland Breitenbach: Good Friday. In: Hubert Ritt (ed.): God's people, salvation for all peoples. Ash Wednesday to Easter Eve. Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart 1995 (Bible and Liturgy in the Life of the Community 3/95), pp. 60–66, here 60
  4. ↑ Rupert Berger : Pastoralliturgischen Handlexikon. Freiburg 1999 Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / st-peter-gelnhausen.klumb-online.de
  5. ↑ can. 918 CIC in connection with Rituale Romanum , the dispensing of holy communion outside of mass, rite with extended literal worship.
  6. ^ Hugo Aufderbeck : Station service. Communion celebration. Texts for Sunday services without priests in the diaspora outstations. St. Benno Verlag, Leipzig 1979.
  7. ↑ Albert Gerhards Now tell me, how about communion? . In: Anzeiger für die Seelsorge 6/2017, p. 21, ISSN 0721-1937.
  8. ^ Miguel Arranz: Couronnement royal et autres promotions de cour. In: Orientalia Christiana Periodica 56 (1990) 83-133, here 98
  9. ↑ Stig R. Frøshov: L'horologe "géorgien" you Sinaiticus ibericus 34 , 2 volumes; Diss. Paris (2003) 2, 472f.