Reliqua sacramenti

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Reliqua sacramenti ( Latin ; literally “remnant of the sacrament ”) is a theological technical term for hosts that were consecrated in the Eucharistic celebration but not given at communion or at the Lord's Supper. The different ways of dealing with the reliqua sacramenti in the various denominations is characteristic of the respective teaching on the Eucharist. It is also the subject of recurrent ecumenical discussions and publications on the Eucharist .

Orthodox churches

Orthodox Artophorion (Greece, 18th century)

In the Orthodox Churches , the remaining meal figures are consumed by the priest and the deacon according to the Divine Liturgy . However, a bread vessel ( artophorion ) remains on the altar , mostly made of precious metal and in the form of a central church building , with parts of the Eucharistic bread for communion and the liturgy of the consecrated gifts .

Roman Catholic Church

Tabernacle with eternal light on the high altar of the Beeteburg church

For the Latin Church , the storage and veneration of the Eucharist are regulated in detail in the Codex Iuris Canonici (cann. 934–944). The sanctuary is kept in the tabernacle , where the eternal light burns. A ciborium is usually used as a vessel for the bread shape . The remaining contents of the chalice is the priest or deacon and optionally other communicants in the Holy Mass according to the latest administration of the Communion in the purification of drinking of the chalice.

Protestant churches

In most Protestant churches there are no binding regulations for dealing with the reliqua sacramenti . Consumption of all hosts and emptying the chalice is recommended during or after the sacrament service. However, it is also common to reuse leftover hosts in a subsequent celebration of the Lord's Supper - in this case a separate vessel is recommended for storage - and to empty the remaining chalice contents into a sink, if possible an opening near the altar exclusively for this purpose. The use of consecrated meal forms for communion with the sick is not fundamentally excluded, but the celebration of the Lord's Supper at the bedside is common.

Individual evidence

  1. The following section after Mettler, s. Lit.
  2. Thomas Kitson: Article Artophorion ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2013 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. in The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (2011); Mettler (see lit.) uses the name Artopheiro @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blackwellreference.com
  3. The entire following section according to Jordahn, s. Lit.
  4. Jordahn (see lit.) makes practical considerations for this possibility.

literature

  • Armin Mettler: The divine service life of the Eastern Churches (information from the Reformed German-Swiss Liturgy Commission), p. 8 ( digital version ; PDF; 91 kB)
  • Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 934-944 ( digitized version )
  • Ottfried Jordahn: Dealing with the reliqua sacramenti . In: Hans-Christoph Schmidt-Lauber, Michael Meyer-Blanck and Karl-Heinrich Bieritz (eds.): Handbuch der Liturgik. Liturgical Studies in Theology and Practice of the Church , Göttingen 2003, p. 454 ( partial digitization )