Giving communion in the Orthodox Church

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Holy Communion, mosaic of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev

The giving of communion in the Orthodox Church is the way in which the believers in this denominational family are given Holy Communion under both forms (bread and wine). The Western church development, which then led to lay the chalice to deny, was not completed in Orthodoxy.

An intensive preparation of the faithful through confession , absolution , fasting ( eucharistic sobriety ) and prayer is a prerequisite for receiving communion in the Orthodox Church. Intercommunion is not possible. "Since the Orthodox Christian is used to praying with the Eucharist, even if he does not take part in Communion, the feeling of having only been half there without receiving the Lord's Supper is alien to him."

historical development

Holy Communion - presentation of bread. Codex of Rossano (around 550)
Holy Communion - offering the chalice. Codex of Rossano (around 550)

For the practice of the early church one can use literary sources, but also pictorial representations of the "Apostle Communion": Before receiving communion, one bowed deeply and held the palm of the right hand to the priest, the left hand was placed under the receiving right hand . The priest then placed the particles of the consecrated bread in the recipient's right hand, which he immediately closed around it. It is testified from Syria that the holy bread was touched to the eyes in order to bless them. Other authors from the east of the empire recommend kissing the bread. Until the 6th century it was customary for lay people to take the consecrated bread home with them in a container, keep it there and only eat it on one of the following days.

In the 9th century, in the East as in the West, the literary evidence of the practice of communion in hand by the laity fell silent; this became a privilege of the clergy. Instead, the lay people put the bread particles on the tongue. The canons of the Synod of Constantinople convened by Photios in 861 contain the first reference to the giving of communion as an intinction by means of a spoon . The spoon is of course mentioned as a liturgical device alongside discos and chalices, so it has probably been in use for a little longer. The name of the device, λαβίς lavís , actually refers to the forceps; The spoon was named because of the Bible verse Isa 6,6: an angel takes a glowing coal with tongs and touches the lips of the prophet with it. This verse was related to giving communion.

But the intinction with the help of a spoon did not prevail everywhere in the East. Humbert testifies that the Eucharistic spoon (he calls it cochlear because of its shape ) is not common in the area of ​​the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. "Rather, one should first give the believers a particle of the consecrated bread and then offer them the chalice."

Current practice

Byzantine rite

Bishop, priest and deacon receive the sacred gifts separately and the consecrated bread in the form of communion in hand , while lay people receive the mixed gifts with a communion spoon. Young children also communicate in this way, as baptized Christians; Infants only receive the consecrated wine. Since young children are exempt from the strict rules of fasting, lay people receive communion much less often in adulthood than in childhood.

The current practice of giving communion to the community was originally intended only for small children and the sick. On the other hand, giving communion to the deacon preserves the custom that was common among lay people in the ancient church.

Communion of the deacon

The deacon places his right hand, palm up, crosswise over the left hand. The priest lays a particle of the consecrated bread on it, saying: "NN, the deacon, the precious, holy and very pure body of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ is given for the forgiveness of his sins and eternal life." The deacon kisses the donating hand and the right cheek of the priest. He goes behind the altar with the holy bread in his palm and waits while the concelebrating priests and the celebrant himself receive the holy bread; then all liturgists communicate together.

The priest takes the chalice with a cloth in his hands and drinks from it three times; then he wipes the rim of the goblet and his lips with the cloth. Then he calls the deacon and lets him drink from the chalice three times, whereby he says: "NN, the deacon, the precious and holy blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ is donated for the forgiveness of his sins and for eternal life." The deacon wipes his lips and the rim of the goblet with the cloth and kisses him. The priest said: “This touched your lips; your transgressions have been taken away and your sins have been blotted out. "

Communion of the Laity

The mixed gifts are taken from the chalice with the spoon ...
... and placed in the communicant's mouth

The priest breaks the parts of the “lamb” marked with the letters NI KA (see: Proskomidie ) into as many small pieces as there are communicants and lets these particles slide into the chalice. He covers the chalice with the communion towel and puts the communion spoon on it.

Now the middle (royal) door of the iconostasis is opened, an act with symbolic meaning: the stone from Christ's tomb has been rolled away - Christ is risen . The deacon receives the chalice. He stands in the middle of the door of the iconostasis and raises the chalice with the words: "With fear of God, faith (and love), come!"

The congregation or the choir responds with the psalm verse that accompanied the arrival of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem: “Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord. The Lord God appeared to us. "

The priest takes the chalice back from the deacon and goes to the ambon. The communicants approach: “You kneel down ( Proskynesis ), place your hands in the shape of a cross over your chest, the right over the left, and approach the holy gifts one after the other. You clearly state your Christian first name and open your mouth to receive the holy gifts. "

The priest's words of donation are: "The servant / maid of God NN communicates on the precious and holy body and blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life." He gives communion with a spoon. The deacon holds a handkerchief under his goblet and chin, and wipes the communicant's lips with the handkerchief.

“After receiving the holy gifts, one kisses the foot of the chalice and goes to the table without bowing or signing the cross, where warm water mixed with wine and prophors are prepared for the communicants.” One drinks from this wine and eats a phosphor in silent prayer.

Oriental Orthodox rites

Communion in the Armenian Apostolic Church

The Byzantine rite of Communion is similarly common in the Oriental Orthodox Churches , with the exception of the Apostolic and Catholic Assyrian Churches of the East and the Coptic Orthodox Church .

With the Syrians, the celebrant first enjoys the particles of the consecrated bread dipped into the wine with a small spoon, then a little of the consecrated wine with the same spoon. Then any clerics present and the deacon receive bread dipped in wine on the spoon. When giving communion to the laity, the spoon is not used, rather the priest dips the bread particles into the wine and puts them in the mouth of the believer.

With the Armenians, the priest enjoys the consecrated bread and then drinks the consecrated wine from the chalice; all other communicants receive the bread dipped in the wine from the priest's hand into their mouth without using a spoon.

The Eucharistic spoon is also unknown in the Assyrian Church of the East. Bread and wine are consumed separately, and clerics and lay people alike drink from the Eucharistic chalice.

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, clerics communicate in the same way as they do in the Assyrian Church of the East. The chalice is not offered directly to the laity, but rather they receive the wine with the help of a Eucharistic spoon. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has the same way of giving communion.

literature

  • Andrej Lorgus, Michail Dudko: Orthodox faith book. Introduction to the life of faith and prayer in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Christian East, 2nd edition Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-927894-33-8 . ( online )
  • The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church . German - Greek - Church Slavonic. Edited and explained by Anastasios Kallis . Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1989. ISBN 3-7867-1333-2 .
  • Joseph Braun : The Christian altarpiece in its being and in its development , Munich 1932. ( online )
  • Otto Nussbaum : Communion in hand . In: History and Reform of Worship Services. Liturgical studies. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 1996. pp. 145-174.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neither members of the Roman Catholic Church nor members of the Reformation Churches can receive communion in an Orthodox Church: “As long as the unity of the Church has not yet been achieved, intercommunion on our part is not permitted. This applies in general and here no distinction is made between different groups of people. ”(Augoustinos Lambardakis) https://www.domradio.de/themen/%C3%B6kumene/2018-06-24/zum-kommunionverstaendnis-der-orthodoxen-christen .
  2. ↑ Eugen Hämmerle, Heinz Ohme, Klaus Schwarz: Approaches to Orthodoxy . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2nd ed. Göttingen 1989 (= Bensheimer Hefte No. 68), p. 84.
  3. ↑ Otto Nussbaum: Die Handkommunion , Paderborn et al. 1996. P. 148 f.
  4. ↑ a b Otto Nussbaum: Die Handkommunion , Paderborn et al. 1996. P. 153.
  5. ↑ Otto Nussbaum: Die Handkommunion , Paderborn et al. 1996. P. 155.
  6. ↑ Otto Nussbaum: Die Handkommunion , Paderborn et al. 1996. P. 158 f.
  7. ↑ Joseph Braun: The Christian altar device in its being and in its development , Munich 1932, p. 272 ​​f.
  8. ↑ Joseph Braun: The Christian altar device in its being and in its development , Munich 1932, p. 278.
  9. ↑ Joseph Braun: The Christian altar device in its being and in its development , Munich 1932, p. 274.
  10. ^ Karl Christian Felmy : Orthodox Churches of the East - worship . In: Friedrich Heyer (Ed.): Konfessionskunde , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1977. pp. 105–131, here p. 116.
  11. ↑ The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church . German - Greek - Church Slavonic. Edited and explained by Anastasios Kallis , p. 162.
  12. ↑ The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church . German - Greek - Church Slavonic. Edited and explained by Anastasios Kallis, p. 164.
  13. ↑ The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church . German - Greek - Church Slavonic. Edited and explained by Anastasios Kallis, p. 168.
  14. ↑ a b The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church . German - Greek - Church Slavonic. Edited and explained by Anastasios Kallis, p. 170.
  15. ↑ In the Greek text.
  16. ↑ a b This is the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church. Andrej Lorgus, Michail Dudko: Orthodox faith book. Introduction to the life of faith and prayer in the Russian Orthodox Church.
  17. ↑ The Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church . German - Greek - Church Slavonic. Edited and explained by Anastasios Kallis, p. 172. Hans-Dieter Döpmann: The orthodox churches in the past and present . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, p. 156.
  18. ↑ Hans-Dieter Döpmann: The Orthodox Churches in Past and Present . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, p. 156.
  19. ↑ Rupert Berger : Pastoralliturgisches Handlexikon , Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna, new edition 2013, p. 178.
  20. ↑ a b c Joseph Braun: The Christian altar device in its being and in its development , Munich 1932, p. 269.
  21. ↑ Joseph Braun: The Christian altar device in its being and in its development , Munich 1932, p. 269 f.