Posted on 11/04/2015 9:42:58 PM PST by NRx
With Eucharistic discipline being on the forefront of many Catholics’ minds these days, I thought it might be helpful—for the sake of some perspective—to take a brief look at the normative prescribed practice of the Russian Orthodox Church and her heirs. Although the Orthodox do not embrace a “clean distinction†between mortal and venial sin, serious sin has always been an impediment to receiving Holy Communion in the East. This is why those who regularly receive the Eucharist are encouraged, if not directed, to make frequent use of the sacrament of Confession and to spiritually prepare themselves in advance (more on this in a moment). In previous centuries, the demands of preparation, coupled with popular Eucharistic piety, meant that few people, other than monastics and clergy, took Communion more than a couple of times a year. During the course of the 20th Century, this situation began to change as (primarily Russian émigré) theologians like Fr. Alexander Schmemann began promoting the centrality of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Church. Even before Schmemann’s time, however, St. John of Kronstadt—perhaps Russia’s first religious celebrity to gain worldwide notice—had begun encouraging the faithful to attend the sacraments more frequently in order to nourish themselves on the long journey to Heaven. While conservative Orthodox critics bemoaned what they saw as an erosion of discipline in the Church, today regular (though not necessarily weekly) Communion is commonplace.
Like all local Orthodox churches, the Russian Church demands that those receiving Communion abstain from all food and drink from midnight until the time of reception and that married couples refrain from marital relations the night before. While practice varies from parish to parish, it is generally expected that those who approach the Chalice at the Divine Liturgy attend Vespers (or Vigil) the night before unless there is good cause for them not to (e.g., care of young children). Moreover, according to the norms found in most popular Russian prayer books, including the so-called Jordanville Prayer Book (i.e., the prayer book published by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY), the faithful are expected to recite “The Order of Preparation for Holy Communion,†which includes several Psalms, a Canon, some brief hymns, and 11 prayers of various length. Additionally, the Jordanville Prayer Book directs those receiving to also recite three more canons and an akathist as part of their spiritual preparation. For those wondering, the entire exercise can take anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes depending on which canons are selected and speed of recitation. (For those curious, an arrangement of three canons and an akathist can be found here.)
Now, to be clear, not every Orthodox Christian following Russian praxis actually prepares themselves with such vigor. As I noted in the first paragraph, this is simply the normative prescribed practice. However, in my experience many priests (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Orthodox Church in America, and Moscow Patriarchate) encourage their flocks to undertake some form of spiritual preparation before approaching the Chalice and to listen to the “Prayers after Holy Communion†which typically follows the Divine Liturgy. With the exception of nursing or expectant mothers and the infirm, no Orthodox Christian receiving Communion is allowed to deviate from the aforementioned fasting rules and none may have serious sin on their souls. The nature of spiritual preparation may vary from person to person, but the absence of any real spiritual preparation is not only looked down upon, but may itself be deemed gravely sinful if motivated out of pride or laziness.
In the Latin Catholic communion, the idea of serious preparation for the Eucharist—specifically prayer, repentance, and fasting—is almost unheard of. The 1983 Code of Canon Law cuts the Eucharistic fast down to one hour. There is no normative prescribed rule of spiritual preparation for Communion in the Latin Church, just some random prayers scattered in various books that few, if any, bother to read. Even traditional Catholic communities are not particularly big on Eucharistic discipline, following as they do the 1983 Code with no emphasis on spiritual concerns outside of offering frequent Confession. At this juncture, the view is that if one puts in the time to attend Mass, one should just receive Communion. Is it any wonder then that so many now believe it is “grossly unfair†to exclude individuals living objectively sinful lifestyles from the Eucharist? Granted, no human being can ever earn their way to the Chalice; it is an unmerited Gift from God. But that hardly means we ought to receive this Gift unworthily, for in so doing—as St. Paul reminds us—we risk damning our souls.
There are few big caveats that need to be attached to this post.
*The author is a Catholic who is obviously posting for the purpose of comparing Orthodox Eucharistic discipline with that of the Catholic Church.
*The Russian Church has a reputation for being quite strict in its discipline in many areas. Not mentioned but also part of the Russian discipline is the requirement that those intending to commune go to confession usually not more than 24hrs before partaking of the Holy Mysteries. This is not always reflected in other Orthodox churches. While most of what is in the post represents the ideal in Orthodox discipline, your mileage will vary, sometimes dramatically between jurisdictions and even parishes.
*Most Russian (and Serbs who also tend to be quite strict) commune only once a year. Even the most pious will almost never go more than 5x in a year (the Four Great Feasts and their name day). Those communing more frequently are likely to be seen as on their way to the monastery.
I am currently traveling so please bear with me if I don’t respond promptly to comments.
I haven't polled people in my traditional parish, but this claim doesn't sit right with me. Most, in my experience, despite the Code of 83, hold voluntarily to the midnight fast or the interim 3-hour fast. I definitely agree that the 1 hour fast is ridiculous...as our Mass is over an hour long, you basically have to be eating in the pew to break it.
Also the more serious-minded liturgically often have to put up with the leftover bits of the Sunday time slot, making a midnight fast more difficult. One Latin Mass I used to go to was at 2:00 PM. There's a local Ordinariate mission nearby that has Mass at 5:00 PM on Sunday because the priest has to travel several hours from his own parish.
There is no normative prescribed rule of spiritual preparation for Communion in the Latin Church, just some random prayers scattered in various books that few, if any, bother to read.
Um, people read them in my parish! And even if they don't, they are certainly making preparation spiritually with their own thoughts. The author seems to be conflating the practices of indifferent parishioners with the devout and I don't think that's fair.
The author is Catholic yes, but Greek Catholic, and I'm not sure to what extent he has actually experienced the most devout Latin parishes.
“The author is Catholic yes, but Greek Catholic, and I’m not sure to what extent he has actually experienced the most devout Latin parishes.”
Do you know what are the fasting and other spiritual preparation disciplines before communing in the Uniate churches? I always supposed that they were the same as ours, or at least close to them.
Thank you for posting this article, NRx. It is very instructive and informative.
“Most Russian (and Serbs who also tend to be quite strict) commune only once a year. Even the most pious will almost never go more than 5x in a year (the Four Great Feasts and their name day).”
That not only shows a certain failing in Eucharist theology among the RO but also shows a complete failure of their “Eucharistic discipline” as extolled in this article.
If they’re not ready to receive Holy Communion except for once a year, or even five times a year, then they are living sinful lives with no repentance. That’s the only plausible explanation I can see. Anything else will be so much bizarre cultural excuse making disguised as theologically tinged armchair psychologizing.
Well, apparently only once or five times a year . . . if you’re Russian Orthodox.
“Do you know what are the fasting and other spiritual preparation disciplines before communing in the Uniate churches? I always supposed that they were the same as ours, or at least close to them.”
I don’t know, but I’d suspect you are right.
After looking at various sources it appears that most of the Uniate Churches have followed the lead of the Latin Church with respect to their fasting discipline.
Byzantine/Ruthenian Greek Rite Catholics:
The Eucharistic Fast is one hour.
During Lent; Clean Monday and Great and Holy Friday are days of fasting and abstinence.
All Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent are days of abstinence (no meat).
That appears to be about it.
The Melkite’s differ only slightly:
One Hour Eucharistic Fast
The first day of Great Lent and the last three days of Holy Week are days of fasting
All Fridays of Great Lent are days of abstinence from meat
Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence
At one time Russian Rite Catholics (who are minuscule in numbers and have no bishops of their own) kept as closely as possible the discipline of the Orthodox Church. However they now appear to be subject to the same fasting rules as the Byzantine Catholics.
I am not certain of this, but I suspect this is all laid down in the Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches recently promulgated by Rome. Someone more knowledgeable can confirm or correct this.
I don’t disagree with the criticism, though of course it applies in equal measure to the Roman Catholic Church. Up until the reforms of Pope Pius X reception of communion was extremely rare among the laity, often only the once a year “Easter Duty.” Even after Pius X urged more frequent communion, it seems to have had little effect on the habits of the laity until Vatican II.
All of which said, it is a problem. The Russians in particular have added a lot of extra-canonical disciplines to the preparation for receiving Communion while ignoring the canon that effectively proclaims self excommunication on anyone who fails to commune for three weeks running without good cause. During the reign of Peter the not so Great, the Russian Church adopted the Roman Catholic discipline requiring communion only once a year.
“I don’t disagree with the criticism, though of course it applies in equal measure to the Roman Catholic Church.”
False. If that were so, then there would be a similar history of Catholics having an excessively rigorous “discipline” which would effectively keep Catholic from receiving communion. No such rigorism existed. It always boiled down to two things: no known mortal sin and a simple fast.
“Up until the reforms of Pope Pius X reception of communion was extremely rare among the laity, often only the once a year “Easter Duty.—
I think that is overblown to say the least. Nineteenth century exhortations to frequent communion were about DAILY reception not weekly, for instance. Also, those promoting frequent communion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries clearly refer to it as a “restoration” of earlier practices. No such practice as frequent communion has EVER or will EVER exist among the Russian Orthodox precisely because its practices discourage it or the RO churches fail to do what is necessary for it.
“Even after Pius X urged more frequent communion, it seems to have had little effect on the habits of the laity until Vatican II.’
That depended on the given parish. Some parishes observed it. Some didn’t. NO Russian Orthodox parish does observe it or can observe it. It is an impossibility.
“All of which said, it is a problem. The Russians in particular have added a lot of extra-canonical disciplines to the preparation for receiving Communion while ignoring the canon that effectively proclaims self excommunication on anyone who fails to commune for three weeks running without good cause.”
So the Russians - according to you - have instituted policies which effectively vitiate their own canons? And to the detriment of the souls of their faithful? Sounds like a serious Shepherd problem.
“During the reign of Peter the not so Great, the Russian Church adopted the Roman Catholic discipline requiring communion only once a year.”
No such discipline ever existed. Perhaps it’s a Freudian slip on your part: “only once a year”. The discipline is AT LEAST ONCE a year. There’s a huge difference between “only” once a year and “at least once” a year.
That surprises me, and it seems to go against some other info I am seeing online. Are you sure those aren’t absolute minimums?
Well if there was a restoration, then there must have been a tme when Communion was infrequent, n'est-ce pas? Middle Ages, perhaps?
I don't think all this is as Eastern/Western as it has been characterized. Seems to me that the Church has bounced a bit between periods of frequent Communion and periods of less frequent (perhaps out of necessity).
WOW! I am very, very surprised; the Lenten fasting regime really surprises me as does the apparent lack of fasting on regular Fridays and Wednesdays. Do you suppose those rules apply in the old countries or just here in the West?
Reception may have been rare among some of the laity, but that was not Church teaching.
Not sure, but boy wouldn’t they open up themselves to the charge of “fake Orthodox” in the old country?
Within America I can see. It is mostly Protestant, largely Latin, and completely wimpy.
“Not sure, but boy wouldn’t they open up themselves to the charge of “fake Orthodox†in the old country?”
Maybe in Ukraine, but certainly not in the ME. For all intents and purposes, we have intercommunion with the Melkites and the Maronites over there and if memory serves, Pascha is always celebrated there according to the Old Calendar.
As far as I can tell those are the minimal standards. Which is to say anything above and beyond is optional.
Nor is it in the Orthodox Church. It is a spiritually unhealthy practice that crept in over the centuries. There has been quite a bit of discussion within the Church about the problem and how to correct it. Even the Russians (the hierarchy) seem to grasp that this is inconsistent with the practice of the early church and Church Canons.
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