Marriage and the Cup of Salvation

MONOMAKHOS ^ | 02-22-2020 | Brian

[NRx]

Marriage —real marriage—mirrors the Trinity.  There is no separation between man and wife.  (The fact that we have to qualify that means the battle is all but lost.) The husband and wife are one.  A case could be made that if one is able to commune, both should be able to commune.   

This does not mean the partaking of the Eucharist, unprepared, is of no consequence, however.  Far from it. In 1 Corinthians 11 St Paul exhorts those who approach the Chalice to be properly prepared.  Why?

Because the Eucharist is REAL. It is the body and blood of Christ –literally. And it is powerful. When one partakes of the Eucharist, without properly aligning themselves with Christ and His teachings, it breaks the conduit of unity and turns the substance into a poison that is also powerful, St Paul said communing in an unworthy manner is why many people become “sick” or are “asleep” (i.e. dead).

Leaving aside the fact that in our present society the husband is only rarely head of the household anymore, the issue is not that we want to keep spouses who are not Orthodox from communing within the Church.  In a properly-ordered patriarchal society, we could have an honest debate as to whether an Orthodox husband should be able to cover for his non-Orthodox wife.  

But this particular directive of the GOA reeks of being issued with the wrong intentions. First, not to hurt the feelings of the non-Orthodox spouse but second, to stop the atrophy in membership rolls.  There may be another consideration, as well.

What do I mean by that? Given the Fordhamites’ propensity to concentrate on all aspects of the globalist agenda, not the least of which is homosexuality, what’s being proposed could be a way to commune gay couples down the road who have already been legally “married”.  And then, of course, these couples’ rites will be solemnized. (They will have to be.)

St Paul attaches a prerequisite to Communion by saying:  Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)  The onus is on the Church is to ensure that those who partake of the Eucharist are properly prepared according to the tradition of the Church. 

The Apostle later tells us in verse 27 whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  Who wants their spouse consuming the Body and Blood of Christ to their detriment?

Because Elpidophoros declared that anyone who was married in the Orthodox Church can receive Communion, one can conclude the GOA either doesn’t care about the spiritual well-being of the spouse OR they have divested the Eucharist of its power.  If the Eucharist is of no more spiritual substance than the grape juice and crackers other denominations serve, what’s the point of being Orthodox?  Why should anyone be taking it at all?   

For the GOA, I suspect the inclusion of non-Orthodox spouses to the Chalice is merely a means to an end.  If they allow spouses to commune when they want to, if they want to, the family is less likely to pull away from the Church and if a Greek family stays in the Church, it’s a means to preserve the status quo, i.e. being Greek, while identifying as Orthodox, even if they’re not particularly good at adhering to Orthodox tradition.  

It’s not like I am unsympathetic to any Church which wants to stanch the out-flow of its flock. Jesus Himself spoke about a shepherd who had one hundred sheep and lost one and that he wouldn’t sleep until he found that one. This is all to the good. Indeed, this is the essence of Christianity.  But let us be honest. It is most ironic that the GOA is only now concerned with opening its arms to those who are struggling or are in the process of leaving.

I’m sorry but that train has already left the station. When the GOA was founded in 1928, it was literally the fastest growing religion in the United States according to the decennial census. Now, almost a century later, it is perhaps one quarter the size that it was then.  What could it have done in the interim, decades ago, to stop the outflow? They could begin by repenting of what they allowed to happen fifty years ago when Archbishop Iakovos Coucouzis was almost drummed out of office for daring to suggest that the Liturgy should be translated into English.  And please don’t tell me that there were no good translations available. The Russian-American Archdiocese (which later became the Metropolia then the OCA) had been celebrating the Divine Liturgy since the earliest days of the twentieth century when Isabel Hapgood made a stately and elegant translation into Elizabethan English. How about congregational singing? It’s not rocket science.  

The ideal is for the entire family to come in and stay together within the Church and we who are in the Church should make every sacrifice to open our doors to all who want to enter.  But that said, the academics who have become the GOA’s “brain trust” haven’t thought this all the way through.  It’s one thing to open the Chalice to a non-Orthodox spouse but what about the necessity of Confession beforehand? I ask this in all sincerity. What about the onus on almsgiving? In my OCA parish, we are reminded every Sunday that we should only receive if we have “properly prepared ourselves, which includes prayer, fasting, and a recent confession”. This is further reinforced during Lent when we are constantly reminded that there are three pillars of faith: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Is someone who has no interest in Orthodoxy going to embrace the rest of it if they partake?  My guess is the answer is no because if they did, they would elect to become Orthodox in the first place. 

But most importantly, where is the concern for not bringing judgment upon those who are not properly prepared?   Either the Eucharist is the literal Body and Blood of Christ or it’s not. You can’t have it both ways. Earlier, I mentioned crackers and grape juice. Been there, done that. It had as much spiritual power as pretzels and beer, no matter how many theological dissertations to the contrary that you can find in Calvin’s Institutes.

One of our commentators put it best:

“Communion is direct contact and union with the Living God through the deified Flesh and Blood of His Son.  It is, therefore, a judegment.  For those who are prepared, who have been made ‘worthy’ (which is to say capable) of union with God, direct contact is a life-giving Grace.  For those who have not been prepared, who have not been made ‘worthy’ (capable), direct contact with God is akin to a burning. 

Yes,  the Church is protected by closed Communion.  But let us never forget the other side of the coin.  Our  practice protects those who are not yet prepared, who have not yet been made ‘worthy’ of withstanding the judgement inherent in direct contact with the Living God.” 

[Mrs. Don-o]

Most interesting and relevant, also, to Catholics who "wonder why".

Might want to send it to our dear Francis :o)

[Truthoverpower]

Marriage is it. The promise of the master of all

[Albion Wilde]

bump for later