The glorification of Russian Christianity in the work of Leskov, Lefty. Christian transformation of the world and man
Sacrament Participles established by the Lord Himself last supper- the last meal with the disciples on Easter night before His capture and crucifixion.
“And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat: this is My body. And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28), "... do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). In the Sacrament of the Flesh and Blood of the Lord ( Eucharist - Greek. “thanksgiving”) there is a restoration of that unity between the nature of the Creator and the creation that existed before the Fall; this is our return to paradise lost. We can say that in Communion we receive, as it were, the germs future life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Mystical secret The Eucharist is rooted in the Savior's Sacrifice on the Cross. Having crucified His Flesh on the cross and shed His Blood, the God-man Jesus offered the Sacrifice of Love for us to the Creator and restored fallen human nature. Thus, the communion of the Body and Blood of the Savior becomes our participation in this restoration. « Christ is risen from the dead, death by death trampled down, and gave life to those in the tombs; and giving us eternal life...”
Eating the Flesh and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not a symbolic action (as Protestants believe), but quite real. Not everyone can accommodate this secret.
« Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly drink.
He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who eats Me will also live through Me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate manna and died: whoever eats this bread will live forever.
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Many of His disciples, hearing this, said: What strange words! who can listen to this?
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From that time on, many of His disciples departed from Him and no longer walked with Him” (John 6:53–58, 60, 66).
Rationalists try to “bypass” the mystery, reducing mysticism to a symbol. The proud perceive what is inaccessible to their reason as an insult: Leo Tolstoy blasphemously called the sacrament “cannibalism.” For others it is a wild superstition, for others it is an anachronism. But the children of the Church of Christ know that in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, under the guise of bread and wine, they truly partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in Their essence. Indeed, it is not human nature to eat raw flesh and blood, and therefore at Communion the Gifts of Christ are hidden under the image of bread and wine. Nevertheless, hidden under the outer shell of perishable matter is the incorruptible substance of the Divine nature. Sometimes, by special permission, the Lord lifts this veil of mystery and allows those in doubt to see the true nature of the Holy Gifts. In particular, in my personal practice there were two cases when the Lord wanted to allow those who were communing to see His Body and Blood in their authentic form. Both times were first communions; in one case, a person was sent to the Church by psychics for their own reasons. In another, the reason for coming to the temple was very superficial curiosity. After such a wonderful event, both became faithful children of the Orthodox Church.
How can we at least approximately understand the meaning of what is happening in the Sacrament of Communion? The nature of creation was created by the Creator akin to Himself: not only permeable, but also, as it were, inseparable from the Creator. This is natural given the holiness of created nature - its original state of free unity and submission to the Creator. The angelic worlds are in this state. However, nature our the world is distorted and perverted by the fall of its guardian and leader - man. Nevertheless, she did not lose the opportunity to reunite with the nature of the Creator: the clearest evidence of this is the incarnation of the Savior. But man fell away from God voluntarily, and he can also reunite with Him only through free will (even the incarnation of Christ required the consent of a person - the Virgin Mary!). In the same time deification
inanimate, without free will, nature, God can do it naturally, without permission
. Thus, in the divinely established Sacrament of Communion, the grace of the Holy Spirit at the established moment of the service (and also at the request of a person!) descends on the substance of bread and wine and offers
them into a substance of a different, higher nature: the Body and Blood of Christ. And now a person can accept these highest Gifts of Life only by showing his free will! The Lord gives Himself to everyone, but those who believe Him and love Him—the children of His Church—accept Him.
So, Communion is the grace-filled communion of the soul with the highest nature and in it with eternal life. Bringing this down greatest secret to the realm of everyday image, we can compare Communion with the “nutrition” of the soul, which it should receive after its “birth” in the Sacrament of Baptism. And just as a person is born into the world by flesh once, and then feeds for the rest of his life, so Baptism is a one-time event, and we must resort to Communion regularly, preferably at least once a month, possibly more often. Communion once a year is the minimum acceptable, but such a “hungry” regime can bring the soul to the brink of survival.
How is Communion celebrated in the Church?
It is necessary to properly prepare for participation in the Eucharist. A meeting with God is an event that shakes the soul and transforms the body. Worthy communion requires a conscious and reverent attitude towards this event. There must be sincere faith in Christ and an understanding of the meaning of the Sacrament. We must have reverence for the Savior’s Sacrifice and an awareness of our unworthiness to accept this great Gift (we accept It not as a well-deserved reward, but as a manifestation of the mercy of a loving Father). There must be reconciliation of the soul: you need to sincerely forgive in your heart everyone who has “saddened us” in one way or another (remembering the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”) and try, if possible, to reconcile with them ; also in to a greater extent this applies to those who, for one reason or another, consider themselves offended by us. Before Communion, one should read the prayers defined by the Church and compiled by the holy fathers, which are called: “Following to Holy Communion”; These prayer texts are present, as a rule, in all editions of Orthodox prayer books (collections of prayers). It is advisable to discuss the exact amount of reading of these texts with the priest to whom you turn for advice and who knows the specifics of your life. After the Sacrament of Communion is performed, it is necessary to read “Prayers of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion.” Finally, preparing to accept into yourself - into your flesh and into your soul - the Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, terrible in their greatness, you must cleanse yourself with body and soul. Fasting and Confession serve this purpose.
Corporal fasting involves abstaining from eating savory food. The duration of fasting before Communion is usually up to three days. Directly on the eve of Communion one must refrain from marital relations and from midnight you are not supposed to eat any food (in fact, not to eat or drink anything in the morning before the service). However, in specific cases, significant deviations from these norms are possible; They should, again, be discussed individually.
Communion in Church
The Sacrament of Communion itself takes place in the Church at a service called liturgy . As a rule, the liturgy is celebrated in the first half of the day; The exact start time of services and the days they take place should be found out directly in the temple you are going to go to. Services usually begin between seven and ten o'clock in the morning; The duration of the liturgy, depending on the nature of the service and partly on the number of communicants, is from one and a half to four to five hours. In cathedrals and monasteries, liturgies are served daily; in parish churches Sundays and in church holidays. It is advisable for those preparing for Communion to attend the service from the beginning (for this is a single spiritual action), and also to attend the evening service the day before, which is prayerful preparation for the Liturgy and the Eucharist.
During the liturgy, you need to stay in the church without going out, prayerfully participating in the service until the priest comes out of the altar with a cup and proclaims: “Approach with the fear of God and faith.” Then the communicants line up one after another in front of the pulpit (first children and the infirm, then men and then women). Hands should be folded crosswise on the chest; You are not supposed to be baptized in front of the cup. When your turn comes, you need to stand in front of the priest, say your name and open your mouth so that you can put in a spoon with a particle of the Body and Blood of Christ. The liar must be thoroughly licked with his lips, and after wiping his lips with the cloth, reverently kiss the edge of the bowl. Then, without venerating the icons or talking, you need to move away from the pulpit and take a drink - St. water with wine and a particle of prosphora (in this way, it is as if the oral cavity is washed, so that the smallest particles of the Gifts are not accidentally expelled from oneself, for example, when sneezing). After communion, you need to read (or listen in Church) prayers of thanksgiving and in the future carefully guard your soul from sins and passions.
Communion is one of the most important church rituals called sacraments. What is its essence? It is as follows. Man is considered by the church as not only a material, but also a spiritual being. Therefore, he also needs spiritual food. During Communion, a person receives the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. IN real life it looks like eating bread and wine, through which a person is cleansed of sins and prepares to enter into eternal life.
The Gospel of John says about this sacrament: whoever partakes of the flesh and blood of the Son of Man will receive eternal life and will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment. And also through it there will be a reunion with God.
Why is the sacrament performed?
Thus, to unite with God and gain eternal life, you need to receive communion. Similar to earthly healing for infection blood occurs by replacing it with a healthy one; a soul infected with sin needs the blood of Christ to flow to it. Just as a diseased organ is replaced with a healthy one, by consuming the body of Christ under the guise of bread, the soul is healed. The Holy Scripture says: after communion, Christ’s Blood “flows in our veins,” and we become “co-corporeal” with him.
By entering the human soul, Christ heals it of passions and “ulcers,” fills it with life-giving juices, calms it, and gives joy. Thereby spiritual improvement occurs and communion is already on time earthly path to the heavenly, eternal path. That is, communion is a kind of path to the kingdom of heaven, a guarantee that a person will reach it upon completion Last Judgment.
How it all began
Other names sacraments - Eucharist. ABOUT but came from Greek language And translated as thanksgiving. The rite during which believers receive communion is called Liturgy - public service. It can be done both at night and in the morning. IN Orthodox Church this is the main sacrament, its basis and core. Without him the Church itself is impossible how it is impossible to build a building without a foundation. This action was established by the Son of God himself during the Last Supper with his disciples on the eve of the passion of the Lord - his suffering on the cross.
As Jesus and his disciples sat at the evening meal, he took the bread, performed a blessing on it, then broke it and distributed it to his followers. After this he took the cup of wine and raised it prayer of thanksgiving God for his mercy to people and also passed it on to his comrades. He accompanied these actions with the words that the bread is his body and the wine is his blood, you need to eat them, since they will be given in the name of forgiveness of humanity for its sins. Jesus also called for communion of the Holy Gifts in memory of him.
After Christ’s ascension into heaven, the disciples, “breaking bread” on the week, which was then the first day of the week, prayed, sang psalms, read the Holy Scriptures and confessed. At times the meal continued until the morning. Gradually, such actions transformed into church service, which today consists of two parts - the evening service and the morning - which includes Communion.
Frequency and purity of communion
At the dawn of Christianity, Communion was celebrated every Sunday. Today, the church fathers recommend joining this sacrament at least once a month. For those who do not have such an opportunity - at least four times a year, coinciding Communion with fasting. The minimum frequency of participation in the Eucharist is annual Communion.
There are situations when people consider themselves as sinners unworthy to partake of the Blood and Body of the Lord. There is another extreme - frequent trips to Communion, performed in a formal manner, without the required preparation, without the necessary emotional mood, without due awe and awareness of the sanctity of the ritual.
Both approaches are deeply flawed. In the first case, the mistake is that, by and large, any of us are sinners by virtue of our own human nature. And the sacrament of Communion exists to correct this sinfulness, cleanse us from it and introduce us to grace. And after each conscious and prepared participation in the ritual a person becomes better and purer. In the second case, when eating wine and bread “for show,” there will be no approach to eternal bliss.
In order for the Eucharist to correspond to its purpose, it must be carried out by believers as an integral part of the continuous process of spiritual improvement in combination with its inherent attributes - confession, prayers, good deeds. Here, direct communication with a confessor who will be able to guide the religious life of his “child” will help.
How to prepare to receive the Holy Gifts
Spiritual preparation
By figuratively Holy Fathers, preparing for the Eucharist, a person must prepare to meet the Son of God. After all, he partakes of his Blood and Flesh.
Of course, being a churchgoer, you need to follow religious rules: study Holy Bible, turn to the Lord with prayers, confess to committing sins, abstain from light food during Lent. But this alone is not enough. A person must maintain constant internal work, aimed at cultivating such qualities as love for people, conscientiousness, responsible attitude to duty, tolerance and peacefulness.
If you turn to the Gospel of Matthew, you can find the following lines. Having come to the altar, and remembering that he was in a quarrel with his brother, must first make peace with him, and then turn to God with gifts and prayers. That is, in order to correctly approach the rite of Communion, you need to settle your “worldly” affairs. Understand your relationships with loved ones, and if there is a conflict, grievances, or complaints, try to correct the situation by establishing peace in the family and among friends. And after that, go to, ease your soul and put your thoughts in order.
Who can receive communion? It is important to know that only those who baptized according to the Orthodox rite. Thus, he becomes one of the members of the Church and can be admitted to the Eucharist. It must be remembered that an obstacle to participation in the ritual is a grave sin. Its implementation requires special work on oneself and active repentance. One of the principles of the church is the motto: “Faith without works is dead.” It follows from it that it is not enough to atone for sins, you need to correct your mistakes and try not to commit them in the future, to do good deeds.
Thus, preparation for Communion consists of following the rules. It is necessary: repentance of sins, fasting and prayer vigils - provided that this is done sincerely and heartfeltly.
As stated in First Epistle to the Corinthians Apostle Paul, going to Communion, a person tests himself. And if “anyone eats and drinks unworthily,” while “not considering the Body of the Lord,” “he eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” From these words we can conclude: when a believer picks up bread and a cup of wine, he must understand that this is not just food, but an introduction to the highest meaning of existence, to true faith, to its essence, to divine essence. And this must be done with reverence and awe, since during the sacred act of the Eucharist God reveals himself to man, and man to God.
How to actually prepare
How the ritual is performed
First Communion
How do children receive Holy Communion for the first time? The first time a child receives communion is immediately after the baptismal ceremony. It is believed that after this he falls under the “care” of his guardian angel, who will be with him all his life.
It is advisable for his parents - biological and godparents - to participate in the sacrament together with the child. One of them brings the child to the Chalice. They must also prepare the day before by following the same rules as for an adult receiving communion: fasting, confessing, and saying prayers.
When a child is being prepared for communion, if he not fulfilled three years , it can be fed immediately before the ceremony in the morning, but no later than half an hour. Otherwise, he may vomit while in church.
You need to make sure that he is not overexcited the night before, goes to bed early and gets a good night's sleep.
- participation in noisy games,
- viewing large quantity cartoons,
- listening to loud music,
- eating chocolate.
Then during the service he will not be capricious. You also need to take care of comfortable clothes, which will not be small or large and should correspond to the season, since both hypothermia and overheating are especially harmful to the child’s body.
When bringing a child to the Holy Chalice, he is placed on right hand and gently hold her, preventing her from waving her arms and pushing the filled vessel or the priest’s hand holding it.
If a child is under seven years old, he is not confessed. When he is very young, his parents say his name; later he must do it on his own.
There are cases where unhealthy children immediately after their first Communion felt much better and even recovered completely. If it was not possible to give the baby communion during baptism, it is advisable to do this as soon as possible. As a rule, church ministers recommend giving communion to children regularly, for example, on Sundays. The Church considers the first Eucharist as a step towards the ascent to full religious life.
After participating in the holy sacrament of Communion, if all the rules are followed, a person is overcome with a feeling of joy, gratitude to God for his mercy, the desire for pure and beautiful life in the bosom of the Christian Church.
Communion is the most serious and important thing for which it is worth coming to church. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood will have eternal life. How to prepare yourself for this great Sacrament in order to accept it for the healing of soul and body will be discussed in this short article.
The way in which Christians unite with the Lord Jesus Christ through partaking of His Body and Blood under the guise of bread and wine is called the Sacrament of Communion (Communion), and the service in which this Sacrament is celebrated is the Eucharist, or Divine Liturgy.
According to the Gospel, Jesus Himself commanded His disciples to receive communion. The first Christians, according to the books of the New Testament, from the very beginning gathered weekly for the “breaking of bread” - as Communion was called in ancient times. This happened on the night of Saturday, the day on which the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. This first day of the week is later in Christian tradition called Sunday.
According to the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom, the Body of Christ, which we receive in Holy Communion, is the same body of Jesus Christ that suffered on the cross, was resurrected and was ascended to Heaven, and the Blood of Christ is the same that was shed for the sake of salvation peace.
Why take communion?
In the Sacrament of Communion, a Christian truly unites with God. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of Himself as the bread of life: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; And the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, for My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly drink. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who eats Me will also live through Me.”
According to the Monk John of Damascus, the Body and Blood of Christ cleanse a person from all filth and drive away all evil. We become “partakers of the Divine,” as the holy Apostle Peter writes, “our own” for God, His people. At the same time, we unite with each other, “for we all, who partake of the same bread, become one Body of Christ, one blood and members of one another,” writes Damascene, paraphrasing the words of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle to the Ephesians.
In the New Testament, the Church of God, that is, the collection of all Christians, is called the Body of Christ. You can only be in the Church of Jesus Christ through real connection with Him, that is, with the help of Communion.
It is extremely necessary to receive communion in order to be saved and inherit eternal life. After all, salvation in the Orthodox Christian worldview is not an external event in relation to a person (as if God was first angry with us and then had mercy), but an internal rebirth, a person’s ability to live in the fullness of love and grace through union with God Himself.
Worthy and unworthy
“Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Let man examine himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup. For whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation for himself, without considering the Body of the Lord. This is why many of you are weak and sick, and many are dying,” writes the Apostle Paul in chapter 11 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Communion should be approached consciously, understanding that not a single person in the world can be worthy of receiving the Body and Blood of God himself.
According to Chrysostom, worthy Communion is one that is accompanied by spiritual awe and ardent love, faith in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Gifts and awareness of the greatness of the shrine.
In order to test their conscience before Holy Communion, Christians confess their sins. You cannot approach the Chalice in a state of mortal sin, for example, after an abortion, visiting a fortune teller, adultery, or living in a so-called “civil marriage.” Such sins require sincere repentance and a change in life, and only then is communion possible. Confession before Communion is not only a pious tradition, but also real help to a person to cleanse the soul. In addition, this is an opportunity to directly communicate with the priest about the most important things.
How often should I take communion?
The very rite of the Divine Liturgy, at which the Eucharist is celebrated, that is, bread and wine are consecrated, is performed so that all who take part in this service may receive communion. In the liturgy there can only be participants, and there cannot be spectators. Participation in the liturgy and communion have, unfortunately, become an “individual” matter for each Christian, while in essence it is a common matter, stemming from the very essence of the Church.
The outstanding theologian of the 20th century, Protopresbyter Nikolai Afanasyev, wrote: “ To be a member of the Church meant to take part in the Eucharistic Assembly. To be a participant in the Meal means to “eat” from it. In the Eucharistic canon there are no prayers that non-communicants could offer...».
The common communion of all believers at the liturgy was so self-evident that deviation from this principle is considered in church canons as a falling away from the Church: “All the faithful who enter the church and listen to the scriptures, but do not remain in prayer and holy communion to the end, as causing disorder in the church, should be excommunicated from church communion,” says the 9th Apostolic Canon. And canon 80 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council says that those who, without a good reason, did not receive communion on 3 Sundays in a row, actually excommunicated themselves from the Church.
We should strive to receive communion every time we come to the liturgy. A feeling of unworthiness is not a reason for avoiding Communion. Here is what St. John Cassian wrote about this: “ We should not shy away from Holy Communion because we recognize ourselves as sinners; but with even more and more thirst we must rush to him for the healing of the soul and the purification of the spirit, but with such humility of spirit and faith that, considering ourselves unworthy of receiving such grace, we would desire more healing for our wounds. Otherwise, even once a year one cannot worthily receive communion, as some do, who value the dignity, sanctification and beneficence of the heavenly Sacraments in such a way that they think that only saints, not vicious, should receive them; but it is better to think that these Sacraments, through the communication of grace, make us pure and holy. They truly show more pride than humility, because when they accept them, they consider themselves worthy of accepting them. And it would be much more correct that we, with that humility of heart by which we believe and confess that we can never worthily touch the Holy Mysteries, should accept them on every Lord’s Day to heal our ailments, rather than, being exalted by the vain conviction of our hearts, to believe that After a year, we are worthy of accepting them...»
Indeed, there is such a false humility, which is actually a type of spiritual pride. Rare communion, writes the remarkable twentieth-century theologian Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann in his book “Holy of Holies,” arose, according to the unanimous testimony of the Church Fathers, out of negligence, but soon “began to be justified by pseudo-spiritual arguments and was gradually accepted as the norm.”
« Who should we praise? - asks John Chrysostom. - Those who take communion once a year, those who take communion often, or those who rarely? No, let us praise those who begin with a clear conscience, with with a pure heart, with an impeccable life. Let such people always begin; but never like that. Why? Because they bring upon themselves judgment, condemnation, punishment and torment... Do you become worthy of a spiritual meal, a royal meal, and then again defile your lips with uncleanness? Do you anoint yourself with myrrh, and then again become filled with the stench? When you start taking communion a year later, do you really think that forty days is enough for you to cleanse your sins for the entire time? And then a week goes by and you do the same thing again? Tell me: if you, having recovered within forty days from long illness, then again began to eat the same food that caused the illness, then wouldn’t you have lost the previous work? Obviously so. You use forty days to restore the health of your soul, or maybe not even forty, and you think to appease God? You're kidding, man. I say this not to forbid you to begin once a year, but rather to desire that you continually approach the Holy Mysteries».
How to prepare?
1. Understand the meaning and sincerely desire Communion. Those who come to Communion must understand what it is and why. We receive communion, as mentioned above, in order to unite with God Himself, enter into communion with Him, and accept the Body and Blood of Christ for sanctification and cleansing from sins. You must have a sincere personal desire for this, and not forced by some authority, “duty,” or the recommendation of a healer or “grandmother.”
2. Have peace with everyone. To take communion, you must be at peace with all people, at least not have a desire for revenge. You cannot accept the Sacrament in a state of hostility or hatred. The Lord Jesus said: “If you are bringing your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” .
3. Don't commit mortal sins, excommunicating from Communion. This is primarily murder (including abortion), violation of marital fidelity, betrayal of God with various fortune-tellers, healers, and psychics. In case of apostasy, it is necessary first of all to reunite with the Church through confession with a priest.
4. Live as a Christian every day. In order to take communion, it is better not to invent special periods of preparation, but to live in such a way that you everyday life was compatible with regular participation in the Lord's Table. The essential content of such a life is daily personal prayer, reading and studying the Bible - the Word of God, the obligatory fulfillment of God's commandments and the constant internal struggle with the “old man” living inside us, with our nature damaged by sin, which attracts us to sin. Important components of spiritual life are daily examination of conscience (for example, before going to bed) and regular confession. It is extremely important for a correct spiritual life to strive to live not for oneself, but for the sake of one’s neighbor, internal honesty, truthfulness and humility before each person. It is also important, as far as possible, to balance your life rhythm and schedule with the liturgical rhythm, observing generally accepted fasts (Wednesday and Friday, as well as multi-day fasts, of which the most important is the pre-Easter Lent) and, if possible, participating in holiday services that do not occur. only on Sundays.
5. Liturgical fast. It has long been customary in church tradition to approach Communion on an empty stomach. This disciplinary norm is called “liturgical fasting.” As a rule, one abstains from food and drink from midnight before Communion. According to the definition of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1969, the duration of liturgical fasting should be at least 6 hours. That is, if you drank water after midnight and are going to Liturgy at 9 o’clock in the morning, this is not a reason to refuse Communion. In the same way, there is no reason to refuse Communion if you swallowed a little water while washing your face in the morning. It should be remembered that the disciplinary norm applies to physically healthy people. For those who, for example, suffer from diabetes, they are allowed to eat in the morning. In the same way, you can take medications necessary for health reasons before Communion. In the end, and Last Supper, and the Eucharistic meals of the first Christians were celebrated in the evening, after meals. And when preparing for Communion, what matters is the state of the heart and soul, not the state of the stomach.
6. Confession. As a rule, before Communion in churches they require mandatory confession. It can be performed either immediately before the liturgy, or the evening before or several days before. Those people whom the priest knows as conscientious Christians who live according to the faith and regularly receive communion may be allowed to receive communion without mandatory confession - this practice is generally accepted in the Greek Church, and we consider this issue in more detail, for example, in the article: Confession: about the important and the frivolous .
7. Prayer preparation before Communion includes reading the canon and prayers for Holy Communion - in the evening or in the morning before the liturgy. To a healthy person It is recommended to come to the temple the day before for the evening service. During the liturgy in church, you need to pray together with everyone, and not read your rule, which you did not have time to “read” at home. The reading of other prayers, such as the canons of repentance, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel, and the akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, remains at the discretion of each believer.
8. Bodily abstinence. On the night before Communion, it is customary for spouses to abstain from physical marital relations.
Archpriest Andrei Dudchenko
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