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Here are some interesting articles on the subject at hand:
matt1618.freeyellow.com/communion.html
ewtn.com/expert/answers/communion_in_hand.htm
This by Ben Douglass:
The laity received Communion in the hand quite frequently in the early Christian Church. St. Basil the Great, for example, witnesses to this practice. Some traditionalists have quoted a fragment from his 93rd Epistle where he says that “for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence” and concluded that he believed that it would be a “serious offence” were someone to take Communion in his own hand in time of peace. However, this interpretation does not hold water when the passage is read in context:
“It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves. All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home. And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he likes. For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver. And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand. It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time” (St. Basil the Great, Letter 93).
Other Fathers and Councils endorse Communion in the hand as well:
“In approaching therefore, come not with thy wrists extended, or thy fingers spread; but make thy left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hollowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23:21).
“Tell me, would you choose to come to the Sacrifice with unwashen hands? No, I suppose, not. But you would rather choose not to come at all, than come with soiled hands. And then, thus scrupulous as you are in this little matter, do you come with soiled soul, and thus dare to touch it? And yet the hands hold it but for a time, whereas into the soul it is dissolved entirely” (St. John Chrysostom, Homily 3 on Ephesians).
“Wherefore, if any one wishes to be a participator of the immaculate Body in the time of the Synaxis, and to offer himself for the communion, let him draw near, arranging his hands in the form of a cross, and so let him receive the communion of grace. But such as, instead of their hands, make vessels of gold or other materials for the reception of the divine gift, and by these receive the immaculate communion, we by no means allow to come, as preferring inanimate and inferior matter to the image of God” (Quintsext Synod of Trullo, Canon CI).
“[Caedmon] accordingly went [to the house to which those that were sick, and like shortly to die, were carried], and conversing pleasantly in a joyful manner with the rest that were in the house before, when it was past midnight, he asked them, whether they had the Eucharist there? They answered, ‘What need of the Eucharist? for you are not likely to die, since you talk so merrily with us, as if you were in perfect health.’ *‘However,’ said he, ‘bring me the Eucharist.’ Having received the same into his hand, he asked, whether they were all in charity with him, and without any enmity or rancour?” (St. Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of England, 4:24)
“Let us draw near to [the Eucharist] with an ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing, that is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire” (St. John Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa Book IV, ch. XIII).
Note that Ss. Cyril and John Damascus not only advise the laity to take Communion in the hand, but to touch the Body of Christ to their eyes as well. Surely this would be even more conducive to fragments than the modern practice. Hence, either it would be a sacrilege to attend Mass at St. John Damascus’ Church, or something is wrong with the logic of the Society of St. Pius X (N.B: There are also patristic witnesses to Communion on the tongue such as Pope St. Gregory the Great and the Synod of Rouen; Communion in the hand was not the universal practice of the early Church).
matt1618.freeyellow.com/communion.html
ewtn.com/expert/answers/communion_in_hand.htm
This by Ben Douglass:
The laity received Communion in the hand quite frequently in the early Christian Church. St. Basil the Great, for example, witnesses to this practice. Some traditionalists have quoted a fragment from his 93rd Epistle where he says that “for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence” and concluded that he believed that it would be a “serious offence” were someone to take Communion in his own hand in time of peace. However, this interpretation does not hold water when the passage is read in context:
“It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves. All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home. And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he likes. For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver. And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand. It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time” (St. Basil the Great, Letter 93).
Other Fathers and Councils endorse Communion in the hand as well:
“In approaching therefore, come not with thy wrists extended, or thy fingers spread; but make thy left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hollowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23:21).
“Tell me, would you choose to come to the Sacrifice with unwashen hands? No, I suppose, not. But you would rather choose not to come at all, than come with soiled hands. And then, thus scrupulous as you are in this little matter, do you come with soiled soul, and thus dare to touch it? And yet the hands hold it but for a time, whereas into the soul it is dissolved entirely” (St. John Chrysostom, Homily 3 on Ephesians).
“Wherefore, if any one wishes to be a participator of the immaculate Body in the time of the Synaxis, and to offer himself for the communion, let him draw near, arranging his hands in the form of a cross, and so let him receive the communion of grace. But such as, instead of their hands, make vessels of gold or other materials for the reception of the divine gift, and by these receive the immaculate communion, we by no means allow to come, as preferring inanimate and inferior matter to the image of God” (Quintsext Synod of Trullo, Canon CI).
“[Caedmon] accordingly went [to the house to which those that were sick, and like shortly to die, were carried], and conversing pleasantly in a joyful manner with the rest that were in the house before, when it was past midnight, he asked them, whether they had the Eucharist there? They answered, ‘What need of the Eucharist? for you are not likely to die, since you talk so merrily with us, as if you were in perfect health.’ *‘However,’ said he, ‘bring me the Eucharist.’ Having received the same into his hand, he asked, whether they were all in charity with him, and without any enmity or rancour?” (St. Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of England, 4:24)
“Let us draw near to [the Eucharist] with an ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing, that is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire” (St. John Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa Book IV, ch. XIII).
Note that Ss. Cyril and John Damascus not only advise the laity to take Communion in the hand, but to touch the Body of Christ to their eyes as well. Surely this would be even more conducive to fragments than the modern practice. Hence, either it would be a sacrilege to attend Mass at St. John Damascus’ Church, or something is wrong with the logic of the Society of St. Pius X (N.B: There are also patristic witnesses to Communion on the tongue such as Pope St. Gregory the Great and the Synod of Rouen; Communion in the hand was not the universal practice of the early Church).
