Eucharist question on how important it is

[KL12345]

I’m Eastern Orthodox but am not comfortable receiving communion for the following reasons.

1. The Holy Spirit can be summoned on command by a human (priest). How can that power be granted to a human being by God? If that is true, then any human who is a believer and prays to Christ can summon the Holy Spirit. I can’t understand that this power is only granted to priests, who are humans like everyone else. Many priests are not pure if heart, and are often corrupt since they too are human, so am I to believe that these priests, all priests, have this power to summon Holy Spirit?
2. I truly believe in power of prayer, having faith and am grateful for God’s blessings. I lead a life that is moral and good to the best of my ability. I’ve felt and understood the blessings and miracles in my life and pray in gratitude for these blessings. Yet I don’t believe in receive communion other than traditional times, like Easter which I’m really not comfortable with but make the exception as was raised to do so.
   Why is there so much emphasis on communion? Faith and belief in Jesus, salvation and living a life ethically and with love should be what was intended in Christianity. I pray, go to church, but don’t feel communion determines if you are a good Christian. I know several “not very nice people” who receive communion weekly.

I just have a problem with the whole idea of it. Plus in Orthodox communion, we receive with a communal spoon and it’s not sanitary.

 

[TNMan]

Since you are EO, and this is in the Non-Catholic section, I’ll share a Lutheran perspective if that’s ok? I only come in peace and not trying to bash any views. I believe Catholics and EO have a true Eucharist. We all just arrive there a little differently.

Lutherans teach it isn’t the man doing the change, but the Words of Christ through the man doing the change. The Word of God is true.

As for not receiving, we should receive as Christ says “do this often in remembrance of Me.”

I can understand sanitation issues, especially during COVID-19, but the odds of getting sick from Holy Communion are very low.

 

[adamhovey1988]

Many priests are not pure if heart

By that logic, no one could baptize

Why is there so much emphasis on communion?

Because Jesus said so. Seriously, read the Institution narratives.

know several “not very nice people” who receive communion weekly.

You can read their souls?

I just have a problem with the whole idea of it. Plus in Orthodox communion, we receive with a communal spoon and it’s not sanitary.

That is absurd.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Hello,
Have you discussed any of this with your EO priest?
Also, if you need to discuss further with persons not priests, have you considered discussing on an EO forum?

This being a Catholic forum, and you further having posted this in the Non-Catholic Religions section, you’re likely to get a lot of responses from people who are not EO and are not going to give you answers that comport with your EO faith. I could for example answer you from a Catholic perspective, but I don’t really want to do that because you are EO and I don’t want to further confuse the issue by saying anything that the EO church does not believe or accept.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

How can that power be granted to a human being by God? If that is true, then any human who is a believer and prays to Christ can summon the Holy Spirit.

There’s quite a leap made between these two statements of yours. If (a) is true, it doesn’t automatically make (b) true. What it does is mean that (b) could be true, but it isn’t automatically.

You say you believe in prayer. Why? I’m not being sarcastic or facetious. If you believe in God’s power, you have the capacity to believe Jesus empowered certain people to act on his behalf with a degree of the same “powers” that he possesses himself. (Scripture states that he breathed on the Apostles; the only time this phrase is used is when God imparts his spirit to indwell in a very direct way.)

Catholic theology states that through baptism and confirmation, we all do have a share in that; those ordained with holy orders have a more substantive in-dwelling and seal placed upon them — and it’s a responsibility they carry, not a guarantee of their own sanctity. As you note, they remain human and can fail, but as Scripture notes, “to him who is given much, much is required”. If we fail, we’re accountable. A priest who fails may be even more greatly accountable.

 

[joecaro]

You must first understand that the Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion has little to do with the Holy Spirit - but has EVERYTHING to do with Jesus Christ. Remember; “This is my body -this is my blood”? Jesus gave the power to His Apostles at the Last Supper to consecrate the most Holy church sacrament -Holy Communion, so that Jesus comes to us and is a part of us. True, as you stated “not very nice people” receive Communion, but not Jesus. But this does not mean that He is not Holy Communion itself, but that many people that accept the Communion wafer will not accept the love of Jesus Himself.

 

[OddBird]

You must first understand that the Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion has little to do with the Holy Spirit

All Eucharistic prayers have an epiclesis - a calling down of the Holy Spirit on the gifts presented, so that they may become the Body and Blood of the Lord. The only one who doesn’t explicitly mention the Holy Spirit is the Roman Canon, but it does have an epiclesis, even if it is worded a bit differently (" Be pleased, O God, we pray, to bless, acknowledge, and approve this offering in every respect…).

In fact, all sacraments, to my knowledge, have a form or another of epiclesis, because we couldn’t perform them without the help and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You must first understand that the Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion has little to do with the Holy Spirit - but has EVERYTHING to do with Jesus Christ.

Sorry, but you are very wrong. The Catechism states (CCC 1333) that

At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood.

Likewise, the USCCB says on their page about Holy Eucharist,

Recalling these words of Jesus, the Catholic Church professes that, in the celebration of the Eucharist, bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the priest.

It’s pretty clear that the Holy Spirit is intimately involved in the consecration of the Holy Eucharist. You may want to read up on this a bit.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

Christ is Risen!

I’m Eastern Orthodox but am not comfortable receiving communion

Please speak with your parish priest about this problem. Have you been praying and asking the Lord, His Most Pure Mother and your patron saint to help you be at peace with receiving Holy Communion? If you believe in the power of prayer then the Lord can send His Spirit upon you to clear up these stumbling blocks towards greater union with Him.

Why is there so much emphasis on communion?

Holy Communion is the summit, perfection and aim of Christian life, for in partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, (with proper preparation i.e. regular Confession and amendment of life), we are united to Him mystically and truly grow in Union with Him. Salvation is Union with God.

The Holy Spirit can be summoned on command by a human (priest). How can that power be granted to a human being by God? If that is true, then any human who is a believer and prays to Christ can summon the Holy Spirit.

The Priest receives a special grace via his ordination to consecrate the elements of Bread and Wine into Holy Communion.

Faith and belief in Jesus, salvation and living a life ethically and with love should be what was intended in Christianity.

This is the very beginnings of the life in Christ, but not the overall goal. The final goal of all Christian life is intimate union between the soul and its Creator. It is the marriage of the Lamb, in which the soul is spiritually united to God.

don’t feel communion determines if you are a good Christian. I know several “not very nice people” who receive communion weekly.

Communion does not determine if you are a good Christian. Cultivating the virtues and a spirit of continual repentance as well as frequent prayer, fasting, almsgiving and submitting ourselves to the teaching of the Church make us “good” Christians, but even so no one is a “good”, or “worthy” in comparison to God’s infinite love for mankind.

Plus in Orthodox communion, we receive with a communal spoon and it’s not sanitary.

No one in the 2,000 year history of the Church has gotten sick from Holy Communion. Holy Communion gives life both physically and spiritually. Those who got sick and died as referenced in Holy Scripture got sick because they partook of the Body and Blood unworthily. Thus we must make sure we have been confessed and have a true desire to repent when we receive Holy Communion.

Please speak with your priest.

Peace be with you.

 

[po18guy]

Are you a recent convert from bible-based Christianity?

 

[George720]

I just have a problem with the whole idea of it. Plus in Orthodox communion, we receive with a communal spoon and it’s not sanitary.

If that is the state of your faith, I would not receive Holy Communion either…

For God often grants us according to our thoughts…

Standing back for awhile will not hurt you…

God is not the Author of evil…

The Body and Blood are Christ…

Christ is God…

God bless your walk…

geo

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

No one said Aslan was a tame lion.

To be a faithful Christian is to live dangerously.

But if we have faith in the Resurrection, we do not fear death as Christians, thus being separated from God via Holy Communion is a worse death than the mere physical which we shall all have to pass through at one time or another.

O Death where is Thy victory? Christ is Risen from the dead!

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

As a former Anglican and admirer of C.S. Lewis I am very familiar with Narnia.

Tolkien definitely has a deeper, more developed sense of storytelling via myth. T.H. White is a joy. Loved The Sword in the Stone.

 

[PennyinCanada]

we receive with a communal spoon and it’s not sanitary.

The faithful are to tip their head back and open their mouth and the priest drops the host into their mouth. No contact happens with the spoon. Is that how you’ve been receiving? I’m not understanding what your concern is.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

The faithful are to tip their head back and open their mouth and the priest drops the host into their mouth. No contact happens with the spoon. Is that how you’ve been receiving? I’m not understanding what your concern is.

There are different ways of receiving, some faithful are taught to place their mouth over the spoon, to minimize desecration of the Holy Mysteries.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

Yes. I always thought he got much deeper in the Space Trilogy. His blending of High Fantasy and Science Fiction took me off guard the first time I read That Hideous Strength.

 

[PennyinCanada]

Jesus words in John chapter 6

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[c]”

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The miraculous bread that the people in Moses’ time ate in the desert was pointing forward to the day when Christ would appear in the world and give his flesh for the life of the world.

In Moses time the Israelites took the unblemished lamb, killed it, used it’s blood on the door frame of the house, and ate the lamb. Death passed over that night and forever forward in time it was called the Passover of the Lord. Then one day John the Baptist saw Jesus walking up and he proclaimed ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. All those lambs that were slaughtered at Passover pointed forward in time to the One who would be slaughtered for sin, and his body and blood continues to this day. This is a great mystery that we get to participate in.

I hope you continue to study your faith and gain greater understanding of God’s plan of salvation in the history of mankind. Many of us get baptized as babies and we can coast along as teens but there comes a time as an adult that we really look at what is ours to have, and make it our own. God bless.

 

[joecaro]

Your question stated the Holy Spirit only. Holy Communion is a direct sharing and participation between Jesus and the Laity - of course the Holy Spirit is involved as the Holy Spirit is involved with the Catholic church. But that was not a part of your question. Communion is a DIRECT relationship between you and Jesus as He stated at the Last Supper. Jesus IS the Holy Spirit as you should know, but separate as He is separate from God. You should do more reading on the Holy Spirit I think.

 

[joecaro]

Some Orthodox religions utilize such instruments to keep any fragment of the Holy Host from being desecrated. Prior to Vatican II, only the Priest administered Communion with the alter boy holding a slaver under the mouth of each recipient.

 

[PilgrimMichelangelo]

Some Orthodox religions utilize such instruments to keep any fragment of the Holy Host from being desecrated. Prior to Vatican II, only the Priest administered Communion with the alter boy holding a slaver under the mouth of each recipient.

I am Orthodox. We receive Holy Communion in both kinds served on a spoon.

I am also aware of the departure from Sacred Tradition that many parishes in the Catholic Church implemented from a false interpretation of Vatican II.

Jesus IS the Holy Spirit as you should know, but separate as He is separate from God. You should do more reading on the Holy Spirit I think.

Jesus is NOT the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ is fully GOD and fully MAN. He is the incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. In His Divinity He shares the Divine Essence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He remains a distinct person, just as God the Father is a distinct person and God the Holy Spirit is a distinct person, co-equal, co-eternal, co-reigning, and consubstantial. In His humanity He has a human soul, will, and energy.

In the traditional Roman Rite their is an implicit epiclesis or calling down of the Holy Spirit in the Supplices Te Rogamus, where the priest asks for an angel to bring the gifts to the altar on high. In all other rites, Eastern and Western (thinking Gallican here) there is an explicit epiclesis. In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom it begins with “Again we offer unto Thee, this reasonable and bloodless worship…”

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Epiclesis

Epiclesis - Wikipedia