How Often Do Eastern Catholics Receive Communion?

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I was speaking to an Orthodox friend, they said they only received communion after they had gone to Sacramental Confession some time that week (and of course, kept the fast from midnight). Thus, they didn’t receive very often. I was raised Latin Rite, where assuming a person is not in mortal sin and has kept the fast for at least one hour, they are encouraged to receive at the Mass they attend. Due to this, I assume most Roman Catholics (who actually go to Mass every Sunday) receive once a week. I’ve certainly seen many a Sunday Mass where almost everyone gets up to receive Communion.

That made me curious, how often do Eastern Catholics generally receive communion? (I don’t have an EC friend to ask personally).
 
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There are many different groups of Eastern Catholics, so they aren’t all one bloc.

I am Latin Catholic, but from time to time I go to an EC liturgy on a Sunday. At those times, I have seen most of the ECs go up for Communion. I do not see a lot of them sitting in the pew.
I believe their fasting requirements are only for one hour before, like Latin Catholics.
 
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I’m Ruthenian and we receive at each Divine Liturgy (provided that we are properly disposed)
 
It really varies. Most Eastern Catholics that I’ve encountered (both at my Maronite parish, at the Ruthenian parishes I’ve frequented, and at my Melkite parish back in Virginia) go at least once a week. Some will commune more often if they attend weekday Divine Liturgies as well as Sundays.

The biggest difference that I’ve noticed between the Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic practice is that there is no stigma or sense of shame for not going up for Communion. It’s normal to see people remaining in their pews when everyone else goes up for Communion, and we don’t give it a second thought. I myself have remained a number of times either because I failed to keep the fast or because I needed to go to Confession beforehand.

Incidentally, the Orthodox practice regarding frequency of Communion is not consistent across jurisdictions. You’ll find that some are encourage to commune more often than others. If memory serves me correctly, the Russians tend to be stricter in this regard. The Eastern mystical tradition actually encourages frequency of Communion - even daily Communion when possible. I recommend reading Sts. Maximos and Ignatios Xathopoulos from the Philokalia in this regard.

That being said, the undergirding mentally for frequent Communion in the Eastern mystical tradition is that one is always prepared to receive (there’s a strong emphasis on preparation). If that means going to Confession first, then so be it.
 
Fasting requirements vary from church to church. I believe among the Ruthenians the requirement is the same as the Latins. The traditional Melkite and Maronite practice is to fast from all food and drink from midnight until Communion. That’s still on the books for the Maronites, but local custom in the U.S. now simply requires one hour of fasting before Communion. Not sure what the Melkite practice is, but I remember only being asked to fast for one hour when I belonged to a Melkite parish.
 
In the east is their something comparable to venial and mortal sins, to distinguish the need for confession? I’m sure there’s an examination of conscience of some kind.

I see now this is about Eastern Catholics, so wrong question. But would you know about EO on this matter?
 
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Phillip_Rolfes said:
The biggest difference that I’ve noticed between the Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic practice is that there is no stigma or sense of shame for not going up for Communion.
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Many RC parishes do not have “stigma or shame” for people sitting in the pews. At any Hispanic parish, there will be a lot of people sitting in the pew during Communion. Same for Traditional parishes. The relatively small number of people sitting in the pew at some RC churches is often because people don’t think they are in any sort of mortal sin (whether that’s correct thinking or not), not because there’s shame in sitting in the pew, unless it’s some kid who is worried about explaining to his parents.
 
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fhansen said:
In the east is their something comparable to venial and mortal sins, to distinguish the need for confession? I’m sure there’s an examination of conscience of some kind.

I see now this is about Eastern Catholics, so wrong question. But would you know about EO on this matter?
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The answer to this is quite varied. Like Catholics, some Orthodox rarely go to Confession. I once mentioned Confession to a Greek Orthodox acquaintance, a devout woman in her 60s,and she got a puzzled look on her face and said, “I don’t think we do that any more.” Others, like the Russians, require confession and extensive preparation before every reception of Holy Communion. Some recommend monthly confession and others recommended that confession be made, at a minimum, during each fasting period (4 times a year).

Always, one’s conscience should be the guide when discerning the need for confession and there are examinations of conscience available to help with that. If you would like to see some, just do a Google search on " Orthodox examination of conscience".

Generally speaking, East or West, if your conscience is troubling you, go to Confession!
 
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At my Ruthenian parish, like most Latin parishes, just about everyone goes up to receive communion. Whether everyone is properly deposed, I cannot be the judge of that.

When I attend Orthodox Divine Liturgies it varies. At the OCA parish, like my Ruthenian parish and Latin parishes, just about everyone receives communion. At the local GOA, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of parishioners approach the Chalice (all the children approach the Chalice). Why? I’m not so sure? Could be a cultural thing. One thing is for certain, my Ruthenian priest, the OCA priest and the GOA priest often speak of the importance of receiving the Eucharist every Sunday.

ZP
 
Maybe the parishioners at the GOA are aware that they are not properly ready to receive communion and will not approach.

ZP
 
Many EO (and even some ECs) deny the distinction between venial and mortal sin. But then there are great mystical writers like Nikodemos (the Hagiorite) of the Holy Mountain who actually does distinguish between venial and mortal sin. And it is largely recognized that there are sins which ought to be confessed before approaching for Communion. But the overall emphasis in the East is that Communion is given “for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life.”
 
babochka said:
Others, like the Russians, require confession and extensive preparation before every reception of Holy Communion. Some recommend monthly confession and others recommended that confession be made, at a minimum, during each fasting period (4 times a year).
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This sounds right to me. The friend that got me curious about this is Russian Orthodox and they only receive when they’ve gone to Confession within a week. It seems that the other EO Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches fall on a spectrum, with the EC Churches falling closer to the Roman Catholics than the Russian Orthodox on the matter.
 
Just as a side note, while at my Latin Rite Mass in New England, everyone receives communion every Sunday (that they attend). When I was vacationing in Mexico, I was surprised to see the church packed with people, but almost no one received Communion.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
But the overall emphasis in the East is that Communion is given “for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life.”
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True, but in the Prayer before Holy Communion, we also pray:

“…nor will I give Thee a kiss as did Judas…Not for judgement nor for condemnation be for me the partaking of these, Thy Holy Mysteries, O Lord, but for the healing of my body and soul.”

One should not go up casually to Holy Communion just because “everyone else is doing it.” We receive God Himself and should conduct ourselves accordingly.
 
My pastor told me that when he was in Ukraine, the church would be filled but only a few devout women would go to Holy Communion. Also, the priest would not give a person Holy Communion unless he knew they had been to confession.
 
A quick question? Is the difference between Divine Liturgy and Mass merely the different wording between OC and RC? Or is there another difference I’m missing?

Thanks!
 
Totally agree there. Thanks for reminding me about the Prayer Before Holy Communion. That’s a Byzantine prayer, so we Maronites don’t say it, except perhaps as personal devotion.

But even St. Paul talks about examining oneself so as not to receive the Body unworthily.

The biggest point, I think, is that there is no sharp distinction between venial and mortal sin in the East as there is in the West. That seems to be why some Eastern (Byzantine) churches emphasize the necessity of confession before every Communion, and others hardly emphasize confession at all.
 
That’s a good question for another topic. Let’s just simplify by saying that from a bird’s eye view, in terms of structure, the Mass and the Divine Liturgy are the same, but everything else about them are totally different.
 
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