Pushed to take the communion

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cristyd

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Hello

I was ortodox but i have decided to change the religion after around 10 years of thinking. 3 weeks ago i went to the ortodox church for the last time just to make sure and have piece of mind that i am making the good decision. Sort of a last chance if you understand.

Something happened there that i don’t quite understand. The priest and his wife kind of pushed me to take the communion, they put me kind of in front of it and in the situation i was unable to say NO. It was an okward situation in which i tried to not take it. I did not confess, i have some big sins on my conscious but when i told the priest this he told me it doesn’t matter because he is doing some sort of group confesion durring the sermon. I told him i ate before i came to the church and he told me it doesn’t matter. I even tried to hide behind some people but they saw me and called me.

I felt very bad and very sinful and i still do. I don’t understand why it happened and how, why i didn’t just run away. It was all very fast.

It kind of made me feel sick and made me realize that there is no turning back in my decision.
 
I am not familiar with the orthodox church, so I don’t know if this is usual practice in that church? From the tone of your post, I get the impression that it is not, that you were caught by surprise. Were these people that were friends of yours, or at least did they know you? Or would they have done the same thing to a complete stranger? It does sound odd.

I am sorry for your distress, no matter how you got caught up in this.
 
RSD said:
I am not familiar with the orthodox church, so I don’t know if this is usual practice in that church? From the tone of your post, I get the impression that it is not, that you were caught by surprise. Were these people that were friends of yours, or at least did they know you? Or would they have done the same thing to a complete stranger? It does sound odd.

I am sorry for your distress, no matter how you got caught up in this.
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Yes, he knows me. I don’t know if he would do this to a stranger. The rules to communion are very similar to the catholic ones and so i felt cauth by surprise.
 
He doesn’t know of my decision. I went there as I would have done any other Sunday. Unless he heard or sensed something about it. However by the end i think he realised i was very confused because he send his wife to tell me that he asks me not to spit. Ofcourse i would have never thought of something like this.
 
That article brings out a good point concerning the pressure people feel to get into the Communion line simply because people are exiting row by row.

In our Church, everyone stands throughout Communion, and rarely does anyone Not get into the line for Communion.

When I reverted, I sat in the pew for a year, deciding whether I should come back and then toward the end it was facing the fear of the confessional. I had to hunt down, online, an adult examination of conscience from other Church websites. Thank goodness for those, the guides helped in numerous ways.

Fr. Corapi has often talked about the guy who goes to confession and tells Father that he doesn’t have any mortal sins 😊 Father takes him through the list of social sins and the person finally admits that he’s sleeping with his girlfriend. The guy didn’t think it was a sin.
 
cristyd said:
Hello
I was ortodox but i have decided to change the religion after around 10 years of thinking. 3 weeks ago i went to the ortodox church for the last time just to make sure and have piece of mind that i am making the good decision. Sort of a last chance if you understand.

Something happened there that i don’t quite understand. The priest and his wife kind of pushed me to take the communion, they put me kind of in front of it and in the situation i was unable to say NO. It was an okward situation in which i tried to not take it. I did not confess, i have some big sins on my conscious but when i told the priest this he told me it doesn’t matter because he is doing some sort of group confesion durring the sermon. I told him i ate before i came to the church and he told me it doesn’t matter. I even tried to hide behind some people but they saw me and called me.

I felt very bad and very sinful and i still do. I don’t understand why it happened and how, why i didn’t just run away. It was all very fast.

It kind of made me feel sick and made me realize that there is no turning back in my decision.
Click to expand...
Wow, I have never seen anything like that before. Priests are generally very strict about confession and fasting before communion, unless the person involved is a child. If this is any consolation, though, I don’t think this would be considered your sin. When a person becomes a priest, they assume responsibility for everyone in their church, and when one of the members acts out of obedience to the priest, they do not carry responsibility for their action. For example, if your spiritual father tells you to do something, and you do, you do not carry any responsibility for that even if it was a bad action (obviously though, you need to use discernment in picking a spiritual father 🙂 ).

I just can’t believe, rereading your post, that the church you were at was Orthodox…group confession during the sermon?..communion without fasting or confession?..forced communion?

I don’t know if there are any other Orthodox churches in your area, but if you every feel comfortable enough to attend another service, then maybe trying a new church would be easier (less pressure).

Hope this helps!
 
PeaceSerenity said:
Wow, I have never seen anything like that before. Priests are generally very strict about confession and fasting before communion, unless the person involved is a child. If this is any consolation, though, I don’t think this would be considered your sin. When a person becomes a priest, they assume responsibility for everyone in their church, and when one of the members acts out of obedience to the priest, they do not carry responsibility for their action. For example, if your spiritual father tells you to do something, and you do, you do not carry any responsibility for that even if it was a bad action (obviously though, you need to use discernment in picking a spiritual father 🙂 ).

I just can’t believe, rereading your post, that the church you were at was Orthodox…group confession during the sermon?..communion without fasting or confession?..forced communion?

I don’t know if there are any other Orthodox churches in your area, but if you every feel comfortable enough to attend another service, then maybe trying a new church would be easier (less pressure).

Hope this helps!
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Yes, this all sounds very strange and out of character for an Orthodox church. In that situation I would have expected the priest to back off and offer a blessing instead. I agree with you though, the error is certainly with the priest.
 
cristyd said:
Hello

I was ortodox but i have decided to change the religion after around 10 years of thinking. 3 weeks ago i went to the ortodox church for the last time just to make sure and have piece of mind that i am making the good decision. Sort of a last chance if you understand.

Something happened there that i don’t quite understand. The priest and his wife kind of pushed me to take the communion, they put me kind of in front of it and in the situation i was unable to say NO. It was an okward situation in which i tried to not take it. I did not confess, i have some big sins on my conscious but when i told the priest this he told me it doesn’t matter because he is doing some sort of group confesion durring the sermon. I told him i ate before i came to the church and he told me it doesn’t matter. I even tried to hide behind some people but they saw me and called me.

I felt very bad and very sinful and i still do. I don’t understand why it happened and how, why i didn’t just run away. It was all very fast.

It kind of made me feel sick and made me realize that there is no turning back in my decision.
Click to expand...
Which parish did you belong to and who was your bishop?
 
cristyd said:
Something happened there that i don’t quite understand. The priest and his wife kind of pushed me to take the communion, they put me kind of in front of it and in the situation i was unable to say NO. It was an okward situation in which i tried to not take it. I did not confess, i have some big sins on my conscious but when i told the priest this he told me it doesn’t matter because he is doing some sort of group confesion durring the sermon. I told him i ate before i came to the church and he told me it doesn’t matter. I even tried to hide behind some people but they saw me and called me.

I felt very bad and very sinful and i still do. I don’t understand why it happened and how, why i didn’t just run away. It was all very fast.

It kind of made me feel sick and made me realize that there is no turning back in my decision.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately many Orthodox have a very loose view of the discipline regarding the Eucharist, and for them it amounts to getting ice cream. However, I might warn you this situation won’t go away in Roman Catholicism, as there are just as many Catholics with such a view as there are Orthodox.

I would, however, suggest you tell the Metropolitan or Bishop above your priest know that this is going on, because that really goes against every teaching of the Orthodox Church regarding taking the Eucharist. The first Orthodox Church I ever went to, the priest pretty much made it clear that you didn’t take the Eucharist unless you had prepared for it the whole week, and that it was better not to take it than take it if you weren’t ready. Though at the same time, my godparents always bugged the heck out of me if I didn’t take it, so that sometimes I felt pressured to do so - so I understand exactly how you feel.
 
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