No one on earth can consider himself worthy to be a communicant of the holy mysteries. By preparing for communion, we cleanse our spiritual and physical nature. We prepare the soul through prayer, repentance and reconciliation with one’s neighbor, and the body through fasting and abstinence. This preparation is called fasting.
Prayer Rule
Those preparing for communion read three canons: 1) repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ; 2) prayer service to the Most Holy Theotokos; 3) canon to the guardian angel. The Follow-up to Holy Communion is also read, which includes the canon for communion and prayers.
All these canons and prayers are contained in the Canon and the ordinary Orthodox prayer book.
On the eve of communion, you must be at the evening service, because the church day begins in the evening.
Fast
Before communion, fasting, fasting, and fasting are attributed - bodily abstinence. During fasting, food of animal origin should be excluded: meat, dairy products, and eggs. During strict fasting, fish is also excluded. But lean foods should also be consumed in moderation.
During fasting, spouses must abstain from physical intimacy (5th rule of St. Timothy of Alexandria). Women who are in purification (during menstruation) cannot receive communion (7th rule of St. Timothy of Alexandria).
Of course, it is necessary to fast not only with the body, but also with the mind, sight and hearing, keeping one’s soul away from worldly entertainments.
The duration of the Eucharistic fast is usually negotiated with the confessor or parish priest. This depends on the physical health, spiritual state of the communicant, and also on how often he approaches the holy mysteries.
General practice fast before communion - at least three days.
For those who receive communion frequently (for example, once a week), the duration of fasting can be reduced with the blessing of the confessor to 1-2 days.
The confessor can also weaken the fast for people who are sick, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and also taking into account other life circumstances.
Those preparing for communion no longer eat after midnight, as the day of communion arrives. You need to take communion on an empty stomach. Under no circumstances should you smoke. Some people mistakenly believe that you shouldn’t brush your teeth in the morning so as not to swallow water. This is completely wrong. In the "Teaching News" every priest is prescribed to brush his teeth before the liturgy.
Repentance
The most important point in preparation for the sacrament of communion is the cleansing of one’s soul from sins, which is accomplished in the sacrament of confession. Christ will not enter into a soul that is not cleansed from sin and not reconciled with God.
You can sometimes hear the opinion that it is necessary to separate the sacraments of confession and communion. And if a person regularly confesses, then he can begin communion without confession. In this case, they usually refer to the practice of some Local Churches (for example, the Greek Church).
But ours Russian people He was in atheistic captivity for more than 70 years. And the Russian Church is only just beginning to gradually recover from the spiritual catastrophe that befell our country. We have very little Orthodox churches and clergy. In Moscow, for 10 million inhabitants, there are only about one thousand priests. People are unchurched and cut off from traditions. Community and parish life is practically absent. The life and spiritual level of modern Orthodox believers are incomparable with the life of Christians of the first centuries. Therefore, we adhere to the practice of confession before each communion.
By the way, about the first centuries of Christianity. The most important historical monument early Christian writing “Teaching of the 12 Apostles” or in Greek “Didache”, says: “On the day of the Lord (that is, on Sunday. - O. P.G.), having gathered together, break bread and give thanks, having confessed your sins in advance, so that your sacrifice may be pure. Let anyone who has a quarrel with his friend not come with you until they are reconciled, so that your sacrifice is not desecrated; for this is the name of the Lord: in every place and at all times a pure sacrifice must be offered to Me, for I am a great King, says the Lord, and My name is wonderful among the nations” (Didache 14). And again: “In church, confess your sins and do not approach your prayer with a bad conscience. This is the way of life! (Didache, 4).
The importance of repentance and cleansing from sins before communion is undeniable, so let’s dwell on this topic in a little more detail.
For many, the first confession and communion was the beginning of their churching, their formation as Orthodox Christians.
In preparation for welcoming our dear guest, we try to better clean our house and put it in order. Moreover, we must prepare with trembling, reverence and thoroughness to receive into the home of our souls the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” The more closely a Christian follows spiritual life, the more often and more diligently he repents, the more he sees his sins and unworthiness before God. It is not for nothing that holy people saw their sins as countless as the sand of the sea. One noble citizen of the town of Gaza came to the Monk Abba Dorotheos, and the Abba asked him: “Eminent gentleman, tell me who you consider yourself to be in your city?” He replied: “I consider myself great and the first in the city.” Then the monk asked him again: “If you go to Caesarea, who will you consider yourself to be there?” The man replied: “For the last of the nobles there.” “If you go to Antioch, who will you consider yourself to be there?” “There,” he answered, “I will consider myself one of the common people.” - “If you go to Constantinople and approach the king, who will you consider yourself to be?” And he answered: “Almost like a beggar.” Then the Abba said to him: “This is how the saints, the closer they come to God, the more they see themselves as sinners.”
Unfortunately, we have to see that some perceive the sacrament of confession as a kind of formality, after which they will be allowed to receive communion. When preparing to receive communion, we must take full responsibility for the cleansing of our soul in order to make it a temple for the acceptance of Christ.
The Holy Fathers call repentance second baptism, baptism of tears. Just as the waters of baptism wash our soul from sins, tears of repentance, crying and contrition for sins, cleanse our spiritual nature.
Why do we repent if the Lord already knows all our sins? God expects repentance and recognition from us. In the sacrament of confession we ask Him for forgiveness. This can be understood with the following example. The child climbed into the closet and ate all the candy. The father knows perfectly well who did this, but he waits for his son to come and ask for forgiveness.
The very word “confession” means that the Christian has come tell, confess, tell your sins yourself. The priest in prayer before confession reads: “These are Your servants, in a word be kind to me." Man himself is resolved from his sins through the word and receives forgiveness from God. Therefore, confession should be private, not general. I mean the practice when the priest reads a list of possible sins, and then simply covers the confessor with a stole. "General confession" was an almost universal phenomenon in Soviet time, when there were very few functioning churches left and on Sundays, holidays, as well as fasting, they were crowded with worshipers. It was simply unrealistic to confess to everyone who wanted to. Conducting confession after the evening service was also almost never allowed. Now, thank God, there are very few churches left where such confession is held.
In order to prepare well for the cleansing of the soul, you need to think about your sins and remember them before the sacrament of repentance. The books help us with this: “To help the repentant” by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), “The Experience of Constructing a Confession” by Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) and others.
Confession cannot be perceived as just a spiritual wash or shower. You don’t have to be afraid of messing around in the dirt and soil; everything will be washed off in the shower later anyway. And you can go on sinning. If a person approaches confession with such thoughts, he is confessing not for salvation, but for judgment and condemnation. And having formally “confessed,” he will not receive permission for sins from God. It's not that simple. Sin and passion cause great harm to the soul, and even after repenting, a person bears the consequences of his sin. This is how a patient who has had smallpox ends up with scars on his body.
It is not enough to simply confess sin; you must make every effort to overcome the tendency to sin in your soul and not return to it again. So the doctor removes the cancerous tumor and prescribes a course of chemotherapy to defeat the disease and prevent relapse. Of course, it is not easy to immediately leave sin, but the repentant should not be a hypocrite: “If I repent, I will continue to sin.” A person must make every effort to take the path of correction and no longer return to sin. A person must ask God for help to fight sins and passions.
Those who rarely confess and receive communion cease to see their sins. They move away from God. And vice versa, approaching Him as the Source of light, people begin to see all the dark and unclean corners of their soul. Similar to bright sun highlights all the untidy nooks and crannies of the room.
The Lord does not expect earthly gifts and offerings from us, but: “a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a contrite and humble heart, God will not despise” (Ps. 50:19). And preparing to unite with Christ in the sacrament of communion, we offer Him this sacrifice.
Reconciliation
“So 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 be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt. 5:23-24), the word of God tells us.
The one who dares to take communion with malice, enmity, hatred, and unforgiven grievances in his heart sins mortally.
The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon tells about the terrible sinful state people who approach communion in a state of anger and non-reconciliation can fall into. “There were two brothers in spirit - Deacon Evagrius and Priest Titus. And they had great and unfeigned love for each other, so that everyone marveled at their unanimity and immeasurable love. The devil, who hates good, and always walks “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), aroused enmity between them. And he put such hatred into them that they avoided each other, did not want to see each other in person. Many times the brethren begged them to reconcile with each other, but they did not want to hear. When Titus walked with the censer, Evagrius ran away from the incense; when Evagrius did not run away, Titus passed by him without showing any signs. And so they spent a lot of time in sinful darkness, approaching the holy mysteries: Titus, not asking for forgiveness, and Evagrius, being angry, the enemy armed them to such an extent. One day Titus became very ill and, already near death, began to grieve over his sin and sent to the deacon with a prayer: “Forgive me, for God’s sake, my brother, that I was angry with you in vain.” Evagrius answered cruel words and curses. The elders, seeing that Titus was dying, forcibly brought Evagrius to reconcile him with his brother. Seeing him, the sick man rose a little, fell prostrate at his feet and said: “Forgive and bless me, my father!” He, unmerciful and fierce, refused to forgive in the presence of everyone, saying: “I will never reconcile with him, neither in this century nor in the future.” And suddenly Evagrius escaped from the hands of the elders and fell. They wanted to raise him, but they saw that he was already dead. And they could neither stretch out his arms nor close his mouth, like someone who had died long ago. The sick man immediately stood up, as if he had never been sick. And everyone was horrified by the sudden death of one and the quick recovery of the other. Evagrius was buried with much weeping. His mouth and eyes remained open, and his arms were stretched out. Then the elders asked Titus: “What does all this mean?” And he said: “I saw angels retreating from me and crying for my soul, and demons rejoicing at my anger. And then I began to pray to my brother to forgive me. When you brought him to me, I saw an unmerciful angel holding a flaming spear, and when Evagrius did not forgive me, he struck him and he fell dead. The angel gave me his hand and lifted me up.” Hearing this, the brothers were afraid of God, who said: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).”
When preparing to receive the Holy Mysteries, we need (if there is such an opportunity) to ask for forgiveness from everyone whom we have voluntarily or unwittingly offended and to forgive everyone ourselves. If it is not possible to do this personally, you need to make peace with your neighbors at least in your heart. Of course, this is not easy - we are all proud, touchy people (by the way, touchiness always stems from pride). But how can we ask God for forgiveness of our sins, count on their remission, if we ourselves do not forgive our offenders. Shortly before the faithful receive communion, the Lord's Prayer is sung at the Divine Liturgy - “Our Father.” As a reminder to us that only then will God “leave ( forgive) we are in debt ( sins) ours,” when we also leave “our debtor.”
The meaning of the sacrament
The first step in preparing for communion will be to understand the meaning of communion, so many go to church because it is fashionable and one could say that you took communion and confessed, but in fact such communion is a sin. When preparing for communion, you need to understand that you go to church to see the priest, first of all, to draw closer to the Lord God and repent of your sins, and not to arrange a holiday and an extra reason to drink and eat. At the same time, going to receive communion just because you were forced is not good; you must go to this sacrament at will, cleansing your soul of sins.
So, anyone who wants to worthily partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ must prayerfully prepare himself for this in two or three days: pray at home in the morning and evening, attend church services. Before the day of communion, you must be at the evening service. To the home evening prayers is added (from the prayer book) the rule for Holy Communion.
The main thing is the living faith of the heart and the warmth of repentance for sins.
Prayer is combined with abstinence from fast food - meat, eggs, milk and dairy products, during strict fasting and from fish. The rest of your food should be kept in moderation.
Those who wish to receive communion must, preferably the day before, before or after the evening service, bring sincere repentance of their sins to the priest, sincerely revealing their soul and not hiding a single sin. Before confession, you must certainly reconcile both with your offenders and with those whom you have offended. During confession, it is better not to wait for the priest’s questions, but to tell him everything that is on your conscience, without justifying yourself in anything and without shifting the blame to others. Under no circumstances should you condemn someone or talk about the sins of others during confession. If it is not possible to confess in the evening, you need to do this before the start of the liturgy, or, in extreme cases, before the Cherubic Song. Without confession, no one, except infants under seven years of age, can be admitted to Holy Communion. After midnight, it is forbidden to eat or drink; you must come to Communion strictly on an empty stomach. Children should also be taught to abstain from food and drink before Holy Communion.
How to prepare for communion?
The days of fasting usually last a week, in extreme cases - three days. Fasting is prescribed on these days. Meal food is excluded from the diet - meat, dairy products, eggs, and on days of strict fasting - fish. Spouses refrain from physical intimacy. The family refuses entertainment and watching television. If circumstances permit, you should attend church services on these days. The morning and evening prayer rules are followed more diligently, with the addition of the reading of the Penitential Canon.
Regardless of when the Sacrament of Confession is celebrated in the church - in the evening or in the morning, it is necessary to attend the evening service on the eve of communion. In the evening, before reading prayers for bedtime, three canons are read: Repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ, Mother of God, Guardian Angel. You can read each canon separately, or use prayer books where these three canons are combined. Then the canon for Holy Communion is read before the prayers for Holy Communion, which are read in the morning. For those who find it difficult to perform such a prayer rule in one day, take the priest’s blessing to read three canons in advance during the days of fasting.
It is quite difficult for children to follow all the prayer rules for preparing for communion. Parents, together with their confessor, need to choose the optimal number of prayers that the child can handle, then gradually increase the number of necessary prayers needed to prepare for communion, up to the full prayer rule for Holy Communion.
For some, it is very difficult to read the necessary canons and prayers. For this reason, others do not confess or receive communion for years. Many people confuse preparation for confession (which does not require such a large volume of prayers read) and preparation for communion. Such people can be recommended to begin the Sacraments of Confession and Communion in stages. First, you need to properly prepare for confession and, when confessing your sins, ask your confessor for advice. We need to pray to the Lord to help us overcome difficulties and give us strength to adequately prepare for the Sacrament of Communion.
Since it is customary to begin the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach, from twelve o’clock at night they no longer eat or drink (smokers do not smoke). The exception is infants (children under seven years of age). But children from a certain age (starting from 5–6 years, and if possible earlier) must be taught to the existing rule.
In the morning they also don’t eat or drink anything and, of course, don’t smoke, you can only brush your teeth. After reading the morning prayers, prayers for Holy Communion are read. If reading prayers for Holy Communion in the morning is difficult, then you need to take a blessing from the priest to read them the evening before. If confession is performed in the church in the morning, you must arrive on time, before confession begins. If confession was made the night before, then the person confessing comes to the beginning of the service and prays with everyone.
Fasting before confession
People who are resorting to Communion of the Holy Sacraments of Christ for the first time need to fast for a week, those who take communion less than twice a month, or do not observe Wednesday and Friday fasts, or often do not really observe multi-day fasts, fast for three days before communion. Do not eat animal food, do not drink alcohol. And don’t overeat on lean food, but eat as much as necessary to fill up and that’s all. But those who resort to the Sacraments every Sunday (as a good Christian should) can fast only Wednesday and Friday, as usual. Some also add - and at least on Saturday evening, or on Saturday - not to eat meat. Before communion, do not eat or drink anything for 24 hours. On the prescribed days of fasting, eat only plant-based foods.
It is also very important these days to keep yourself from anger, envy, condemnation, empty talk and physical communication between spouses, as well as on the night after communion. Children under 7 years old do not need to fast or confess.
Also, if for the first time man walking for communion, you need to try to read the entire rule, read all the canons (you can buy a special book in the store, called “Rule for Holy Communion” or “Prayer book with the rule for communion”, everything is clear there). To make it not so difficult, you can do this by dividing the reading of this rule over several days.
Clean body
Remember that you are not allowed to go to the temple dirty, unless of course it is required life situation. Therefore, preparing for communion means that on the day you go to the sacrament of communion, you must wash your body from physical dirt, that is, take a bath, shower or go to the sauna.
Preparing for Confession
Before confession itself, which is a separate sacrament (it does not have to be followed by Communion, but it is desirable), you can not fast. A person can confess at any time when he feels in his heart that he needs to repent, confess his sins, and as quickly as possible so that his soul is not burdened. And if you are properly prepared, you can take communion later. Ideally, if possible, it would be good to attend the evening service, and especially before holidays or the day of your angel.
It is absolutely unacceptable to fast in food, but not change the course of your life in any way: continue to go to entertainment events, to the cinema for the next blockbuster, to visit, sit all day with computer toys, etc. The main thing in the days of preparation for Communion is to live They are different from other days of everyday life; you don’t have to work hard for the Lord. Talk to your soul, feel why it is spiritually bored. And do something that has been put off for a long time. Read the Gospel or spiritual book; visit people we love but have forgotten; ask for forgiveness from someone from whom we were ashamed to ask for it and we put it off until later; try these days to give up numerous attachments and bad habits. Simply put, these days you have to be bolder and be better than usual.
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; exact time The beginning of services and the days of their performance 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 on church holidays. It is advisable for those preparing for Communion to attend the service from its 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) thanksgiving prayers and in the future carefully guard your soul from sins and passions.
How to approach the Holy Chalice?
Each communicant needs to know well how to approach the Holy Chalice so that communion occurs orderly and without fuss.
Before approaching the Chalice, you must bow to the ground. If there are many communicants, then in order not to disturb others, you need to bow in advance. When the royal doors open, you must cross yourself and fold your arms crosswise on your chest, right hand over the left, and with such a folding of hands, take communion; you need to move away from the Chalice without releasing your hands. You need to approach with right side temple, and leave the left one free. The altar servers receive communion first, then the monks, the children, and only then everyone else. You need to give way to your neighbors, and under no circumstances push. Women need to erase before communion. lipstick. Women should approach communion with their heads covered.
Approaching the Chalice, you should loudly and clearly call your name, accept the Holy Gifts, chew them (if necessary) and immediately swallow them, and kiss the lower edge of the Chalice like the rib of Christ. You cannot touch the Chalice with your hands and kiss the priest’s hand. It is forbidden to be baptized at the Chalice! Raising your hand to make the sign of the cross, you can accidentally push the priest and spill the Holy Gifts. Having gone to the table with a drink, you need to eat antidor or prosphora and drink some warmth. Only after this can you venerate the icons.
If the Holy Gifts are given from several Chalice, they can only be received from one. You cannot receive communion twice a day. On the day of Communion, it is not customary to kneel, with the exception of bows during Great Lent when reading the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, bows before the Shroud of Christ on Holy Saturday and kneeling prayers on the day of the Holy Trinity. Arriving home, you should first of all read prayers of thanksgiving for Holy Communion; if they are read in church at the end of the service, you need to listen to the prayers there. After communion, you should also not spit out anything or rinse your mouth until the morning. Participants should try to protect themselves from idle talk, especially from condemnation, and to avoid idle talk, they must read the Gospel, the Jesus Prayer, akathists, and Holy Scripture.
You must prepare yourself for the sacrament of Holy Communion through prayer, fasting and repentance.
Preparation for Communion includes:
Fasting before Communion;
Attendance at the evening service on the eve of Communion;
Reading a specific prayer rule;
Abstinence from food and drink on the day of Communion itself, from midnight until Communion itself;
Admission to Communion by a priest at confession;
Presence at the entire Divine Liturgy.
This preparation (in church practice it is called fasting) lasts several days and concerns both the physical and spiritual life of a person.
The body is prescribed abstinence, i.e. bodily cleanliness (abstaining from marital relations) and food restriction (fasting). On fasting days, food of animal origin is excluded - meat, milk, eggs and, during strict fasting, fish. Bread, vegetables, fruits are consumed in moderation. The mind should not be distracted by the trifles of everyday life and have fun.
On the days of fasting, one should attend services in the church, if circumstances permit, and more diligently follow the home prayer rule: whoever usually does not read everything, let him read everything in full; whoever does not read the canons, let him read at least one canon on these days.
For prayer preparation for Holy Communion you need to read:
On the eve of Communion, you must be at the evening service. If this did not happen for reasons beyond your control, then try to tell the priest about it in confession.
After midnight they no longer eat or drink, for it is customary to begin the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach. In the morning, morning prayers and the Follow-up to Holy Communion are read, except for the canon read the day before.
Those preparing for Holy Communion must make peace with everyone and protect themselves from feelings of anger and irritation, refrain from condemnation and all indecent thoughts and conversations, spending time, as far as possible, in solitude, reading the Word of God (Gospel) and books of spiritual content.
Before Communion, confession is necessary - either in the evening or in the morning, before the liturgy.
Without confession, no one can be admitted to Holy Communion, except for children under 7 years of age and cases mortal danger.
Anyone preparing to receive communion must come to church in advance, before the start of the Liturgy.
The Apostolic Decrees clearly speak about the procedure for receiving the Holy Gifts:
“... let the bishop receive communion, then the presbyters, deacons, subdeacons, readers, singers, ascetics, and among the women - deaconesses, virgins, widows, then children, and then all the people in order, with modesty and reverence, without noise.”
Having received the Holy Mysteries, you should kiss the edge of the Chalice without crossing yourself and immediately go to the table to taste a particle of the antidor and wash it down with warmth. It is not customary to leave the church before kissing the altar cross in the hands of a priest. After that, you need to listen (or read them when you get home).
On the day of Holy Communion, one must behave reverently and decorously in order to “worthily preserve within oneself the Christ received.”
Hegumen Paisiy (Savosin) answers the question:
– Is it necessary to strictly prepare for communion, reading all the canons and fasting, during Bright Week?
As an example of a prayer rule, I can cite the practice of the St. John the Theologian Monastery in Poshchupovo, according to which, for Compline with the canons and for the evening prayers, the Easter hour is chanted (read out) twice (found in the canons and many prayer books), and then the actual following to Holy Communion. Regarding fasting... As the Savior says in the Gospel, “ the sons of the bridal chamber cannot fast when the bridegroom is with them"... And Bright Week... isn't this the time? But, if a person is embarrassed, he can have a plant-based dinner on the eve of Communion.
Features of preparation for Communion for children
The Church does not forbid making significant concessions to children. It would be most correct in each specific case to consult with a priest - while keeping in mind the main thing: visiting church, prayer, Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ should bring joy to the child, and not become a difficult and unwanted duty.
IN the latter case upon reaching a certain age, the internal protest raised in the child by overly zealous parents can pour out in the most unexpected and unpleasant forms.
Hieromonk Dorotheos (Baranov):
“First of all, a person who wants to receive Communion must clearly understand for himself what Communion is, what kind of event it is in his life. So that it doesn’t turn out like this: a person will do everything correctly, prepare, fast, read all the prescribed prayers, confess, but the most important thing is will not know, or will not want to find out. Therefore, if you have any perplexed questions about what happens during the liturgy, what is in the Holy Chalice and is taught to the believers, then they must be resolved with the priest in advance, even before Communion. If a person has been going to church for a long time and has already received communion more than once, we still need to honestly ask ourselves the question of whether we correctly understand the meaning of the church sacraments (Communion and Confession) that we are about to begin.
Correct preparation for the sacrament of Communion in the tradition of the Orthodox Church is called “fasting”. It usually lasts for three or more (up to a week) days before Communion. These days, a person prepares himself for the meeting with God, which will occur during Communion. God can only move into a pure heart, so the main goal of preparation is awareness of one’s sins, confessing them before God and one’s confessor, and the determination to leave sins (passions), or at least begin to fight them. To do this, it is necessary for the duration of the fast to resolutely move away from everything that fills the soul with unnecessary vanity. This does not mean that a person should not go to work or do anything at home. No! But: do not watch TV, do not go to noisy companies, do not meet unnecessarily with numerous acquaintances. This is all quite within the power of anyone and is necessary in order to carefully look into your heart and, with the help of such an “instrument” as conscience, cleanse it of everything that is called by the general word - sin.
The most effective means of preparing for a meeting with God is prayer. Prayer is a conversation, communication with God, consisting of turning to Him with requests: for forgiveness of sins, for help in the fight against one’s vices and passions, for mercy in various spiritual and everyday needs. Before Communion, three canons must be read, which are found in almost all prayer books, as well as the Rule for Holy Communion. If you were unable to find these prayers on your own, then you need to go directly to the priest in the temple with the prayer book and ask him to indicate what exactly needs to be read.
It takes time to calmly and carefully read all the prayers prescribed before Communion. If the three canons and the Rule for Holy Communion are read at once together, it will take at least one and a half, even up to two hours, especially if a person does not read them often and is not familiar with the text. If we add morning or evening prayers to this, then such prayerful tension can deprive a person of both physical and spiritual strength. Therefore, there is a practice that the three canons are read gradually over the course of several days before Communion, the canon for Communion (from the Rule for Communion) is read the night before and after it prayers for bedtime, and prayers before Communion (from the Rule for Communion) in the morning of the day Communion after the usual morning prayers.
In general, all “technical” questions regarding preparation for Communion should only be learned from the priest in the church. This may be hindered by your timidity, indecisiveness, or the priest’s lack of time, but one way or another, with some persistence, you can find out everything. The main thing is not to pay attention to all the confusion and bewilderment (or, in church terms, temptations) that will certainly arise, but to trust in God. We need to pray that He will bring us to the sacrament of Communion, and thus fulfill our main purpose, the goal of our life - union with God."
About the frequency of Communion
The first Christians took communion every Sunday, but now not everyone has such purity of life to take communion so often. In the 19th and 20th centuries, St. The Church commanded us to take communion every Lent and no less than once a year.St. Theophan the Recluse writes about how often one should receive communion:
“God's mercy be with you!
Having fasted during this Lent, you wrote that you are dissatisfied with your fasting, although you love fasting and would like to do this work of Christian piety more often. - Since you haven’t indicated why you are dissatisfied with your fasting, I won’t say anything about it, I’ll just add: try to bring your fasting to the point that it satisfies you. You can ask your confessor how to improve your fasting. As for more often, there is no need to increase the frequency, because this frequency will take away no small part of the reverence for this greatest work, I mean fasting and communion. It seems that I have already written to you that it is enough to talk and take communion in every major post out of 4. And in the fasts before Easter and Christmas twice. And look no more. Try to better organize and perfect your inner self.”
Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin):
“Already Theophan the Recluse, in a letter to one of his spiritual daughters, wrote that irregularities had crept into parish life, and as the most dangerous example of such irregularities, he cited the vicious practice of priests who prevent Christians from frequently receiving communion. The reason why this is done, first of all, , personal lack of spirituality, when the priest himself does not feel the inner need to receive communion as often as possible, and looks at communion as his professional duty. The second reason is theological ignorance and unwillingness to become familiar with the unanimous teaching of the holy fathers about frequent communion as the Heavenly Bread necessary for the soul. The third reason is laziness and the desire to shorten the time needed for confession and communion. There is another reason: this is a false, Pharisaic reverence, the Pharisees, in order to show their special respect for the name of God - Jehovah, they forbade pronouncing it in this way. They distorted the commandment: “Do not take the name of your Lord in vain (in vain).” The liturgy itself is a divine service, during which the sacrament of the transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts is performed and the sacrament is given to the people. When the liturgy is served, then you can receive communion. In liturgical prayers, the Church calls on everyone in the church to accept the Body and Blood of Christ (of course, if they have prepared for this). On Easter week and on Christmastide, and in the several weeks preceding Great and Petrine Lent, one can without a doubt receive communion, since otherwise the Church would not serve the liturgy on these days. The life of St. Macarius the Great tells how a priest, who arbitrarily excluded people from communion, was severely punished with many years of paralysis, and was healed only through the prayers of the saint. Macaria. St. John of Kronstadt especially sharply denounced this vicious practice of communion. On Bright Week, before communion, it is enough to abstain from meat food, but it is better to agree on this issue with your confessor... Archpriest Belotsvetov wrote in a well-known collection of his sermons that in his time Christians tried to take communion on Bright Week every day.”
Currently, the Church leaves the issue to priests and spiritual fathers to decide. It is with the spiritual father that one must agree on how often to take communion, for how long and how strictly to fast before it.
Follow-up to Holy Communion with translation into RussianSaint Theophan the Recluse. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it:
Teaching about. John on Communion. - I.K. Sursky. Father John of Kronstadt
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov). Ascetic sermon:
Patriarch Pavel of Serbia. Can a woman come to church for prayer, kiss icons and receive communion when she is “unclean” (during her period)?
EGGS WITH IMAGES
ABOUT a new type of iconoclasm
Lent is coming to an end. Approaching Easter . Orthodox believers are preparing according to tradition to meet herEaster cakes, Easter cottage cheese and colored eggs .
Let’s say one “Easter” online store offers us “a large assortment of various products for Happy holiday Easter". For example, “Easter stickers “With the faces of saints””
However, on the packaging with stickers you will not find instructions on how to dispose of them. It is unlikely that there will be anyone willing to supply natural chicken eggs with icon faces in the red corner and pray on them. Then what? Will the holy images, along with the shell, go into the trash bin? There is a compromise option - burn it in a clean place and bury the ashes as required. church rules deal with consecrated objects. In a metropolis, or just a city, this is difficult. And how many people are there who want to bother like this?fromfor some kind of shell with “stickers”?
How “joyful” it will be for the hostess to make the festive table such a work applied arts and conveniently arrange dishes with eggs, Easter cake, sausage, arrange cutlery on the face of the Virgin Mary or the Savior Crucified for her inGood Friday , Who endured suffering, reproach and blasphemous death! After all, all this was a long time ago, and on this day she should rejoice at the Resurrection of Christ and cut sausage on His Face to break the fast after a long fast!..
True, the manufacturer has no idea that there was no Easter joy at the Last Supper.
I think that after all that has been said above, three questions arise: 1) how do we relate to the Easter holiday, 2) to God and His saints, and 3) to their sacred images (icons, frescoes, mosaics, etc.).
In my deep conviction, almost every Christian holiday is a “holiday with tears in our eyes,” including Easter. “For our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7) and we “were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20, 7:23). During Great Lent, the Church reminds its children of this almost every Sunday with special services: passions (in addition to the texts of the Lenten Triodion and the Octoechos). The service of the entire Holy Week is dedicated to this.
But onlyspiritually unreasonable person or, worse, devoid of the fear of God,can, with a fearless hand, stick on the egg the face of the Savior, or His Most Pure Mother, or the saints who served God(unlike us sinners) with his righteous life, full of sorrows, suffering for the truth of God, and many with painful death for their testimonyOChrist; stick,knowing in advance that in a couple of days he will throw them in the trash along with the shells . Even the image ordinary person worthybO More respect! Will we really allow ourselves to easily stick photos of our loved ones and loved ones on objects, tear them up, and throw them into waste? How should we then treat sacred images?
The cathedral oros says where, on what and for what purpose sacred images should be located and how they should be venerated by believers: “...we define: like the image of the honest and life-giving Cross,put in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and garments, on walls and on boards, in houses and on paths honest and holy icons, painted and madefrommosaics andfromanother substance suitable for this, an icon of the Lord and God and Our Savior Jesus Christ... the Mother of God... honest angels and all saints and reverend men. For the more often they are visible through the image on icons, the morelooking at them stimulated to remember O the prototypes themselves and the love for them and to honor them with kisses and reverent worship...veneration according to the same model as it is given to the image of the honest and life-giving Cross and the Holy Gospel, and other shrines,incense and candles ... For the honor given to the image goes back to the prototype, andone who worships an icon worships the hypostasis of the person depicted on it »
Fromconciliar definition it follows that sacred images must
1) be located in decent places;
2) be manufacturedfromdurable materials;
3) to be honored by kissing, burning incense (incense), and lighting candles;
4) they are intended to raise the human mind from the image (icon, fresco, mosaic) to the prototype - Christ, the Mother of God, angels and saints of God;
5) the honor given to the icon goes back to the person (hypostasis) depicted on it;
6) any ungodly and offensive action towards the icon also goes back to its prototype, that is, to the person (hypostasis) of Christ, the Mother of God, angels and saints.
Holy Fathers on fasting before Communion
St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407).“Let us rejoice and be glad, the meal is complete. The Lamb is presented, let no one come forth hungry... Those who have fasted and those who have not fasted, come, be filled with food... He who is not fasting, when he receives Communion, if he comes with a clear conscience, then he celebrates Passover - be it today, be it tomorrow, be it on any day . For preparation is assessed not by observation of the times, but by a clear conscience.” Against the Jews. Word 3. T.1. Book 2
St. Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894). Nowhere is it written to take on too much of a post without a special need. Fasting is an external matter. It must be done on demand inner life. What need do you have for such excessive fasting? And so you eat little by little. The measure that has already been established could be maintained during Lent. And then you constantly Lent. And then we have to spend whole days without food?! This could have been done in the week when they were preparing to receive Holy Communion. Why languish yourself like this all through Lent? And they would have to eat a little every day.
St. Right John of Kronstadt (1829-1909). We Christians, as new people, are commanded to fast, so we should not worry much about feeding the belly, excesses in food and drink, or delicacies, because all this hinders the achievement of the Kingdom of Heaven. Our duty is to prepare for heavenly life and take care of spiritual food, and spiritual food is fasting, prayer, reading the Word of God, especially the Communion of the Holy Mysteries. When we do not care about fasting and prayer, then we are filled with all sorts of sins and passions, but when we feed on spiritual food, then we are cleansed of them and adorned with humility, meekness, patience, mutual love, purity of soul and body.
The current practice, according to which the communicant fasts for three days before Communion several times a year, is fully consistent with the tradition of the Church. It should also be recognized as acceptable the practice when a person who receives Communion weekly or several times a month, and at the same time observing the multi-day and one-day fasts specified in the Charter, proceeds to the Holy Chalice without additional fasting, or maintaining a one-day fast or fasting on the evening of the eve of Communion.
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (1966). “How often should one receive communion.” “Fasting before communion is a pious tradition of the Russian Church, and it is necessary for those who rarely receive communion, as it forces them to go deeper into themselves and think about their sins during fasting. As for people who strive to receive communion every Sunday or more often, less strict rules apply to them. In addition, there are many holidays when fasting contradicts the very idea of the holiday.”
Mark, Bishop of Yegoryevsk, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (1964). The tradition of three days of fasting.“The tradition of a three-day fast comes from the tradition of the synodal period, when they took communion once or twice a year. In this situation, it is normal and very good if a person fasts for 3 days before communion. Today, as a rule, confessors and priests recommend taking communion much more often. It turns out to be a kind of contradiction: people who want to receive communion often condemn themselves to almost constant fasting on Thursdays and Saturdays, which becomes an impossible feat for many. If we continue to not approach this issue with reasoning, then this will have a negative impact on the spiritual life of our Church.”
Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov, catechist, missionary, publicist, translator (1966). “Taste the Cup of Life.”“Bodily fasting before Communion is another tradition of the Russian Church associated with rare communion. The typikon indicates the week-long fasting before communion. Obviously, this is the norm for those who receive communion once a year or less; For those who receive communion frequently (once a week or more often), there is no corporal fasting. Unfortunately, the latter practice is followed in our time only by the clergy and some of the pious laity. Let us emphasize that bodily fasting is not the goal itself, but only a means for leading a more focused spiritual life.”
View all church canons and you will not find anywhere that the Church obliges special fasts before Communion. There are only those posts that the Mother Church established, i.e. Wednesday, Friday and all the fasts of the year that all believers know about. In the 1st century, Christians received communion at suppers, during meals or after meals, which were called Agapies. Likewise, our Savior himself did not administer this holy Sacrament after three days of fasting, but after the evening meal, which we read about in the Holy Gospel.