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Eucharistic (Qurbono) Discipline <
October 2nd, 2005
People of whatever convictions -- theistic or
atheistic, Christian or non-Christian -- who
behave in an orderly and respectful manner may
attend liturgical services in an Orthodox
church, and participate, as possible, in the
prayers and rituals (such as singing psalms and
hymns, and venerating icons and relics). But
only members of the Orthodox Church who practice
a specific spiritual discipline may participate
in the Church’s sacraments and receive holy
communion at the Orthodox divine liturgy. The
essential elements of Eucharistic discipline in
the Orthodox Church may be simply stated in five
points.
-
Participation in Holy Communion in the
Orthodox Church requires first of all that a
person be a baptized, chrismated member of
the Orthodox Church who fully accepts the
conditions and demands of his or her baptism
and chrismation (Mooron). Eucharistic discipline in
the Orthodox Church demands that
communicants in the Eucharistic sacrifice
understand themselves at all times and in
all circumstances as having died and risen
with Christ, as sealed by the Holy Spirit,
and as belonging to God as His
bonded-servants and free-born sons in Jesus.
-
Baptism and chrismation (Mooron), and so,
participation in holy communion, require a
person to believe in the Word of God, the
Gospel of Christ, and the Christian Faith
summarized in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan
creed, as these are proclaimed and
interpreted in the Orthodox Church. Members
of the Orthodox Church who question biblical
or churchly doctrines may participate in
holy communion if they are praying and
working to come to an enlightened
understanding of the Faith under the
guidance of their pastors and teachers. But
those who have been baptized and chrismated
in the Orthodox Church who publicly express
doubt and disbelief about the faith as
confessed and lived in the Orthodox Church,
or secretly harbor such doubt and disbelief,
may not partake of holy communion at an
Orthodox divine liturgy.
-
Confessing the Christian faith as understood
and practiced in the Orthodox Church is to
identify fully with Orthodox Church history
and tradition, and to take full
responsibility for it. It is to accept and
defend the dogmas and canons of the councils
accepted by the Orthodox Churches, to
worship according to Orthodox liturgical
rites, to venerate those who are glorified
as Orthodox saints, and to struggle to
practice the ethical and moral teachings of
Christ and his apostles as recorded in the
holy scriptures and elaborated in Orthodox
Church tradition. Because participation in
the holy Eucharist is not only a sacred
communion with God through Christ and the
Holy Spirit, but also a holy communion with
Orthodox believers of all times and places,
responsibility for the whole of Orthodox
Church history and tradition is an absolute
condition for partaking in the holy
communion of Christ’s body and blood at the
Church’s divine liturgy.
-
Identifying fully with Orthodox Christian
teaching and practice requires a communicant
in the Orthodox Church to strive to put the
Church’s biblical, evangelical and apostolic
teachings into practice in their everyday
lives. No one can believe and do everything
perfectly. Eucharistic discipline, however,
demands that a communicant struggles to do
so, admitting when he or she fails, and
repenting without self-justification over
one’s failures and sins. This means,
concretely, that Eucharistic discipline
requires a communicant to study God’s Word
in scripture, to pray and fast and give alms
as one can, to attend church services as
regularly as possible, and to live according
to God’s commandments in all aspects of
one’s life and work, regularly giving an
account of one’s behavior to one’s pastor
and spiritual guide, repenting of one’s
sins, and struggling by God’s grace to
change and improve. Persons rejecting such a
disciplined life may not partake of Holy
Communion in the Orthodox Church.
-
Eucharistic discipline in the Orthodox
Church finally requires that a communicant
be in constant repentance, realizing that he
or she is never worthy of receiving holy
communion, and knowing that the heartfelt
confession of one’s unworthiness is an
absolute condition for partaking in a worthy
manner. The essential expression of one’s
unworthiness to receive Christ’s body and
blood in Holy Communion, with the admission
of one’s sins, is the forgiveness of others.
Eucharistic discipline demands that
communicants of Christ’s body and blood be
at peace with everyone as far as they can
be, even when others are unwilling to
forgive and be reconciled. At least within
themselves, partakers of Holy Communion at
an Orthodox Divine Liturgy must be in a
union of love with all people, including
their worst enemies.
Acceptance of one’s baptism and chrismation in
the Church, responsibility for the Church’s
faith and life, the struggle to put the faith
fully into practice, accountability for one’s
personal belief and behavior, constant and
continual repentance, and peace with all people
in the union of love commanded and given by God
in Christ and the Holy Spirit -- these are the
requirements for participation in holy communion
in the Orthodox Church. They are, ultimately and
essentially, what Holy Communion itself is all
about.
-Archpriest Thomas Hopko, OCA, Dean of
St
Vladimir's Seminary
from Orthodox Education Day Book - Oct 7, 2000
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