What prayers to read after communion for Easter. Is it possible to be in the evening service in one church, and in the morning for communion in another? Can I take communion if I live in an unmarried civil marriage and confessed my sins on the eve of communion? I intend to

The Orthodox Church does not recognize communion at Easter without repentance for sins. However, this does not mean that casual parishioners of the temple should attend Easter communion. Many priests are afraid to meet people unprepared for it. After all, before going to communion, a person must prepare: to pass great post(the central post in all historical churches) and confess. We are not talking about persons who do not belong to the Orthodox Church at all.

The inadmissibility of unprepared people to take communion has been known since ancient times. The question boiled down to the confessor's decision as to whether a person is generally worthy to unite with Christ. However, according to historical data, confession was tied to communion not so long ago and rather became a necessary measure. This happened due to the fact that the Christian spirit has cooled: people used to take communion every weekend, and then they began to do it only 4 times a year during multi-day fasts.

So that people who rarely visit the temple could receive communion, in Orthodox religion decided in without fail confess the person first. At the moment, this measure still justifies itself, however, not always. This is due to the fact that people go to confession not for the purpose of repentance, but rather as a necessary event, without which the priest will not allow them to the church sacrament.

Many spiritual mentors are categorically against communion without confession.

He brings to the temple not only the baptized, but also unbaptized people. Also in the church you can meet those who have no idea about church canons, but at the same time want to take communion. On the Holy holiday it is necessary to tighten control in order to prevent unprepared people from accessing the Chalice (a vessel for Christian worship used when taking Holy Communion). Often an unpleasant spectacle occurs on this great feast, when those in drunkenness parishioners come to bless Easter cakes during the night service.

How to prepare for confession on the eve of Easter

Confession is understood as the repentance of a person for committed sins, where the conductor between the penitent and God is the priest as a witness. It is important to be able to distinguish this sacrament from a confidential conversation with a spiritual mentor. During it, of course, you can also get answers to exciting questions, but it will take a long time. That is why it would be better to turn to the priest with a request to appoint another time for a long conversation.

To prepare for confession, you need to know the following.

Training	clarification
Repentance begins with the realization of sins.	A person who thinks about confession admits that he did something wrong or continues to do something in his life.
No need to prepare a "list of sins" in advance.	Fellowship with the Lord must come from the heart.
You need to talk only about your own actions, and not about the fact that they were committed because of a relative or neighbor.	Every sin is the result of a person's personal choice.
When addressing God, one should not worry about the correctness of the chosen words.	You need to speak in simple, accessible language, and not invent complex terms.
Don't talk about petty things like "watching TV" or "wearing the wrong clothes."	Topics of conversation should be serious: about the Lord and neighbors ( we are talking not only about family, relatives, but also about people who meet throughout life).
Repentance should not be just a story about your actions.	It should change the mind of a person and not return him to past actions.
We need to learn to forgive people.	And not just ask for forgiveness from God.
To express a “repentant” state, one must read the Canon of Penitence to the Lord Jesus Christ.	One of the greatest liturgical texts that can be found in almost every prayer book.

The priest may ask for some time to refrain from reading special prayers or from communion. This process is called penance and is carried out not for the purpose of punishment, but for the elimination of sin and its complete forgiveness. After confession, believers must take communion.

How to Prepare for Easter Communion

Despite the fact that confession and communion are different sacraments of the church, one should still prepare for them at the same time. Communion at Easter suggests that a believer who repented of his sins came to the sacrament. Parishioners who come after confession to communion must first of all realize the meaning of the sacrament: not just a religious rite is performed, but the communicant is reunited with God.

In addition, the following points are important:

• a person must, without hypocrisy, sincerely go towards union with God;
• the spiritual world of a person must be pure (no malice, hatred, enmity);
• violation of the set of church rules (Canon of the Church) is unacceptable;
• obligatory confession before communion;
• communion is possible only after the liturgical fast;
• fasting (fasting) for several days, abstinence from dairy and meat foods;
• prayers at worship and at home.

An integral part of the festive matins is the singing of the prayer of John of Damascus (). In addition to the usual morning and evening prayers, believers need to read the "Following to Holy Communion." Also, according to ancient church traditions, one should go to the sacrament on an empty stomach (they do not drink or eat from midnight on the eve of communion on Easter). However, sick people, for example, people with diabetes, fasting is prohibited: a sick person needs to take medicine and eat according to the daily diet.

When receiving communion before Easter, one must remember that a worthy sacrament is always associated with the state of the soul and heart of a believer. At the same time, fasting and confession are a preparation for communion, and not an obstacle on the way to it.

Holy Easter of Christ is the greatest holiday in the life of any Christian. It is not surprising that, for a while, it also changes our entire lifestyle. In particular, the home prayers of the Bright Week differ from the usual ones. The rite of preparing a layman for Communion is changing. From the evening of the first Saturday after Easter until the very feast of the Trinity, some of the usual elements of morning and evening prayers also change.

So, let's take a look at how the home prayers of the Bright Week are changing and how they differ from what we are used to. I admit that my page can be read by people who are just becoming church, and I will start with a small introduction.

One of the important moments of the church life of a Christian is the daily home (so-called "cell") reading of morning and evening prayers. This can be compared to " Good morning” and “good night”, which loving children say to their parents in the morning and going to bed. morning and evening prayers- this is a set of prayers compiled by various saints, which the Church recommends as containing the most necessary for each Orthodox doxology and petition to God, the Mother of God and the saints for the day and the coming night.

From the feast of Easter to the feast of the Trinity, home prayers change in order to express respect for the holy feast throughout Bright Week and then show the believers' understanding of the main biblical events that followed it.

The most important change that a believer needs to know about: on all days of Easter week (Bright Week) - the first week after the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, until Saturday morning inclusive, - evening and morning prayers not read at home. Instead, the Easter Hours are sung or read. They can be found in large prayer books and canon prayer books.

Also, any other home prayers of the Bright Week - canons, akathists, etc. must be preceded by three readings of the Easter troparion:

“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and bestowing life on those in the tombs”

Preparing for Communion during Holy Week

If a Christian spent Great Lent in abstinence and prayer, then on Bright Week he can start Communion on an empty stomach (that is, without taking food and water from midnight), but without fasting the day before. Of course, a reservation should be made that before Communion and break the fast breaking the fast- permission, at the end of the fast, to eat fast foods that are prohibited during fasting it is necessary in moderation, without overeating and not indulging in drunkenness, tobacco smoking.

The home prayers of Bright Week, which make up the rule for Holy Communion, change in this way: instead of the three canons (the Penitent One, the Mother of God and the Guardian Angel), the Easter Canon is read, then the Easter Hours, the Canon for Communion with prayers.

As mentioned above, all prayers, including thanksgiving prayers for Holy Communion, are preceded by three readings of the Easter troparion, and the psalms and prayers from the Trisagion to “Our Father ...” (with troparia after it) are not read.

As for confession before Communion: if you confessed during Holy Week and did not grave sins, then it is better to determine the need for confession immediately before Communion with the priest of the temple where you want to take communion or with your confessor.

Home prayers for the second week after Easter and until Trinity

From the second week after Pascha (the evening of the first Saturday), the reading of the usual morning and evening prayers is resumed, as well as the Rule for Holy Communion, which includes the canons to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos, the Guardian Angel and the Follow-up to Holy Communion.

However, it is necessary to pay attention to the following features: before the feast of the Ascension of the Lord (the 40th day after Easter), on the eve of which the Easter holiday is celebrated, instead of praying to the Holy Spirit “King of Heaven ...”, the Easter troparion “Christ is risen from the dead ...” is read three times.

From the Ascension to the feast of the Holy Trinity (50th day), prayers begin with the Trisagion “Holy God ...”, the prayer to the Holy Spirit “King of Heaven ...” is not read or sung until the feast of the Holy Trinity.

I remind you once again that before the day of the Holy Trinity, prostrations are canceled not only at home, but also in the Temple, in particular, to the exclamation “Holy to the Saints” and when the holy Chalice is taken out.

Worthy

From Monday of Bright Week until Ascension, instead of the usual ending of the prayers “It is worthy to eat ...”, a merit is sung.

About Communion at Holy Week

IN modern life Bright Week is the time of a sharp reduction in church and home prayer. Anyone who is not lazy and goes to every service all week spends 3 days in the temple - 3.5 at the most! - an hour and a half in the evening, an hour and a half in the morning. Home prayer fits into 10-15 minutes a day: sung Easter hour in the morning and again before bed. Accordingly, they usually do not receive communion during Bright Week. I am strongly opposed to parishioners - without special need! - communed at Bright Week. An exception is allowed for those who were preparing to receive communion during Holy Week, but for some reason could not. Also for those who are put into surgery and, of course, for those who are dying.

Recently, some priests, referring to the 66th Rule of the VI Council of Constantinople (Trullo), take communion at Bright Week every day and without confession. This innovation makes you delve into the true meaning of the 66th rule. Here is his text: “From the holy day of the Resurrection of Christ our God - until the New Week, throughout the whole week, the faithful should in the holy churches constantly practice in psalms and spiritual songs and songs, rejoicing and triumphing in Christ and listening to the reading of the Divine Scriptures, and enjoying the Holy Mysteries (that is, we must spend every day of Bright Week as it should be according to the charter on Great Saturday, when after the Liturgy, without leaving the church, we are obliged to listen to the Acts of the Holy Apostles until the beginning of the Paschal service) ... there is a horse race or other folk spectacle.

talking modern language, during Bright Week you should not watch TV or engage in other entertainment - we must continuously praise the Risen Lord. “For in this way let us rise with Christ and be taken up.” Maybe our descendants will learn how to celebrate the Bright Week. Then it will be possible to raise the question of daily communion. But not without Confession, since we sin every day. Anyone who doesn't notice this hasn't started yet. Christian life. If a Christian has not learned to keep track of daily sins (at least some) and repent of them, he should not take communion. In the meantime, the full implementation of the 66th rule is unrealistic. We can perceive it only as an ideal to which we should aspire.

But from this rule, the neo-renovationists snatched the words “enjoy the Holy Mysteries” - and they receive communion on Easter without abstinence in food and entertainment and, of course, without confession. And about “continuous psalms and songs and spiritual songs” and about reading the Divine Scriptures that this rule requires - there is no question! The canon is only an excuse to break the established practice (in particular, the Psalter is not read on Easter) and thereby bring confusion, and even a split, into the souls of believers. This is how canonical rules work for neo-renovationists!

Priests should be warned - it happens that people come to Easter with a request to take communion, who have not taken communion for many years or even their whole lives. Practice shows that such sudden impulses are quite common. healthy person before death - God calls to repentance. It is better not to refuse such people in Confession and Communion (even if the priest is very exhausted - at the limit of his strength).

But the same must be borne in mind at other times of the year. At confession, you need to instill that you need to take communion every year. In addition, pray every day in the morning and evening, and every week - it is better on Sunday - to come to the temple for service, standing idle in its entirety. This is the minimum of churching.

From an article by Archpriest Vladimir Pravdolyubov “On Preparation for Holy Communion”

in Voznesensky cathedral On Easter, the laity are not given communion, only children. It is an ancient Russian tradition for the laity to abstain from communion on Easter night. Church people who strive for spiritual life know that it was possible to take communion throughout Great Lent, and on Easter the Orthodox break their fast.

Those who seek to receive communion at Easter are, as a rule, people who do not have humility. They want to be higher in spiritual life than they really are. Moreover, in some places it is already becoming fashionable to take communion at Easter, even among absolutely unchurched people who did not fast even during Great Lent. Say, a special grace is to take communion on this day. To be a spiritual person, one must carry the cross of Christian life throughout one's life, live according to the commandments, and observe the Church Charter. There are many conditions for the salvation of the soul, and some think: he took communion on Easter and was sanctified for the whole year. It must be remembered that one can take communion not only for the healing of the soul and body, but also for judgment and condemnation.

If the priest in his parish allows the laity to take communion on Pascha, then he does not sin in anything, for this the Liturgy is served. And those laity who decide to take communion on this holy day should take a blessing from their confessor.

Archbishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon. Church Bulletin, No. 9 (334), May 2006

Holy Fire

Comments:

Rural foreman 03/05/2016 at 12:37:40

Elena

@He, in his famous Word for EASTER, generally says that on Easter night even those who have not fasted can receive communion. … I don't know when the 69th Apostolic Canon was written. I only know that researchers believe that not all rules were written by the apostles personally. John lived during the period 347 - 407 AD. The Sixth Ecumenical Council, which approved the 85 Apostolic Canons, took place in the 7th century. So, I don’t know if the Saint, when he wrote his Word for Easter, knew about the 69th rule [email protected]

Any apostolic canon does not need further consolidation, either conciliar or patristic. The Holy Ecumenical Councils and the Holy Fathers only referred to the Apostolic Canons as the inviolable foundations of the faith, occasionally giving explanations to them, but did not make their reception, which was the case with the Ecumenical Councils.

The words of St. John Chrysostom could not contradict the Spirit of the Church: both St. John Chrysostom and the 6th Ecumenical Council, which was convened centuries after his death, spoke in the same Spirit. For the great teacher of the Church, St. John was moved by the same Spirit as the holy apostles and fathers of the Ecumenical Councils that followed him. If you do not recognize this, then you are not an Orthodox person.

And therefore St. John could not call for communion at Pascha for those who did not observe Great Lent.

Rural foreman 02/05/2016 at 23:59:34

Elena.

@ if a Christian came to the liturgy, then he should take communion [email protected]

Where did you get it from? The bishops of the ancient Church worked out the rules of church life, which were subsequently canonized by the Councils. The institute of penitents was created with different forms prohibitions and excommunication. The practice of distributing and partaking of ANTIDOR (“Antidore” literally means “instead of giving”) has been introduced at the end of the liturgy, instead of the Holy Gifts, for those NOT PREPARED for communion at this liturgy. The faithful were not forced to take communion every time they went to church, since not everyone was ready to receive communion, either by the prompting of their conscience or by virtue of any other reasons, personal or public. Precisely in order, in accordance with the 9th Apostolic Canon, to oblige to remain in the temple until the end divine liturgy and those who, for one reason or another, cannot or do not want to take communion at this liturgy, the distribution of antidoron was introduced, which was taken from the hands of the priest at the end of the liturgy for partaking and consecration of those who did not take communion. This is how the famous canonist Bishop Nikodim (Milash) interprets the 9th Apostolic Canon, and not at all in the sense of the obligatory communion of all those present at the liturgy, as modern renovationists invent. Consequently, even in the ancient Church not all the faithful received communion.

Veniamin, Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, writes in the New Tablet: “Antidore is given mainly to those who have not prepared themselves for communion.” Referring to St. Simeon of Thessalonica, Vladyka Benjamin notes: "Antidore... this bread, marked with a copy, and over which Divine verbs are pronounced, is taught instead of the terrible Sacraments to those who have not taken communion."

Let me also remind you that in the ancient Church there was a rank of penitents - "stand-up", i.e. those who could stand with the faithful and not go out with the catechumens, but did not partake of the Holy Mysteries. This practice is spoken of by the 3rd century saint St. Gregory the Wonderworker of Neocaesarea (the 12th canon of St. Gregory: “there is a rank of those who stand together when the penitent stands together with the faithful, and does not go out with the catechumens”).

In the Word of St. John Chrysostom under the “well-fed calf”, of course, we can only talk about the triumph of Paschal joy, about the “feast of faith”. All other interpretations and sophistication are the essence of Renovationist-Schmemann inventions.

Elena 05/02/2016 at 22:27:17

Village brigadier.

The fact that it is necessary to take communion with a clear conscience, with proper preparation, is not even discussed. Of course, that's just the way it is. And I perfectly know and remember the words of St. John Chrysostom about this. But it's about something else. Let's not analyze cases of inadequate preparation, without reverence for the Holy Mysteries of Christ. This is another topic. The point is that if a Christian came to the liturgy, then he should take communion. And how often should he go to the liturgy? According to the rules of the Ecumenical Councils, at least once every 3 weeks. Do you agree with this or not? I do not know. How else can one interpret Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch. No interpreters are needed here. It is clearly and clearly written about all those "entering the church", i.e. and the laity.

Now about the Word for Easter of John Chrysostom. Of course, in this word we are talking about the Eucharist: “The meal is plentiful, enjoy it all! Well-fed calf, no one goes hungry! What is it about? Do you really think that this is just a festive feast where people eat and drink? Yes, I foresee that you will now bring me following words Saint in the same paragraph: "Enjoy the feast of faith, all accept the wealth of goodness!" Well, without faith, it is generally impossible to accept this great and “terrible” sacrament, which is simply insane for non-Orthodox atheists. I don't know when the 69th Apostolic Canon was written. I only know that researchers believe that not all rules were written by the apostles personally. John lived during the period 347 - 407 AD. The Sixth Ecumenical Council, which approved the 85 Apostolic Canons, took place in the 7th century. So, I don’t know if the Saint, when he wrote his Word for Easter, knew about the 69th rule.

Rural foreman 05/02/2016 at 21:29:57

Elena.

Here are other words of St. John Chrysostom:

"Who shall we approve? Are those who commune once, or those who often, or those who seldom? Neither one nor the other, nor the third, but those who commune with a clear conscience, with a pure heart, with an impeccable life ”(Spb.D.A., 1906, volume XII, p. 153).

You write:

@He, in his famous Word for EASTER, generally says that on Easter night even those who did not fast can receive communion [email protected]

This is a slander against the Saint. Here are his words: “You who have fasted and not fasted, rejoice today.” Here we are talking only about Easter joy, and not about communion of the Holy Mysteries. There is the 69th Apostolic Canon, which excommunicates from church communion all those who have not observed GREAT LENT. It turns out that St. John Chrysostom asserts the exact opposite of the Apostolic Canon 69? Or do you think that he did not know this Rule? Do not blaspheme the name of the Great Teacher of the Church.

Now, regarding your incorrect interpretation of Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch and Canon 80 of the VI Ecumenical Council. Here is what the famous pastor Fr. Andrey Pravdolyubov:

“Supporters of super-frequent communion demonstrate a double standard in relation to the canons. The majority are silent, and only three are mentioned: the 8th and 9th Apostolic and the 2nd Council of Antioch - and they are reinterpreted, following in this "Book of the Most Beneficent Soul" (pp. 28-31), especially the 9th, which, in their opinion, commands everyone to partake of the liturgy. To see them wrong, it is enough to compare the beginnings of the 8th Apostolic Canon and the 80th Canon of the VI Ecumenical Council. The 8th Apostolic Canon: “If a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or anyone from the sacred list…” and the 80th: “If anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or anyone who is numbered among the clergy , or a layman…”. In Canon 8, the word "layman" (or the corresponding word in Canon 9, "faithful") is missing! If the apostolic canons made the same demands on the laity as they did on the members of the clergy, then there would be no need for the 9th canon, it would be enough to insert the words: “or someone from the faithful” at the beginning of the 8th canon. And according to the erroneous interpretation of the 9th canon, even more stringent requirements are imposed on the laity, since nothing is said about those who will present reasons why they do not take communion, as is done in the 8th. So, no matter what the ancient and new interpreters say, the 8th and 9th Apostolic Canons clearly separate the clergy from the laity. If the former, being present at the Liturgy, are obliged to take communion (the 8th rule), then the latter are obliged to stay at the Liturgy until the end - and nothing more!

Consider Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch. They are excommunicated from the Church: secondly, “those who turn away from the Holy Communion of the Eucharist,” and firstly, “those who do not participate in prayer with the people.” So here we are not talking about reverence or humility (as Zonara says), but about the beginning of separation from church communion, “avoidance” from it.

A similar thing happened in our parish when it was headed by Fr. John (Krestyankin). He noticed that one pious maiden, a reader of the left kliros, did not take communion fast after fast. He asked her why? She is silent. Then he told her - either take communion on the next fast, or get off the kliros. It turned out that her mother considers all the priests (including Father John) to be “red”. After, when the fame of Fr. John as a saint and seer, she returned to the Church, repented, took communion, and still sings and reads on the kliros. So the reference to these rules in order to justify the super-frequent communion is incompetent ... Why is frequent Communion terrible? Loss of reverence and zeal in preparation for Communion. They say no matter how you prepare, you will never be ready. Therefore, it is not necessary to fast, it is not necessary to confess. This is fundamentally wrong! It is quite understandable that if the Tsar wishes to be in the house of a beggar, He will see all his squalor - and the beggar understands this. But all the same, he tries everything that is possible to do - to wash the floor, and wipe the dust, and sweep the cobwebs, and lay the tablecloth, although worn and stained, but washed. Otherwise, he risks incurring the wrath of the Distinguished Guest...

A terrible misfortune is the habit of the shrine.

Elena 05/02/2016 at 20:49:57

Well, what will the opponents of communion on Easter, on the Bright Week, and in general the opponents of the so-called. frequent communion to the following words of St. John Chrysostom? “Anyone who does not partake of St. secrets, stands shamelessly and boldly ... "

And also from him: “If someone, being called to a feast, expressed his consent to this, appeared, and would have already begun to eat, but then would not participate in it, then - tell me - would he not offend by this who called him? And would it not be better for such a person not to come at all? In the same way, you came, sang a song, as if recognizing yourself along with all the worthy (Holy Mysteries), because you did not go out with the unworthy. Why did you stay, and meanwhile you do not participate in the meal? I'm not worthy, you say. This means: you are not worthy of fellowship in prayers, because the Spirit descends not only when (gifts) are offered, but also when (sacred) songs are sung.

Well, who can object to these words of such an authority of the Church as John Chrysostom? In his famous Sermon for EASTER, he generally says that on Easter night even those who have not fasted can receive communion. And all this, coupled with the rules of the Ecumenical Councils (especially specifically about this in the 2nd canon of the Council of Antioch: “All who enter the church and listen to scriptures, but due to some deviation from the order, those who do not participate in prayer with the people, or who are averse to communion of the Holy Eucharist, may they be excommunicated from the church until then as they confess, bear the fruits of repentance, and will ask for forgiveness and thus be able to receive it") testifies to that communion should be taken at least once every 3 weeks (canon 80 of the VI Ecumenical Council, canon 11 of the Sardic Council).

Rural foreman 05/02/2016 at 15:30:00

David.

I categorically disagree with Father Georgy Maksimov's articles. Even when he wrote these articles a few years ago, I personally expressed all my comments and disagreements to him. But each of us has his own opinion.

Of course, Father George is a good shepherd and not a renovationist.

Truly, Christ is Risen!

David 02/05/2016 at 13:45:55

Village brigadier

Thanks for the detailed answer. I can say about this, but Father Georgy (Maksimov) will do it much better for me, he answered in his article almost all such quotes, and explained in detail what the error and groundlessness of these quotes taken out of context lies in. I think Father George also cannot be considered a renovationist, just like Father Raphael (like Theophan the Recluse, John of Kronstadt and many others). Here, dear brother, read this article. (I really don’t know if it’s possible to give links to other sites here, it just won’t work otherwise) http://www.pravoslavie.ru/5783.html - part 1 http://www.pravoslavie.ru/5784.html - part 2 If you don't agree with this, then I'll just shut up).

May the Lord God bless us all! Amen. Christ is Risen!

Rural foreman 02/05/2016 at 10:21:15

David.

I'll start answering from the end.

@And what does "frequent" communion mean? After all, this is a relative thing. [email protected]

Frequent communion is communion by a layman at every liturgy at which he is present. Because usually the laity attends the temple once a week (on Sunday service), then communion ONCE A WEEK is a frequent communion that has no basis in the thousand-year tradition of the Russian Church.

From the time of the adoption of Christianity in Russia and up to the XIV century, the laity took communion three times a year, and after the XIV century - four times a year with a mandatory confession before Communion. Over the following centuries, a certain practice of the frequency of communion for the laity was established in the Russian Church. In the 19th century, it was recorded in the Orthodox Christian Catechism of St. Filaret.

@- If it doesn't make it difficult, at least a few [email protected]

1. In The Orthodox Confession, St. Peter Mohyla says: “Ancient Christians took communion every Sunday; but now few have such purity of life as to be always ready to approach such a great Sacrament. The Church exhorts with a motherly voice to confess before the spiritual father and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, striving for a reverent life - four times a year or every month, and for everyone it is obligatory once a year ”(Orthodox Confession, part 1, question 90).

The same is stated in the lengthy Orthodox Catechism of St. Filireta (Drozdova): four times a year or every month.

1. I quote the answer of St. Demetrius of Rostov († 1709).

Question: How many times Orthodox Christian is it appropriate to take communion in a year?

Answer: The Holy Church has legalized communion during all four fasts; but she commanded the illiterate - the settlers and laity who work with their own hands, under fear of mortal sin for disobedience and non-communion, to take communion without fail once a year, around Holy Pascha, that is, on Great Lent ”(from answers about faith and other things necessary for knowledge Christian).

1. St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) wrote about the frequency of communion for the laity as follows: “One should commune at least in all four fasts, four times a year. If, unfortunately and unfortunately, worldly cares will not allow this to happen, then you must certainly partake once a year ”(vol. IV, p. 370).

In a letter to his ailing sister Elizabeth Alexandrovna, St. Ignatius writes: “Church service nourishes the soul, and solitude is extremely conducive to self-examination and repentance. That is why many holy fathers retired to deep deserts... I would also advise you to spend Great Lent hopelessly at home for the benefit of soul and body, sometimes invite a priest to perform some of the most important services, and postpone the fasting and communion of the Holy Mysteries until Peter's fast. It is not important to partake frequently, but to prepare yourself substantially for communion and therefore reap abundant benefits. Saint Mary of Egypt, in all her many years of life in the desert, did not commune even once: this life was preparation for communion, which she was honored with before the end of her life ”(letter dated February 16, 1847, vol. VIII, Collection of Letters, p. 366, 299).

1. Hieroschemamonk Alexander († 1878), a recluse elder of the Gethsemane Skete, taught: “Frequent communion without internal spiritual work is not considered a virtue for the one who takes communion” (Conversations of the Great Russian Elders. M., 2003. P. 170).
2. Here is a statement from Rev. Macarius of Optina: “In the first centuries of Christianity, everyone began to partake of the Sacraments at every liturgy service, but after that the Church decreed that it was indispensable for the free four times a year, and for those engaged in work at least once to partake of the Sacraments” (vol. I, p. 156 –157).
3. The first great Optina elder Leonid took communion once every three weeks, the second great Optina elder Macarius, and the third great Optina elder Ambrose took communion once a month.
4. The frequency of communion for the laity is also mentioned in the writings of St. Theophan the Recluse: “We must take communion during all four fasts. You can add more, take communion on the Great and Christmas Eve twice ... You can add more, but not too much, so as not to be indifferent” (vol. I, p. 185, p. 206).

He: “As for “more often”, then there is no need to increase it, because this frequency takes away no small part of reverence for this greatest deed ... I mean reverence and communion. I think I have already written that it is enough to say goodbye and take communion at every major fast out of four” (vol. III, p. 500, p. 177).

And also St. Theophanes writes the following: “a measure in a month once, or twice the most measured” (vol. IV, p. 757, p. 255).

1. Approximately the same instructions are contained in the commandment of St. Seraphim of Sarov to the nuns of the Diveevo Monastery: fasts, and if desired, on all the twelfth holidays ”(from“ Brief biography Elder Seraphim of Sarov, 3rd ed. Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery. Kazan, 1900, pp. 80–81). But this rule was given by Father Seraphim for the nuns, and not for the laity.
2. The Monk Barnabas of Gethsemane († 1906) in his letters advised the sisters of the Iberian Vyksa monastery: “to take communion during all the holy fasts, and also if any illness happens, as often as possible.” As can be seen from this instruction, Elder Barnabas associated the frequency of communion only with illness.
3. Optina Elder Rev. Barsanuphius wrote: “In the first century, the followers of Christ the Savior took communion every day, but they also led an angelic life, were ready every minute to stand before the face of God. No Christian was safe. It often happened that in the morning a Christian took communion, and in the evening he was seized and taken to the coliseum. Being in constant danger, Christians vigilantly watched their spiritual world and led a life in purity and holiness. But the first centuries passed, the persecution of the infidels ceased, the constant danger passed. Then, instead of daily communion, they began to receive communion once a week, then once a month, and now even once a year. In our skete, the Rule of Mount Athos, drawn up by the holy elders and handed over to us for edification, is kept. All monks receive communion six times a year, but with a blessing sometimes more often. They are so accustomed to this that more frequent communion draws everyone's attention ... ”(From a conversation on April 12, 1911).
4. I have already cited the teaching of the famous Glinsk elder of the 20th century, Schema-Archimandrite Andronicus (Lukash), which all Orthodox Christians should remember: “Those who take communion every day are people in delusion. This is not necessary, this is from the evil one. You only need to take communion once a month. It is necessary to prepare for Communion, to cut off self-will, so that Communion is for salvation, and not for condemnation. Every day a schemnik, a sick monk, a week-long priest can take communion…” (From the book of Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) “Glinskaya Hermitage”. Moscow, 1994, p. 467).
5. And finally, I will cite an excerpt from the book "Spiritual Diary" by Bishop Arseny Zhadanovsky (†1937), numbered among the host of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, the spiritual son of St. rights. John of Kronstadt: “I was once told the following case about frequent communion. One person got used to communion every day. The spiritual authorities drew attention to her. They instructed the confessor to check it. The Confessor, considering the disposition of the said person, suggested that she go to confession every time and, when he considered it inconvenient, advised her not to approach the Holy Chalice. But it was too late for her spiritual guidance. She was not embarrassed and continued to take communion every day, moving from one church to another. She was followed further and was not allowed to take communion anywhere. And this person did not begin to strive to take communion in the church, but imagined that she had already been given the divine right to bless bread and wine herself, and communed at home daily, supposedly performing the liturgy over prosphora and wine. Her case, however, ended sadly. She went insane and is currently in an insane asylum. Thus, Holy Communion must be treated with deep reverence, otherwise self-deception may arise on the basis of frequent and unworthy acceptance of the Holy Mysteries.”

David 02/05/2016 at 04:45:08

Village brigadier

***I can give you quotes from other holy fathers, primarily the holy ascetics of the Russian Church, who were AGAINST this practice (frequent communion).***

- If it doesn't make it difficult, at least a few.

***I don't agree with that. In Russian Orthodox Church there is a thousand-year tradition of communion of the laity. It was expressed by many saints of our Church. Even almost EVERYTHING! This tradition of the Russian Church DOES NOT KNOW the practice of frequent communion of the laity.***

Sorry, but that's not convincing. What does almost everything mean? And what does "frequent" communion mean? After all, this is a relative thing. What are you comparing to? If a person takes communion once a month, this is often compared to a person who takes communion once a year, but this is rare compared to a person who takes communion 2 times a week ... And one who takes communion once every 5 years is very “frequent” for him and the one who takes communion once a year... What is the criterion? and how is it justified? after all, once every 5 years, you can also take communion in condemnation ... and die in this state and not live to see the next communion. The fact that there should be no “getting used to” the Holy Mysteries, this is what all the saints say - and this is absolutely true!

Rural foreman 02/05/2016 at 01:45:50

David

@ gives an example (in my comment) of the holy fathers who were FOR this practice [email protected]

I can give you quotes from other holy fathers, primarily the holy ascetics of the Russian Church, who were AGAINST this practice (frequent communion).

@ And everyone is called to take communion Both priests AND laity @

But unlike the laity, the priest is OBLIGED to celebrate the liturgy. Sometimes as a weekly all week in a row. It is absolutely not necessary for a layman to take communion at every liturgy all week long.

Here is what the ascetic of the 20th century, the famous Glinsk elder Rev. Andronik (Lukash), writes: “Those who take communion every day are people in delusion. This is not necessary, this is from the evil one. You only need to take communion once a month. It is necessary to prepare for Communion, to cut off self-will, so that Communion is for salvation, and not for condemnation. Every day a schemer, a sick monk, a seven-week priest can take communion…”.

@ Everywhere reasoning is needed, and to each his own, but general rules here, in my opinion, it cannot be, because we are all different and everyone has their own level and experience of knowing God and communion with God. The main thing is not to go to extremes @

Here I agree with you.

@And if there is no single answer regarding the frequency of communion in the Holy Church, then the opposite opinion should not be condemned, because this is not reasonable [email protected]

And here I do not agree. The Russian Orthodox Church has a thousand-year tradition of communion of the laity. It was expressed by many saints of our Church. Even almost EVERYTHING! This tradition of the Russian Church DOES NOT KNOW the practice of frequent communion of the laity.

This tradition, in particular, is set forth in the Orthodox Christian Catechism of St. Filaret of Moscow, who was accepted by the ALL fullness of Orthodoxy: “Ancient Christians took communion every Sunday; but few of today have such purity of life as to be always ready to approach so great a sacrament. The Church, with a maternal voice, bequeaths to confess before the spiritual father and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ to those who are zealous for a reverent life - four times a year or every month, and to everyone - without fail once a year ”(Part 1. On Faith).

David 05/02/2016 at 00:46:38

Village brigadier

- It is one thing to obey your spiritual father who gave just such a blessing (once every 2 weeks), only he can know the reasons for this. A spiritual father could give a blessing to another person to take communion often, let's say several times a week. Here everything is individual, and the confessor himself decides this. In both quotes, Archimandrite Raphael says that everything should be done with the blessing of the confessor. Quote: “I think that the question of Communion should be approached individually, taking into account personal needs and circumstances of life.” — and I agree with that. But if the confessor gave a blessing that a person can, let's say, receive Holy Communion every day on Bright Week, does he sin with this? we are talking about it. And maybe not only in Bright Week, maybe at some other moments, it's up to him to decide. That's why he's a confessor. Father Raphael says that there is no common church opinion on this. But he also gives an example (in my commentary) of the holy fathers who were FOR this practice. I hope that you, having said “Here you have another quote from Father Raphael”, do not look for contradictions in this ... because it is not there.

- You write about the Divine grace of the priesthood ... as a priest he was appointed in order to serve, service is expressed in many things, this is the Liturgy, confession, sacraments, and much more .. and ONLY a priest can do this (you write about this when you say about these duties), and for this he was given grace from God, and only this is our difference, because everyone should be in their places (and naturally a layman should not read the prayers assigned to a priest .. and mix everything into one, extremely dangerous, in than agree with you). And all the priests and the laity are called to take communion (and in order to take communion one does not need to have the “grace of the priesthood”), and no one has any special privileges before God, for everyone is unworthy of communion, and the patriarch and abbot and layman and monk, and even the holy people and the righteous! since we are people and ALL have sin in ourselves, for there is no sinless person! and whom do we partake of? Creator of everything visible and invisible, Sinless and Immaculate, the True Light! everything is not worthy compared to the Infinite God.. This is His love for us, that He allows us to touch Himself and moreover, it comes to us and we are in Him, can anyone say that “I am worthy of this”? be he even a patriarch, even a layman. And here, after all, the point is not the frequency of communion, but the spirit and heart with which a person communes. It is possible and rarely, once a year, to receive communion and each time “in condemnation”. There are people who approach the Holy Sacrament without thinking, saying “the more often the more grace” and this will also be condemned ...

Reasoning is needed everywhere, and to each his own, but there can be no general rules here, in my opinion, because we are all different and each has his own level and experience of knowing God and communion with God. The main thing is not to go to extremes, on the one hand, negligence and carelessness, on the other hand, hypocrisy and legalism, and therefore it is highly desirable to have a confessor and do obedience without condemning others who do otherwise. And if there is no single answer regarding the frequency of communion in the Holy Church, then the opposite opinion should not be condemned, for this is not reasonable.

Rural foreman 05/01/2016 at 23:45:52

David.

You quoted Father Raphael (Karelin) about the frequency of the communion of the laity. Here is another quote from Father Raphael:

R.b. Vladimir asks:

Dear Father Raphael! My question concerns the frequency of Holy Communion. My spiritual father, shegumen Alexy, who died a few years ago, did not bless me to take communion more than once every two weeks. I completely trusted the priest in matters of soul salvation, and now, when he is not around, this trust has not disappeared. Moreover, I pray to him! I try to keep his blessing. My inner feeling confirms this... Now I am a novice, and my confessor, a hieromonk, advises me to take communion at every liturgy, but at the same time he stipulated that he does not insist on this. I treat him well, I do not want to upset him. Now, as you know, the entire Renovationist army insists on frequent communion. I do not accept this, as well as all their "modernism". I beg your advice, how will you bless? I'm about 72 years old, it's too late to make mistakes. Save you Lord!

Pray for me, Vladimir.

Archimandrite Raphael answers:

Vladimir! In no conciliar rules you will find an exact indication of how many times and when to take communion. In the 19th century in Church of Constantinople a lengthy discussion arose about whether frequent, daily communion was permissible. It lasted for many years and did not lead to final results. Patriarch Gregory of Constantinople wrote on this occasion: “It is good and saving to take communion every day, but we need time to prepare and bear penances,” and recommended that the laity take communion once every forty days. Currently, confessors decide this in different ways. I think that the question of Communion should be approached individually, taking into account personal needs and life circumstances. Man must fulfill that measure prayer rule and fasting, even if minimal, which has become part of the tradition of the Church, therefore, communion should be blessed spiritual father. I ask for your prayers. Help you Lord.

You write:

*** Tell me, please, is a priest worth more than a layman? does he have some kind of special permission to receive communion, but does a layman not have that?***

This question is asked by many neophytes and parishioners of the Renovationist communities: “Why can serving clergy take communion at every liturgy and not confess before every communion, but the laity cannot?”

Unlike the clergy, the laity do not have the divine grace of the priesthood, "the weak healing and the impoverished replenishing," taught at ordination from the bishop. What is included in the official duties of a bishop, priest and deacon has absolutely nothing to do with the laity and ordinary monks. In the sacrament of consecration, the clergy receive a special gift of grace to serve the Altar of the Lord. And therefore, what is permissible for a clergyman can be extremely dangerous, both spiritually and physically, for an ordinary layman who is not protected by priestly grace. For example, while in the altar, it is strictly forbidden for a layman to touch the Holy See, the Holy Chalice (with the exception of kissing its lower edge during communion), and therefore, in particular, we consider it extremely spiritually harmful for the laity to read sacramental prayers from the Service Book during the Eucharistic Canon. , which is practiced in renovation communities of priests, for example, Fr. G. Kochetkova.

Thus, the blurring of the boundaries between the priesthood and the laity is pure Protestantism.

Rural foreman 05/01/2016 at 22:45:05

Natalia Msk

I think 10 years earlier. In the 1990s, the movement of neo-renovationists began to raise its head in Moscow - reforming priests who dreamed in practice of reviving some of what was proposed by the renovationist movement after the revolution. Archpriest Schmemann's books began to be published. Since then, reformist priests began to call for communion at Bright Week.

David 01/05/2016 at 22:40:35

Here is what the respected Father Rafail (Karelin) writes, answering a question on this topic on his website:

“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 taking communion often. The reason why this is done is, first of all, personal lack of spirituality, when the priest himself does not feel an inner need to take communion as often as possible, and looks at communion as his professional duty. The second reason is theological ignorance and unwillingness to get acquainted with the unanimous teaching of the Holy Fathers about frequent communion as Heavenly Bread, necessary for the human soul. The third reason is laziness and the desire to shorten the time needed for confession and communion. There is another reason: it is false, pharisaical reverence. The Pharisees, in order to show their special respect for the name of God - Jehovah, forbade pronouncing it at all. thus they perverted the commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of thy 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 communion is given to the people. When the liturgy is served, then you can take communion. In liturgical prayers, the Church calls on all those in the temple to receive the Body and Blood of Christ (of course, if they have prepared for this). On the Easter week and on Christmas time, and in a few more weeks preceding the Great and Petrovsky fasts, you can no doubt take communion, because otherwise the Church would not serve the liturgy on these days.

The life of St. Macarius the Great tells how a priest, who arbitrarily removed people from communion, was severely punished with many years of paralysis, and was healed only through the prayers of St. Macarius. 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 coordinate this issue with the confessor. Archpriest Belotsvetov, in a well-known collection of his sermons, wrote that in his time, Christians tried to take communion every day during Bright Week.

On my own behalf, I can say that it is strange that the magazine that I also respect " Holy Fire”, lays out statements such as -“ the argument that the laity should take communion at every Liturgy, because the priests do it. Please tell me, is a priest worth more than a layman? does he have some kind of special permission to receive communion, but does a layman not have this? I’m thinking of whom, but Father Raphael can hardly be accused of some kind of modernist views, and I personally agree with his answer to this topic, but the fact that you can’t approach the cup without preparation and reverence, I think this should be for all ORTHODOX Christians clear. The meaning of our life is Christ, and by His Body and His Blood we are saved and transfigured!

The words “take, eat, this is My Body, which is broken for YOU for the remission of sins! ... drink from it ALL, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for YOU and for many for the remission of sins!” Do not the words "YOU" and "ALL" refer to all the faithful? Or to someone special?

Natalia Msk 05/01/2016 at 22:36:23

Village brigadier

Christ is Risen!

I wrote about communion at Easter and also quoted from the Typicon, but I did not mention communion at Bright Week. I sat, recalled when they started talking about communion at Bright Week. I can't say for sure, but not before 2000-2001. It turns out that not to take communion on Svetlaya is even a somewhat more than a thousand-year tradition.

Truly, Christ is Risen!

Rural foreman 05/01/2016 at 21:57:52

Natalia Msk

@ the tradition of not taking communion on Easter is Soviet @

Christ is Risen!

The tradition of not taking communion during Bright Week is a thousand-year tradition of the Russian Church. Frequent communion, including communion at Svetlaya, appeared on the wave of the modernist teaching of the "Eucharistic rebirth", which has Catholic roots. The apologist for this modernist theory in the 20th century was the Renovationists and Protopresbyter A. Schmemann.

Natalia Msk 05/01/2016 at 21:19:16

Frankly, I thought that the tradition of not taking communion on Easter was Soviet, because in the Typicon, in the chapter “From the rules of the Holy Apostles, and the holy fathers, about the Holy Great Forty Days, even every Christian must dangerously keep” it is indicated: “And if a monk of the Holy Forty Days he will ruin with his delicacy if he eats fish, except for the Feast of the Annunciation and the Flower-bearing Week, then he will not partake of the Holy Mysteries on Holy Easter either: but friends will repent for two weeks, and bows for the day and for the night 300.

Vladimir Yurganov 01/05/2016 at 16:29:45

Easter night service we usually receive communion, but confession ... in one church they took it before Easter, and in another it is strictly forbidden. Great Lent was for confession.

Dmitry 01/05/2016 at 14:41:56

“From the holy day of the Resurrection of Christ our God until the new week, throughout the whole week, the faithful must in the holy churches constantly practice in psalms and spiritual songs, rejoicing and triumphing in Christ, and listening to the reading of the Divine Scriptures, and enjoying the holy mysteries. For in this way let us resurrect with Christ and be exalted. For this reason, horse races or other folk spectacles should not take place on the said days” (canon 66 of the Trullo Council) “those who, although they fast before Easter, do not take communion on Easter, such people do not celebrate Easter ... because these people do not have in themselves the causes and reasons for the feast, which is the Sweetest Jesus Christ, and do not have that spiritual joy that is born from Divine Communion. Those who believe that Easter and holidays consist of rich meals, many candles, fragrant incense, silver and gold ornaments, with which they clean the churches, are seduced. For this God does not require of us, because it is not paramount and not the main thing ”(The Book of the Most Beneficial of the Soul on the Unceasing Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. pp. 54-55).

Editor's note: "The Most Helpful Book on the Unceasing Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ" is of Catholic origin and therefore not useful for reading by Orthodox believers. This book was compiled by St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer together with St. Macarius of Corinth, but the ideas behind this book are those of the Catholic author Miguel de Molinos (1628–1696), who wrote a Short Treatise on Everyday Communion in 1675. From this work by Miguel de Molinos to the book of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer and St. Macarius of Corinth "On the constant (frequent) communion of the Divine Mysteries" moved the argument that the laity should take communion at every Liturgy, because this is what the priests do. This argument persists to this day among priests and publicists of liberal-renovationist views. Already during the lifetime of St. Nicodemus, he was told that his book was related to the book of Miguel de Molinos. He did not deny this, but proved that, while condemning Catholics, we should not reject from them what is good and canonical.

Lydia 01/05/2016 at 14:38:51

What kind different points vision in the Church today. Many call to take communion as often as possible, especially during Bright Week. Someone says once a month is enough. And everyone has their own "arguments" and reasons. But it is clear that without confession, repentance and trembling one cannot approach the Chalice.

According to a long tradition, the usual morning and evening prayers are replaced in Bright Week by Easter hours. All hours: 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th are exactly the same and read the same way. This passage of the Easter Hours contains the main Easter hymns. It begins, of course, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and bestowing life on those in the tombs”, “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ ...” is sung three times, then ipakoi, exapostilary and so on. This sequence of reading times is much shorter than the usual morning and evening rule. Ordinary prayers, which contain both the repentant character of prayer and another kind, are all replaced by Paschal hymns that express our joy at this great event.

How do they receive communion in Bright Week? What is the constitution of the Church?

There is no statute of the Church concerning the peculiarities of Communion in Bright Week. They take communion in exactly the same order as they do at other times.

But there is different traditions. There is a tradition of the synodal period of the pre-revolutionary Church. It consisted in the fact that people took communion quite rarely. And, mainly, they took communion with fasts. It was not customary to receive communion at Easter. Back in the 1970s and 1980s in the Pyukhtitsky Monastery, the desire to take communion on Easter night was perceived as a very strange movement, it seemed that this was absolutely unnecessary. Well, as a last resort, on Holy Saturday, but in general, on Holy Thursday, it was considered necessary to take communion. The same applies to the Bright Week. The logic that this case such a practice is justified, it lies approximately in the fact that Communion is always associated with repentance, with confession before Communion, and since we celebrate a great holiday and, in general, other great holidays, then what kind of repentance on a holiday? And no repentance means no Communion.

From my point of view, this does not withstand any theological criticism. And the practice of the ancient Church of the pre-Synodal period, both in Russia and in the ancient Church in general everywhere, consisted in the fact that just on great holidays, people necessarily sought to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Because to experience the fullness of the celebrated event, to truly participate in the event that the Church celebrates, is possible only in Communion. And if we experience this event only speculatively, then this is not at all what the Church wants and can give us, believing people. We must join! To join in a physical way to the reality that is remembered on this day. And this can be done only by fully participating in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is celebrated on this day.

Therefore, the modern practice in most churches is such that people are by no means denied Communion during Bright Week. I think it is reasonable for those who wish to receive communion these days to confine themselves to the confession that took place during Holy Week. If a person came to Holy days and confessed, and he does not feel such serious internal reasons that would separate him from the opportunity to receive communion, some sins during this Paschal period, then, I think that it would be completely possible to receive communion without confession. However, in no case do I recommend doing this without consulting with your confessor, and somehow without agreeing with the priest in whose church you take communion. Just to avoid any misunderstandings and disagreements.

Why is it that on Holy Saturday, on Pascha itself and throughout Bright Week, instead of the Trisagion, “You are baptized into Christ, clothed in Christ!”, which is sung at the baptism of people, is sung?

This means that this period in the ancient church was a period of mass baptism. And if people were baptized on Holy Saturday, which was practiced extremely widely, so that they would already take part in the Paschal service as faithful, and not as catechumens, then during the entire Bright Week these people were constantly in the temple. They were anointed with the world, and the places anointed with the world were tied with special bandages. In this form, people sat in the temple without leaving. It was a little like how now, when they are tonsured monks, the newly tonsured one is also constantly in the temple and participates in all services. The same thing happened for seven days with the newly baptized. And besides, this was the time when sacramental or secret-guiding conversations were held with them (in Greek, mystogy). We can read these conversations of St. Maximus the Confessor, other famous preachers of the ancient Church, who did a lot to enlighten the newly baptized. These are the conversations and daily prayer and Communion in the temple. And on the eighth day, the same rituals were performed that we perform immediately after Baptism: cutting hair, wiping the world, and so on. All this took place on the eighth day after the period of a person's initiation, truly churching, introduction into church life. They wiped him off, removed the bandages, and he came out as a real experienced spiritual Christian and began his further church life. Therefore, in the ancient church, such people, and the laity along with them, took communion daily. All together praised God for His great blessings.

Bright Week - it is continuous, what about fasting?

Here you can refer to the practice of priests. We all serve on these bright days, and the priests do not fast at all. This fast before Communion is associated with the tradition of relatively rare communion. If people take communion regularly, say, once a week, on Sunday they come to the church, on the Twelfth Feasts they come to take communion, then I think that most priests do not require these people to fast before Communion, except for the natural fast days - Wednesday and Friday which are for all people and always. And if, as we know, there are no such days during the Bright Week, it means that these days we do not fast and take communion without this special fast before Communion.

Is it possible to read akathists during Bright Week, at least in private? Maybe only the Lord can be glorified this week, but the Mother of God and the saints are not supposed to?

Indeed, now all our spiritual experiences are directed towards this main Event. Therefore, in churches, you notice that priests on holidays do not commemorate, most often, daytime saints, but say a festive Easter holiday. In services, we also do not use the memory of the saints, although a prayer service on Holy Easter, if performed, then there is a commemoration of the saints of the day, and the troparion can be sung. Such a statutory hard rules that the commemoration of saints during this period is strictly prohibited, no. But such services as akathists and others, which are dedicated to events not related to the Resurrection, somewhat defocus our spiritual attention. And, perhaps, indeed, during this period, you should not study the calendar too carefully and see what events are there, but immerse yourself more in the experiences of Easter events. Well, if there is such a great inspiration, then in private, of course, you can read the akathist.

Is it possible to commemorate the dead during Holy Week and Bright Week?

According to tradition, it is not customary in the Church to perform requiems in Passion and Bright Weeks. If a person dies, then he is buried with a special Easter rite, and the first mass commemoration of the dead, which takes place after Easter, is Radonitsa: Tuesday of the second week after Easter. Strictly speaking, it is not provided for by the charter, but, nevertheless, it is a tradition that has long been established. These days people often visit cemeteries and serve requiems. But secretly, of course, you can remember. At the Liturgy, if we celebrate proskomidia, of course, we commemorate both the living and the departed. You can also submit notes, but public commemoration in the form of a memorial service is usually not accepted at this time.

What is read in preparation for Communion on Bright Week?

There may be different variants. If usually three canons are read: penitent, Mother of God, Guardian Angel, then at least penitential canon not so necessary in this combination. The rule for Holy Communion (and prayers) is certainly worth reading. But it makes sense to replace the canons with the reading of one Paschal canon.

How to combine the Twelfth Feasts or Holy Week and worldly work?

This is indeed a serious, serious, sore problem. We live in a secular state, which is not at all oriented towards Christian holidays. True, there are some developments in this matter. Here Christmas is made a day off. Easter always falls on Sunday, but they don't give him a day off. Although, say, in Germany and in other countries, a big holiday is always followed by a day off. It's Easter Monday, that's what it's called. The same goes for the Trinity, for other holidays in Christian traditional countries where there was no revolution, there was no godless power that uprooted all this, rooted it out. In all countries, these holidays are recognized, despite the fact that the state is secular.

Unfortunately, we don't have that yet. Therefore, we have to apply ourselves to the circumstances of life in which the Lord judges us to live. If the work is such that it does not tolerate the possibility of taking time off or transferring it to other days, or in terms of time it is somehow more or less freely shifted, then you have to choose. Or do you stay in this job and somehow sacrifice your need to go to church services more often, or try to change jobs so that there is more freedom to attend church services. However, it is often possible to negotiate good relations about being released from work or a little earlier, or to warn that you will come a little later. There are early services - Liturgy, say, at 7 o'clock in the morning. On all major holidays, and on Holy Week, on Great Thursday, two Liturgies are always served in large churches. You can go to the early Liturgy, and by 9 o'clock you will already be free, at the beginning of the 10th. So by 10 o'clock you will be able to get to work, almost anywhere in the city.

Of course, it is impossible to combine work with attending all the services of Holy Week both in the morning and in the evening. And I think that there is no urgent need to break with normal, good work if it does not make it possible to be in all services. At least on the main ones, say, on Great Thursday. The removal of the Shroud is a wonderful service, but it is performed during the day, which means you won’t be there, but you can come to the burial service in the evening at 6 o’clock. And you can be a little late, too, nothing terrible will happen. The 12 Gospels are celebrated on Thursday evening - also a service that is very good to be at. Well, if the work is daily or some kind of complicated schedule, you have to work for 12 hours, then you will inevitably miss some services, but the Lord sees your desire to be at these services, pray, and reward you. Even your absence will be credited to you, as if you were there.

Your heartfelt desire is important, not your personal presence. Another thing is that we ourselves want to be in the temple at these special moments of the Savior’s life and, as it were, closer to Him, closer to experience everything that He was destined to experience, but circumstances do not always allow. Therefore, if your work does not limit you so much that you cannot go to church at all, you should not change it. We must try to find such moments and negotiate with the authorities so that they make some small indulgences for you, but at other times you will try to work there better, more, so that there are no complaints.

Our everyday life always poses before us some problems of how we can combine life in the world with our spiritual life, with our church life. And here we need to show some flexibility. We cannot refuse to work, we cannot go underground, or even then we must elect monastic path then the whole life will be devoted to God, to service. But if there is a family, this is impossible, and here it is necessary to apply. Sometimes not even work can limit us, but household chores, children that require our attention. If the mother is constantly in church, and the child is constantly alone at home, there will also be little good. Although the mother prays in the temple, nevertheless, sometimes it is more important just to be personally present and participate in the life of her children. So, be "wise as snakes" in dealing with such issues.

The opinion of the clergy: Is it possible to take communion on Easter? It would seem that the question is strange and not suitable for discussion in an official church publication. If it is impossible to take communion, then why is the liturgy celebrated? Why is it necessary to evade the greatest Sacrament in the most great holiday?

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In the mid-1980s, as a student at the Moscow theological schools, and later as a novice and resident of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, I remember that the people almost did not receive communion at Easter. One of the reasons is related to the difficult situation in which the Church found itself during the years of Soviet power. But that power fell, and the situation changed dramatically: in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for many years, both on Easter and on Bright Week, there are a lot of communicants. This is a proper, literate tradition. The fact that today there are still churches where they do not receive communion on Easter are relics of the past. Let us pray that the merciful Lord will rectify the situation.

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His Eminence Vincent, Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, to the question of the "Church Herald" about cases of refusal to receive Communion at Easter, he answered:

Unfortunately, we have such a problem. At Pascha, when some of the priests are already tired, they would not like to "drag out" the service. Therefore, they limit the people with Communion - someone with babies, someone else somehow at their own discretion. In fact, of course, everyone can and should take communion. And, thank God, in many churches on Easter and other big holidays this correct order is slowly being restored.

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I am very surprised at the existence of such a tradition not to receive communion at Easter! In general, every time a liturgy is served, the priest addresses those present in the church: “Come with the fear of God, faith and love,” meaning that there are always communicants at the liturgy, we serve for the sake of Communion.

Easter is the pinnacle of all holidays. If we do not take communion, then how can we show that we participate in this holiday, that we really want to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, Who said: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I am in him"? Of course, in the Jerusalem Church, Communion is celebrated at Easter in all churches. On this day, thousands of pilgrims come to Jerusalem, who, of course, want to partake of the Holy Gifts. Previously, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it was not customary to take out several Chalices, and the priest stood with the Chalice and communed from 4 to 9-10 o'clock in the morning, until everyone took communion. It was only under Patriarch Diodorus that the practice of carrying out several Chalices was introduced, and now we commune everyone in just an hour and a half.

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Schiegumen Abraham Reidman, confessor of Novo-Tikhvinsky convent Yekaterinburg diocese:

Is it possible to take communion on Easter? It would seem that the question is strange and not suitable for discussion in an official church publication. If it is impossible to take communion, then why is the liturgy celebrated? Why is it necessary to avoid the greatest Mystery on the greatest Feast? However, as it turns out, there are persistent misconceptions about this. Many believers believe that it is necessary to evade precisely because the Feast is the greatest. Allegedly, approaching the Chalice on such a day is a sign of pride. The strangest thing is that not only church neophytes or superstitious grandmothers think this way. This opinion is shared by many of our clergy brothers, including the abbots of churches. As a result, on Easter they lose St. Communion whole parishes.

I don’t know what the conviction of individual priests and parishioners is based on, that it is pride for adults to receive communion on Easter. But the opinion of the Church on this matter is well known.

The Holy Fathers say little about communion specifically at Easter (probably due to the fact that this issue was not raised in ancient times), but the statements found in their works are very categorical. In St. Nikodim the Holy Mountaineer and St. Macarius of Corinth we read: "Those who, although they fast before Pascha, do not receive communion on Pascha, such people do not celebrate Pascha." The saints base this judgment on the fact that, in fact, Easter is Christ, as the Apostle says: "Our Easter, Christ, was sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). Thus, to celebrate Pascha means to partake of Pascha - Christ, His Body and Blood.

"The meal is full, enjoy it all. Well-fed calf, let no one go hungry..." What is St. John Chrysostom talking about in the Announcement, read at the Paschal service, if not about communion? The Church calls Christ the well-fed calf. So, in the interpretation of the parable of the prodigal son, where the prodigal son means all of us, and the father is our Heavenly Father, it is said: “And the calf that is well-fed for his sake (that is, for our sake. - Ed.) will slaughter His Son, the Only-begotten Father , and gives His Flesh to partake of His Blood" (Synaxarion on the Week of the Prodigal Son).

The great Gregory Palamas legislates in the "Decathogue" that Christians should commune every Sunday and every great Feast. It is also noteworthy that what is said in the "Tomos of Unity" about penances. Even persons subjected to penance can receive communion at Pascha, and precisely at Pascha, and with us a believer who has spent fasting in abstinence and purity is deprived of what the Church prays for even before the beginning of fasting: "... the Lamb of God and the light-bearing night of the Resurrection "(Meat-Feast Week. Stihira on the verse of the evening). By the way, about chants. Is it by chance that it is precisely on Pascha and Bright Week that the Church sings "Take the Body of Christ" (see Easter Communion) before the Chalice is taken out, calling all those present at the service to Communion?

However, I would not like to go to the other extreme. It cannot be argued that literally everyone should receive communion on Easter, including those who happened to be in the church by chance. One can understand those shepherds who are afraid that in the festive turmoil, people who are not prepared, who have not fasted, who have not been to confession, or even who do not belong to the Orthodox Church at all, will approach the Chalice. The same John Chrysostom spoke about the fact that it is unacceptable to receive communion on Easter for people who are not ready for this: “I see what is happening big mess in this case. For at other times you do not take communion, although you are often clean, but when Pascha comes, even if you have done some evil, you dare and take communion. O bad practice! O evil prejudice!" We emphasize that the great teacher of the Church did not say this at all in order to forbid communion on Easter, but in order to call people to be worthy of Communion: worthy of sincerity and purity of soul. With this purity of soul, you can take communion whenever you are present at the Liturgy, and without it, do not ever take communion... Lest our words serve to further condemn you, we ask you not that you do not come, but that you made themselves worthy of both attendance [at the Liturgy] and Communion." So, the question of whether this or that person is worthy to receive communion on Pascha boils down to whether he is worthy of Communion in general. This question is decided by the confessor at confession, and of course he is not guided at all by whether he is an adult or a child, a layman or a monk.

Those clergymen who say that it is impossible on the eve of Easter to confess everyone who wishes, we can advise you to perform the Sacrament of Confession not the day before Easter, but from the first days of Passion Week. One of the most authoritative manuals on pastoral theology says: "If ... for the multitude of those who confess, the presbyter cannot manage on one day before communion, as is the custom, then nothing prevents those preparing to confess for two or three, or after a whole week." You can find several other solutions to the problem. The main thing is that people who are faithful to Orthodox traditions should not be left without Communion on the Feast of Holidays.

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Priest Oleg Davydenkov - Doctor of Theology, Associate Professor, Head. departments Eastern Churches and Eastern Christian Philology PSTGU:

The tradition of not taking communion on Easter is historically connected with the fact that in the Russian Church before the revolution communion was quite rare - usually from one to four times a year. Communion during Great Lent: either in the first week, or on Holy Day, but not on Easter.

In the 1920s and 1930s, as always happens during times of persecution, the tradition of frequent communion was revived, including at Easter. But already in the post-war 50-60s, for a number of reasons, the practice of rare communion returned again. One of the reasons is that after the war there was a very large influx of clergy who came from western regions attached to Soviet Union in 1939. These are the regions of Western Ukraine and Belarus, which have not experienced persecution of faith to the same extent as other regions of Russia, and therefore have preserved

Another reason is purely technical. It was almost impossible to carry out Communion on Easter. There were so many people that, firstly, it was impossible to confess them all. Secondly, since from crowding people could literally hang in the air, squeezed from all sides by the crowd in the temple, it was physically impossible to go out with the Holy Chalice - it was dangerous to take communion. It was also impossible to make sure that people who did not confess did not approach the Chalice. Because of this, not only on Easter, but also on many twelfth holidays, on parent Saturdays they simply did not receive communion - if not in all, then in most Moscow churches. About such cities as Novosibirsk, where there was generally one temple for a million city, there is even nothing to say.

Thus, contradicting the ancient church tradition the practice of not taking communion at Easter. But now, at least in Moscow, it has been almost completely overcome. This happened primarily through preaching and personal example. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, who always calls for frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and personally communes church people at every patriarchal service. This is in line with common Orthodox practice in other local Churches. For example, in Greece, communion is given at Easter, and this is considered normal.

The Holy Tradition of the Church clearly says that it is necessary to take communion on Easter, and every believer should strive for this. However, this is possible only for those who observed Great Lent, confessed, prepared and received the priest's blessing for Communion.

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Read also on the topic:

• On the Participation of the Faithful in the Eucharist- the rules governing communion in the Russian Orthodox Church - approved at the Bishops' Meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church, held on February 2-3, 2015
• Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill urged the faithful to take communion as often as possible- Interfax-Religion
• The Truth About the Practice of Frequent Communion- Yuri Maximov
• To the controversy about frequent communion- Archpriest Andrey Dudchenko
• How often do you "should" take communion?- Archpriest Mikhail Lyubochinsky
• Life as the Eucharist- Priest Dimitry Karpenko
• On Communion at Easter and at Pentecost- Priest Valentin Ulyakhin
• "And you do not allow those who want to enter..."(On some motives for the dispute around the Sacrament of the Eucharist) - Priest Andrey Spiridonov
• Preparing for Holy Communion: approaches that have developed for a completely different life- Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov
• The question is not the frequency of communion, but the awareness of the need to unite with Christ- Archpriest Alexey Uminsky
• Communion is the most important event in a person's life.- Archpriest Valentin Asmus
• On the frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ- Priest Daniil Sysoev
• Sacrament of Confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ(In connection with modern criticism of the old tradition of compulsory confession before communion of the Mysteries of Christ) - Hieromonk Sergius of Troitsky
• The practice of communion of Orthodox parishioners of the Soviet era- Alexey Beglov

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About Communion at Holy Week

The 66th canon of the VI Ecumenical Council says: “From the holy day of the Resurrection of Christ our God until the new week, throughout the whole week, the faithful must in the holy churches constantly practice in psalms and spiritual songs, rejoicing and triumphing in Christ, and listening to the reading of Divine Scriptures and Enjoying the Holy Mysteries, for thus with Christ let us resurrect and be exalted."

Metropolitan Timothy of Vostra, Patriarchate of Jerusalem:

With regard to communion during Bright Week, we adhere to the fact that the week following Easter is one Easter day. This is what the Church herself says, and this is evident in the services of this week. Therefore, our Patriarch Theophilos blessed everyone who observed the entire Great Lent until Great Saturday, on Bright Week to take communion without fasting. The only thing is that in the evening before communion, everyone is advised to abstain from fast food, from meat. And if during the day a person ate meat and milk, this is normal.

The question of communion without fasting in others solid weeks we have left for the consideration of the confessor. In general, the Jerusalem Church is for frequent communion. Our parishioners receive Holy Communion every Sunday. And it is right. The sacrament prevents a person from sinning. Look - he took communion on Sunday, and then he tries to keep grace in himself for at least two or three days. "How, I accepted Christ into myself! I can't offend Him." Then the middle of the week comes, and he remembers that on Sunday he will go to Communion - he needs to prepare, fast, keep clean in deeds and thoughts. This is how a correct Christian life is formed, this is how we try to be with Christ.

His Eminence George, Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas:

Another issue during Bright Week is connected with fasting, with confession. Confessors of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra always bless like this: fasting is weakened, but in the late afternoon before Communion it is necessary to fast food refrain, and you can take communion. If you feel that your conscience is troubled, you need to go to the priest and confess.

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P.S. We simply cannot fail to mention the arguments of the opponents of the Eucharist at Easter:

Here are the words of the Archbishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon Yemelyanov:"In the Ascension Cathedral, the laity do not receive communion on Easter, only children. This is an ancient Russian tradition for the laity to refrain from communion on Easter night. Church people who strive for spiritual life know that they could take communion throughout Great Lent, and on Easter the Orthodox break their fast "Those who seek to receive communion on Easter are, as a rule, people who do not have humility. They want to be higher in spiritual life than they really are. Moreover, in some places it is already becoming fashionable to take communion on Easter, even among absolutely unchurched people who didn’t fast even during Great Lent. They say, it’s a special grace to take communion on this day. To be a spiritual person, you need to carry the cross of Christian life through your whole life, live according to the commandments, observe the Church Charter. There are many conditions for saving the soul, and some they think: he took communion on Pascha and was sanctified for a whole year.It must be remembered that you can take communion not only for the healing of the soul and body, but also for judgment and condemnation ie.

If the priest in his parish allows the laity to take communion on Pascha, then he does not sin in anything, for this the Liturgy is served. And those laity who decide to take communion on this holy day should take a blessing from their confessor."

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Note by M.S. The words of the Novosibirsk bishop only reminded me of this:

"... and he said: The scribes and Pharisees sat on the seat of Moses; therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; but do not do according to their deeds, for they say, and do not: they bind burdens heavy and unbearable and lay on the shoulders of people, but they themselves do not want to move them with a finger ... Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you close the kingdom of heaven to men, for you yourselves do not enter, and you do not allow those who want to enter"(Matthew 2-4, 23:13)

And the words "ancient Russian tradition" cause great bewilderment. Unfortunately, for a considerable number of people, antiquity becomes synonymous with truth.

1917 taught many nothing...