Properly preparing for the reception of the Holy Mysteries
Anyone who desires to receive the Holy Mysteries in the Russian Orthodox Church must prepare themselves with confession, the Precommunion Prayers, and have abstained from all food or drink from midnight on. In fact, most of the world’s Local Orthodox Churches hold to this standard. The Church also requires that her priests, as Guardians of the Mysteries, must make sure everyone who approaches the chalice is an Orthodox Christian, in good standing with the Church, since membership in the Church relates to the fact that communion is the outward expression of having all things in common, both in faith and worship, and that receiving the Holy Mysteries is the fruit of unity.
In the act of receiving the Holy Mysteries, we are eating and drinking the very Body and Blood of the Saviour for the healing of body and soul. This is not simply a remembrance of a past event, but the very participation in the Eternal Banquet that is going on in heaven. In the Divine Liturgy, we literally enter into a place where there is neither time nor space, and participate in the eternal banquet that transforms our very being. And, since the Eucharist is a true participation and foretaste of heavenly things, it is imperative that we be properly prepared, for to eat and drink unworthily is to put our immortal soul at risk.
Orthodoxy in North America does not have a common practice in regards to preparation for receiving the Eucharist. Some jurisdictions allow members to approach the chalice without having confessed, thus contributing to the abuse of the Mysteries. Yet on the flip side, those who are required to confess before communing can fall into the habit of going through the motions of confession without giving the priest adequate time to offer spiritual direction. When this happens, confession can be no different than refraining to confession, for in rattling off a litany of sins, heartfelt repentance can be missing altogether. If we have made a good confession we must have a plan of action that will allow the Holy Spirit to transform our heart, for true repentance MUST include a commitment to go and sin no more! This requires the guidance of a confessor, and thus takes more time than simply getting in a long line prior to the service.
The midnight fast that must precede the Divine Liturgy, together with the Precommunion Prayers, is an additionally important step in our proper preparation for receiving the Eucharist, for these become the tools by which we make the reality of what we are receiving something more than mere ritual. If we were simply reenacting or commemorating the last meal the Lord shared with His disciples, confession, fasting, and preparatory prayers would be unnecessary. Thus, the requirements the Church imposes on her faithful children is clear evidence that the Lord did not say, this is “like” my body and blood, for the Eucharist is no mere symbol, but is actually the very Body and Blood of Our Lord, just as Christ said to His disciples when instituting the sacrament.
Love and blessings,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday January 22, 2015 / January 9, 2015
33rd Week after Pentecost. Tone seven.
Afterfeast of the Theophany.
Martyr Polyeuctus of Melitene in Armenia (259).
Hieromartyr Philip, metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia (1569).
New Hieromartyr Paul priest (1943).
Prophet Shemaiah (Samaia, Semeias) (10th c. B.C.).
St. Peter, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (395), and brother of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
Venerable Eustratius the Wonderworker of Tarsus (821).
St. Adrian of Canterbury (710) (Celtic & British).
New Martyr Parthena of Edessa in Macedonia (1375).
St. Jonah (Peter in schema), founder of Holy Trinity Monastery in Kiev (1902).
Translation of the relicts of St. Judoc, hermit of Ponthieu.
St. Fillan, abbot of Strathfillan.
Daily Scripture Readings
James 4:7-5:9
Humility Cures Worldliness
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Do Not Judge a Brother
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged
5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
Be Patient and Persevering
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
Mark 11:27-33
Jesus’ Authority Questioned
27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.”
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”