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Εμφάνιση αναρτήσεων με ετικέτα Holy Communion. Εμφάνιση όλων των αναρτήσεων

Σάββατο 11 Σεπτεμβρίου 2021

The Bread, The Wine, and The Mode Of Being (& the ancient terror of the pandemic)

 

by Chrysostom Koutloumousianos, Hieromonk

Death to the world - The Last True Rebelion (about)

The recent reappearance of the ancient terror of a pandemic has prompted fertile conversation among theologians and literary people across the world. Various opinions have been articulated, such as that disease can be transmitted through the current way of distributing holy communion, or that the Eucharistic Gifts themselves can be bearers and transmitters of pathogenic germs. It is said that since the bread and the wine do not alter their essence and essential properties, it follows that they are subject to decay and can also spread toxic viruses. This idea has supposedly found Christological grounds as well in that the human body of Christ is a carrier of germs which can be harmful to us, though not to Him; after all, germs themselves are not bad, since there is nothing bad in creation.

Within this framework the following evidence drawn from the writings of the Fathers might be relevant and useful.

Undoubtedly, there is nothing bad in creation. No form of life, nor even natural destruction can be considered as bad, because evil is only that which alienates us from God. However, at the same time one should not ignore or deny the products of personal sin, such as, for example, a dangerous laboratory hybrid, as well as the effects of the ancestral Fall, namely decay and death, to which the human being has been submitted. Now, God’s incarnation manifested something entirely new in the world.

Let us open a short parenthesis to delineate the Orthodox belief regarding the Eucharistic elements. Do we hold that they are merely a representation of the Lord’s presence in the congregation, as is the general understanding in Protestantism? In this case, the holy bread could be offered in sterilized bags and the holy wine in certified sealed bottles. If, on the other hand, in accord with the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, the holy gifts are Christ with respect to their essence, then either we must commit ourselves to worshipping the gifts or fall into unbelief when thinking they can be corrupted.

The Greek Fathers speak neither of transubstantiation nor symbolic function but of the ‘change’ of the material elements. This ‘change’ signifies a new mode of being, inaugurated through the appearance of God in the flesh. Here we must consider the patristic distinction between the logos of nature and the mode of existence, a distinction which is useful for an Orthodox approach to the mystery of Christ.

The Fathers use this distinction as a tool for explaining God’s miracles in history. When God intervenes to perform a wondrous act, He does not alter the nature of things — that is, their logos or principle; instead He innovates the manner in which their nature operates, so as to fulfill the divine economy. The innovated mode means nature operating beyond its own ordinance, beyond its limits, translating the human being “into another form of life”, as for instance when Noah remained unharmed amid wild animals and holy men would walk upon the waters.


The Incarnation was the climax of all divine interventions. The incomprehensible mystery that took place in the Logos Incarnate was the indissoluble union of divine and human nature. Such union meant the exchange of the natural properties in Christ, in the same way that a blade becomes fire when thrown into fire while at the same time fire acquires a sharp edge. Human nature remains intact while its mode of existence is altered. This is why Christ was born both in a divine and a human way, that is, carried by a woman, yet without labour pains and corruption. He was not subjugated to nature; instead, elevating it to Himself, He made nature “a transcendental mystery” Christ’s human nature operates in a divine mode, and it operates in a divine mode because it carries the fullness of divine activity.(1)

This same reality and understanding can be applied to the Eucharistic mystery. Here also an alteration of the material elements takes place. Neither is their logos or essence changed, nor their natural properties, but their condition and conduct, that is, their mode of being. Just as in Christ everything human has a transcendental mode, since human nature in Him has the fullness of divinity, so the Eucharistic Gifts receive and transmit to its participants the same theandric activity of Christ. We partake, therefore, not of something that is subject to decay and deterioration, but of God Himself, through matter that has become life-giving, as the very flesh of Christ is life-giving.

Clearly, authentic communion has to do not only with the presence of Christ in bread and wine but also with His presence within us. Union and assimilation with God is not accomplished without the good resolve (prohairesis) and synergy of man, nor is it exclusively fulfilled in the Eucharist.(2) We need to follow and wholeheartedly imitate Christ freely and be born in the Spirit. Divine activity operates in various inscrutable ways according to the measure of each one’s faith and longing.

Thus, when Christ is offered as bread, He does not alter the nature of bread but its ‘economy’. Christ’s human nature was passible, yet, one with the Divinity, and for this reason it could not be seized and possessed by death. And as His body was dead and risen, since it was never detached from Divinity, similarly, when we receive this body we foretaste the resurrection. Just as Christ suffers as a human being, yet acts as God, in the same way the consecrated elements, though subject to ‘suffering’ and corruption, act upon us as uncreated divinity. As St Cyril of Alexandria says,

The body of Christ is holy and has the power to vanquish every illness. It was and is holy, not merely as flesh with its natural powers, but as the temple of the indwelling divine Logos, who sanctifies His flesh with His Spirit. This is why Christ vivifies the daughter of the leader of the synagogue not only through His omnipotent command but also with His bodily touch. (Αναστασίου, Doctrina Patrum, σ. 129, 131-32)

Therefore, to those that receive communion with faith and true repentance the Lord’s body becomes a ‘safeguard’, ‘for strength, healing and health of soul and body’, maintenance and deification of human nature.(3)

The consecrated elements operate as the deified body of Jesus. Through matter God grants life uncorrupted. And although immortality is an eschatological condition, and we shall all, sooner or later, cross to the other side of the bank, yet ‘doses’ of incorruption are given in this mortal life according to the measure of each one’s faith, longing, godly fear and love.

Source

Post Script Regarding the Spoon

By Fr. Panayiotis Papageorgiou, Ph.D.

Fr. Chrysostomos explains that just as Christ suffers as a human being, yet acts as God and rises from the dead, in the same way the consecrated elements (Holy Communion), though subject to ‘suffering’ and corruption themselves, act upon us as uncreated divinity in order to transform and perfect our fallen nature, not to change us from being physically corruptible, but to enable us to become partakers of the divine nature (2Peter 1:4), even in the here and now.

Therefore, to those who receive Holy Communion with faith and true repentance the Lord’s body becomes a ‘safeguard’ ‘for strength, healing and health of soul and body’, maintenance and deification of their fallen human nature.(3)

The consecrated elements in the Holy Eucharist operate as the deified body of Jesus. Through corruptible matter, God grants life uncorrupted. And although immortality is an eschatological condition, and we shall all, sooner or later, cross to the other side and receive it in its fullness, yet ‘doses’ of incorruption are given to us in this mortal life according to the measure of each one’s faith, his/her longing and godly fear and love.We are transformed into a different mode of existence by the touch of Christ’s Body and Blood.We are sanctified and deified by being united with Him.

The Chalice and Spoon of Holy Communion are also changed as they come into contact with Christ’s Body and Blood. They are transformed to a different mode of existence; they are sanctified. Their nature is not changed, but, rather, in the same way as a blade becomes fire when thrown into the fire . . . the Chalice and the Spoon are also changed and sanctified. Their mode of existence is altered so that they may transfer life to us, just as his garment heals the flow of blood in the woman when she touches it, just as the sea is calmed by the touch of Christ for the safety of the disciples, just as the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow are brought back to life by the touch of Christ.

The Body and Blood of Christ, along with the sacred vessels (the Chalice and the Spoon) utilized to deliver it to us cannot be a threat to our bodily health if we approach with the “Fear of God with Faith and with Love.” On the contrary, they will lead us to healing of soul and body and eternal life as they deliver to us the healing, salvific touch of Christ.

Hence, as we return to Holy Communion, let us surrender in faith to God’s Mercy and Forgiveness and ask that He may restore us again in His good favor, and protect us from disease, calamity and eternal condemnation.

COVID-19 is a tribulation (δοκιμασία), a test to our faith. The only way to overcome tribulations is by surrendering to God’s Love and Mercy completely and unconditionally in faith and trust. Holy Communion is the place to do that, even as He is offered to us through the shared Chalice and Spoon.

Source

Notes to First Article

(1) See Maximus the Confessor, PG 91.298-300, 344, 1048-1056, 1273-1276, 1341-1345.

(2) See Chrysostom Koutloumousianos, The One and the Three: Nature, Person and Triadic Monarchy in the Greek and Irish Patristic Tradition, James Clarke, Cambridge 2015, pp. 119-22, 132-34, 150-53.

(3) John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 87. Also see Prayer before the Holy Communion, and Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Oration, 37.

Please see also

Governments evicting God – from inside the Christian Chalice? / Is Holy Communion safe to consume? - A compilation dedicated to answers provided by medical specialists

Ελληνικά: Είναι ασφαλές να κοινωνούμε;

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Τετάρτη 7 Μαρτίου 2018

The History and Structure of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

 
 
By George Zaravelas
The Catalog of Good Deeds (Catalog of St Elisabeth Convent)
ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ για το θέμα εδώ 

A reference point in the typiko of Great Lent is the communion of the Presanctified Precious Gifts. The discordance between the festal and joyful nature of the celebration of the Divine Eucharist and the compunction of Great Lent makes it inappropriate to celebrate the bloodless sacrifice on fast days. And yet, the importance of Holy Communion for the spiritual struggle of the faithful has established participation in the Presanctified Gifts even on such days.

The difference between the Presanctified Liturgy and the more common types of the Eucharist is that the Precious Gifts have already been sanctified as Body and Blood earlier, at the Divine Liturgy on the previous Saturday or Sunday. At the proskomidi, the celebrant takes out a second lamb [central portion of the loaf], which he places with the first on the paten. He sanctifies and elevates this as normal, and, after pouring the warm water into the chalice, immerses the second lamb in the precious blood and places it carefully in a special artoforio or tabernacle [a vessel kept on the holy alter where the reserved gifts are kept] until the day when the Presanctified is to take place.

 
The service of the reception of the Presanctified Gifts is not contained in the seven services celebrated during the day and night, nor is it a Divine Liturgy, but simply a way of distributing the Precious Gifts, and is attached to Vespers. The singing of the ancient hymn “Now the powers…” marks the join between the two services. What happens before the hymn is Vespers and then after the hymn we move into the Presanctified.

The timing of the Presanctified on the evening of Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent was preferred because of the all-day fast on these days until the time for Vespers, so that after receiving the Precious Gifts, the faithful were able to consume food. In parish practice, the communion of the Presanctified Gifts is often transposed to the morning, on the one hand because it is impossible for the faithful to maintain a strict fast, and, on the other, because of the habit of celebrating the bloodless sacrifice in the morning hours. Because of the change of time of the Presanctified, Vespers has also been moved to the morning, since the two services are combined. This is why it has become customary for Vespers to be celebrated in the morning during Lent, whether or not it is followed by the Presanctified. Other days when the Presanctified is regularly held are the Thursday of fifth week (Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete), the first three days of Great Week and the days when saints are commemorated.

In olden times, the Presanctified Gifts were given on the Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week, and also on Good Friday. To this day, the Divine Liturgy cannot be celebrated in its entirety on these days, according to the old practice of the Church of Jerusalem. A remnant of the old custom is the addition to the Triodio of a reading from the Old Testament at Vespers in the two days of Cheese week. In the Byzantine era, there was communion of the Presanctified Gifts on every Wednesday and Friday of the year. Indeed, in the 10th century, communion of the Presanctified Gifts was optional in Constantinople.

In accordance with the old custom, a Presanctified Liturgy could also be held on the feast of the Elevation of the Precious Cross, instead of the full Divine Eucharist of Saint John Chrysostom which is celebrated today. The reason for this is to be found in the sombre character of the feast of the Elevation of the Cross, which is the equivalent of Good Friday, when there is a similar interdiction on the celebration of the Divine Eucharist. It also used to be the case that the Presanctified was held on the feast of the Annunciation, but canon 52 of the Quinisext Synod exempted that day, as well as Saturdays and Sundays, from the necessity to hold the Presanctified, intimating that the full Divine Eucharist could be celebrated.
 

The composition of the Presanctified Liturgy is attributed to a number of Church Fathers, among whom were Epifanios of Cyprus, Yermanos of Constantinople and Pope Gregory the Dialogist. Also, in codex 766 of the national Library in Athens (16th century), there is indirect testimony to the fact that it is a product of the pen of Saint Gregory the Theologian. In particular, the codex states that at the end of the Presanctified Liturgy, we have the dismissal hymn and kontakio of Saint Gregory the Theologian, probably because of confusion with the Dialogist. Ioannis Foundoulis prefers that no tropario of any saint be sung, but rather that, after “Glory. Both now”, we should immediately have the tropario “At the prayer, Lord”. However that may be, the author is not known today. According to P. Trembelas, the attribution to Saint Gregory the Dialogist is most likely due to the fact that he was responsible for popularizing it in the West, since he introduced it into the form of service for Good Friday in the Church of Rome, according to the Roman rule.

Photo from here
Briefly, the structure of the service of the Presanctified is as follows. Essentially, it begins with the readings and the “Let my prayer” in Vespers and with the prayers for the catechumens and the faithful. Then comes the singing of “Now the powers”, and the celebrant censes the congregation. In the middle of this, we have the Entrance of the Holy Gifts, after which the hymn is completed. This is followed by a litany, the prayer “by placing the holy gifts on the holy altar”, the Lord’s Prayer, the two prayers of bowing the head and the exclamation “Let us attend. The Presanctified holy things to those who are holy”. Thereafter, the structure of the Presanctified is identical to that of the Divine Eucharist, with only a few differences in hymns and prayers. These are: a) instead of “We have seen the light”, we sing “I will bless the Lord”; b) the prayer read before the icon of Christ is “Almighty Lord” and c) the antidoro is given before the end of the service, “Through the prayers”, while psalms 33 and 144 are read. The last is the old order of service not only for the Presanctified but for the full Liturgy, too.

The availability of the Presanctified Gifts demonstrates the Church’s desire to meet the spiritual needs of its members. As the prime expression of the sacramental community, the Holy Eucharist is a necessary feature of the life of the faithful. Its absence would weaken the bond of the faithful with the Eucharistic assembly, but its presence, even through the dispensation of having the Presanctified, fortifies the faithful in prayer and fasting during the bright sadness that is Lent.

Click

 
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LIVE, BEYOND THE LIMITS!
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Τετάρτη 5 Απριλίου 2017

The Fullness in Lent – The Mystery: Upborne, Fulfilled


· Fr. Stephen Freeman
 
This article keeps coming to mind as I celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on these Lenten Wednesdays and Fridays. There is nothing to compare to them in the Christian liturgical world. It’s hard to thinking of fasting in the midst of such a feast.

Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use the word “mystery” (for example), popular speech never uses it in the manner of the Church. I cannot remember using the word “fullness,” or even “fulfilled,” in normal speech. More contemporary words have come to replace these expressions. This doesn’t mean that an English speaker has no idea of what the words mean – but, again, they do not understand these words in the manner of the Church. There is a reality to which words such as mystery and fullness refer – a reality that carries the very heart of the Orthodox understanding of the world and its relation to God.
In popular usage, the word mystery has become synonymous with puzzle. Thus a mystery is something we do not know, but something that, with careful investigation is likely to be revealed. In the Church, mystery is something which by its very nature is unknown, and can only be known in a manner unlike anything else.

Words such as fullness and fulfilled are equally important and specialized in the language of the Church, but whose meanings bear little resemblance to popular speech.  Fullness (pleroma), occurs a number of times in the New Testament. It was also a favorite word in the writings of the gnostics. In Christian usage it refers to a spiritual wholeness or completeness that is being manifested or revealed in some way. It is more than a Divine act – it carries with it something of the Divine itself. It is not simply the action of God, but is itself God. Prior actions and words may have hinted at the fullness, but in the revelation of the fullness all hints will have passed away and been replaced by the fulness itself.
The core understanding of words such as mystery and fullness is the belief that our world has a relationship beyond itself, or beyond what seems obvious. The world is symbol, icon and sacrament. Mystery and fullness reference the reality carried as symbol, icon and sacrament.
Many people read the frequent statement in the gospels: “This was done so that the prophecy of Isaiah (or one of the other prophets) might be fulfilled….” What many people think this means is that the prophet made a prediction and it came true. Biblical prophecy (in a proper Christian understanding) has little to nothing to do with prediction. The prophets do not see the future – they see the fullness. What comes to pass is the fullness breaking into our world such that the prophecy “has been fulfilled.”
This same fulness is referenced in Ephesians:
And He [the Father] put all things under His [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (1:22-23).
This description of the Church as the “fullness,” is among the most startling statements in Scripture. The phrase, “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all,” is an early version of “God became man so that man might become god” (St. Athanasius, 4th century). God is the one who fills, and we are what is filled (or even the “filling”). At least as striking is a kindred passage in Colossians (the two letters have many similarities):
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (2:9-10).
The English disguises the wordplay within the verse. We are told that “in Christ dwells all the fullness (pleroma) of the Godhead (or deity) bodily, and you are the ones who have been made full (pepleromenoi) in Him…” Again, this time Christ is described as the fullness, but we have also been made the fullness (pleroma) in Him. His life is our life, and this life or fullness is precisely that which is important about us.
The idea is not dissimilar to Christ’s statements in St. John’s gospel:
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me (17:20-23).
In John, Christ has given us “his glory,” just as the Father gave Him glory. Glory is not praise or reputation, but rather something substantial (as I search for words). In Hebrew, glory (Kavod) is precisely something substantial, the weight of something. God’s kavod pushes the priests to the ground at the consecration of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:11). But glory is not simply an effect of God, it is, somehow, God’s presence itself.
Fullness has a relation to glory, in this substantial sense.
… we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full [pleres] of grace and truth…. And of His fullness [pleroma] we have all received, and grace for grace (Jn. 1:14 and 16).
The glory of the only begotten is full of grace and truth and it is of this fullness that we have all received.
I am sure that this excursion through Scripture may be somewhat tedious for readers – but it is an excursion through unknown territory for many. Mystery, fullness, glory and the like are largely neglected in many of the doctrinal structures of the West. Where they are not neglected they are stripped of mystical content and morphed into more rational systems.
Within the Orthodox East, the mystical content is allowed to shine forth – particularly within the liturgical life and prayers of the Church (this is also true of the ascetical tradition of the Church). One place where language and reality are deeply united is in the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts (celebrated on the weekdays of Great Lent and Holy Week). The Eucharist is not celebrated on these days, but communion is given from the gifts consecrated on the Sunday previous – thus the “Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts.” [Photo from the Holy Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts in Burundi, 2017 (here)].
It is a very solemn service, with a liturgical “climax” when the Pre-Sanctified Gifts are brought out of the Altar and processed through the congregation in silence. The congregation is prostrate during this procession with faces to the floor. Thus the procession occurs in silence and “invisibly.”
Just before the entrance, the choir sings, “Now the powers of heaven do serve invisibly with us. Lo, the King of glory enters. Lo, the mystical sacrifice is upborne, fulfilled.” The Gifts of Christ’s Body and Blood are indeed the “mystical sacrifice,” the very mystery hidden from the ages made manifest and present in the midst of the Church. This same mystery is also the fullness – its presence is fulfilled.

The Christian life lived within the mystery is a life in which God is hidden, made known, revealed, perceived. It is a life in which the Kingdom of God is breaking forth, not destroying nature but fulfilling it. In the same manner, we are not destroyed by our union with Christ but rather fulfilled. We become what we were created to be – the fullness of that life and more is made manifest within our own lives.
It is this same fullness that describes the lives of saints. Saints are more than moral exemplars to be copied – they have the quality of life-fulfilled. In them the fullness that is ours in Christ is made manifest.
The mystical life marks the whole of Orthodox Christianity. It’s doctrines are replete with references to the mystery and speak of matters such as the atonement in a manner that is consistent with the revelation of this mystery. The Conciliar definitions, from first to last, are rooted in this language and presuppose its grammar within every aspect of the life of the Church.
Upborne, fulfilled.

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Τετάρτη 2 Νοεμβρίου 2016

EXÉGÈSE A LA DIVINE LITURGIE

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Τρίτη 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016

Kanisa la Orthodox nchini Kenya: Liturujia takatifu, watoto na zaburi - Orthodox Church in Kenya: the holy liturgy, children and psalms



Kujiweka kwa Zawadi Mtakatifu Wakati wa Liturujia Mungu katika St Barnabas Orthodox yatima na shule. Liturujia ya Mungu rasmi na Fr Methodios JM Kariuki. kwa habari zaidi kuhusu ziara hii Mission; www.orthodoxmissionkenya.org
 
Consecration of the Holy Gifts During divine Liturgy at St Barnabas Orthodox Orphanage and school. The divine Liturgy officiated by Fr Methodios JM Kariuki. for more information about this Mission visit; www.orthodoxmissionkenya.org



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Πέμπτη 25 Αυγούστου 2016

Eucharistie dans l'Église orthodoxe africaine



Fr.Orthodoxwiki/Eucharistie

 Eucharistie (du grec εὐχαριστία, ou eucharistia, signifiant rendre grâce) est un Saint Mystère (ou sacrement) célébré durant la Divine Liturgie dans l'Eglise Orthodoxe où sont consacrés le pain et le vin et transformés, par le pouvoir du Saint Esprit en Précieux Sang et Corps de Jésus Christ. Les autres noms pour l'Eucharistie sont : les Saints Dons, la Communion, et le Corps et le Sang de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ. Les Chrétiens Orthodoxes croient en la présence réelle de Dieu dans l'Eucharistie après la consécration des Saints Dons (il ne s'agit pas seulement d'un symbole).

Photo d'ici (Turkana, Kenya)

Historique

 L'Eucharistie est le coeur de l'Église Orthodoxe car l'Eglise est primitivement une communauté eucharistique. L'Eucharistie est l'achèvement de tous les autres sacrements de l'Eglise et la source et but de toutes les doctrines et les institutions de l'Eglise.
L'Église Orthodoxe utilise du pain au levain car, selon l’Évangile de Saint Jean, la Sainte Cène et la Passion eurent lieu pendant le jour de Pâque, où le pain était préparé avec du levain. Selon les Évangiles synoptiques, la Sainte Cène, le procès du Seigneur et la crucifixion eurent lieu le jour suivant, le premier jour de la Fête du pain sans levain, mais selon le Lévitique 23:7, tout travail était interdit ce jour-là : les Évangiles synoptiques se trompent donc sur la date de la Sainte Cène et de la Passion. 

Le Seigneur offre l'Eucharistie à ses disciples (représentation symbolique orthodoxe image sacrée, d'ici)
 
Pour la rémission des péchés et la vie éternelle

Avant de recevoir la Sainte Commmunion, les prières suivantes sont généralement récitées par tous :
Photo d'ici (Ouganda)

Je crois, Seigneur, et je confesse que Tu es en vérité le Christ, le Fils du Dieu vivant, qui est venu dans le monde pour sauver les pécheurs, dont je suis le premier.
Je crois encore que ceci-même est Ton Corps très pur et que ceci-même est Ton Sang précieux. Je Te prie donc : aie pitié de moi et pardonne-moi mes fautes volontaires et involontaires, commises en paroles et en actes, sciemment et par inadvertance, et rends-moi digne de participer, sans encourir de condamnation, à Tes Mystères très purs, pour la rémission de mes péchés, et pour la vie éternelle. Amen.
A Ta Cène mystique, Fils de Dieu, reçois-moi aujourd'hui : je ne révèlerai pas le Mystère à Tes ennemis ; je ne Te donnerai pas de baiser comme Judas mais, comme le larron, je Te confesse : "souviens-Toi de moi, Seigneur, dans Ton Royaume."
Que la participation à Tes saints Mystères, Seigneur, ne me soit ni jugement, ni condamnation, mais la guérison de mon âme et de mon corps. Amen
Photos d'ici & ici (Rwanda)

Le fidèle reçoit la Sainte Communion dans une cuillère. Sont donnés à la fois le pain consacré (NIKA) et le vin sanctifié. Tous les chrétiens orthodoxes qui se sont préparés par le jeûne et la prière, y compris les enfants, peuvent participer à la Sainte Communion. 

Photo d'ici (Togo)


L'Eucharistie en tant que sacrifice

L'Eucharistie est un sacrifice. Comme on l'entend dans la Liturgie : "Ce qui est à Toi, de ce qui est à Toi, nous Te l'offrons en tout et pour tout."

 Photo d'ici (Mozambique)
  1. Lors de l'Eucharistie, le sacrifice offert est le Christ lui-même, et c'est le Christ lui-même qui dans l'Eglise accomplit le sacrifice : Il est à la fois le sacrificateur et le sacrifice.
  2. Nous Te l'offrons. L'Eucharistie est offerte à la Sainte Trinité — et non seulement Dieu le Père, mais aussi le Saint Esprit et le Christ lui-même.
  3. Nous de l'offrons pour tout: selon la théologie orthodoxe, l'Eucharistie est un sacrifice propitiatoire, offert au nom des vivants et des morts.
 
L'Eglise enseigne que le sacrifice n'est pas un simple symbole mais un véritable sacrifice. Ce n'est pas le pain qui est sacrifié, mais le Corps du Christ. Et l'Agneau de Dieu a été sacrifié une seule fois, pour l’Éternité. 
Tous les évènements du sacrifice du Christ, l'Incarnation, la Sainte Cène, la Crucifixion, la Résurrection, et l'Ascension ne sont pas répétés dans l'Eucharistie, mais rendus présents.

Video d'ici

Photo d'ici

Réel, symbolique, or mystique

L'Eucharistie est à la fois symbolique et mystique. L'Eucharistie est réellement le Corps et le Sang du Christ.
Le mystère de la Sainte Eucharistie défie l'analyse et les explications en termes purement logiques et rationnels. Car l'Eurcharistie, comme le Christ lui-même, est un mystère du Royaume de Dieu qui, comme Jésus l'a enseigné, n'est pas de ce monde. L'Eucharistie, appartenant au Royaume de Dieu, est libre de la logique de ce monde. 

Videos d'ici, ici, ici & ici (Russian orthodox).

Voir aussi
Photo d'ici (Guatemala)

Livres 
Laverdiere, Eugene. The Eucharist in the New Testament and in the Early Church. (ISBN 0814661521) Zizioulas, John D. Eucharist, Bishop, Church: The Unity of the Church in the Divine Eucharist and the Bishop During the First Three Centuries. (ISBN 1885652518)
 

Voir aussi

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