Οκτώ ερωτήσεις για την Θεία Κοινωνία

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Eight Questions on Holy Communion

by his Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostom of Chalkida

Certain sources of communication are of the opinion that “those who believe coronavirus cannot be transmitted by receiving the Holy Eucharist from a common communion spoon, are religiously illiterate.” From this publicized position, I request permission to pose certain questions, which have authoritative answers, provided my questions are not viewed from a purely rhetorical perspective. 

In any event, these questions are posed with all my good disposition and love.

1  Does Holy Communion only have to do with matters of the “end times” and not those of the present?  Doesn’t the expected, or that which is “not yet,” have any relation to today, and the “here and now”? Is “the life of the age to come” in our Creed simply an expectation? Certainly, the Lord promised that ?e will resurrect us on “the last day” but doesn’t the presence of the Lord in the Holy Liturgy have any relation to His Second Coming? Regarding the End Times, didn’t Christ say “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in ?e and I in him?” (John 6:56) Furthermore, does the creation not undergo any transformation when it participates in the un-created energies of the Uncreated One? Is the bread and wine not transformed into His Body and Blood in this manner? Does He not receive (the bread and wine from us along with our repentance) and is He not received (as His own Body and Blood) by us in this Mystery?  Do the phrases “he who eats and drinks with a pure heart takes on life and godliness” (7^th prayer of preparation for Holy Communion by Symeon, the New Theologian), and “it (meaning the Holy Eucharist) is a hot coal that burns the unworthy” (from the prayers of preparation for Holy Communion) have only to do with the End Times?

2  During the Last Supper, when our Lord Jesus Christ first instituted the awesome Mysteries, how did He commune His disciples and apostles? Did He commune them from one and the same Cup or from several (their own) cups? If he communed them from one single Cup, was this proper? Were there not ailments in those days from which He should have protected them? From this perspective, then, by communing them from one single Cup, did He give us a bad example? We should not forget, of course, that in accordance with the purification laws of His time, he first washed the feet of His disciples…Does this mean He forgot the importance of cleanliness just after He washed their feet?

3  What is the other person to us? That fellow-man, with whom we are to be blessed co-banqueters, co-partakers of “a Master’s hospitality and an immortal banquet”? (from the Heirmos of the 9^th ode of Holy Thursday Matins)

4  In those cases where the method of distribution of Holy Communion has been altered, how does the celebrating Bishop or Presbyter commune himself?  During concelebration, how does this Bishop commune his concelebrants from the same Chalice? Does he commune them in the same manner as the laity, according to his own prescription, by pouring the contents of a spoon without touching any part of the mouth; or does he commune them in the traditional manner?

5  It has been correctly written that no hierarch is, nor should they feel as though they are a “super-bishop” and judge of all. However, is it the one who is faithful to tradition who is the “super-bishop” and judge of all? Can any Bishop single-handedly change the order of the entire Church, whose traditions bear witness to centuries of life? Is this what his all-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch meant, when he granted permission to a Bishop to regulate the matters of Holy Services, by region, emphasizing the needs of the people? If the Patriarch considered that each Bishop had the prerogative to conduct such a reformation arbitrarily and on his own, then why did he consult with the Local Churches about this specific matter? And why did the Phanar, itself, not change the way Holy Communion is offered? Is there no coronavirus in the region of the Phanar? Indeed all the things our Patriarch publicly stated to us are significant:“We fervently believe that there is no danger to obtain the microbe of Coronavirus by communing the Body and Blood of our Lord. And for this reason, we, as the Ecumenical Patriarchate did not change the method for distributing Holy Communion.”

6  Church Hierarchs and some Church Leaders (among them the Church of Greece as well) named the subject of Holy Communion a “red line”. What did they mean by this? Did they only defend the theological identify of the mystery, or its eschatological dimension and benefit? No! They defended the traditional method of its distribution, because this method is exactly what is being blamed by all those other Bishops, who for various reasons disagree with the traditional method of distribution, or who rely on secular arguments, scientific evidence, and the limitations of their own logic. Does this mean that all traditional Bishops - who are not just one or two, but countless - illiterate? 

If taking the position, which is no longer just a random doubt in our thoughts (and which stems from human weakness and the evil one) that Holy Communion transmits disease, then matters become very serious. Then, we become not only illiterate, but even murderers and criminals (!!!) who transmit death!!!

It also stands to reason that this murderous criminality does not exclude any of those Bishops who only lately, due to coronavirus, and for reasons of health concerns, innovated new methods for the distribution of Holy Communion!!!...Why? because for many centuries, up to and including 2019, whenever there were epidemics and transmissible diseases, these same Bishops communed themselves and others in the traditional manner. Is this not so?

7  How should we interpret the words of the Lord, “These signs will accompany those who have believed; In my name…if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them”? (Mark 16:17-18) If this quote has an eschatological dimension, does it not refer to the present? Should we also expect to be speaking in tongues, then, confronting serpents and so on, in the future? And if, in His name, no deadly drink will harm the believer, will the believer be harmed by Christ’s own Body and Blood?

8  The countless miracles of the Body and Blood of Christ and the experience of the Church across the centuries, are these not sufficient to reveal and give testimony to the truth –  that there is no danger in the traditional method of distribution of the Holy Eucharist? Does it not move the hearts of all Bishops, that despite the continuous bombardment against faithful Christians, these people continue to approach with faith and trust, receiving Holy Communion from one common Communion spoon? These faithful Christians do not consist just of the elderly who are near the end of their life, but also many young people and their families, young couples and their small children…