Learning About the Practices of Our Religion – 20140223

supper_01As I recounted in the last issue, the new development in the understanding of consecration found expression in the people’s devotional use of the blessed sacrament. In the West, a devotional practice developed about adoring and praying to the communion contained in the tabernacle. In the East, the particles in the tabernacle are there, not for devotional reasons, but for use when visiting the sick. The East never really considered Holy Communion as an object of adoration. Communion is a part of the entire Eucharistic service. Cyril’s description, however, of Communion is revealing:

Approaching therefore come not with your wrists extended or your fingers open: but make your left hand as if a throne for your right, which is on the eve of receiving the king. (This suggests the practice of receiving in the hand like priests and deacons do). And having   hallowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying after it, Amen…. Then after having partaken of the Body of Christ, approach also to the cup of His Blood; not stretching forth your hands, but bending and saying in the way of worship and reverence, Amen….

These recommended communion devotions imply a holiness attaching to the consecrated elements that is almost physical in nature: the mere touch of the sacrament   has power to sanctify. But if it is an almost material holiness, it is also a holiness which is terrifying. The word used by Cyril and usually translated awful means literally that which makes the hair stand on end. The Eucharist is terrifying: only having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual hymns can we proceed to call on God to send his Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine. This testifies to a significant change in the way the Eucharist is understood. St. Paul had emphasized how awesome it was to receive the sacrament and how necessary was proper preparation. But Cyril used the language of awe and fear for the sacrament in itself: merely to be in its presence is cause for fear and trembling. No wonder that the celebration of the mysteries became more and more the preserve of the priests, whom, ordination enabled to invoke the Spirit and stand in the presence of the sacrifice. The laity could only behold in reverence and fear.

The trend in Eucharistic theology and piety reflected in Cyril of Jerusalem profoundly affected the worship of the Byzantine Church. The whole-hearted enthusiasm with which Jerusalem seems to have adopted new ideas and practices may not have been fully shared by other churches. Thankfully we have moved  away from this truly misguided notion of Communion, that of devotion.

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