The Orthodox Pages
ASK AN ORTHODOX PRIEST |
||||
Back |
|
|||
|
Are we allowed holy communion if we haven't had a confession before with a priest?
Answer to Question 3.
I cannot give a general answer to this question because people will then
go for Holy Communion unprepared. The General guidelines for receiving
Communion which most Priests will tell you is that if you keep all the
fasts in the Church’s year, that is: every Wednesday and Friday, The
Lenten fast, Holy Week, The Apostle’s fast, The August fast, and the
Advent fast, and have the blessing of your Spiritual Father, then you can
have Communion whenever you want. But let’s look at the question a little
deeper. Who is worthy of partaking? St. Paul says: "whosoever shall eat
this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of
the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let
him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not
discerning the Lord's body." (1 Cor. 11: 27-29) Everyone sins, but not
all sins were considered as sins that barred people from approaching the
Holy Chalice. In general most small everyday sins were not considered as
needing cleansing before having access to Holy Communion, because the
Sacrament of Holy Communion is itself a Sacrament for the cleansing and
forgiveness of sins. What is necessary is to be at peace with all people:
Christ said: "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift
before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and
then come and offer thy gift." (Matth. 5:23-24) The bread and wine used in
the Divine Liturgy are our offering of thanksgiving to God at the altar,
for having saved us by sending his only begotten Son to be sacrificed that
we might become co-heirs with him in the kingdom of Heaven. Accordingly we
must be reconciled with all men before making this offering. All Orthodox
Christians are obliged to have Communion every time they attend the Divine
Liturgy. If we go back a few centuries, we see that it was not allowed for
someone to remain in Church if he/she was not to have Communion. If for
example they were under a penance and were not allowed to receive
Communion, they had to leave the Church after the reading of the Gospel or
at the latest when the Priest exclaimed "The Doors, The Doors", whereby
the doors of the Church were shut. If we go back even further to the first
four centuries we know that Christians in those days had regular and even
daily Communion, can we then assume that they confessed their sins before
partaking? Of course not! The Sacrament of Confession was still not
developed into the Sacrament that we know today. From those first
centuries the Sacrament of Confession has changed drastically and in our
times it has become "a passport" for Holy Communion. There are people who
will not have Communion unless they confess their sins before each
Communion. This is an exaggeration of the requirements needed. Unless
someone has fallen into a grave sin that would bar him from Holy
Communion, once or twice a year at the most is sufficient for most people.
|
|