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Can we metalavoume without having confession first? Also if we have not fasted but our hearts and soul really need the communion ...will it be ok to walk and take it? .
Answer to Question 50.
I cannot give a general answer to this question because people will then say that Fr. Christopher said we can go for Holy Communion unprepared. The 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. To those that don’t keep the fasts then we tell them to fast a few days beforehand. Fasting in general, has nothing to do with receiving Holy Communion but it can help people prepare for what they are about to do. People must prepare to receive the precious Body and Blood of Christ. Fasting can help and also the Preparation prayers which we say the evening before and in the morning before coming to Church. But in general our way of life should be a preparation for Communion. After we partake we do not forget that we have received Christ into our bodies, but continue to live our lives as though we are preparing to receive Christ for the first time. In this way we are always prepared. Everyone should look into his heart and examine whether his way of life makes him worthy of Communion. Of course nothing that we do can make us worthy: in the Divine Liturgy the Priest exclaims before Communion: “The Holy things unto the Holy”. None of us are holy so in reality no one should approach, but we do in anticipation that we are standing with Christ after his Second Coming and we dare to approach because Jesus said to us “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:53-54). As for Confession, it isn’t necessary to have confession every time one is contemplating to receive Holy Communion. If for example you tell a small “white” lie with the intention of protecting someone’s feelings – these kinds of small sins can be mentioned collectively when you come for general confession, but if the lie was to intentionally cause harm to someone then this is a sin that would bar you from communion and it would be best to come for confession before having Communion.
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