For the class on 11/23
From Michael Ruse:
When we are thankful, we are full of life and joy, as Metropolitan Hilarion explains in the opening pages of Chapter 3 on the Eucharist. The Greek word, eucharistia, means thankfulness. It’s the basis of our spiritual growth in the Orthodox Church. The eucharist brings us into communion with God. That union happens between us as physically as the elements of food and drink that we incorporate to keep our bodies and brains working everyday.
According to the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, this divine food unifies us with the bishop, the Church, and with Jesus Christ. Unity is in terrible doubt nowadays, but this kind of divine unity stretch beyond medical science and research, political boundaries, and cultural ties. Cultures sometimes develop and become invested in what they eat, or not eat, as one of the important identifiers of cultural belonging. In the eucharist, we actually become Jesus Christ’s “kinfolk," although Metropolitan Hilarion does not identify Orthodoxy as a culture among others. There is a striking difference between how we normally view food, nutrition and life in comparison to holy communion in the liturgy. We do not change the bread and wine, “the deified flesh of Christ,” into our blood like normal digestion, but in reverse, the body and blood of Christ changes us completely into Himself. With the voice of the Orthodox Church, John Chrysostom reminds us that Jesus Christ’s body and blood has “curative” powers and only He can give the life. That life is found in nothing else and in no one else is a foundational concept in the Orthodox Church. Some divine effects, since it is a reality, of receiving communion include: unity with the Trinity, driving away demonic influences, angels come near to us, our souls shine a little brighter, and our understanding becomes clearer.
If you’ve ever wondered what our Church Fathers taught about the Eucharist, how often can we receive communion, what are preparation rules for communion, or if you want to gain more understanding of the deep symbolic and unifying reality of the Eucharist, then this chapter will surely enrich you.
There are clear ways for us to become prepared to receive such an awesome change of our own body and soul. Some of these daily and weekly preparations are prayer, fasting, confession, and attending services. The Fathers of the Church discussed who is “worthy” to approach communion and how often, which is a practical question to ask. The ancient Church assumed all would approach communion, but if needed, there was some preparation. Because receiving communion has “a purifying effect on a person,” the best practice is to be ready in the moment to always receive Jesus Christ in the liturgy. In this way, there is nothing we can hold in our own power to reach God because He has already come down to us in divine bread and wine to give us all of His Life. The eucharist in the Orthodox Church, then, has many, huge impacts on the customs and ordinary beliefs we hold about unity, life, and health. Join us this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. to discuss how to prepare best, according to the Orthodox Church, for the only food that satisfies the soul and heals the body.