Question:
How should one behave during the day after communion?
Zubkov
Answers the priest Afanasy Gumerov, a resident of the Sretensky Monastery:
A person after communion must keep the shrine. It is wise to keep your mouth shut and avoid idle talk. One must move away from everything vain, passionate and generally spiritually unprofitable. You need to be especially attentive to yourself, because on such a day the enemy tries to lead a person into temptation. If communion was on a weekday, then you must fulfill your duties. Nothing prevents work.
The opinion that on the day of Communion one cannot kiss icons and the hand of priests is not based on anything. This is not mentioned either in the holy fathers or in liturgical books. It is better to refrain from bowing to the ground until the evening, because a person has accepted the greatest shrine - the Body and Blood of the Lord. But if during the prayer everyone fell on their knees, then you can do it without embarrassment. The most important thing is to be in a joyful mood and thank God!
Ludmila M
Orthodox Christian
How to behave after the sacrament - superstition or not.
- Father, I am very worried about this kind of question - how to behave correctly after communion. With refraining from condemnation, etc. ... and not spitting, everything is clear. dishes from which you eat on the day after communion (wash only separately and pour water after washing somewhere so that they don’t stomp on it, but you can’t go into the sewer, and the clothes in which you took communion are also touched - wash separately from the other and do the same with water) if you start eating something, then eat it to the end and not let another person do it. .Cut nails, etc. Grace will go away. They explain this by the fact that after Communion everything is consecrated in a person and on him (this is about clothes). And all objects that especially fall into a person’s mouth (this is about food and utensils) are consecrated on this day .How much is true if n Ravda just do. If possible in more detail.
- And another question of this kind. Mom constantly insists that hair, nails and fleece, bandages and, excuse me, pads with blood in no case should be thrown away - only burned - a big sin. What for me, the more I'm interested Orthodox customs, are no longer understandable and more like a pagan ritual in order to save yourself, your beloved, from damage and the evil eye. the bird will take it to the nest, then the head will hurt. So don’t throw away the nails and blood in the trash, but burn it. Understanding perfectly well that the priests are also people, I asked another priest what the answer was, according to your faith. If you are afraid of whom with God? From which she concluded that paganism and belief in this is a sin. She said this to her mother, to which she received an angry admonition and a demand to obey the instructions of the first priest, since you constantly confess to him and look for instructions of this kind in the writings of the Holy Fathers. Now it sharpens the worm of doubt to confess the sin of superstition, or something that violated his decree (father) to the same priest and a kind of condemnation of him in superstition. All this can somehow be substantiated or refuted. more.
Priest Dionysius
1. There are more "after-communion" superstitions than you think. some "particularly pious" even drink their own "sanctified" urine so that "grace does not disappear." Of course, this is complete nonsense! None of the things you listed is either a canonical requirement or church tradition, has nothing to do with teaching Orthodox Church. Wash, wash, wash, etc.
2. I've tried to imagine women who constantly burn gaskets ... Some kind of horror ... Complete superstition! And what did the ancients have to do, they didn’t have pads and, excuse me, it flowed down their legs ...? About hair - also superstition. Well, how can a bird that has blown its hair into its nest affect the head, which will start to hurt? Where are the laws of physics and banal logic?__________________
Truth is in God, and God is Love!
Ludmila M
Orthodox Christian
So here I am about the same thing, father (this is about the second answer)!
But here’s how to explain this to a mother (she goes to church every Sunday, often takes communion, unlike me, my husband is completely far from faith in God) ... or just leave her alone and not tell her about her knowledge and opinion on about such questions, and don’t respond to her remarks at all or nod your head in agreement, but act according to your knowledge. She just read all sorts of things like the prophecies of a youth, either Vyacheslav or Benjamin, I don’t remember. And it says that by the end of the existence of the world, demons will be denounced into pieces of flesh, blood, etc. people (thrown away) and live among people (as if they were not among us all the time), so to speak, in the flesh ... Well, it’s just a Hollywood horror movie, not a book. Maybe, of course, this boy is holy in the face of the Lord, but the world in the family, these publications are not added, as well as the books of Nilus, too. As in my opinion, many of them are touching and useful for a beginner, but the majority simply breathes hoaxes and folk beliefs far from orthodoxy.
Forgive me, a sinner, if I write something wrong and correct it, father. Only mine innate quality character to know and be able to do as much as possible in my professional activities, study, etc. and regarding faith in God too. man, especially when it comes to the salvation of his soul.
If it’s not difficult, answer a couple more questions in this thread. I haven’t figured out how to create new ones yet:
- Why can’t you stroke children’s heads (I ask because I heard it from the priests) like any other person. Just put your hand on the head, like the father does with blessing. Or this is again from the realm of fantasy.
- regarding the corporal punishment of a child. Why a slap on the fifth point with the palm of your hand is strictly prohibited, but with a belt or a lozina in this very place, please. information in order to give advice. Only in our parish it is very difficult to ask the priest. He listens casually while continuing to do something and answers in the same way. recent times more or less regularly began to let me go to church. And with two little tomboys it’s hard to walk on my own, a spinal injury in childhood affects. a cowardly hare is afraid to sit down or become wrong, otherwise grace will leave or a bird will do something wrong ...
God save you! And I thank you in advance for your answer...
Is it possible to receive communion every Sunday if I am a sick person?
You can take communion every Sunday, but this issue must be resolved with the priest with whom you regularly confess, i.e. confessor. If he sees that this will be of spiritual benefit to you, then he will definitely bless you to take communion every week. It is not helpful to make such a decision on your own.
Deacon Sergius Pravdolyubov
Is it necessary to bow towards the altar after receiving the Holy Gifts?
You shouldn't do this. And here's why: bowing after communion towards the altar, past the pulpit, on which the priest stands with the Chalice, reflects a complete misunderstanding of one obvious fact. The one to whom, having received the Holy Gifts, wishes to express gratitude, i.e. Christ Himself remains at this time with His Most Pure Body and Precious Blood in the Eucharistic Chalice, which the communicants kiss precisely as a token of gratitude.
Priest Dimitry Turkin
How to accept Honest Gifts?
How to accept Honest Gifts? Chew and swallow before drinking or together? And in what order should I drink it first, and then prosphora, or vice versa?
First, they eat the Holy Gifts, and then a drink and prosphora.
Priest Nikolai Fateev
How to behave on the day of Communion?
Many books have been written on how to prepare for Communion, but how to behave on this day? There are many prejudices: you can’t wash on this day, you can’t eat fish so as not to spit out the bones, as well as berries with seeds? You can’t spit saliva, even if it’s sputum, and what if you spit? What if the baby burped that day? You can't kiss a communicant, and what if it's a baby you kiss 100 times a day?
Church rules prescribe to keep bodily purity on the day of communion, to occupy your mind with contemplation and prayer, and not entertainment. Regarding food, there are no recommendations, but there is a limit on the amount of food and the intake of wine, so that there is no nausea on this day. Therefore, abstinence until Communion, moderation in food, is especially necessary on this day. If the baby burped after communion, then it is necessary to collect it with a napkin and burn it. Regarding kissing a baby, church rules are silent.
Priest Nikolai Fateev
How often can I take communion during Great Lent?
Fasting time encourages communion more often than usual. But how much often you should take communion, if you cannot decide for yourself, ask the priest personally.
Priest Dimitry Turkin
Tell us about the rite of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
Why did the ancient Church establish the rite of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, and who can partake of it?
In the ancient Church, the service of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great was associated with solemn public holidays. The weekly days of Great Lent are a time of repentance, not celebration, therefore a special liturgy is served on these days - the Presanctified Gifts. At this liturgy, the consecration of the Gifts is not performed, but the particles of the Holy Gifts consecrated at the liturgy on the previous Sunday are immersed in the Cup of wine. Therefore, only those who are able to receive a particle of the Holy Body can take communion at this liturgy, and those who usually partake only of the Holy Blood cannot; as a rule, these are infants under two years of age.
Priest Dimitry Turkin
What to do if not everything is clear in the prayers before Communion?
In preparation for the Sacrament of Communion, I feel awkward when reading some of the prayers. Sometimes I myself do not understand everything, and the reading of prayers is formal, because they do not come from my heart, which means they do not reach God. At confession, I confess to lack of concentration, absent-mindedness, and I think that I am not worthy to take part in Holy Communion, although I receive a blessing. It pains me to talk about this, but it turns out that I myself prevent myself from appreciating and accepting the significance of this Sacrament in myself. How can I solve this problem?
Communion, we must remember the GREAT mercy that the Lord gives us unworthy. The Lord gives us deliverance from feelings of guilt in the Sacrament of Confession. We must repent of our sins, repent sincerely and wholeheartedly. After confession, the Lord gives us great mercy to approach the Chalice. Try at your leisure to simply reread the prayers, using an interpretation or a dictionary, so that there are no incomprehensible places, take more time to read the prayers so that the mind does not disperse. I advise you to read the books of Mr. Anthony of Surozh about prayer, there you will find many valuable tips on how to pray attentively.
Priest Mikhail Mikhailov
How to prepare for communion inwardly?
Try to do everything that we have to do before communion, to do not only outwardly, but also inwardly. This is how preparation for communion will be inwardly. Trying to keep our prayers before communion attentive is not just reading the rule. Prepare carefully and with concentration for confession. And another one like this important point: we must consider that we are unworthy to go to communion and go at the same time. Both should be.
When we begin to think that “everything is possible for me, so I will go and take communion” - it means that we lose the fear of God. If we think that we are unworthy and do not go to communion, then we also do not fulfill this commandment. It is said: "Come with the fear of God and faith...". That is, with fear and faith, but proceed! So, we will proceed, but with the knowledge that we are unworthy.
St. rights. Alexei Mechev spoke about this: when you go to confession, consider that you are not worthy to be admitted. And there were many cases described by people close to him, when people came to confession, seemingly pious, as if serious, and he did not allow them to take communion: here a man came, with a serious look, confessed and was not allowed, left in great sorrow . And here about. Alexei answered the bewilderment in the look of one of his close associates in such a way: you come up to take communion, do not think that you are worthy, you went and they let you in. Consider yourself unworthy. This is how we will do it, and this is the internal preparation for communion.
Priest Mikhail Nemnonov
Is it possible to kiss the hand of a priest and icons after communion?
Tell me, please, is it right after Communion, when you kiss the cross, not to kiss the priest's hand? What about icons? Save the Lord.
After receiving the Holy Mysteries, you immediately drink a drink and eat a piece of prosphora, so there are no more Holy Particles left in your mouth. After that, you can apply to the icons, and also, together with everyone, approach the kissing of the cross. Both those who have received communion and those who have not received communion at the Liturgy, when kissing the cross, according to custom, kiss the priest's hand.
Deacon Pavel Mironov
They say you can't christen after communion?
They also say that you can’t kiss three times after Communion, kiss children?
It is known that many people think that if they kiss someone after Communion, then "grace will leave" them. This is prejudice. First of all, a person who takes communion must protect himself from everything that is not useful for the soul, from vanity, from sin.
Deacon Pavel Mironov
How to understand in which church you can take Communion?
If you are on a journey or just far from home, how can you understand in which church you can start the sacraments of confession and communion, and in which not? In the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate, of course, you can, but in other Orthodox churches?
When a trip is made across Russia, then, upon entering the temple, if there are serious doubts, one can delicately ask whether this temple belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church or not, and then decide whether it is possible to take communion here. Being abroad, it will not always be convenient to ask such a question in the temple. Without convincing evidence that the temple belongs to the Orthodox Church, it will be difficult to figure it out on your own. Therefore, it is better to confess and take communion in a church, about which there is no doubt.
Priest Dimitry Turkin
How to behave after communion?
If, having escaped the filthiness of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome by them, then the latter is worse for them than the former. It would be better for them not to know the path of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment given to them. But according to a true proverb, it happens to them: the dog returns to his vomit, and: the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud. (2 Pet. 2:20-22).
After communion, one must show correction, testify to love for God and neighbor, thanksgiving, diligent diligence for a new, holy and immaculate life.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-1783).
After partaking of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, enter immediately into the inmost secrets of your heart and, bowing there to the Lord with reverent humility, turn to Him mentally with these words: You see, My All-Good Lord, how easily I fall into sins to my own destruction, what power I need the passion that wrestles me, and how I myself am powerless to free myself from it. Help me and strengthen my powerless efforts, or better accept my weapon instead of me, completely defeat this furious enemy of mine ... Bow to this One God, glorious in the Holy Trinity and beneficent to us, and, having rendered reverent thanksgiving to Him as a kind of gift, offer an inflexible decision, readiness and impulses to fight with one's sin in the hope of overcoming it by the power of the One Trinitarian God.
Saint Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer (1749-1809).
After communion, one must ask the Lord to keep the gift worthy and that the Lord give help not to return back, that is, the former sins.
Rev. Ambrose of Optina (1812-1891).
Every time the Lord vouchsafes you to partake of the Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ, think so: what happiness I have today, the Lord entered the house of my heart, did not disdain me, a sinner and unclean! What mercy of God to me, what joy to me, because today I am not alone, but Christ Himself, my Lord and Savior, is my guest!
Hieromartyr Arseny (Zhadanovsky), Bishop of Serpukhov (1874-1937).
Now every sin we commit will be an insult to the Lord; every vicious action is a clear offense to the Sweetest Redeemer. Every abuse of our body will be the spitting, beating, and beating He endured from the enemies. Now we are no longer alone, but the Lord is with us and in us. We must not renounce good deeds, from deeds of piety.
And most importantly, communicants should be complacent and generous in all circumstances of life.
Each of us must protect the accepted treasure, and not throw it at random. Each of us must not forget that he is a Christian, and most importantly, that he is a Christian who has taken communion. In all temptations, he must remember that he has communed the terrible Mysteries of Christ into eternal life, that he is not ready to part with Communion, nor to exchange them for the satisfaction of any passion. Each of us should remember the real bright moments when we are all pure before the Lord, washed by His Most Pure Blood and nourished by His Most Pure Flesh. Each of us should remember the love of the Lord for us and the love that we have testified before Him. Today we said to the Lord: We believe and confess that You are the Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners; We believe that I do not accept the Holy Mysteries for condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body. I kissed You, O Lord, not with the treacherous kiss of Judas the traitor, but with an innocent and holy kiss. If we forget about this, then the Lord Himself will forget us. And we will again wander in the darkness of sin, and the light of Christ will be taken away from us, joy and peace of conscience will be taken away from us, more and more necessary than which there is nothing in the whole world.
Archpriest Valentin Amfiteatrov (1836-1908).
By accepting the Mysteries of Christ, we carry Christ within ourselves. We become like a man who carries a cup filled to the brim with wine or water: if he is not careful, he may spill some of the liquid, and if he stumbles and falls, he will lose everything that was in the cup. Having communed the Mysteries of Christ, we must be aware of what and whom we carry within ourselves. And from the moment of Communion without a pause, without a break, our preparation for the next Communion should begin. And we should not think that if we have received Communion today, then we can prepare for the next Eucharist a day or three days before it, and the rest of the time we can live as if Christ is not present in us.
Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev) (XX-XXI centuries).
Fruit Holy Communion act if we do not offend the shrine. If we offend her, then on the same day of communion she ceases to act. And we offend the shrine with what? Sight, hearing and other senses; verbosity and condemnation. Therefore, on the day of communion, one must primarily preserve one's eyesight and be silent more, keep one's mouth shut.
Rev. Alexy Zosimovsky (1844-1928).
Often, after fervent prayer, demons attack us with great force, as if wanting to take revenge on us. Moreover, even after Communion, they try with the greatest bitterness to instill in us impure thoughts and desires, in order to avenge us for our resistance and victory over them, and in order to reduce faith in us, trying, as it were, to prove that we do not have no benefit from Holy Communion, and vice versa, even worse is the struggle. But one should not be discouraged by this, understanding the deceit of the enemy to defeat him by faith and perseverance in the fight against him.
Holy martyr. Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), bishop. Dmitrovsky (1883ca. 1937).
There is an old expression: everyone good deed or precedes or follows temptation. And such good deeds as prayer from the heart, and especially communion, cannot remain without the revenge of the devil. He uses all his strength to prevent him from praying properly and from taking communion. And if he could not do this, then he tries to play dirty tricks so that there is no trace left of the benefits received. This is very well known to everyone involved in the spiritual life. That is why it is necessary, with humility and contrition of heart, if possible, to ask the Lord to protect from the wiles of the enemy, acting either directly on the soul, or through people subject to him.
Hegumen Nikon (Vorobiev) (1894-1963).
Always remember that after mass and communion you must always dine slowly and in moderation. The same is true for the night.
Having taken into yourself the pure Flesh and Blood of the Lord, do not rush later, having come home, with greed to the flesh of the animal; observe extreme moderation in the use of it do not indulge in a long sleep during the day. All this contributes to the hardening of the heart, which is extremely necessary to keep in the holy tenderness and sensitivity that we receive after a worthy acceptance of the most pure Mysteries.
St. Righteous John of Kronstadt (1829-1908).
When a person gorges on fatty foods or overeats altogether after communion, he can immediately observe himself how that light, subtle, spiritual perishes in him, which he clearly felt only before that.
It has been noted that if a communicant goes to bed shortly after communion (especially after a hearty meal), then, upon waking up, he no longer feels grace. The holiday seemed to be over for him. And this is understandable: devotion to sleep testifies to inattention to the heavenly Guest, the Lord and Master of the world; and grace departs from the negligent participant in the Royal Supper. It is better to spend this time in reading, thinking, even an attentive walk. So I had to observe this among the monks. And in the world you can visit the sick, do good to someone or enjoy pious fellowship with brothers or go to the cemetery to the departed.
Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov) (1880-1961).
After death, we will be severely tortured if we do not keep the grace of the Holy Spirit. If it happens that on the day of communion you get irritated, upset, condemn someone, then we will try to clean this spot in the soul with repentance. This day is best spent in silence and prayer, or in reading the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the holy fathers, because the soul at this time is especially receptive to the good and the wondrous gospel words will sink into the depths of the heart.
Schiegumen Savva of Pskov-Pechersk (1898-1980).
In order for us to more faithfully preserve ourselves from repeating sins after confession, let us try, especially at first, while we are not yet morally strong, to avoid meeting with sin: to move away from those persons and those places that can give us a reason to fall.
Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) (b. 1919).
What is Communion? What is the right way to fast before this day? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article.
All believing Orthodox Christians must go to Communion in church. The Holy Eucharist is a special procedure that is the memory of Christ.
- On the eve of his terrible death Christ told his disciples that in his memory people would drink wine and eat bread. These are symbols of his blood and body.
- Therefore, throughout the existence Orthodox faith, people go to liturgy, take communion with wine and eat bread, and priests read prayers with the words “Let us pray to the Lord for the offered Honest Gifts.”
- How should one prepare for Communion? What can and cannot be done the day before? What is allowed to do by the rules of the church after Communion? Read about it in the article.
Is it possible to brush your teeth, wash, wash, take a shower before Communion in church?
Is it possible to brush your teeth, wash, wash, take a shower before Communion in church?Previously, even during the persecution of the church, grandmothers still visited churches and took their children to the liturgy, and then their grandchildren. But, if we talk about Orthodox literacy, then it was almost non-existent. Everyone acted as he saw fit, because people were afraid not only to ask, but also to carry on any conversations about God or the church.
Now these children and grandchildren have grown up, but they still continue to attend the temple. They often have a question: is it possible to brush your teeth, wash, wash, take a shower before Communion in church, because grandmothers taught one rule, and the canons of the church imply something completely different.
- A visit to the temple is a special event, because we meet with God, becoming partakers of the holy Eucharist, we receive the true Body and Blood of Christ in bread and wine.
- A person should be aware that this is a holiday. Therefore, you need to brush your teeth, wash, wash and take a shower NECESSARILY. It is written in the rules of the church that if a person brushes his teeth and takes a sip of water or pasta, then it is not considered that he drank water or ate. You need to really look at the situation, using the wisdom and your mind that God has given us.
- It is also necessary to wear clean and beautiful clothes. Divine Liturgy is a holiday, a meeting with God, life in prayers. This must be remembered, and then questions will not arise whether it is possible to wash and how to dress.
The temple must occupy special place in the life of every Christian. This is the house of God, where we must come without sorrow and despondency.
How many hours before Communion is it forbidden to eat? Strict fasting begins before Communion begins after 12 night of the previous day. This means that you can not eat or drink anything. Liturgy usually begins at 8 am, communion begins after 1.5-2 hours. Therefore, it turns out that 9-10 hours before Communion, one cannot eat and drink.
Is it possible to eat fish on the eve of Communion?
3 days before Communion, you need to fast. All meat and dairy products are prohibited, but you can eat cereals, vegetables, nuts. Is it possible to eat fish on the eve of Communion? Fish is allowed, but, like other dishes, before the start of strict fasting before the Eucharist, that is, until 12 am.
Important: Limit sweets for the three days before communion. You can only dry fruits. Don't overeat. Observe a post in which important not human needs but a prayer.
Is it possible to drink, use kvass, water, coffee before Communion? During the three-day fast before Communion, it is important to read prayers: the canon of repentance to the Savior, the canon of prayer Mother of God, canon to the Guardian Angel, following to Holy Communion. These kontakia and hymns will help you prepare properly if you want to receive the Holy Gifts correctly.
During the fast before Communion, it is forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages, drink kvass, and coffee. During these three days, the human body is a temple of the soul, where it should be calm, and coffee, yeast-leavened kvass and alcoholic drinks cannot properly tune in to prayers. You can drink water, but before the start of strict fasting - until 12 o'clock at night.
Can I feed my baby before Communion?
It is difficult for a small child to endure for a long time without food, and the Eucharist usually does not begin until 10:00 o'clock. Therefore, many parents ask the question: is it possible to feed a child before Communion?
- Children under 3 years old can be fed 2 hours before receiving the Holy Gifts.
- Particular attention should be paid to the feeding of infants. If a baby feed, and then bring to Communion, then he can burp, and this is unacceptable. That's why little child up to a year also need to be kept without food for at least 2 hours before the start of the Eucharist.
Important: The best solution in this case, there will be a visit to the early liturgy, which is usually performed in large churches. At 8 o'clock in these churches already underway Participle.
Is it possible for sick people and pregnant women to eat before Communion? Fasting is necessary for a person to curb the body, and when it is weak, it does not need it. A sick body needs help to heal and recover. So it is written in the church rules. Therefore, before Communion, sick people can eat, but you need to try to do it as early as possible, so as not before the very process of receiving the Holy Gifts.
Pregnant women are also relaxed in fasting. But you need to discuss everything with the priest during the evening confession. He will advise how to act correctly according to the Laws of God.
Important: Be sure to ask the priest for blessings about any of your doubts regarding any church activities or even life situations.
Can I take medicine before Communion?
There are diseases when medicines need to be taken constantly at intervals of 2-3 hours (asthma, diabetes, various inflammations, and so on). People with such diseases ask themselves the question: is it possible to drink medicines before Communion?
- If the medicine is vital, then it must be taken without fail.
- If it is possible to refrain from taking medications, then it is better to do so.
- If you have any doubts about this, you need to contact the priest, who will decide whether you are allowed to attend the Sacrament of the Eucharist or not. Ask your father for blessings.
So that you have no doubts, discuss this issue with the priest in advance. Then you will be able to prepare for confession and Communion with peace of mind.
Can I donate blood for sugar before Communion? For people with diabetes, it is vital to know the level of glucose in the blood. Therefore, before communion, you can donate blood for sugar and take the necessary medicines.
Can I watch TV before Communion?
Preparation in church practice for Communion is called fasting. It lasts three days until the Eucharist, and concerns both the bodily and spiritual life of a person. The body refrains from eating meat and dairy food, and the mind should not be distracted by worldly trifles and amuse itself. Therefore, before Communion, it is unacceptable to watch TV, go to noisy companies. You need to spend time at home - in silence and prayer.
After Communion: when and what can you eat, can you eat meat?
Fasting is established only before Communion, as a feat of abstinence from earthly goods. This is necessary in order for a person to acquire a reverent attitude to receive the Holy Gifts. After Communion, you can eat everything, as well as dairy products, meat. But if there is no post on that day. If the church prescribed fasting on the occasion of some holiday or commemoration of the Saint, then it is necessary to refrain from eating meat, dairy products and fish.
Important: Often during Lent, on some church holidays you can eat fish. On this day, even the one who received communion can also eat it, but it is desirable that the fish be boneless so as not to spit them out.
Is it possible to drink alcohol, wine after Communion and on the day of Communion? On the day of the Holy Eucharist and after it, there are no canonical obstacles to tasting alcoholic beverages. You can celebrate and drink wine after Communion and on this day itself, but in moderation, and not turn the feast into drunkenness and association. It is important that you do not feel sick on this day. Therefore, it is better to refuse vodka, and drink some good wine.
When can I brush my teeth, wash my face, wash my hair, wash my hair after Communion?
On the day of Communion, it is better not to spit, so you should refrain from brushing your teeth. There are no canonical prohibitions regarding washing the body and head after the Holy Eucharist. If you have a fear that you will wash, wash or wash your hair after Communion and involuntarily spit out water, then refrain from these procedures for one day.
Is it possible to sleep after Communion? After Communion, many people want to come home and go to bed. Indeed, on this day, people usually wake up early in order to have time to get together for the liturgy and read all the necessary prayers. So is it possible to sleep after Communion? It is undesirable to do this, since only wakefulness will help to preserve the grace received. On this day, after church, it is better to read the Bible and think about the Lord in order to keep a bright feeling of joy in the soul longer.
Is it possible to make love after Communion?
Church rules prescribe on the day of the Holy Eucharist to keep the bodily frequency and occupy your mind only with thoughts of God and prayers. Therefore, making love after Communion is not necessary.
Can I go to work after Communion?
If you need to go to work after Communion, then there are no obstacles for this in the church. But, if there is an opportunity to postpone work, then do it, and spend at least half a day reading prayers and in peace of mind.
Many people argue that after Communion one should not kiss the icons, the cross, the hand of the priest, the child and other relatives. But any priest will say that this is superstition. According to church canons, only prostrations are not made on Sunday. If you venerated the cup after receiving the Holy Gifts, then this should in no way affect the further visible manifestation of your piety. Immediately after Communion, you need to receive warmth ( warm water mixed with wine) and then you can apply to the icons, the cross and the blessing hand of the priest.
Can you kneel after Communion?
As mentioned above, bowing to the ground after the Holy Eucharist is not necessary. But, if in the church during the service and prayer everyone knelt down, then you can do it too. But this is unlikely to happen, since after the end of the Communion they read thanksgiving prayers God and the service ends with a short sermon by the priest.
Is it possible to clean the house on the day of Communion? Communion Day should be devoted to spiritual pursuits, and worldly affairs are best done later. You should not clean the house on the day of Communion out of a sense of gratitude before the Holy Sacrament, and also in order to preserve this grace in yourself.
It should be remembered that a quarrel with a loved one is even worse than doing housework. Therefore, on the day of the Holy Eucharist, you need to think about the good, try not to talk to anyone, read prayers. But if you need to do housework for the sake of helping your neighbor, then this can be done, but with special spiritual discretion.
Why is it impossible to work in the ground after Communion?
Communion is a holiday to be spent with joy in the soul, enjoying every minute of the grace given from above. It is believed that after receiving the Holy Gifts it is impossible to work in the earth, so as not to lose grace. Someone says that the demon can drag away this grace. But this is superstition. If you want to do something or you need to do it after Communion, then consult with the priest. Most likely, he will answer that this day should be dedicated to God, read prayers and be at home in peace.
Is it possible to spit, spit out the seeds from the berries after Communion? As mentioned above, it is impossible to spit after the Sacrament of Communion, and even more so, spit out the bones from the berries. Refrain from such food after accepting God's grace.
What else can not be done on the day of communion?
The life experience of many people says that it is easier to get than to keep. The same can be said about spiritual experience - it is important to be able to use the gift - this is the most difficult thing that awaits the recipient. What else can not be done on the day of communion? Here are some tips:
- To sin, to be annoyed and to arrive in despondency.
- Kissing animals, as well as hugging and talking to them.
- You can cough and blow your nose, but in a handkerchief, and not spit on the ground.
- Chewing gum.
There is such a legend that after Communion, the expelled evil spirits wander through the forests and fields, and having not found shelter, they think: “But why not go back to the house?”. She returns again to a person who is spiritually pure after Communion and calls with her 7 more spirits. Therefore, it often happens that after Communion a person begins to sin even more. It is important to preserve that state and grace given at the time of receiving the Holy Gifts. There is no need to dwell on superstition, it is necessary to read prayers and canons and live according to the commandments of the Lord.
Is it possible to get infected with something during Communion in church? When we cross the threshold of the church, we find ourselves in God's house - this is already Heaven, not earth, and all worldly problems and thoughts should remain outside the threshold. Is it possible to get infected with something during Communion in church? Near the cup, people receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Here only Purity and Sterility. Believers should not even have the thought of contagious diseases. Besides Orthodox Christian shouldn't think about it at all. Batiushka goes to give communion to sick people in hospitals, but no one has been infected yet.
Communion is one of the Great Sacraments. A person must receive the Holy Gifts in order to purify the soul. It is important that a person does not lose reverence, but with all his being feels the benefit of the Sacrament of Communion. Only true believers feed their souls all their lives with a unique contrast: between the anguish of a slave who kneels and prays (during confession), and the free flight of an eagle spreading its wings wide (after Communion).
Video: Where did the ban on food before Communion come from?
What is the best way to prepare for receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ?
Only Orthodox people come to the Sacrament of Holy Communion, those who constantly go to church, strictly observe all fasts, are married, pray, live in peace with everyone, repent of sins - such people, with the permission of the confessor, proceed to the Chalice.
It is necessary to prepare in advance both the soul and the body in order to unite with the Lord. Fast for 3-4 days, do not eat fast food, refrain from dinner the day before, replace it with the rule: read two akathists - to the Savior and the Mother of God, four canons - to the Savior, the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel and the canon for Holy Communion. Who does not have such an opportunity - 500 prayers of Jesus and 150 times "Virgin Mother of God, rejoice ..." But even after reading this rule, even if we have been preparing for a thousand years, we cannot think that we are worthy to receive the Body of Christ. We must hope only in the mercy of God and in His great love for mankind.
Before Communion, it is necessary to sincerely repent in the presence of a priest. Be sure to have a cross on your chest. In no case should you approach the Chalice if the confessor forbids or if you conceal a sin. In bodily and monthly impurity, it is also impossible to proceed to the Sacrament of Communion. Before and after Communion, one must abstain from marital relations.
We must remember that before Communion or after it there is always a temptation. After Communion until morning, prostrations are not made, the mouth is not rinsed, nothing can be spit out. It is necessary to keep oneself from idle talk, especially from condemnation, to read the Gospel, the Jesus Prayer, akathists, Divine books.
How often should you take communion? How do you know that you have received communion worthily, not in condemnation?
If a person is married, observes fasts, Wednesday, Friday, reads morning and evening prayers, lives with everyone in peace, if he reads the whole rule before Communion and considers himself unworthy, approaching Communion with faith and fear, then he partakes of Christ's Mysteries with dignity. The soul does not immediately, suddenly feel worthy of communion. Maybe the next day or the third the soul will feel peace, joy. It all depends on our preparation. If we pray hard, try to get every word of prayer into our hearts, fast and consider ourselves sinful and unworthy, then we can immediately feel the presence of the Lord in us. After Communion there will be peace and joy in us. Temptation may come at once. One must be ready for him, having met him, not to be tempted and not to sin. So the devil knows that we are prepared. But the most important thing is to consider yourself sinful and unworthy. Of course, if we live in such a way that we will be forced to read the canons, morning and evening rule, and we will do it carelessly, in our souls this feeling of sinfulness will not be born. We have enough time to chat, run around, see what lies where, who does what. We have enough energy for this. Or we will hold out, drive the time: "Oh, there are three minutes left until midnight! We must go to eat!" This is not an Orthodox spirit. This is the spirit of Satan. It should not be. The Orthodox must do everything with reverence and the fear of God. The soul of an Orthodox Christian feels God both after communion and between communions. The Lord is near, stands at the door of our heart and knocks: what if they open it, hear His knock? The holy fathers honored reverence and fear in their souls and supported this grace with prayer. They, feeling that prayer was weakening, confessed and approached the Chalice, and the Lord strengthened! Again the soul was on fire. Communion is the only sacrament of the Church where the soul of a person can ignite with the flame of divine love; because in Communion we receive into ourselves the Living Fire, the Creator of the universe Himself.
Is the infection transmitted through a cross, a spoon for communion, an icon?
In the church we are already dealing with Heaven. Here we are no longer on earth. The Church is a small piece of Heaven on earth. When we cross the threshold of a temple, we must forget about everything earthly, including squeamishness (squeamish people are usually lecherous, say the holy fathers). The infection is transmitted only by sinful means. Many people work in infectious diseases departments, in tuberculosis hospitals, but do not suffer from these diseases. Priests also come there - they give communion. And no one has ever been infected. People become infected only through sin.
When they approach the Chalice, they take from one small spoon - a spoon - the Creator of the Universe, the Living Christ, the Body and Blood of Christ. Here Themselves Cleanliness and Sterility. Here everything is so pure that believers do not even have the thought of infection. Through the hands of the priest, Christ Himself enters into man. Not a part of His Flesh and Blood, but as a whole, the Lord enters into each one who takes communion. Angels in awe, in fear are present. And what can we say about some kind of infection. There was a time, in the 62-63s, atheists came to church and taught that after each communicant, the liar should be lowered into a special solution. Well, this is for them... They don't understand anything. And the fact that their soul has already become a vessel of Satan is normal, it's okay!
When Righteous John of Kronstadt was serving in the cathedral, two young men came to see him. They were about to take communion. One subtracted the rule, and the second, very tired, could not. And both came to church. The one who read it calmly approached Communion, and the righteous John of Kronstadt did not allow him. And the other, with a contrite heart, said to himself like this: “Lord, I so want to receive You; but I didn’t read the rule, I’m so vile, so vile ...” Condemning himself, he approached the Chalice, and the righteous John of Kronstadt gave him communion. The most important thing for the Lord is our contrite heart, the awareness of our unworthiness. St. John Chrysostom says: "If we prepare for a thousand years, we will never be worthy - we must hope for the mercy of God. If the Lord does not help, we will not be able to partake worthily."
When you take communion, you feel light in your soul, but after a while (on the same day) this state passes, and your soul feels heavy again. You feel the absence of God. The same passions rise up again. What do we have to do?
You have to prepare yourself the day before. It is necessary to fast well - "this kind of demons is expelled only by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:21), therefore, one must pray well the day before, warm up one's soul, fast - the passions will depart. After Communion, one must try to remain in prayer, to maintain peace of mind. Those who love to be self-willed, to rebel, do not appreciate Communion. They took communion - and immediately they have resentment, and hysteria, and rebellion next to them. This is because it is not their will that everything happens. It is necessary for them to exist, to break everything to the end, all relations. There are still many such people, they are called butovschiki. They value nothing, they value nothing. The most important thing is that everything should be according to their desire. And if (God forbid) something is against them, everyone around them becomes enemies, and there will never be peace in the soul, until death. This is the most terrible state of the human soul. A person lives according to his will and no one has the right to say anything to him. And so they are doing well, just do not touch them - they will sting ...
Why then, when you take communion, do the Holy Mysteries sometimes taste like bread, and sometimes like Flesh? Does this mean that at one time you partake of eternal life, and at another - in condemnation?
If a person feels that he is taking on the Flesh, then the Lord gives it to strengthen faith. But it is right to feel the taste of bread. The Lord Himself says: "I am the bread of Life" (John 6:35).
Many people have told me about this. Quite recently, a woman called from Kyiv, saying: “Father, my faith is weak. When I went to Communion today, I was poorly prepared. Father gave me a small particle, and at the Chalice I thought: “What kind of Flesh can be here? When I don’t even feel with my tongue that he put something in my mouth? ”He gave me a little, a little bit. And I just couldn’t eat that piece. It stayed in my mouth like that. I came home - my mouth was full of meat. For several hours I sobbed, cried, asked the Lord - it's a pity to throw it away, but I can't swallow it! Then the Lord freed me - I swallowed it and now I'm calling. What, have I sinned terribly?" “Repent that you doubted it,” I tell her.
We know that the Lord performed the first miracle when He turned wine from water. It costs him nothing to transform His blood from wine, and from bread - Flesh. A person does not receive a part of the flesh, but the Living Christ enters into each communion in its entirety.
We know the word of the Apostle Paul about receiving the Holy Gifts "without reasoning". I would like to know if it is possible to give such recommendations to a person who does not believe in God?
Only believing people can approach the Chalice and receive communion, those who believe in the crucified Jesus Christ as the Son of God, sincerely confess their sins. And to the “raw material” that doesn’t go to church, doesn’t pray to God, doesn’t keep fasts and strives to take communion “just in case”, we usually say: “It’s too early for you to take communion. You have to get ready.” Some defend such "parishioners", they say: "If they are not allowed, then who is to be allowed?" God doesn't want quantity, God wants quality. It is better for one person to partake worthily than twenty unworthily. Saint Gregory the Theologian says: “I would rather give my body to be torn to pieces by dogs than the body of Christ to the unworthy.”
You have to have a discussion. We know from experience that everyone who came to church to be baptized and did not prepare remains outside the Church. Therefore, we ask you to seriously prepare your soul for this Sacrament, to go to church services, pray. When such a prepared person is baptized, he will become a faithful member of the Church, he will constantly be in the temple. This is what real Orthodox people are. On the day of the Last Judgment, on the left side of our Judge there will be a lot of baptized, "Orthodox" ones. They will prove that they are believers, but the Lord will say: "Depart from me, cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25:41).
After communion, I almost got hit by a car. I escaped with a bruise ... I want to understand why this happened?
This may be different reasons. The holy fathers say that before or after communion, the enemy will definitely set up a temptation: he will try to prevent him from taking communion, or after communion he will take revenge. He seeks to create an obstacle with all demonic intrigues so that a person cannot worthily receive communion. A Christian prepares, prays, reads the rule for Holy Communion, and suddenly ... someone met him on the way, scolded him or his neighbors made a scandal at home, all so that the person sinned and lost heart. These are obstacles from the devil.
It also happens differently. The person is at enmity, has not reconciled, has not asked for forgiveness and goes to the Chalice. Or He has secret unrepentant sins in his soul.
If a person went through a formal confession, did not repent of anything and approached the Chalice more than once, he took communion unworthily, to condemn himself. Of such, the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians says that "... many of them die" (1 Cor. 11:30).
If, however, we have repented of everything, concealed nothing, left nothing on our conscience, then we are under the special protection of God. Then even if a car knocks us to death, it’s not scary: on the day of communion, all Orthodox Christians would like to die, because for the sake of the Holy Gifts, the soul immediately admires the Angels in Heaven and it does not go through ordeal. The soul will not go to hell on the day of communion.
And if such a nuisance happened, but the person "got off with a fright", remained alive, then this can be regarded as a reminder of God about the inevitable death that may come today or tomorrow. Life is short. This means that it is necessary to strengthen the exploits, pay more attention to the spiritual side of your life. Any disease, any such case is news from underworld. The Lord constantly reminds us that our earthly refuge is temporary, that we do not live here forever and will leave for another world.
No matter how well a person lives on earth, he will not build a kingdom here. Only once was he given the opportunity to live in paradise under the protection of God's grace. Man could not resist, fell into sin, and sin shortened the days of man's life. Along with sin, death entered the life of a person. The devil has perverted consciousness to such an extent that sin has become the norm, and virtue is trampled on.
But we have the hope of entering the Kingdom of Heaven through a righteous life in Christ and the cleansing of the soul through repentance. And in the Kingdom of Heaven there is no despondency, no sickness, no despair, no sorrows. There is fullness of life, fullness of joy, And for this we must constantly prepare, remember every second: our whole life is only preparation for eternity. How many billions of people were on earth, all moved into the world of the majority. And now we stand on the threshold of that world.
Can the unmarried receive communion?
This issue is very complex, and it should be resolved with the confessor. An unmarried marriage is not blessed by God. For example, a woman lives in Moscow. She has an apartment. From the other end of Moscow, a man comes to her and cohabits with her. Well, and how: can such people be allowed to receive communion?" Many will exclaim: "Father, this is fornication. They live illegally."
Good. Then this man collects his things and moves to her, thinks: "What am I going to go back and forth." He came, began to live, registered with her. We registered at the registry office, in case of a divorce, in order to divide the little things acquired together. Was the marriage legal then? Nothing like that, it's just as illegal. They just got together.
This marriage will be legal when they have strong faith, give God a promise to observe purity in marriage, that is, not to indulge infantry desires during fasting, not to commit adultery on the side and get married. That's when this marriage will be "registered" in Heaven. This marriage is blessed by God.
Now many people get married at the insistence of their parents. A mother says to her son or daughter: "You must definitely get married!" And children, to please their parents, get married in the church. The mother is calm and comforted. And they lived for two or three months, a scandal, and fled. Soon they find themselves another couple and begin to live new family. Thus they commit adultery and trample on the holy bonds of a crowned, God-blessed marriage.
By law given by God, these people are bound by marriage as long as one of the spouses is alive. The husband dies, the wife can get married, and vice versa. But with both spouses alive, none of them can live with another person. And no priest has the right to marry them.
What God has joined together, let no man separate. "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery with her husband" (Luke 1b, 18). "To those who are married, I do not command, but the Lord: A woman shall not divorce her husband, and a husband shall not leave his wife" (1 Cor. 7:10).
If it became unbearable to live with your spouse, and you separated, then you need to keep yourself clean; but it is better to be reconciled with the one whom the Lord has given you.
We give communion to an infant, but for some reason he becomes irritable after communion.
Much depends on the parents. The child is sinless, holy, and the parents are often unrepentant, and their inner state is reflected in the child. Mentioned in life righteous John Kronstadt: when babies were brought to him to receive communion, some of them did not want to accept the Holy Gifts - they waved their arms, twisted, spun. And the righteous prophetically said: "These are the future persecutors of the Church." From birth they were opponents of God.
The grandmother, secretly from her parents, communes a small child, she is embarrassed that it is a secret.
There is nothing wrong here. On the contrary, it is very good that someone was found in the family, doing a good deed for the soul of this child. The child must live a spiritual life. If he does not receive communion, his soul may die and small man will grow with a dead soul. Subsequently, an evil force can take possession of him, even to mental illness, to demon possession. And if this, by the grace of God, does not happen, a person with an evil character will simply grow up.
A small planted flower requires care and attention. It needs watering, loosening and freeing from weeds. So the child must be communed with the Holy Mysteries - the Blood and Body of Christ. Then his soul lives and develops. She falls under the special protection of the Lord's grace.
Priest Alexander Pikalev
I am practically sure that every or almost every priest serving in a parish, during Great Lent or immediately before it, suffers from annoying questions from parishioners and just people who accidentally come in about how to fast, what to eat, what not to eat, when oil is allowed, when fish, when neither is allowed, how many times a day and at what time to eat, etc. etc.
And involuntarily the impression arises that Orthodox post there is such an unusually complex and sophisticated diet that no nutritionist will dream of even in a nightmare.
Yes, unfortunately, it is very, very not uncommon for those who are fasting that the time of fasting becomes the time for a scrupulous study of the inscriptions on the packages. food products: whether there is milk, eggs, etc. in the composition, albeit in insignificant quantities, but their presence even at the level of 0.001% already makes the product unfit for consumption.
When I once went to a supermarket and decided to look at the abundance around me through the eyes of such a gastronomic Pharisee, I was completely baffled by the inscription on the box of rice cereal. The caption read: "Product MAY contain trace amounts of milk." And here a dilemma arises no weaker than Hamlet's "to be or not to be?" - "Does it contain or not?" it follows from the inscription that the product MAY contain milk, therefore, it may NOT contain. And it is not clear how a poor fasting person can be here without a serious examination.
Maybe what I am writing will seem to someone a mockery of Christian temperance and piety, but what I have described is only the most harmless degree of Lenten superstitions. For example, there is an opinion that you can’t eat anything tasty during fasting, that is, sweet, salty, spiced, anything that gives a pleasant taste sensation, because. This is already a terrible sin of larynx. Also, soy "meat" is highly discouraged (who only turned his tongue to call this muck meat - approx. ed.) because it supposedly looks (?) like meat, therefore. whoever eats this plant product thinks about meat and breaks the fast in his thoughts.
But it's all, again, the little things. There are cases of frank fasting masochism, when an excessively fasting person brings himself at least to hungry dizziness, because (this most often happens in the first week of fasting) he does not allow himself to take even a sip of water before sunset. I personally knew one “great fasting woman” who, having bitten a bun and swallowed a piece, found cream in the bun. Immediately she rushed to the bathroom to run with the help of known way to remove back from the body the "obnoxious" brushno.
Superstitions that are not directly related to Lent can also be attributed to the same superstitious curiosities: do not eat meat on the day of communion (by the way, such a recommendation can sometimes be heard from clergy), do not eat anything 2 hours after communion, wait until it “sucks in”, do not eat fish after communion, and if you forgot and ate, and if you spit out the bones, then they are burned with such ceremonies with which, probably, the burnt offering was not offered in the Old Testament Temple. There is an unusually strong tradition (which again is often supported by clergy) to fast before communion for several days (usually three) even on those days on which fasting is prohibited by the charter (Saturday and Sunday). The absurdity of this tradition is aggravated by the fact that the priests who bless such a fast do not observe it themselves and clear conscience they eat meat before the Sunday vigil, despite the fact that tomorrow they will serve the Liturgy, embodying the words of Christ: “they bind heavy and insupportable burdens and lay them on the shoulders of people, but they themselves do not want to move them with their fingers” ().
But if everything that has been said can be called an unfortunate misunderstanding, existing either due to ignorance, or ostentatious piety, or unreasonable zeal for faith, then I would especially like to single out one blasphemous and anti-church superstition - the exclusion of all believers indiscriminately from the Eucharist on Easter and the entire Bright Week under the pretext : they say, they fasted all the fast, took communion, but now there is no fasting and there is no need to take communion. Thus, one has to observe that the Paschal Liturgies throughout Bright Week - the time of the special triumph of the Church, special joy, the time of the Feast of Feasts and the Celebration of Solemnities (and the church celebration outside the Eucharist is NOT a church celebration), turn into a theater of one actor and the words of the litany: "about the proposed and consecrated Honest Gifts to the Lord let us pray” sound in empty space, there is no one to pray for them, because. on these central days for the entire liturgical year, no one participates in these Gifts.
But let us return to Great Lent and to the unfortunate circumstance that very often this fast comes down for us to studying the contents of our own plate. In this regard, the thought involuntarily occurred to me: if some secret enemies of the Church came to power now, then in order to demoralize the believers, they would not have to, like Julian the Apostate, sprinkle everything in a row with idolatrous blood. It would be enough to write on all products, preferably larger, that the composition includes milk and eggs. A turmoil no less than the recent epidemic of INNism would be guaranteed.
Of course, one cannot say that fasting in food is something unimportant and third-rate. All the holy fathers write about the importance and benefits of fasting abstinence in food, and everyone who fasts without hypocrisy knows how right they are. It's about something else. About the one-sided, purely gastronomic understanding of fasting without a moral and spiritual basis, which is repentance, the Eucharist and the humility born from them. Fasting without humility turns into its opposite. Everyone knows that an angry and hungry person is much worse than just an angry person. And here one literary anecdote comes to mind: robbers killed a peasant at night on the road, searched the corpse, did not find any money. We found a little kitty with bread and bacon in it. The bread was taken away, but the fat was not touched, because it was Great Lent.
However, posting is necessary. And like everything else in the Church, fasting is regulated by the charter. It is there, in the Typicon, that it is written when with oil, when without oil, when fish can be eaten, and so on. But before choosing the Typikon for oneself as an indispensable guide in the matter of fasting, one must remember that this is an ancient monastic charter, the charter of ancient and true, and not ostentatious, ascetics, for whom the severity of bodily fasting was completely in tune with their spiritual and moral abstinence. Spiritual and bodily life was in their complete symphony. Therefore, a post according to Typikon for modern lovers of glamor magazines and the Field of Miracles is just a mockery of the post and its profanity.
It should also be noted that fasting, strictly according to the Charter, is designed for a healthy person and is in itself unacceptable to the sick, the elderly, children, pregnant and lactating women, or people engaged in heavy physical labor. And in such a situation, the Charter gives way to objective human needs. And there is nothing anti-Orthodox that peasants working in the fields during Lent in the spring are allowed dairy products, and students (even seminarians) are allowed fish, because the typikon did not fall from the sky. People wrote it. And one of the most striking evidence of his humanity is the words at the beginning of the chapter on the Holy Forty Day: “on Monday of the first week, the paraecclesiarch marks the stagnant light, the evening for the sake of consolation,” in Russian: “on Monday of the first week of Lent, in the morning, the sexton calls the brethren to prayer later than usual due to yesterday's feast. In the language of the typikon, the word “consolation” denotes the presence of wine at the monastery meal, and it is purely humanly clear that those who drank a little more than usual the day before do not interfere with sleeping longer today. It would not be bad for its excessive zealots to recall this humanity of the charter.
While fasting bodily, we must not forget why we are fasting, what purpose this church means serves. Fasting is a feat of our ecclesiastical unity, not just traditionalist unity, not just a manifestation of the unity of our convictions, but above all, a manifestation of Eucharistic unity, without which fasting simply turns into an empty external form.
An excellent example of the correct attitude to the Eucharist is the historical narrative of the persecution of the Roman emperor Diocletian (end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th century). These persecutions were the strongest in the entire three hundred year history of persecution. No one before him had shed so much Christian blood.
The emperor, being a very intelligent person, managed to find the main nerve center of the Church and strike at it. By his decree, he outlawed the Eucharistic meetings of Christians, and those who participate in them - state criminals, deserving the death penalty. Diocletian issued such an order, knowing full well that Christians would not be able not to gather for the Eucharist, they would not be able to live without Communion, and of course he was not mistaken. The opportunity to participate in the Eucharist was dearer to the first Christians than life.
It is easy to imagine how puzzled the great persecutor would have been if he had attempted such a maneuver today. Christians seem to be around, but there is no one to grab and feed the lions.
We lose an unusually lot when we see in fasting only a diet that precedes a plentiful Easter table. Fasting is a reminder to us of our sinfulness, a reminder of how we are dependent on the material world, on satiety, and how, in this dependence, we cease to be slaves of Christ. Fasting reminds us of the lost heavenly homeland, and it is not for nothing that the words of the 136th psalm sound at the All-Night Vigil – the lamentation of the Israelites captured by the Babylonians. This is a reminder to us that we are on a foreign land, where it is impossible to sing the song of the Lord.
The essence of fasting is not in fasting, but in Pascha, and the essence of Pascha is in salvation, the deification of human nature, given to us through Communion.
Therefore, an Orthodox fast, like Christian life in general, should testify that a Christian lives for something for which it is not scary to die. And so Diocletian was not mistaken.
