This next section of chapter three covers The Prayer of Intercession, Preparation for Communion, and Communion. In the diptychs of local Orthodox Churches, bishops pray for other bishops as a way of remembering each other in communion and expressing universality. They pray, “Again we offer unto Thee this rational worship for the whole world; for the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church …” The martyrs are also remembered in the prayers of the Church. The prayers have no clear distinction between the living saints and the departed saints as a separate category of people needing prayers. Molebens are done for the saints and the panikhidas are done for the departed. Nicholas Cabasilas outlines several kinds of prayer in the liturgy: intercession, thanksgiving, and petition. Whether in English or any other modern language, there doesn’t seem to be an adequate and specialized vocabulary for translating and expressing these different kinds of prayer when we discuss Orthodox worship. We tend to reuse the same word, prayer, for different words. For example, we don’t offer petition to the Theotokos and the saints, but we do offer them thanksgiving prayers. The hierarchs commemorate other hierarchs, a country’s safety, all the armed forces everywhere, all the civil authorities, and generally for a “quiet a peaceable life,” whether under a monarchy or democracy or some other form of government. These prayers are as practical as the American documents that write of our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Then, the bishop prays, “Again we entreat Thee: remember … [the Church], which is from end to end of the universe.” Remembrance is something Christ commanded us to do at the Last Supper, and it means “to have someone live within your heart” just as the Wise Thief prayed to the Lord on his cross and just as the Apostle John the Theologian and the Most Holy Theotokos understood when they leaned on the chest of Christ hearing his heartbeat. Remembrance helps us prepare for communion. Atonement means the same etymologically as communion (at-one, with-one). Atonement is the communion of God and man, not a means but the end that is finished.
Then, the Our Father is prayed together. We ask God the Father for bread that is supersubstantial – the Greek word that is originally used in the New Testament prayer of Christ taught to us his disciples by word of mouth. Christ’s body is deified, transfigured, and this Eucharist, the bread and wine that becomes the Body and Blood of Christ, nourishes our nature of body and spirit. The Apostle John the Theologian teaches, “that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” This communion with Christ makes us holy. The bishop or priest says, “the holy things for the holy” before the faithful receive communion. The holy ones are the faithful, the brethren, the brothers and sisters, the martyrs of the Church. The catechumens are connected to the Church since all people have a kind of relationship with the Church whether they despise it or are outside of it. Whether they are in it and can participate in it or not. But they are not ready to receive communion, which is the major way of telling whether someone is or isn’t in communion with the Church. The Didache teaches speaking to the faithful members, “He who is holy, let him draw near, and he who is not, let him change himself.” Are Christians made holy by first not sinning at all? Are Christians made holy by the eucharist? St. Symeon the New Theologian – one of the handful of men and women who have that title and ability to teach as one in Orthodoxy – teaches, “So, how is this to be understood? He who is not holy is not worthy? Not at all. But he who does not confess daily the secrets of his heart, he who does not show necessary repentance for these secrets … he who does not weep constantly … is not worthy.” Belief is a verb, an action, a fully involved movement toward the desire of a person with faith. When we surround ourself with faith, we are only able to hear and follow; a person surrounded in reasonings, fears, and shrouded with dark, esoteric philosophies, sees many exit routes. St. Cyril of Jerusalem teaches his catechumens, “After this priest says, the holy things are for the holy. Holy are the gifts presented, since they have been visited by the Holy Spirit; holy are you also, … the holy things correspond to the holy persons [the Trinity] … For truly One is holy, by nature only; we too, are holy, but not by nature, only by participation, and discipline, and prayer.” Faith fully involves a person’s space and time, one’s body and mind are at one, not divided into separate sensory experiences, outlined by St. Cyril above as involvement, partaking, ascetical efforts, and praying. In general, a philosopher, a critic, a scholar, a journalist, a lawyer – these were jobs that tended to have difficulty becoming completely involved in their environment since they must take a step back from the situation to gain a perspective. Faith doesn’t attempt to count the stars or view the sky’s measure; it follows with some understanding, and it takes sure action with the correct image in mind. St. Symeon the New Theologian also teaches that a person who lives, “… life in groanings and tears is fully worthy not only on a feast day, but on every day, although it is bold to say, from the very beginning of his repentance and conversion to be in communion with these divine mysteries (185-186).”
The way of receiving communion has changed a little over time depending on the circumstances. Infants couldn’t receive solid food yet, but they could receive it mixed in a cup. By mixing the bread and wine, it also protects the body of Christ from being taken away. St. John Chrysostom teaches that the faithful should say “Amen” after receiving communion, and that some people would touch one’s eyes with the eucharist. The custom of using a spoon for communion of the faithful – the clergy still partake of the Eucharist by hand and mouth separately – derives from the 7th c. most likely in Constantinople, according to John Meyendorff and Robert Taft. The Council of Trent, a dogma for Roman Catholics, taught that anyone who doubted that receiving only the body or only the blood was insufficient for salvation was anathematized, and up to present day, receiving communion is often talked about as “obligation” or “duty.” An unfortunate result not always existing in Western Christianity is the consequence of infants not being able to commune. Another consequence came of it when communion became obligatory for sins committed after baptism due to a “loss of baptismal grace” and incurring unworthiness, which must be preceded by confession first. In this way, Western Christians have adopted a very linear, logical, and visual point to point correspondence in liturgical life and eucharistic theology. Interestingly, Roman Catholics require that baptism be separated from communion until “the age of reason” when a child can grasp the mysteries and when they can read. That literacy or rationality become the requirements for communion is a strange consequence of this dogma – probably unintended. There is an order and prerequisite: faith and baptism. Infants can meet both of those requirements in their natural state, according to the eastern fathers of the Church. Holy Orthodoxy receive infants with all the mysteries simultaneously, and they pray noetically in their God-given innocence. Although infants do not have strong visual control and developed cognitive abilities, they are able to hear all from their surroundings; their ear catches everything and their heart prays ceaselessly. Whether the age, level of cognition, degree of sinfulness, communion is saving. Today, at least since ca. 600 AD, Orthodoxy always gives us both the bread and the wine at the same time in the divine liturgy. Dionysius the Areopagite teaches that infants communed with baptism and chrismation, and parents have the gift and upmost reverent and honorable position in the Church of raising children with holy communion. The effects of the Eucharist on children are profoundly life changing, especially when parents pray for them too. Dionysisus the Areopagite teaches, “Children raised up in accordance with holy precepts will acquire the habits of holiness.” A crucial and enormous divine role married Christians have in Orthodoxy, “to avoid all errors and all the temptations of an unholy life” for their children. The Most Theotokos was raised in the temple and kept “away from men” and she was dedicated from youth. Her upbringing might be a good model to follow for Orthodox families as much as it is possible in this quick moving electronic age. The next section discusses the conclusion of the liturgy and the liturgy of the pre-sanctified gifts to complete this chapter on the divine liturgy.