Drink this all of you

 

picture: Confession & Communion - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

The sixth movement of the Mass is the Communion Rite, which follows the Eucharistic Prayer and prepares us for the reception of Holy Communion. The bread and wine have been consecrated and changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and we receive these gifts from the minister. For reasons that have never been fully convincing to me, Communion for lay people in the Roman Catholic Church is almost always given under one species, namely the consecrated bread.

While it is true that the communicant receives fully the Body and Blood of the Lord under the one species, it still seems odd that we do not follow the ancient and continuing practice of the Eastern Orthodox Church in both eating and drinking of the Lord under both species of consecrated bread and wine, as he himself commanded at the Last Supper.

Practical considerations clearly played a part: the risk of spillage, the time involved, and the legacy of Irish custom, where congregations were large and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist did not exist until the 1970s. Perhaps, too, an instinct to over‑protect the sacred unintentionally diminished the fullness of the sign that comes from receiving under both species, as the apostles did.

Yet it is entirely normal to manage all of this in a dignified, reverent, and orderly way in Anglican and Eastern Orthodox churches. In the East, Communion is administered on a spoon containing the Body (in this case leavened bread) dipped in the chalice.

There is another point worth pondering. In both Orthodox and Anglican practice, the people drink from the one chalice. There is only one cup, not separate ones for priest and congregation. Drinking from the one cup is a powerful sign of unity and sharing. In modern life there are almost no occasions when people drink from a common cup — except at the Eucharist. That is how close, how familial, Jesus was with his friends at the Last Supper.