Communion is a church sacrament when you can get rid of sins and draw closer to God, join your soul to eternal life. The communicant receives a particle of God, which must be preserved in himself. To do this, you need to know how to behave after the sacrament.
When did the ritual begin?
There is little information in history about how everything happened in those distant times. But it is known that the communion ritual was approved by Jesus Christ during the celebration of the Jewish holiday - Easter, before His imminent crucifixion.
At the Last Supper, Jesus explained to his disciples the new meaning of traditional, familiar dishes. Taking the bread prepared for the celebration, He blessed it and called it His Body, invited them to taste the wine, calling it His Blood.
Here is expressed the desire of Christ to regularly hold the Sacrament of Communion.
Meaning of the Sacrament
Communion in Christianity is the Sacrament of consecration of unleavened bread and wine for their use inholding a church service. In temples, it occupies the main part of worship. The Sacrament makes it possible to draw closer to God, to join Him.
You can not understand the words of Christ about the blood and flesh consumed in food, in the truest sense of these words - to eat. After all, He said this while alive. It should be understood as follows: Jesus Christ united with the products, becoming one with them, and they must be eaten consciously, understanding that this is a particle of God that will be in us, while our souls seem to join eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
During communion, conditions are created for the unity of the nature of the Creator with His creation. This unity was before eating the forbidden fruit. The Eucharist is an attempt to return to a once lost paradise. It is desirable for every Christian to receive communion more often in order to join the Divine, accept eternal life and be saved - this is the highest goal of the sacrament.
Who is allowed to take communion?
Christian commandments are a gift from the church to all people, not a heavy burden. Thanks to them, they become humble and patient. Priests are called in the Church to distribute this gift of the Divine Liturgy to all Christians who would like to approach this grace, which has a strong effect on soul and body.
But there are cases when a clergyman can, and sometimes is obliged, to impose penance, and in special conditions to excommunicate from communion for a long time, which is done for the sake of a person's spiritual rebirth.
The main reason for excommunication is a serious sin (fornication,murder, theft, witchcraft, denial of Christ, outright heresy). Previously, people lived in communities and excommunication for especially grave sins could last up to twenty years. But sinful people, along with everyone else, came to church and prayed all these years for forgiveness.
In the modern world, when everyone is divided, this will mean completely leaving a person without God. Now a repentant person can be excommunicated from communion for several months, imputing him to read prayers. This is done so that the devil could not lead the repentant from faith. After all, the priest does not punish, but helps to prepare for the adoption of the secret rite. By making incredible efforts to change for the better, a person receives a worthy communion.
Parishioners whose moral state is simply incompatible with this ritual are deprived of communion - these are people in a civil marriage, which is considered fornication, as well as those who hold a grudge who do not want to forgive a repentant person.
They may not allow a person who was not present at the evening service, since the liturgical day begins in the evening, or those who are poorly prepared for communion, or for some other reason.
You can't make a decision on your own here, you have to confess. After all, only by repentance can a priest understand the severity of sins, the moral state of a person, his life situations. And only the priest, at his own discretion, can allow confession or forbid it for some time, or impose penance for a certain period. And the solution will be different in each case.
For the first time in the Church
To the man, for the first timewho came to the temple, the attitude is less strict than to the church. Having lived for a long time with sins, without God, in old age, you can repent, want to improve yourself, change your life, repent. Such a person comes to God for salvation, and by prohibiting communion for a long time, one can lose him completely. After all, he simply will not live to see the end of the ban, or, considering himself rejected by the Church, he will live his former life, forgetting about God.
Confession and communion for the first time are often allowed by the priest even without proper preparation. It all depends on the severity of the sins of this person. A person reads prayers later, having received all the instructions and explanations on how to behave after communion. Here the priest takes full responsibility for this person.
Before Communion
Communion is performed only after confession. Confession, or repentance, is a church sacrament when a person consciously reveals all sins before God, having the intention to part with them forever, and the witness here is a priest who prays for the confessor to have mercy.
Deeply aware of your sinful behavior, fully repentant, you must immediately begin to change, observing the rules of conduct after confession and communion. This is the only way to receive God's mercy.
How to take communion correctly?
The right to receive communion in the Church is an Orthodox Christian baptized by a priest who must accept the Holy Scriptures.
For proper communion, a person must prepare well in advance. He is obligedfast for several days, read the prayers for Holy Communion and confess.
Fasting means not eating animal meat, dairy products, eggs, and sometimes fish. It is necessary to give up all kinds of entertainment, as well as marital intimacy, to refrain from anger, swearing. Dedicate your time to studying church literature, the gospel, going to church and reading prayers at home.
It is obligatory to read prayers in the morning and evening, including special texts before the sacrament. You can read the canons in a few days, and the Follow-up is read before communion.
Without repentance, communion is unacceptable. Sin is everything that is directed against the decisions of God. The Lord gave commandments with the expression of His will. When preparing for confession, it is advisable to remember the parable of the Last Judgment and the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus. It is necessary to remember all the heavy and petty sins that were not forgiven earlier, but those who go for the first time - starting from the age of seven. Asking for forgiveness for yourself, forgive yourself for all those who offended you.
The Church encourages the laity to go to confession every month. This allows you to consciously relate to the world around you, to be in the Christian faith.
Communion ritual
It is necessary to receive communion on two days: in the evening - confession, and in the morning - communion, but it is possible on the same day. You must not be late for the Liturgy, and when you go to the Chalice, cross your arms on your chest so that the right one is on top. After accepting the gifts, an antidor (pieces of lamb prosphora) is given out, which you need to eat, drink the drink offered in the temple. After that, it is recommended to eat moreand prosphora.
How to behave after the sacrament?
Having Communion, a person received God's gift, which is very difficult to keep in oneself. A neglectful attitude towards him can turn into trouble. We must ask God to help keep this gift in ourselves for as long as possible, not to return to former sins.
On this day, you need to especially watch your words and thoughts, protect your heart from all kinds of evil. Thank God for letting me take communion. We are not always happy with everything in life. But the Almighty always does what is best for us, so we should thank him more often for everything we have in this life.
All day you need to maintain a feeling of love, peace, tranquility. It is better to give up those things that violate your peaceful state of mind. If possible, it is necessary, in seclusion, to do something useful for the soul, because on this very day the devil makes more efforts to lead a person into temptation. It is advisable to read prayers several times a day after communion. They are not long and do not take much time, but increase the feeling of gratitude to God, contribute to the desire to take communion again.
There are times when a child, after receiving the holy sacrament, spits up, then you need to remove everything with a napkin and then burn it and bury it in the ground. The same must be done with the clothes on which drops of the Blood of the Lord have fallen, so that no one can defile them. You can do this by bringing things to the Church, and they will burn them there. This is an occasion for repentance.
There are many superstitions about the correctness of one's behavior incommunion day. The fact is that a lot of literature has been published on how to prepare, but there is practically no what to do after communion.
Some consider kisses unacceptable, even children and icons, for fear of losing grace. This is not in the church books. On the day of communion, you can kiss icons, and the priest's hand, and children, and parents.
It is better to leave prostrations until the evening, but if you have to kneel at the church service, the communion one also has the right and even must do it. There are no restrictions on household chores in the scriptures. It is important to keep joy and gratitude to the Almighty.
We should try to step back from business until lunch and devote this time to our state of mind, but if you took communion on a working day, you should work.
Many superstitions are related to food. What to eat, how and in general is it possible to eat after communion? There is a belief that you can’t eat fish, because you have to take the bones out of your mouth, you can’t gnaw seeds, so as not to spit. This applies to fruits and berries with seeds. It's just that people are afraid to spit out a particle of the Body of the Lord with a husk.
It doesn't make any sense. Particles of the Holy Mysteries cannot be spit out, lost. After all, having received communion, you ate the antipode, drank a drink and also ate prosphora, there are no longer particles of the Body and Blood of Christ in your mouth. If a person is very afraid, then he can refrain from eating with bones.
Some find it impossible to eat meat after taking the Holy Mysteries. Before communion, the Church appointed a fast so that wethrough abstinence, they were able to tune in to the reverent acceptance of the greatest shrine. If there is no fasting, then after communion, you can eat all the food given by God. In church rules there is a limit only on the amount of food and wine, so as not to vomit on this day. One must be moderate in food and wine.
What should I refrain from?
What can not be done after communion, so as not to harm your soul, not to bring trouble on yourself? The Orthodox Church advises to keep the purity of the body and to occupy the mind with prayers.
When you come from church, you should not sleep, because we need to keep the received grace. We must stay awake, read the Holy Books, occupy our thoughts with thoughts about God, because this is the most fertile time for our minds to perceive the mysteries of the Lord. So the feeling of spiritual celebration will remain in us for a longer time.
You can not arrange noisy entertainment on this day, enter into intimate marital relations. We must refrain from anger, anger, quarrels, and direct time and energy to the study of the Gospel.
Prayers after
In the evening, thanksgiving prayers are read after communion. An important sequence has been established when reading these five prayers, this makes it possible to truly free oneself from sinfulness, will help in the following petitions, and truly thank the saints.
In the beginning there is a petition to the Almighty, which allows you to be completely healed and protect from ill-wishers. You can read the prayer after communion in Russian.
Next you need to read a prayer to St. Basil. She thanks God for everything given to us. The third is a prayer to SimeonMetaphrast. He turns to the Almighty with a request to protect the Orthodox from sin and protect from evil.
The next prayer is a petition with deep meaning. It asks God to be merciful to us at the Last Judgment and grant our souls eternal life.
The closing prayer is dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. The Virgin Mary is considered a symbol of righteousness and our main intercessor. Only she can do the impossible by asking her son to forgive sinners.
Conclusion
For all believers, the celebration of the sacrament of Holy Communion is a special joy of the soul, unlike the joy of everyday life. In order to be at peace with yourself and the environment, you must always keep yourself from everything that condemns, take communion and confession more often and remember how to behave after communion.
