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Ερώτηση:
Πολλοί χριστιανοί δείχνουν ιδιαίτερη ευλάβεια στον
άρτο και στον οίνο που χρησιμοποιούν στη διατροφή τους (αποφεύγουν την
απόρριψή τους κτλ.) διότι τα θεωρούν κατά κάποιο τρόπο "ευλογημένα" λόγω
του Μυστικού Δείπνου. Άλλοι ευλαβούνται ιδιαιτέρως ή και χρίονται το έλαιο
της κανδήλας που ανάπτεται μπροστά σε εικόνες ή στην αγία Τράπεζα. Τέλος,
κάποιοι πιστεύουν ότι η ρεύση αίματος μετά τη μετάληψη αποτελεί βεβήλωση ή
απώλεια του Κυριακού Αίματος που θεωρούν ότι "ρέει" στις φλέβες μας μετά
την κοινωνία.
Τι από όλα τούτα είναι αληθές και τι υπερβολικό ή απορριπτέο;
Translation of Question 17.
Many Christians
show a special devotion to the bread and wine used in their diet (they
avoid disposing them etc.) because they see them in some way as being
“blessed” because of the Mystical Supper. Others pay special reverence or
anoint the oil from vigil lamps which are lit in front of Icons or on the
Holy Table. Lastly, some believe that the flow of blood after partaking of
the Holy Gifts results in a desecration or loss of the Lord’s Blood which
they see as flowing in our veins after having Holy Communion.
Which of all these is true and which an exaggeration or rejectable?
Answer to Question 17.
Dear Constantine,
All three questions
are actually old pious customs which most Orthodox have grown up with. Are
they an exaggeration of an overzealous piety or do they have spiritual
meanings that our age has forgotten? Well let’s begin with your first
question concerning the bread and wine. Today you go to the supermarket
and buy yourself a loaf of bread and at the same time you can also pick up
a bottle of wine. How convenient! But in days gone by most people had to
bake their own bread and produce their own wine. Thus even before we see
its symbolism in the Divine Liturgy, we can see that a lot of hard work
went into producing these two basic foods and thus were treated with much
more respect than our supermarket items. But now let’s see how these two
items take on a special role because as you said “people think of them as
somehow blessed because of their use in the Mystical Supper. The following
is part of a series of talks I gave on the interpretation of the Divine
Liturgy which is available on my website (Talk
on the interpretation and meaning of the Divine Liturgy Part 1)
“With the Divine Liturgy God offers man his life.
But because He doesn’t want the divine gift to appear as Grace on his part
only, he therefore accepts a kind of offering from man so that His Grace
appears as a reward. Thus the Divine Liturgy is both man’s offering to God
and God’s offering to man. The Office of oblation is the part of the
Divine Liturgy which is man’s offering to God. The faithful bring
offerings of bread and sweet wine and from these the Priest will select
the best to offer to God. But why bread and wine? Why did Christ himself
use bread for his Body and wine for His Blood? Everything on earth belongs
to God: He is the creator of all things. What then can we offer him that
we can call ours. In truth the only thing we can offer him is our love and
our life and bread and wine represent an offering of our whole life. They
are two basic foods peculiar only to man. The Jewish offerings were also
offerings of the earth and of livestock, but they were not foods that
belonged only to man, but also to animals. Bread and wine are exclusively
foods for man. God gives as the wheat and the water, but we take the
wheat, clean it and grind it into flour, then with the water we knead it
into dough and then bake it to become bread. The prosphoron we use in the
Divine Liturgy is even more peculiar because it is prepared separately
from common bread. When making a prosphoron, we have in mind that it will
to be used for the offering, so we prepare ourselves for this sacred work
and make it with prayer and love. The wine again is mans peculiar offering
because God gives us the vine and the grapes but it is man who looks after
the vineyard making sure to prune it and dust it to protect it from the
scorching sun, it is man who will harvest the fruit and crush the grapes
to produce the wine. We have put labour, prayer, love and our life into
our offering.”
Thus to answer your first question, bread and wine, as peculiar foods only
for man, are symbols that represent our whole life, but at the same time
have also received a general blessing because they were chosen by Christ
to be consecrated and become his precious Body and Blood. By this alone,
bread and wine should be treated with a special reverence, not as the Body
and Blood of our Lord, but as reminders that they were used by our Lord to
give us eternal life. In this sense, the old customs of not throwing away
bread is understandable. When the bread accidentally fell to the floor
people would kiss it and then eat it. Other customs kept by many today are
to always place the bread on the table the right way up, to hold the loaf
the right way up went cutting a slice and not to stab the knife into the
loaf.
Your next question reminds me of a similar question you asked concerning
the holy light and how can it be considered as consecrated. I then
answered: “No special prayer is said for the light
and no blessing by the Priest. It is a light that is constantly offered to
God as a form of prayer. In that sense, it is different from just lighting
a candle from a matchstick. It is customary to take home the light as a
blessing, but you ask if it can be considered as consecrated. God doesn’t
always need our prayers to send his grace upon something. We are often
asked by people to give them the oil from the καντήλες (vigil lamps) so
that they can cross someone who is ill. The oil is not Holy Unction (Άγιον
Ευχέλαιο), but ordinary oil that is used to burn the lamp, but we hear of
people recovering from their illnesses after being crossed with the oil.
People take water from springs near monasteries and churches (Αγίασμα, not
Αγιασμό) and again we hear stories of people being healed.”
The same applies to the oil from the vigil lamps. It is not sanctified by
any prayer, but it is different from just ordinary oil because it has been
offered as a form of prayer. As I said last time “If someone believes that
the oil from the vigil lamps will give them a blessing, then I would be
inclined to agree with them.” If a miracle takes place, who am I to say
that it shouldn’t have happened just because it was not blessed by a
priest. “Never underestimate the power of faith.” And never question the
mysteries of God. Are we to tell God how and when he should be merciful?
Your last question concerning the loss of blood after having Holy
Communion is exaggerated by some, but again has its root in a pious custom
which has as its main purpose to teach us to respect the Body and Blood of
Christ and not to treat them superficially. If someone has an accident
after taking Holy Communion and loses blood then of cause this is not a
desecration of the Lord’s Blood. It is simple an accident and nothing
more. It was unavoidable. But if someone is losing blood before partaking
then it is advisable not to partake, for this reason also, women who are
on their period do not partake of the holy Gifts until the flow of blood
ceases. These are practices that help us to approach the divine mysteries
with the utmost reverence and not treat them trivially. Does the Lord’s
blood flow in our veins? Yes! in a sense it does because by partaking we
have become one body with Christ. What does St. Paul say:
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in
particular.” (1 Cor. 12:27) And: “For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Eph 5:30)
Thus we should respect our bodies as though they were the Lord’s not only
after partaking, but at all times. Many take care to avoid certain
practices on the day of partaking such as spitting or bathing, but not on
other days as though the magic of the Lord’s Blood has disappeared from
their bodies. The truth is our union with Christ is eternal and not a 24
hour thing that passes. But returning to the loss of blood before
communion, there are instances where we are called to give Communion to
someone losing blood after being involved in an accident and in danger of
dying and others who have open wounds after an operation. Do we refuse
them Communion because of their blood loss? Of course not, so we see that
with each circumstance it is not the loss of blood that is important but
our attitude towards the divine Mysteries.
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