I was thinking about this the other day,cos it was only 8.5 hours since I ate last and I wanted to take communion. I hoped that Abuna would prolong the liturgy somehow. It did not happen,he ended it on time. I was wondering why it must be 9 hours and just concluded that from the first hour ( 6 oclock in the morning) until the 9th hour makes exactly 9 hours,the time Jesus died on the cross.I could not cme up with any otgher explanation .It is also after the 9th hour that people break their fast during fasting seasons. I think, you are right.
Here we fast from 16 to 18hrs before partaking the holy Communion in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is for the honour of the holy Communion as fasting is humbling oneself infront of God. After you partake the holy Communion you are not allowed to shower, to wash one's hands, take out one's clothes, cut ur hair, cut ur finger nails, cry, vomit. You do not work heavy works, do not sweat, u have to eat with temperance. You don't go to courts for earthly matters, nag with ppl. All in all you have to protect yourself from every temptation into falling with sin. You have pray especial prayers for protection from your holy guardian angels. If you are in bond of the holy mystery of marriage u would not sleep with ur wife or husband for 2 days after and 3 days before the the holy Commuinion. If you have a wound of any kind or bleeding, sickness leading to cough, vomit, etc won't be allowed to partake the holy Communion. These are some that I remember and all the rules have Biblical references to spring from. No matter how much strict the rules might be our fleshy eyes, the holy Communion is always a GIFT OF GOD. We don't earn this holy mystery. The Holy Body and Blood the holy angels won't dare to touch with their hands, we received it.
During the service of the Holy Liturgy, the bread turns into the true flesh of the Son of God and the wine into the true blood of the Son of God. Athanasius said, “we believe that the bread and wine before the priest blesses them are simple bread and wine, but after the blessing they are truly turned into the flesh and the blood of the Son of God, “Therefore, what the Apostles received on the night of Good Thursday, and what has been sacrificed upon the cross on Good Friday, and what is still being offered today and to the end of the world in the four corners of the world is one band the same. St. John of Chrysostom said that, the poor sacrifice which the priests offer every time is one and the same sacrifice, which has been offered upon the cross.
He (St. John) also confirms that it is not a symbol, but the real and blood of the Son of God.
Supporting scriptural words about the teaching Of the Holy Communion “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, cat; this is my Body. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you; for this is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” (Mt. 26: 26-29; Mk, 14: 22; Lk. 22: 19). “Truly truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn. 6: 32; 35; 51-59), such passages confirm the doctrine of the Holy Communion. (2)
May God be with us with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints in love and mercy.
Here we fast from 16 to 18hrs before partaking the holy Communion in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is for the honour of the holy Communion as fasting is humbling oneself infront of God. After you partake the holy Communion you are not allowed to shower, to wash one's hands, take out one's clothes, cut ur hair, cut ur finger nails, cry, vomit. You do not work heavy works, do not sweat, u have to eat with temperance. You don't go to courts for earthly matters, nag with ppl. All in all you have to protect yourself from every temptation into falling with sin. You have pray especial prayers for protection from your holy guardian angels. If you are in bond of the holy mystery of marriage u would not sleep with ur wife or husband for 2 days after and 3 days before the the holy Commuinion. If you have a wound of any kind or bleeding, sickness leading to cough, vomit, etc won't be allowed to partake the holy Communion. These are some that I remember and all the rules have Biblical references to spring from. .
I have been taught in sunday school these rules. I wrote what is been practicing in the Ethiopian churches. Some differences might be there in the Coptic churches. The honour of the holy Communion is the center of all the rules. The fear of God in love is the power behind its accomplishment.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints, forever. Amen!!!
Here we fast from 16 to 18hrs before partaking the holy Communion in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is for the honour of the holy Communion as fasting is humbling oneself infront of God. After you partake the holy Communion you are not allowed to shower, to wash one's hands, take out one's clothes, cut ur hair, cut ur finger nails, cry, vomit. You do not work heavy works, do not sweat, u have to eat with temperance. You don't go to courts for earthly matters, nag with ppl. All in all you have to protect yourself from every temptation into falling with sin. You have pray especial prayers for protection from your holy guardian angels. If you are in bond of the holy mystery of marriage u would not sleep with ur wife or husband for 2 days after and 3 days before the the holy Commuinion. If you have a wound of any kind or bleeding, sickness leading to cough, vomit, etc won't be allowed to partake the holy Communion. These are some that I remember and all the rules have Biblical references to spring from. No matter how much strict the rules might be our fleshy eyes, the holy Communion is always a GIFT OF GOD. We don't earn this holy mystery. The Holy Body and Blood the holy angels won't dare to touch with their hands, we received it.
During the service of the Holy Liturgy, the bread turns into the true flesh of the Son of God and the wine into the true blood of the Son of God. Athanasius said, “we believe that the bread and wine before the priest blesses them are simple bread and wine, but after the blessing they are truly turned into the flesh and the blood of the Son of God, “Therefore, what the Apostles received on the night of Good Thursday, and what has been sacrificed upon the cross on Good Friday, and what is still being offered today and to the end of the world in the four corners of the world is one band the same. St. John of Chrysostom said that, the poor sacrifice which the priests offer every time is one and the same sacrifice, which has been offered upon the cross.
He (St. John) also confirms that it is not a symbol, but the real and blood of the Son of God.
Supporting scriptural words about the teaching Of the Holy Communion “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, cat; this is my Body. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you; for this is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” (Mt. 26: 26-29; Mk, 14: 22; Lk. 22: 19). “Truly truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn. 6: 32; 35; 51-59), such passages confirm the doctrine of the Holy Communion. (2)
May God be with us with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints in love and mercy.
I think this is a little extreme to be honest. For example, I know you are not supposed to shower the same day after communion. I am pretty sure the church allwos you to shower before communion though. I have never in my life heard you are not supposed to cut your fingernails after communion. Therefore, I cannot verify the validity or this statement. It might be true but I have never heard of it. Up until last year I used to think that we were not allowed to rinse our mouth before communion. Recently, I heard Anba Antonious Morcos say that it was allowed as long as you spit it all out. After communion though, if you chose to rinse your mouth, you are not allowed to spit it out but you actually need to swallow it. So that is the exact opposite of rinsing your mouth before communion. Crying? That is another new one to me. I have never heard of that one before but I can see the argument behind it. If you vomit (unwillingly of course), ive heard you either somehow how to burn it or throw it beside a bush. These are the things i have always been grown up with. I do not know what other rules exist besides these that I do not know about.
Holy Communion should be honored and respected of course, but let us not lose sight of the main thing here and concentrate too much on those details...
You are absolutely right, godislove260!!! this post started out with a simple question and it got led to specific details that don't really matter... like why or why not we should cut our fingernails.. as long as you understand the true blessings behind communion and you're not doing these intentionally, then I really don't think God is going to count this against you on judgement day. Remember, everything we do now is going to count on judgement day... but also remember that God is merciful and has compassion... he will surely not send you to hell if you cut your nails or wash your hands after communion... I'm not saying we shouldn't follow church rules though... just not to an extreme, where all we focus on are the little details and miss the entire picture.
[quote author=mahraeel link=topic=7315.msg97133#msg97133 date=1226525853] if u do shower or something, i really dont think God will judge you on that...
+mahraeel+
actually you are supposed to shower and clean up getting ready for liturgy.....
No i meant after partaking of holy communion. By after, i dont mean liek 20 min later. i just mean like 5 hrs later or something not 9 haha sorry for the misunderstanding=]
I said u should not shower on the day not before. It is true u should shower and be clean both in body and heart as much as u can before the holy Communion. This is not about distracting u from the holy Communion, infact it will make u realize the depth of what u r having. You are receiving God in the temple of ur body. This is not to judge u for not doing it but rather out of the greatness of the guest that u r welcoming. Let me try to give meaning to some of the rules as much as I remember them. 1. You do not shower on the day to reflect u r already clean by the Holy Body and Blood and need no extra water of this world. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Also showering, cutting hairs, fingers r works of the flesh not the spirit. You do not sweat, cry, bleed, vomit, spit, rinse ur mouth so that the Holy Body and Blood u took will remain only in ur body. It is so Holy to lose it even in mg or mlit. If I am not mistaken, St. Macarius was the one saint who did not spit his whole life from the day he partook the Holy Communion. And another saint by the name St. Abuna HabteMariam who took the Holy Communion back which was thrown away from anothers person b/c of sickness, only for the honour of God's Holy Body and Blood. The saint said, "My Lord has taken bitter drink for my sake and I should do this for His love." You do not take out ur clothes and be naked to show that all ur sins r covered by the Holy Body and Blood. You do not labour for repentance on that day b/c it reflects ur pride to add ur works to what is already full by itself, perfect and pure gift of God to cleanse u from ur sin. But this is not to underestimate repentance in anyway b/c without repentance u will not even come this closer to God. This is to say there is always a right time and place for anything as king Solomon said. At last what I want to say is this is almost nothing a rule heavy compared to the heaviness of the honour God has given to us, Christians to eat His Holy Body and Blood. Love and Humility can turn the heaviest burden into the lightest object of glory.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother of God, holy angels, saints, Amen!!!
I said u should not shower on the day not before. It is true u should shower and be clean both in body and heart as much as u can before the holy Communion. This is not about distracting u from the holy Communion, infact it will make u realize the depth of what u r having. You are receiving God in the temple of ur body. This is not to judge u for not doing it but rather out of the greatness of the guest that u r welcoming. Let me try to give meaning to some of the rules as much as I remember them. 1. You do not shower on the day to reflect u r already clean by the Holy Body and Blood and need no extra water of this world. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Also showering, cutting hairs, fingers r works of the flesh not the spirit. You do not sweat, cry, bleed, vomit, spit, rinse ur mouth so that the Holy Body and Blood u took will remain only in ur body. It is so Holy to lose it even in mg or mlit. If I am not mistaken, St. Macarius was the one saint who did not spit his whole life from the day he partook the Holy Communion. And another saint by the name St. Abuna HabteMariam who took the Holy Communion back which was thrown away from anothers person b/c of sickness, only for the honour of God's Holy Body and Blood. The saint said, "My Lord has taken bitter drink for my sake and I should do this for His love." You do not take out ur clothes and be naked to show that all ur sins r covered by the Holy Body and Blood. You do not labour for repentance on that day b/c it reflects ur pride to add ur works to what is already full by itself, perfect and pure gift of God to cleanse u from ur sin. But this is not to underestimate repentance in anyway b/c without repentance u will not even come this closer to God. This is to say there is always a right time and place for anything as king Solomon said. At last what I want to say is this is almost nothing a rule heavy compared to the heaviness of the honour God has given to us, Christians to eat His Holy Body and Blood. Love and Humility can turn the heaviest burden into the lightest object of glory.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother of God, holy angels, saints, Amen!!!
i like that but personally i think thats too much. people r like overanalyzing thingss. but idk... Forgive me..but do u have to not do all those things? +mahraeel+
I said u should not shower on the day not before. It is true u should shower and be clean both in body and heart as much as u can before the holy Communion. This is not about distracting u from the holy Communion, infact it will make u realize the depth of what u r having. You are receiving God in the temple of ur body. This is not to judge u for not doing it but rather out of the greatness of the guest that u r welcoming. Let me try to give meaning to some of the rules as much as I remember them. 1. You do not shower on the day to reflect u r already clean by the Holy Body and Blood and need no extra water of this world. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Also showering, cutting hairs, fingers r works of the flesh not the spirit. You do not sweat, cry, bleed, vomit, spit, rinse ur mouth so that the Holy Body and Blood u took will remain only in ur body. It is so Holy to lose it even in mg or mlit. If I am not mistaken, St. Macarius was the one saint who did not spit his whole life from the day he partook the Holy Communion. And another saint by the name St. Abuna HabteMariam who took the Holy Communion back which was thrown away from anothers person b/c of sickness, only for the honour of God's Holy Body and Blood. The saint said, "My Lord has taken bitter drink for my sake and I should do this for His love." You do not take out ur clothes and be naked to show that all ur sins r covered by the Holy Body and Blood. You do not labour for repentance on that day b/c it reflects ur pride to add ur works to what is already full by itself, perfect and pure gift of God to cleanse u from ur sin. But this is not to underestimate repentance in anyway b/c without repentance u will not even come this closer to God. This is to say there is always a right time and place for anything as king Solomon said. At last what I want to say is this is almost nothing a rule heavy compared to the heaviness of the honour God has given to us, Christians to eat His Holy Body and Blood. Love and Humility can turn the heaviest burden into the lightest object of glory.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother of God, holy angels, saints, Amen!!!
i like that but personally i think thats too much. people r like overanalyzing thingss. but idk... Forgive me..but do u have to not do all those things? +mahraeel+
Very extreme ,indeed.Well, come to think of it, it is about the body and blood of the Lord,the creator of the cosmos. Now,The Tewahdo Orthodox church says they have the strict rules from the Didascalia. They say, they have no authority to change a word from the laws that were handed down by the apostles.At times, they even accuse the Coptic church of having reformed and disregarded some of the laws , although I have no idea what laws and to what extent.
Anyway, as to the practice of taking shower before the adminstration of the Holy Communion, if it is outlined in the laws, then it must also apply to monks as well.I am not aware of any exception.I know there are monks who do not care about wordly things, so showering would be the last thing to coss their minds.So is it a must to take a shower?
I do not think that it is a sin to fast for 8.5 because there people who are sick and didn't fast for 9 hours because our priest told us in our church in a sermon beccause it is for medical needs
I made a post once about taking communion when I am sick. Someone said the blood of Jesus has power to cure all sickness.. meaning I can take communion when I am sick. Does this apply to all sicknesses?
Let me correct some of the reasons that I pointed out to defend the rules. I refered a book yesterday and found some reasons. 1. You do not genuflect touching ur forehead on the ground (prostrate, bow down) for repentance signifying that by the Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, u r justified to enter into heaven and there is no labour of repentance in heaven. 2. The Body of Christ is full of devine nature and it is not the flesh alone. That is why on the day u will not take out ur clothes, shave ur hair, cut ur nails so as not to leave ur body alone. Usually clothes represents the devine nature as it is the glory of our body. This works much for priests specially. That is why their clothes must not be long or short of their feet so as to say both the flesh and the devine nature of Christ are full in their own nature. I did not say it is a must to shower before the Holy Communion as it is to repent. If u r a monk the rules applies to u in another degree. And u have to fast b/n 15 to 18 hrs as I read. These r the two reasons as I have read in the book specially for not taking off ur clothes, shave ur hair, cut ur nails and labour of repentance.
These below I did not found in the book, I remebered wrong, sorry in my earlier post. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Little knowledge is dangerous which applies to someone like me and I would strongly suggest u to read books or ask well educated, father of the Church. If u can, pls ask the Ethiopian Orthodox Church fathers. Forgive and forget anything I unintentionally add or exaggerate. Don't forget to cross check though.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints in mercy and love. Amen!!!
BinC,thanks for the clarification.Mahareel,what I mean to say was that there are people who work shifts and come to church straight from work.They fast ,but the last time they took shower could be 24 hours ago.Thus, I doubted if it is a must to take shower and the fact that monks at monastries dont give a damn about it crossed my mind.
Anyways,here is a small story that shows the power of the Body and Blood of our Lord.BTW, for some reason, at the Muharraq monsatery many monks lose their eye sight.I do wonder why.
The story In the Muharraq Monastery (in southern Egypt), there was a righteous monk by the name of Fr. Salib Beyouha. Because of the devil's envy toward him, he lost his vision. When anyone comes to comfort him, he hears from him this prayer which Jonah had said in the old days, "…Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple" (Jonah 2:4).
Few days before his departure, he asked the abbot of the monastery to let him pray the Divine Liturgy with one of the fathers. After the coming of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist, and while he was praying the Litanies, he took the Holy Body in his hands and said to Him, "The sinful woman washed Your feet with her tears, but I will wash all of You with my tears…" and he cried and cried… and his tears got mixed with the Holy Body until the Body was soaked.
It was only moments until he regained his vision ..........
no i thing u misunderstood, i never siad it was a must. lol i was just saying it wasnt a sin if u do shower before communion. also, very nice story hezekiel
i never heard of it being a sin before taking communion, you would think it was the opposite as you are supose to go to Church dressed well for the Lord, no jeans and such, and you are supose to be clean. Im not sure if that no showerin before communion thing is true ill have to ask my FOC. But i do know you shouldnt shower for 9 hours after communion because people tend to take water into their mouths and spit it out, ofcourse no spitting for 9 hours after communion, no drinkin from straws, no brushing your teeth, to hair cuts as you might cut your skin and bleed, and by that time the body and blood of Christ would have entered your blood. No playing sports for obviouse reasons, unjury, bleeding. And ofcourse married couples cannt engange in intercourse. Everything else seems a little to extreme, but i know for a fact these things are true.
wow! how dare you take a shower... or how dare you drink of a cup or put a spoon in your mouth... wow you have sinned the sin of death! oh man watch out God might strike you just for that... He'll zap you into many pieces!
if we would worry about our salvation 10% of some of the nonsense being said we'd probably be elevated while we are typing! on a different thread (which I will take the pleasure of responding to) it was stated that Egyptians are complicated... now let me tell you, all of you are complicated for no reason! yes NO REASON what so ever!
take the communion with full knowledge of what He is, and God will reveal you what you should do! but all this nonsense of shower or no shower brush my teeth or brush my... hair! or whatever it is... go looking like a bum if you want to... I'm sure God will tell you "NO don't approach me!" right?! I'm very sure He did that to saint Mary the Egyptian, who because of how dirty, and how much she didn't care for her body, you couldn't tell if she was a man or woman... or even human! but I'm sure God didn't want her to commune! or maybe abouna Yostos who people made fun of because they thought he was a beggar, because how dirty he was! I'm sure they didn't have him take communion... c'mon he's dirty!
before "the rules" know what you are chewing... then we'll see about the "rules"
forgive me if I offended anyone... I just spoke my mind, because I was really offended on how we are just talking about some things for no reason while we should worry about the communion Himself, I'm really sorry again, Please forgive me!
Superbam I agree with you 100 %, I hope you realized my last post was meant to show how far and redicilous things have become on this thread... But unfortunatly sarcasm doesn't show very well in writing... ;)
Anyways as Superbam said, let us worry abt what's truly important or we might end up wondering whether to enter our house with the right foot or the left foot!
Comments
Read here:
http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/thecopticchurch/sacraments/4_eucharist.html
PK
is it a sin to shower b4 8 hrs or to rinse ur mouth etc... or is wrong rather?
+mahraeel+
Hello friends,
Here we fast from 16 to 18hrs before partaking the holy Communion in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is for the honour of the holy Communion as fasting is humbling oneself infront of God.
After you partake the holy Communion you are not allowed to shower, to wash one's hands, take out one's clothes, cut ur hair, cut ur finger nails, cry, vomit. You do not work heavy works, do not sweat, u have to eat with temperance. You don't go to courts for earthly matters, nag with ppl. All in all you have to protect yourself from every temptation into falling with sin. You have pray especial prayers for protection from your holy guardian angels. If you are in bond of the holy mystery of marriage u would not sleep with ur wife or husband for 2 days after and 3 days before the the holy Commuinion.
If you have a wound of any kind or bleeding, sickness leading to cough, vomit, etc won't be allowed to partake the holy Communion.
These are some that I remember and all the rules have Biblical references to spring from.
No matter how much strict the rules might be our fleshy eyes, the holy Communion is always a GIFT OF GOD. We don't earn this holy mystery. The Holy Body and Blood the holy angels won't dare to touch with their hands, we received it.
During the service of the Holy Liturgy, the bread turns into the true flesh of the Son of God and the wine into the true blood of the Son of God. Athanasius said, “we believe that the bread and wine before the priest blesses them are simple bread and wine, but after the blessing they are truly turned into the flesh and the blood of the Son of God, “Therefore, what the Apostles received on the night of Good Thursday, and what has been sacrificed upon the cross on Good Friday, and what is still being offered today and to the end of the world in the four corners of the world is one band the same. St. John of Chrysostom said that, the poor sacrifice which the priests offer every time is one and the same sacrifice, which has been offered upon the cross.
He (St. John) also confirms that it is not a symbol, but the real and blood of the Son of God.
Supporting scriptural words about the teaching Of the Holy Communion “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, cat; this is my Body. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you; for this is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” (Mt. 26: 26-29; Mk, 14: 22; Lk. 22: 19). “Truly truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn. 6: 32; 35; 51-59), such passages confirm the doctrine of the Holy Communion. (2)
May God be with us with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints in love and mercy.
This is the link from which I copied half of my post starting with...
During the service of the Holy Liturgy,...
+++
Hello friends,
Here we fast from 16 to 18hrs before partaking the holy Communion in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is for the honour of the holy Communion as fasting is humbling oneself infront of God.
After you partake the holy Communion you are not allowed to shower, to wash one's hands, take out one's clothes, cut ur hair, cut ur finger nails, cry, vomit. You do not work heavy works, do not sweat, u have to eat with temperance. You don't go to courts for earthly matters, nag with ppl. All in all you have to protect yourself from every temptation into falling with sin. You have pray especial prayers for protection from your holy guardian angels. If you are in bond of the holy mystery of marriage u would not sleep with ur wife or husband for 2 days after and 3 days before the the holy Commuinion.
If you have a wound of any kind or bleeding, sickness leading to cough, vomit, etc won't be allowed to partake the holy Communion.
These are some that I remember and all the rules have Biblical references to spring from.
.
i never heard of all that....?
+mahraeel+
Hello mahraeel,
I have been taught in sunday school these rules. I wrote what is been practicing in the Ethiopian churches. Some differences might be there in the Coptic churches.
The honour of the holy Communion is the center of all the rules. The fear of God in love is the power behind its accomplishment.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints, forever. Amen!!!
+++
Hello friends,
Here we fast from 16 to 18hrs before partaking the holy Communion in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This is for the honour of the holy Communion as fasting is humbling oneself infront of God.
After you partake the holy Communion you are not allowed to shower, to wash one's hands, take out one's clothes, cut ur hair, cut ur finger nails, cry, vomit. You do not work heavy works, do not sweat, u have to eat with temperance. You don't go to courts for earthly matters, nag with ppl. All in all you have to protect yourself from every temptation into falling with sin. You have pray especial prayers for protection from your holy guardian angels. If you are in bond of the holy mystery of marriage u would not sleep with ur wife or husband for 2 days after and 3 days before the the holy Commuinion.
If you have a wound of any kind or bleeding, sickness leading to cough, vomit, etc won't be allowed to partake the holy Communion.
These are some that I remember and all the rules have Biblical references to spring from.
No matter how much strict the rules might be our fleshy eyes, the holy Communion is always a GIFT OF GOD. We don't earn this holy mystery. The Holy Body and Blood the holy angels won't dare to touch with their hands, we received it.
During the service of the Holy Liturgy, the bread turns into the true flesh of the Son of God and the wine into the true blood of the Son of God. Athanasius said, “we believe that the bread and wine before the priest blesses them are simple bread and wine, but after the blessing they are truly turned into the flesh and the blood of the Son of God, “Therefore, what the Apostles received on the night of Good Thursday, and what has been sacrificed upon the cross on Good Friday, and what is still being offered today and to the end of the world in the four corners of the world is one band the same. St. John of Chrysostom said that, the poor sacrifice which the priests offer every time is one and the same sacrifice, which has been offered upon the cross.
He (St. John) also confirms that it is not a symbol, but the real and blood of the Son of God.
Supporting scriptural words about the teaching Of the Holy Communion “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, cat; this is my Body. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you; for this is my Blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” (Mt. 26: 26-29; Mk, 14: 22; Lk. 22: 19). “Truly truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn. 6: 32; 35; 51-59), such passages confirm the doctrine of the Holy Communion. (2)
May God be with us with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints in love and mercy.
I think this is a little extreme to be honest. For example, I know you are not supposed to shower the same day after communion. I am pretty sure the church allwos you to shower before communion though. I have never in my life heard you are not supposed to cut your fingernails after communion. Therefore, I cannot verify the validity or this statement. It might be true but I have never heard of it. Up until last year I used to think that we were not allowed to rinse our mouth before communion. Recently, I heard Anba Antonious Morcos say that it was allowed as long as you spit it all out. After communion though, if you chose to rinse your mouth, you are not allowed to spit it out but you actually need to swallow it. So that is the exact opposite of rinsing your mouth before communion. Crying? That is another new one to me. I have never heard of that one before but I can see the argument behind it. If you vomit (unwillingly of course), ive heard you either somehow how to burn it or throw it beside a bush. These are the things i have always been grown up with. I do not know what other rules exist besides these that I do not know about.
PK
God Bless
this post started out with a simple question and it got led to specific details that don't really matter... like why or why not we should cut our fingernails.. as long as you understand the true blessings behind communion and you're not doing these intentionally, then I really don't think God is going to count this against you on judgement day. Remember, everything we do now is going to count on judgement day... but also remember that God is merciful and has compassion... he will surely not send you to hell if you cut your nails or wash your hands after communion... I'm not saying we shouldn't follow church rules though... just not to an extreme, where all we focus on are the little details and miss the entire picture.
+mahraeel+
if u do shower or something, i really dont think God will judge you on that...
+mahraeel+
actually you are supposed to shower and clean up getting ready for liturgy.....
+mahraeel+
Dear friends,
I said u should not shower on the day not before. It is true u should shower and be clean both in body and heart as much as u can before the holy Communion.
This is not about distracting u from the holy Communion, infact it will make u realize the depth of what u r having. You are receiving God in the temple of ur body. This is not to judge u for not doing it but rather out of the greatness of the guest that u r welcoming.
Let me try to give meaning to some of the rules as much as I remember them.
1. You do not shower on the day to reflect u r already clean by the Holy Body and Blood
and need no extra water of this world. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Also showering, cutting hairs, fingers r works of the flesh not the spirit. You do not sweat, cry, bleed, vomit, spit, rinse ur mouth so that the Holy Body and Blood u took will remain only in ur body. It is so Holy to lose it even in mg or mlit. If I am not mistaken, St. Macarius was the one saint who did not spit his whole life from the day he partook the Holy Communion. And another saint by the name St. Abuna HabteMariam who took the Holy Communion back which was thrown away from anothers person b/c of sickness, only for the honour of God's Holy Body and Blood. The saint said, "My Lord has taken bitter drink for my sake and I should do this for His love."
You do not take out ur clothes and be naked to show that all ur sins r covered by the Holy Body and Blood. You do not labour for repentance on that day b/c it reflects ur pride to add ur works to what is already full by itself, perfect and pure gift of God to cleanse u from ur sin. But this is not to underestimate repentance in anyway b/c without repentance u will not even come this closer to God. This is to say there is always a right time and place for anything as king Solomon said.
At last what I want to say is this is almost nothing a rule heavy compared to the heaviness of the honour God has given to us, Christians to eat His Holy Body and Blood.
Love and Humility can turn the heaviest burden into the lightest object of glory.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother of God, holy angels, saints, Amen!!!
+++
Dear friends,
I said u should not shower on the day not before. It is true u should shower and be clean both in body and heart as much as u can before the holy Communion.
This is not about distracting u from the holy Communion, infact it will make u realize the depth of what u r having. You are receiving God in the temple of ur body. This is not to judge u for not doing it but rather out of the greatness of the guest that u r welcoming.
Let me try to give meaning to some of the rules as much as I remember them.
1. You do not shower on the day to reflect u r already clean by the Holy Body and Blood
and need no extra water of this world. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Also showering, cutting hairs, fingers r works of the flesh not the spirit. You do not sweat, cry, bleed, vomit, spit, rinse ur mouth so that the Holy Body and Blood u took will remain only in ur body. It is so Holy to lose it even in mg or mlit. If I am not mistaken, St. Macarius was the one saint who did not spit his whole life from the day he partook the Holy Communion. And another saint by the name St. Abuna HabteMariam who took the Holy Communion back which was thrown away from anothers person b/c of sickness, only for the honour of God's Holy Body and Blood. The saint said, "My Lord has taken bitter drink for my sake and I should do this for His love."
You do not take out ur clothes and be naked to show that all ur sins r covered by the Holy Body and Blood. You do not labour for repentance on that day b/c it reflects ur pride to add ur works to what is already full by itself, perfect and pure gift of God to cleanse u from ur sin. But this is not to underestimate repentance in anyway b/c without repentance u will not even come this closer to God. This is to say there is always a right time and place for anything as king Solomon said.
At last what I want to say is this is almost nothing a rule heavy compared to the heaviness of the honour God has given to us, Christians to eat His Holy Body and Blood.
Love and Humility can turn the heaviest burden into the lightest object of glory.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother of God, holy angels, saints, Amen!!!
i like that but personally i think thats too much. people r like overanalyzing thingss. but idk...
Forgive me..but do u have to not do all those things?
+mahraeel+
[quote author=binC link=topic=7315.msg97158#msg97158 date=1226564747]
+++
Dear friends,
I said u should not shower on the day not before. It is true u should shower and be clean both in body and heart as much as u can before the holy Communion.
This is not about distracting u from the holy Communion, infact it will make u realize the depth of what u r having. You are receiving God in the temple of ur body. This is not to judge u for not doing it but rather out of the greatness of the guest that u r welcoming.
Let me try to give meaning to some of the rules as much as I remember them.
1. You do not shower on the day to reflect u r already clean by the Holy Body and Blood
and need no extra water of this world. The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin. Also showering, cutting hairs, fingers r works of the flesh not the spirit. You do not sweat, cry, bleed, vomit, spit, rinse ur mouth so that the Holy Body and Blood u took will remain only in ur body. It is so Holy to lose it even in mg or mlit. If I am not mistaken, St. Macarius was the one saint who did not spit his whole life from the day he partook the Holy Communion. And another saint by the name St. Abuna HabteMariam who took the Holy Communion back which was thrown away from anothers person b/c of sickness, only for the honour of God's Holy Body and Blood. The saint said, "My Lord has taken bitter drink for my sake and I should do this for His love."
You do not take out ur clothes and be naked to show that all ur sins r covered by the Holy Body and Blood. You do not labour for repentance on that day b/c it reflects ur pride to add ur works to what is already full by itself, perfect and pure gift of God to cleanse u from ur sin. But this is not to underestimate repentance in anyway b/c without repentance u will not even come this closer to God. This is to say there is always a right time and place for anything as king Solomon said.
At last what I want to say is this is almost nothing a rule heavy compared to the heaviness of the honour God has given to us, Christians to eat His Holy Body and Blood.
Love and Humility can turn the heaviest burden into the lightest object of glory.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother of God, holy angels, saints, Amen!!!
i like that but personally i think thats too much. people r like overanalyzing thingss. but idk...
Forgive me..but do u have to not do all those things?
+mahraeel+
Very extreme ,indeed.Well, come to think of it, it is about the body and blood of the Lord,the creator of the cosmos. Now,The Tewahdo Orthodox church says they have the strict rules from the Didascalia. They say, they have no authority to change a word from the laws that were handed down by the apostles.At times, they even accuse the Coptic church of having reformed and disregarded some of the laws , although I have no idea what laws and to what extent.
Anyway, as to the practice of taking shower before the adminstration of the Holy Communion, if it is outlined in the laws, then it must also apply to monks as well.I am not aware of any exception.I know there are monks who do not care about wordly things, so showering would be the last thing to coss their minds.So is it a must to take a shower?
+mahraeel+
Dear friends,
Let me correct some of the reasons that I pointed out to defend the rules. I refered a book yesterday and found some reasons.
1. You do not genuflect touching ur forehead on the ground (prostrate, bow down) for repentance signifying that by the Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, u r justified to enter into heaven and there is no labour of repentance in heaven.
2. The Body of Christ is full of devine nature and it is not the flesh alone. That is why on the day u will not take out ur clothes, shave ur hair, cut ur nails so as not to leave ur body alone. Usually clothes represents the devine nature as it is the glory of our body. This works much for priests specially. That is why their clothes must not be long or short of their feet so as to say both the flesh and the devine nature of Christ are full in their own nature.
I did not say it is a must to shower before the Holy Communion as it is to repent. If u r a monk the rules applies to u in another degree. And u have to fast b/n 15 to 18 hrs as I read.
These r the two reasons as I have read in the book specially for not taking off ur clothes, shave ur hair, cut ur nails and labour of repentance.
These below I did not found in the book, I remebered wrong, sorry in my earlier post.
The same applies to cutting ur hair and finger nails to show that u need no correction to make u more beautiful. And while u r cutting ur hair and nails u might have small cuts or burns to ur skin.
Little knowledge is dangerous which applies to someone like me and I would strongly suggest u to read books or ask well educated, father of the Church.
If u can, pls ask the Ethiopian Orthodox Church fathers.
Forgive and forget anything I unintentionally add or exaggerate. Don't forget to cross check though.
May God be with us all with His holiest mother, holy angels, saints in mercy and love. Amen!!!
+mahraeel+
Anyways,here is a small story that shows the power of the Body and Blood of our Lord.BTW, for some reason, at the Muharraq monsatery many monks lose their eye sight.I do wonder why.
The story
In the Muharraq Monastery (in southern Egypt), there was a righteous monk by the name of Fr. Salib Beyouha. Because of the devil's envy toward him, he lost his vision. When anyone comes to comfort him, he hears from him this prayer which Jonah had said in the old days, "…Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple" (Jonah 2:4).
Few days before his departure, he asked the abbot of the monastery to let him pray the Divine Liturgy with one of the fathers. After the coming of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist, and while he was praying the Litanies, he took the Holy Body in his hands and said to Him, "The sinful woman washed Your feet with her tears, but I will wash all of You with my tears…" and he cried and cried… and his tears got mixed with the Holy Body until the Body was soaked.
It was only moments until he regained his vision ..........
+mahraeel+
you're not allowed to dring from straws, but when you drink from a can or a cup, you put your mouth on it to don't you??
God bless you all
if we would worry about our salvation 10% of some of the nonsense being said we'd probably be elevated while we are typing! on a different thread (which I will take the pleasure of responding to) it was stated that Egyptians are complicated... now let me tell you, all of you are complicated for no reason! yes NO REASON what so ever!
take the communion with full knowledge of what He is, and God will reveal you what you should do! but all this nonsense of shower or no shower brush my teeth or brush my... hair! or whatever it is... go looking like a bum if you want to... I'm sure God will tell you "NO don't approach me!" right?! I'm very sure He did that to saint Mary the Egyptian, who because of how dirty, and how much she didn't care for her body, you couldn't tell if she was a man or woman... or even human! but I'm sure God didn't want her to commune! or maybe abouna Yostos who people made fun of because they thought he was a beggar, because how dirty he was! I'm sure they didn't have him take communion... c'mon he's dirty!
before "the rules" know what you are chewing... then we'll see about the "rules"
forgive me if I offended anyone... I just spoke my mind, because I was really offended on how we are just talking about some things for no reason while we should worry about the communion Himself, I'm really sorry again, Please forgive me!
I took the blessings, thank God!
Superbam I agree with you 100 %, I hope you realized my last post was meant to show how far and redicilous things have become on this thread... But unfortunatly sarcasm doesn't show very well in writing... ;)
Anyways as Superbam said, let us worry abt what's truly important or we might end up wondering whether to enter our house with the right foot or the left foot!
God Bless you all
+mahraeel+