Preparing for communion - the new document from Moscow

I have read attentively the draft document ‘On Preparing for Holy Communion’ (О подготовке ко Святому Причащению) posted on the ‘Inter-synodal presence site’ http://mpr.livejournal.com/, drafted with a view to it becoming an official document of the Russian Orthodox Church. (For non-Russian speakers, it comes out fairly clean on Google translate)

I am not a canon lawyer, I speak simply from what I have observed over the past 15 years in an ROC diaspora parish (Brussels, Belgium), what works, what does not.

I am not happy with the document, neither with its basic outlook, its practicalities, nor, probably most importantly, with the mindset that underlies it.

The document is too restrictive in its outlook. For me preparing for and taking communion, should be seen within the broader scope of preparing a people of God, adult and mature (Ephesians 4.13, 1 Peter 2.9), with regular communion and confession as an essential part of this process. There is no real accent on Christian growth and maturity in the document.[1]

 

( Read more... )

 

 

---

[1] There is rather talk of consecration, when in the para 1 the document states that “Partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ , believers are mysteriously united with Christ the Saviour, form His one body - the Church, and receive the consecration (освящение) of body and soul. But dare I suggest that that this high -sounding term can act as an excuse for maintaining structures which prevent Christians coming to individual maturity?