Transcript

In the What's the Difference Between Christian Denominations series, we take a look at different Christian denominations and see where they differ on important issues.

Today's subject is communion, and the name itself leads us to the first difference.

Communion is a pretty commonly accepted title, which comes from the Bible, which says, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?

The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" Commonly, too, this may be called Holy Communion.

Another common title is The Lord's Supper from First Corinthians 11:20, or The Lord's Table from First Corinthians 10:21.

Eucharist is another title often used which comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving.

In Luke 22:19, the Bible says, "Jesus took bread and gave thanks," in context of the Last Supper.

Other terms include Blessed Sacrament, Breaking of Bread, and sometimes just The Sacrament.

Or sometimes the name of the liturgical service in which the bread and cup are received is used, such as mass, divine liturgy, divine service or holy qurbana.

Another difference is whether communion is considered a sacrament, ordinance or something else.

What complicates this is that these two terms aren't always defined the same by everyone.

The Catholic Church says, "Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us." Pentecostal Bishop Daniel Tovleran says, "Sacramentalism suggests that God mediates salvific grace through material means." Tovleran is a Pentecostal that likes the term sacrament, but many other Pentecostals, most Baptists and many non-denominational churches prefer not to use that term.

Ordinance is a common term used instead.

Use of ordinance often, but not always, goes hand-in-hand with a strictly symbolic view of communion, which we'll discuss shortly.

So what about the presence of Christ in communion?

Christ said, "This is my blood," and, "This is my body," at the Last Supper, and different denominations have different ways of explaining Christ's words.

The view of the Catholic Church is known as transubstantiation.

In this view, the bread and wine change into the body and blood of Christ.

The bread and wine cease to exist, but the characteristics of the bread and wine remain.

This is viewed as a miraculous transformation where one thing is turned into another in its essential reality, but the accidents, or the inessential characteristics of that original thing such as its shape, taste, color, consistency and such remain.

Sacramental union is the position held by Lutherans, in which after consecration, Christ's body and blood are present with the elements.

That is, unlike transubstantiation, the elements do not change nor go out of existence.

They remain, but Christ's true and real body and blood are also present.

A common way to say this is that Christ is actually present in, with, and under the elements.

This view also says that the body and blood are not present in a natural manner, but a supernatural manner.

This view rejects the idea of substance and accidents that is present in the transubstantiation view.

Another position is consubstantiation.

Many Lutherans today deny this term.

For example, the LCMS Lutheran Cyclopedia says it is, "Falsely charged to Lutheranism," and that it means the bread and body form one substance and body and blood are present in a natural manner.

Those Lutherans who reject consubstantiation often would say it accepts the substance and accidents via the Catholic position, which those Lutherans don't accept.

This definition is not necessarily held to in practice, as some Lutherans call their position consubstantiation, but don't mean it in that way.

And others, like some Anglicans or the New Apostolic Church, also affirm the term consubstantiation, but mean by it nothing more than that the body and blood of Christ are truly present in communion, but the bread and wine are also truly present.

For the Orthodox Church, first, there is a full acceptance that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, and sometimes they have also stated that the elements are no longer bread and wine.

This sounds quite similar to the doctrine of transubstantiation, and in fact, this term has been used by Orthodox Churches sometimes, like at the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem.

Another term that has been used is that of metaousiosis.

However, most Orthodox today don't use that term and prefer to simply leave it at the bread and wine change into Christ's body and blood without any attempt at explaining philosophically how this happens.

Father John Brack of the Orthodox Church in America says this is the case because of a concern to preserve the mystery from the probings of human reason.

Another view is that of spiritual presence, commonly identified with the Presbyterian and Reformed positions.

The Westminster Confession of Faith says that, "Worthy receivers eat the visible elements," but also, "Really and indeed feed upon Christ crucified." But also clarifies that Christ's body and blood are really, but spiritually present, not corporally or carnally.

Some Presbyterians have also clarified the position as saying the recipient receives Christ where he is in heaven, and that his body is locally present in heaven, not on Earth during the sacrament.

All of these positions just listed would accept their own position being called Real Presence.

However, some Lutherans and Catholics don't really view the spiritual presence position as truly meeting that standard.

Other Real Presence views today that a small number of people would self-identify as holding, too, include impanation, which is basically that God is made bread in the Eucharist, and receptionism, which says that the consecration changes nothing about the bread and wine, but when they are received by somebody in faith, they also receive the body and blood of Christ.

The memorial view is what would be called the lowest view of communion, and it may also be called the symbolic view.

Pretty straightforward, this view says that Christ's body and blood is not present in the elements of the Lord's Supper at all.

They would not deny that Christ is present in the gathering of the Church, like said in Matthew 18:20, but the elements are nothing but bread and wine, or for many in this camp, bread and grape juice.

This view is common for Baptists, non-denominational churches, many Anabaptists, many Pentecostals, Churches of Christ, and many others like the United Church of Canada.Reformed Baptists, who adhere to the 1689 Baptist Confession, may hold to a symbolic or spiritual presence view.

Chapter 30 says that it is an ordinance and only a memorial, but also repeats the words from the Westminster Confession that the body and blood of Christ are spiritually present.

It must be emphasized that not all churches hold to the view of communion that is historically identified with their tradition.

For example, this Presbyterian church affirms a symbolic view.

For those who believe Christ is truly present, another question can be asked: Is the Eucharist a sacrifice?

For the Catholic Church, the answer is yes.

The catechism says, "When the church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present.

The sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever-present." Notably, the position of the Catholic Church is that Christ is not re-sacrificed again and again, but rather the mass presents again that one sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The Orthodox Church in America also affirms the Eucharist as a bloodless sacrifice, and Orthodox churches affirm that the sacrifice is propitiatory for the forgiveness of sins.

The New Apostolic Church's words of consecration call it the "once brought eternally valid sacrifice of Jesus Christ." Low church Anglicans may deny that the Eucharist is a sacrifice, while high church Anglicans believe that it is.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod says that they object to the mass as a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.

In the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, a distinction is made between a propitiatory sacrifice and Eucharistic sacrifice, which does not remit sin, but has a purpose of thanksgiving.

And in this sense, Lutherans may accept the terminology of sacrifice.

The Presbyterian Church USA calls the Eucharist a "sacrifice of praise" in one of their liturgies.

Ligonier Ministries, which is conservative Presbyterian, says, "We come to the Lord's table covered by the blood of Christ and partake of his sacrifice for us." For Baptists, Dr. Peter Gentry states the common view on this issue in an article about the Lord's Supper in the Southern Baptist Convention Statement of Faith, saying, "The Lord's Supper is not a new offering of Christ's sacrifice.

It is a remembering of the one sacrifice for sin done once for all.

Furthermore, there is no idea presented that by a physical participation of the bread and the wine a person receives saving grace from God." This is the viewpoint held by all churches that have a symbolic view of the Lord's Supper.

Communion has two elements, also known as forms, kinds, or species, the bread and cup.

This leads to another question: Which of the two should the communicants receive?

For the Catholic Church, the teaching is that the body and blood are both present in both bread and wine due to transubstantiation.

So receiving one or the other, a person still receives both the body and blood.

Because of this, there have been times in history where nearly all Catholic masses would have communicants only receive the bread while the priest alone would also have the wine.

This is called communion under one kind or under one species.

Today, though, the catechism says that the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, and so this is common in many parishes.

The Catholic Church also forbids the consecration of only one kind.

Both are necessary for a valid Eucharist, even if not all communicants receive both.

Anglican churches are one of the Protestant groups where one would be most likely to see acceptance of communion under one kind, although it is still only done by exception.

One Episcopal Church says that taking only the host is a complete communion.

For most of the rest of Christianity, communion is required to always be received under both kinds, though some may have exceptions if a person is sick and unable to receive one of the kinds for some reason.

Let's now discuss differences that relate to the element of communion called in the Bible the cup or the fruit of the vine.

One difference in practice is whether there is a common cup or individual cups.

Denominations that are more high church are often more likely to have a communion chalice that the entire congregation may drink from, which has been a historic practice as well.

More recently, especially based on concerns about germs, many churches have begun to offer individual cups.

The common cup, however, has not been shown to be problematic for germs, and some reference the germ-killing properties of alcohol containing wine and the antimicrobial qualities of the metal some chalices are made from, such as silver, though the effectiveness of these is disputed.

In some churches, a cloth may be used to wipe the cup between communicants.

In Orthodoxy, there is a single chalice used which contains the wine.

Protestant denominations vary in use of common or individual cups.

Individual cups may be reusable glass or disposable plastic.

Even if there is a common cup, in larger congregations, there may be multiple stations where people can go to receive communion, and thus, multiple cups.

However, some congregations view it as necessary that there be only one cup, such as a small minority group in Churches of Christ.

The contents of the cup, though, are often an even larger controversy.

First, most churches use the juice of the grape in the ceremony, whether fermented or unfermented, so we'll begin there.

For the Catholic Church, the natural fermentation process must not be prevented, so unfermented grape juice would be valid to use if it was freshly squeezed or frozen, but pasteurized grape juice to prevent fermentation is not.

However, this is still done only in exceptional circumstances.

So in general, fermented wine is always used.

The wine is always to have a little water mixed with it.

Many Eastern Orthodox churches put greater restrictions on the wine, such as is stated by the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia, which says it must be natural grape wine, pleasant to the taste, red in color, and with no additives or fortifiers.

Water is also added to the chalice.

The Armenian Apostolic Church and Oriental Orthodox Church uses wine unmixed with water.

More high church Protestants often will use wine, some mixed, others unmixed.

Some use fortified wine.Most Baptists, Pentecostals, Churches of Christ, and Holiness denominations, and many non-denominational and other low church Protestants use pasteurized non-alcoholic grape juice in communion.

Some do this simply out of tradition, often one that started around the time of the Temperance Movement, and following that, prohibition in the US which gave alcohol a worse reputation, even in religious ceremonies, though its use for that case was still legal.

Others, however, especially some Baptists and Churches of Christ, teach that the Bible prohibits the drinking of alcohol altogether, that unfermented juice was used at the Last Supper, and that Jesus did not drink alcohol.

For the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it does not matter what is eaten or drunk and the element of the cup is simply water.

The Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church said of those participating in online communion, "Participants should have bread or crackers available and grape juice if possible.

If grape juice isn't available, simply use water.

Remember, water was the means of many miracles of Jesus." Especially for things like home or remote communion, some churches have allowed different types of substances to be used.

For example, this Presbyterian church's social media post implicitly allowing a cran-grape juice cocktail.

A post on Reddit in 2022 showed that there are at least some churches in which the cup has been replaced with a grape, in this case combined with the bread on a toothpick.

Now, let's turn to the bread.

The bread can have different names.

It may be called sacramental bread, communion bread, Eucharistic bread, the communion wafer, the lamb, or the host.

For Eastern Orthodox churches, the entire loaf of bread is called a prosforon.

Catholic canon law requires unleavened bread.

It also must be made only of wheat and water and must contain gluten.

Eastern Orthodox have leavened bread and have four ingredients; wheat flour, yeast, salt, and water.

Some Orthodox churches have consecrated gluten-free bread for those with celiac disease, but this is still unusual today.

In the Church of the East, the leaven itself called Maltah, is a sacrament.

Many Protestants also use unleavened bread, but this is not a universal practice.

In some traditions like Methodist, there is quite a bit of variety and leavened bread is not uncommon.

Some provide a gluten-free option and few would be opposed to that practice.

State College Presbyterian Church, part of the Presbyterian Church USA, serves everyone gluten-free rice crackers.

Grace Communion International allows leavened or unleavened bread.

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church says on their website that ordinary bread is used, though some use unleavened bread made without yeast because that was commanded in the Old Testament Feast of Unleavened Bread, which followed the Passover feast.

Jehovah's Witnesses use unleavened bread and say leaven is often used in the Bible as a symbol of sin and corruption.

Thus, only bread free from leaven and other additives can be a fitting symbol for Christ's sinless body.

Since for the Catholic Church the host must contain gluten, low gluten hosts are allowed for people with gluten intolerance.

If even this is too much, then communicants will be advised to receive the wine only.

However, some companies produce hosts branded as gluten-free that are acceptable for Catholic use because the gluten level is so low that it meets some countries' requirements to be labeled as gluten-free.

As for the source of the bread, historically in Catholic churches, the wafers were normally made in monasteries or cloisters.

Though this still happens, today there are companies that produce them in bulk and many parishes obtain the bread this way.

Other parishes may have bakers.

Most Protestants also have variety on this point with some purchasing the bread from a company and others having a church member bake it.

For Orthodoxy, normally a member of the church will bake the prosfora.

How many loaves of bread should there be?

Most traditions don't have any preference on this, but there are some that do.

The Slavic churches in the Eastern Orthodox tradition use five small prosfora, referencing the five loaves Jesus used to feed the multitude as recorded in the Gospels.

However, in some other Orthodox traditions like Greek Orthodoxy, there's no intention of having five loaves, so there may be as few or as many necessary to provide enough for the congregation.

True Jesus Church, a Chinese Oneness Pentecostal denomination, requires only one loaf no matter the size of the congregation.

Likewise, one loaf only is the practice of some Churches of Christ.

On the shape of the bread, as mentioned, Catholics often have the communion wafer, which is a small, flat, round disc.

The priest will often have a larger host than the ones given to the congregants, partially so that it can be more easily seen when held up as part of the liturgy.

Some Protestants also use wafers.

For Protestants that have someone within the church make the bread, there can be significant variety on how it looks.

Church supply stores and companies often provide a few options for communion bread, one being the wafer, but also little squares or rectangles available in varieties like hard, soft, and gluten-free.

Additionally, some churches now use a small plastic pre-filled cup of grape juice with a foil seal that contains a communion wafer or one that has a piece of communion bread.

For Orthodox churches, the prosforon is a large rounded loaf or sometimes several smaller ones.

Typically, there is a special seal stamped on the bread before it is baked, often with a Greek abbreviation that means Jesus Christ conquers.

For many traditions, breaking the bread is also an important part of the service.

This may be referred to as the fraction.

The 1912 book, The Prayer Book Dictionary points out three types: imitative, where the minister breaks the bread at the point when he quotes the scripture saying he broke it; the mystical, where the fraction happens sometime after the consecration; and the utilitarian, which is simply practical, breaking the bread into various parts to be distributed.

The late Father Gregory Tillet of the British Orthodox Church wrote, "The Coptic liturgy includes a utilitarian fraction in that the body is broken, albeit without any specific rubrics or accompanying words immediately prior to communion being distributed to the clergy and laity." In Orthodoxy and many Eastern Catholic churches, the entire prosforon is not consecrated.

Rather, in a process called the proskomedia, a central section is cut out called the lamb, which is used for the whole Eucharist.The rest of the bread, unconsecrated, is cut up and distributed following the service, which is blessed bread.

As part of the liturgy in traditions with a larger prosphoron, the priest will further divide the lamb into smaller pieces, and often at the same time, place it into two sections, representing on the one hand for the living, and on the other hand for the dead, praying for individuals by name that were submitted by members of the church.

There may also be pieces of bread that represent The Theotokos, saints, and angels, so that every being in God's presence is represented.

In other Orthodox traditions, separate prosphora are individually cut in a similar way to produce the different sections.

As part of the liturgy of the mass, Catholic priests break a host.

Of course, in any church where only one loaf is used, of necessity, it is broken to distribute.

We've spent some time talking about the precision many denominations have on what they use for the cup or for the bread, but let's also acknowledge that in practice, there are those who view these as guidelines more than requirements.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people posted on Instagram and Twitter what they were using as communion elements.

This woman had grape jelly and potato chips, and this man used a crouton.

A church in Chiapas, Mexico uses Coca-Cola for communion, and also many other parts of their services.

And a 2005 report from the Inter-Anglican Liturgical Commission did not condone, but reported that churches had used the following as substitutes in the Lord's Supper: rice cakes, round cake, Coca-Cola, Fanta, banana juice, pineapple juice, passion fruit, and raisins boiled in water.

This kind of thinking in some cases ends up leading to things like this irreverent meme, "Can I consecrate this for communion?" Which categorizes people in ways like ingredient purists, where the body is made from wheat flour, water, and salt, and the blood from grapes, to radicals, where the body and blood can be any ingredients.

And likewise, a scale from structure purist to radical.

Depending on where someone lands, they may view red wine and communion wafers as what can be consecrated, or maybe tomato juice and cornbread.

Despite the lack of reverence, the meme does drive the point home, that if there are no rules, things can devolve into chaos quite quickly.

However, some denominations are cautiously opening the door to a bit more variety.

The United Church of Christ says on their website, "As we grow increasingly aware of the rich cultural diversity of the church, the use of elements other than bread and wine is becoming an issue for global ecumenical reflection." Two aspects of the communion service that goes somewhat together is the way that communion is served, and the posture in which it is received.

There are really only four postures: standing, kneeling, sitting, and laying.

Laying would generally be someone who is sick, and the others show up in different traditions.

Let's discuss the way in which communion is served or received.

For example, in the Presbyterian and Reform tradition, early on it became a practice to come forward and sit at the communion table, and this is still practiced today in some churches in this tradition.

Sitting in the pews or chairs is also a common tradition for especially the more low church denominations.

Baptists, Pentecostals, non-denominational churches, Plymouth Brethren, most Anabaptists, Seventh Day Adventists, and others will receive this way most commonly.

In more high church denominations, it is common to come forward and receive the elements at a station, walking in a line and partaking while standing or sometimes kneeling.

In Orthodox churches, it is common to cross one's arms with the hands on the shoulders to receive, and to state one's name to the priest.

This video shows another example receiving communion kneeling at the altar rail in a Catholic parish.

Note too the practice here to make the sign of the cross after receiving.

The priest will say, "The body of Christ," before placing the host in the mouth or hand, and the communicant responds, "Amen." In Catholic and many Anglican churches, in contrast to the Orthodox practice of crossing the arms for receiving communion, this same gesture or sometimes putting one arm across the chest is made as an indication the person will not be receiving communion, but instead only desiring a blessing from the priest.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops states that in the US, "The norm is that holy communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive communion while kneeling." The Directory for Worship of the Presbyterian Church USA allows any method, gathering around the table, coming to those serving, or having the elements distributed to where the people are.

The United Methodist Church says that how one receives is up to them, and that there are normally several ways.

If you are unable to come forward, someone may bring you the blessed elements where you sit.

The way the elements are given also varies.

For those who go forward to receive communion at a station or altar rail, the bread may be received in their hand.

If this is done, nearly always it will be placed into the communicant's open hand, as opposed to being held out and then taken from the minister's hand by the communicant.

The idea here is that a person receives communion.

They do not take communion.

However, communion may also be received on the tongue.

That is, a communion wafer is placed directly onto the tongue with the communicant not touching the elements with their hands at all.

In Catholic churches in the US today, in most cases, the communicant indicates by their behavior whether they would like to receive on the tongue or in the hand.

If in the Catholic Church the wine is being given to the communicants, the chalice is not left to be picked up by the communicant, nor can it be passed between communicants.

Rather, a minister of the chalice must hand it to the communicant, who will have a sip and then return it.

For Orthodox churches, the common practice is to receive the elements together on a spoon, the same common spoon.

The priest will put the consecrated bread into the chalice, and then put some of each onto the spoon and place them directly into the communicant's mouth.

In Russian Orthodox and some other Orthodox traditions, it is common to kiss the communion chalice after receiving communion as well.

Another practice of some denominations is that of intinction, in which the communion bread or wafer is dipped into the wine.This is a licit practice in the Catholic Church, though less common than other methods.

If this is done, communion must be received in the mouth, not in the hand, and the minister, not the communicant, dips the wafer in the cup.

For the Episcopal Church, some congregations practice this.

One saying, "The process of intinction has become more widespread and accepted." With intinction, the communicant keeps the host in his or her right palm, then the Eucharistic minister dips it into the common cup.

This way, one receives the Eucharist in both kinds simultaneously.

In many cases of Protestant traditions, the communicants themselves may dip the wafer or bread into the cup.

In the New Apostolic Church, communion is served in the form of a wafer sprinkled with wine.

In many low church denominations, individual cups are in gold, silver, and wooden trays, and other trays have small pieces of bread, and these are passed along like an offering plate from row to row of the seated congregation.

When during the communion service do people partake of the elements?

For congregations where everyone receives the elements while they are seated in pews or chairs, it is most commonly the practice for each person to hold onto the element until everyone has received, and then partake simultaneously.

For example, Grace Communion International suggests everyone be served, and then partake together as one body.

In some churches, it is up to the communicant to either partake of communion immediately or when they are back in their pew.

And in other churches, the practice is to come forward for communion, but then to take it back to the seats and partake together.

For the Catholic Church, communion should be eaten immediately and not taken back to the pew, unless a person has been authorized to administer it to the sick.

How many people need to be present for communion?

The Catholic Church permits masses celebrated without the people, though this is a by exception practice.

For example, a priest is encouraged to hold daily mass, even if nobody shows up.

The Christadelphian website christadelphian.com says, "Breaking bread about once a week is therefore a sign of a healthy spiritual state.

If one cannot do it with fellow believers of the truth, it should be done alone." Meanwhile, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England says, "There shall be no communion except four or three at the least communicate with the priest." With permission from his church, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, also a Presbyterian elder, took communion by himself in the Lunar Lander after it landed on the moon in 1969.

He said of it, "I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me.

In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup.

It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon and the first food eaten there were communion elements." Neil Armstrong was there, but did not participate.

Mark Dever, a reformed Baptist pastor, teaches that a person who is sick cannot be served the Lord's Supper alone, but clarifies that their inability excuses them from the command to participate in the Lord's Supper.

A similar question is, what is the required setting for communion?

It is preferred and allowed in the vast majority of churches for communion to be received together during a gathering of the congregation.

For example, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church says it should be celebrated ordinarily as part of a regular service of worship.

Now let's see some exceptions.

A small group of independent Baptist churches called the New IFB prefer the practice of taking communion as families at home and not when the church gathers together unless the church is very small.

Grace Communion International says, "Church members usually participate in the Lord's Supper service with their congregation.

When this is not possible, it may be observed privately or in small groups." The COVID-19 pandemic brought this issue to the forefront, as people were often hesitant to come together to receive communion.

In an article published by the Episcopal News Service, Bishop Susan Haynes is quoted about some of the ideas people came up with.

The article says, "One suggestion which Haynes quickly turned down was to send consecrated hosts through the mail.

'While the mail is often very reliable, sometimes it isn't, and I didn't want to be reckless with Jesus and have him lost on some postal carrier's truck, never to be found again,' Haynes said.

A variation that has shown up in other dioceses was to deliver consecrated hosts to parishioners' homes and leave them at the door.

While Haynes really liked the ingenuity of that idea, it removed an element that has defined the Eucharist since the Last Supper commemorated on Maundy Thursday, the physical presence of a community celebrating the sacrament together.

Despite the extraordinary circumstances, Haynes was reluctant to break with 2,000 years of tradition.

Though the rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer do not stipulate that the Eucharist is only valid when celebrated as an in-person gathering, many Episcopalians believe it is understood and implicit in the way the rite is written.

Some, however, interpret it differently." In an article from the Church Times in the UK, a former Church of England bishop said that some people did mail communion hosts during the pandemic and reiterated that this is not a good practice.

However, others have done this more regularly, like televangelist Richard Roberts, who would send those on his mailing list three communion wafers and request a donation.

Though notably, Roberts did not believe he was sending Jesus in the mail since his view is the symbolic one.

In the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana, Bishop Jacob Owensby permitted priests to consecrate communion remotely, saying that people at home would, "Provide for themselves bread and wine, bread alone is also permissible, and place it on a table in front of them.

The priest's consecration of elements in front of her or him extends to the bread and wine in each household.

The people will consume the consecrated elements." This was later rescinded, but similar practices did happen in many churches of various denominations in 2020 and 2021.

Some disagree with the idea of remote communion entirely.

Reformed Baptist pastor Bobby Jamison says, "The physical act of gathering is essential, not incidental to the ordinance.

It's not the case that a virtually mediated, physically dispersed Lord's Supper is less than optimal.

It's simply not the Lord's Supper.Part of the question we've been discussing, and one that was sometimes used to solve problems of communing people unable to come to services, is may communion elements be reserved?

In other words, may consecrated elements be saved for later?

For example, for the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church, the sick and shut-ins are commonly given communion with previously consecrated elements.

In the Catholic Church, any consecrated bread that remains is to be reserved.

The precious blood is not to be reserved, except for the case of giving some to the sick.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's Concordia Theological Seminary took on this question in an article in their quarterly magazine and said that the practice of reservation is a deviation from the historical Lutheran practice and is definitely inferior, though they did not go so far as to say it is definitely ruled out in all cases.

For Anglicans, the Thirty-Nine Articles say that the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved.

However, some Anglicans do still practice reservation, especially those of an Anglo-Catholic persuasion.

The Anglican Church in North America's 2019 Book of Common Prayer, while still containing that wording, also says, "If any consecrated bread or wine remains after the communion, it may be set aside in a safe place for future reception." United Methodist Church Pastor Asher Tunic writes on his blog, "There are certain situations when members of the laity may want to share the Sacrament of the Holy Communion.

It may happen during a Bible study or at a fellowship meal shared by a small group.

In those situations, an elder can consecrate the elements that can later be shared in a small group without the elder present." Another UMC website states that extending the table to those unavoidably absent is not the same as reserving the elements.

What happens if one runs out of bread or wine?

In the Catholic Church, if one does not have enough consecrated hosts for all to receive one, it is permitted to break the hosts into multiple pieces and for each communicant to only receive a part.

It's not allowed to consecrate additional bread, and so if the priest runs out completely, the remaining faithful are not served any physical elements.

Orthodox priests will break the bread into smaller pieces if they begin to run out.

For those churches that hold to a memorial view, if additional bread and wine or juice is present, there is generally no issue with simply getting more out.

The Anglican Church of New Zealand's prayer book says, "If there is a shortage of consecrated wafers or bread, these can be broken into smaller pieces.

Again, if the bread runs out, the people can be reassured that Christ meets them fully in the consecrated wine.

If both consecrated bread and wine run out, we are assured that people's desire and prayers ensure that they do spiritually receive the body and blood of Christ." However, in the Episcopal Church, the Book of Common Prayer says, "If the consecrated bread or wine does not suffice for the number of communicants, the celebrant is to return to the Holy Table and consecrate more of either or both." Let's discuss the officiant.

Who is permitted to lead the communion service?

For many, this is limited to certain ordained offices.

For example, for the Catholics, only a validly ordained priest can consecrate communion.

However, a communion service can be held in the absence of a priest with elements consecrated before, and a layperson can lead the service.

This is not the same as mass.

For United Methodists, only pastors can consecrate and preside at a communion service.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the sacrament is administered by a holder of the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood.

Ligonier Ministries, a Presbyterian ministry, says, "Though the biblical evidence is not overwhelming, it seems best to conclude that only ordained people have the authority to administer the sacraments." For ELCA Lutherans, it normally must be an ordained minister, though there is a process to get exceptions.

Grace Communion International says a pastor or ordained elders should conduct the service, but says other individuals can be appointed when elders cannot be present.

Due to some denominations' restrictions on women in ordained office, women do not lead in the communion service.

However, in others, women as well as men officiate.

Life.Church, a large megachurch, part of the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination, says on their website, "If you're attending Life.Church, you've probably noticed that communion is always available along the side or rear walls.

We hope you'll take the opportunity to participate in communion as God leads you during our worship time together." They also encourage church members to take communion home and officiate it themselves, saying, "Ask one person to pray for the bread and lead the group in this first part of communion.

Next, ask someone to pray for the cup and lead the group in the second part of communion." Splitting the difference are positions like that of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which says, "We cannot say dogmatically that one must be ordained to validly consecrate the Lord's Supper, but the regular practice of the Lutheran Church has been that only pastors acting in the name of the congregation do this.

It has not been considered appropriate for laymen to consecrate the Lord's Supper under ordinary circumstances." Churches of Christ do not have a clergy/laity distinction, and men of the church may lead in the Lord's Supper observance.

In many denominations, the officiant may not themselves distribute the communion, or if they do, they may not be alone in doing so.

Depending on denomination, a person who distributes communion may be called a Eucharistic minister or a communion steward, or may not have a title for this role at all, but may be an elder, deacon, or layperson.

In the Catholic Church, bishops, priests, and deacons are the ordinary ministers, but there may also be extraordinary ministers, including laypersons, both men and women.

Some parishes have laypeople that regularly serve in this role.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's position is that only men distribute the elements.

Similarly, the Wisconsin Synod recommends against having women in this role.

Nearly all groups that practice communion have some element of liturgy.

For example, even the idea for many low-church congregations to wait and consume the elements together is liturgical.

Always quoting the same passages of scripture is liturgical.

For low-church and more contemporary congregations, the Lord's Supper often is the most liturgical service that they have....

however, the more high church denominations have much more liturgy.

Part of this includes certain prayers or actions made by the priests or ministers every time, certain furniture that is used, special utensils, cloths and dishes that are used.

Some even use certain languages, for example, it was the typical practice prior to the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church that mass would be in Latin, and there are still many parishes that offer the traditional Latin mass.

Although today, it is much more common for the mass to be in the language of the people.

In Orthodox churches, the divine service is generally in the language of the people, but some still use languages that are mostly obsolete, except as liturgical languages, such as Old Church Slavonic.

One example of liturgy connected to some observances of holy communion is out of the procession.

For example, in Anglican churches, it is quite common for there to be a procession and recession with special occasions sometimes having more people involved than the typical service.

The video here is of an Anglican church in North America assembly.

Eucharistic processions do not always happen simply inside of a church building.

For example, there are Catholic groups, like the Knights of Columbus, that coordinate processions that are outside.

One purpose for these processions is for worship and adoration of the body of Christ, something we'll discuss soon.

Even larger than a simple procession is a Eucharistic pilgrimage.

One Catholic organization promotes their pilgrimage as walking coast-to-coast with our Eucharistic Lord.

Eucharist-related processions are uncommon in most Protestant denominations, however.

For many denominations, there are liturgies used which include certain things that are said every time.

For example, this is a portion of one liturgy in the Reformed Church in America, "The minister shall declare the words of institution, 'The Lord Jesus, the same night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it.'" The minister shall break the bread and gave it to them saying, "'Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.' Lifting the cup, the minister shall say, 'After the same manner also, He took the cup when they had supped saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood.

This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."' In partaking of the bread, it shall be said, 'The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ.' In partaking of the cup, it shall be said, 'The cup of blessing which we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ.'" These words of institution or words of consecration, quoting from Jesus at the Last Supper, are nearly universally used in communion services.

For the Catholic Church, the words, "This is my body" and, "This is my blood," are necessary, otherwise, the consecration is invalid.

For many who believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the words of consecration are often the time that it is said the change takes place.

Some denominations have a longer set of precise words that are always used in communion, for example, the New Apostolic Church.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, there are also exact words that must be spoken, which come from one of their books of scripture, Doctrine and Covenants 20 verse 77.

Some Christians who believe that the true body and blood of Christ are present in the Eucharist practice adoration of it.

The Catholic Church is one that this practice is present in.

One parish says, "It involves exposing a consecrated host, the blessed sacrament, allowing people to sit and pray in the presence of Jesus Christ." Adoration specifically refers to any prayer in front of the blessed sacrament, whether in front of a closed tabernacle or in front of the exposed host in a monstrance.

Exposition refers specifically to prayer in front of the exposed host in a monstrance.

You may hear these terms used interchangeably.

A monstrance is a normally decorative holder for a consecrated Eucharistic host.

There are religious societies within the Catholic Church that have Eucharistic adoration as their primary reason for existence.

For example, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration maintained around-the-clock adoration of the Eucharist for 141 years uninterrupted.

In the old Catholic denomination, the Polish National Catholic Church, the first pew in the church is reserved for members of The Women's Society for the Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

The Orthodox Church does not have a systematic practice of Eucharistic adoration outside of the actions of the priests, deacons, and acolytes in the divine liturgy.

Some Eastern Catholics practice Eucharistic adoration.

However, the majority do not.

Adoration outside of the immediate context of a communion service requires reservation, and many denominations do not allow for this.

Adoration is generally not practiced in Lutheranism, though the small defunct Augustana Catholic Church, AKA the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church, practiced it.

The Wisconsin Synod says that the practice would not provide someone the opportunity to pray in front of the real presence of Christ because the body and blood are only present in the sacramental use, eating and drinking.

Anglicanism is the tradition with the most variety on the topic of adoration.

Some, especially Anglo-Catholic parishes, will practice it regularly, while those with a stronger Protestant streak will teach against the practice.

Some evangelical Protestants and fundamentalists view the practice as heretical.

Similarly to Eucharistic adoration is another practice called Eucharistic meditation, which involves the practice of meditation in the presence of the Eucharist.

Eucharistic miracles are miraculous events associated with the practice of holy communion.

In those churches which believe in the real presence of Christ in holy communion, this itself is often considered a miracle.

Beyond this, however, are other visible miracles, mostly reported by Catholic churches and rarely by others.

For example, in March 2023, a Connecticut parish reported that when running out of host, they miraculously multiplied in the ciborium.

Another case was in June 2022 where, in a parish in Honduras, a linen cloth that had been in contact with the consecrated host was found to have human blood on it.

Many examples of such miracles include bleeding hosts, and some include healings associated with the Eucharist.

Although examples in the Orthodox Church are less known, the service book for the Russian Orthodox Church does have a protocol for how to continue a communion service when a Eucharistic miracle happens.Many Protestants doubt the legitimacy of Eucharistic miracles and do not report such things in their churches.

What should be done with leftover elements?

In the Catholic Church, leftover consecrated wine is to be consumed and consecrated bread is reserved.

Churches that believe in real presence often have a special sink or drain called a sacrarium.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes it this way, "A special sink used for the reverent disposal of sacred substances.

This sink has a cover, a basin, and a special pipe and drain that empty directly into the earth rather than into the sewer system." This may also be called a pessina, as sacrarium technically refers to the drain.

For Catholics, the sacrarium is not a place to simply pour out the consecrated elements though.

Instead, water used to wash altar linens or clean up spilled consecrated wine may be poured here.

In fact, anyone disposing of the consecrated elements directly, even into the sacrarium, automatically excommunicates themselves.

However, a dropped or otherwise unusable host can be dissolved into water and then poured into the sacrarium.

For Anglicans, the Book of Common Prayer says, "If any of the consecrated bread and wine remain, the priest and other communicants shall reverently eat and drink the same." The Church of England's BCP also says that it should not be carried out of the church.

Anglicans have also often allowed that leftover wine be poured back into the earth, whether through a sacrarium or simply outside.

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod says that, "The sacramental action includes the consecration, distribution, and reception." So leftover elements don't meet that and can be stored and reused, but still says that some congregations have the practice of consuming the leftover elements using a special sink or disposing of them through a normal sink.

For many that hold the memorial view of communion, the leftover elements themselves have no special significance, so they often are put back away to be reused, disposed of normally, or perhaps eaten.

Baptist Pastor Terry Austin says, "On the Sunday evenings after our little Baptist church served the Lord's Supper, my father, who was the pastor, brought home the leftover wafers and grape juice.

My sister and I didn't pretend to mimic a religious ritual.

We simply enjoyed what we considered a treat." Reformed Church in America seminary president and Pastor Howard Hageman said that, "Anything remaining is simply bread and wine, but should be treated reverently." He suggested sharing the loaf with the birds and spilling the wine on the ground or sharing the loaf with the needy.

The majority of congregations that use individual disposable communion cups simply dispose of them and these small remains of their contents into the trash.

This is relatively unsurprising for those with a memorial view as the contents of the cup are not viewed as having changed.

However, even some denominations that believe in the real presence have been known to use these cups and for some of those, like some Lutherans, they view this as no issue.

One confessional Lutheran writer said, "Why is there no danger of spilling any of Christ's blood?" Answer, "Because the Almighty Lord unites his blood with the wine that is drunk, but not with the drops of wine that are spilled." However, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Pastor Will Whedon disagrees with the practice of simply trashing the individual cups, saying that, "Disposable cups should not just be thrown in the trash, but rather rinsed and the water consumed, poured in a pessina or into the earth." Speaking of spilling, sometimes unfortunate accidents happen while observing the communion service and these may be handled differently in different groups.

In Orthodox churches, if the blood is spilled on one's clothes, they may have that section cut out.

The pieces of the clothes will be burnt.

If it spills on the floor, the priest may drop to the floor to drink or lick up what was spilled.

Some will clean it with a towel, which is burnt, but if the floor is porous, they may actually cut the floor or remove and burn pieces of carpet.

If a bug gets in the cup, it should not be killed.

The priest may actually eat it or later burn it.

In the Catholic Church, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops says, "The affected area should be washed with water and the water poured into the sacrarium." New Joy Lutheran Church, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America provided house church kits, including communion elements to church members during the COVID-19 pandemic and gave instructions, part of which asked, "What if we run out, spill the wine, or the dog eats the wafers?" Part of the answer said that, "Though it's not ideal, it's not a crisis of faith.

Clean it up and drive on." Churches that view the elements as strictly symbolic will likely clean up spills in the same way as any other kind of spill in the church would be cleaned up.

Another consideration for churches that believe in real presence is that someone with bad intentions could intentionally mistreat the body and blood of Christ.

This intentional desecration is something that is most well-known to take place toward the hosts consecrated in the Catholic Church.

There are many examples of people intentionally taking consecrated hosts out of mass without consuming them for the purpose of desecration.

One such example is these so-called black mass in which consecrated hosts are used as part of theistic Satanist rituals, such as was planned at a 2014 occurrence in Oklahoma, although in this case the stolen host was returned.

For Orthodoxy, it's more difficult to obtain consecrated elements when they are always placed into one's mouth and also when the leavened bread is soaked with the wine.

However, such things do still sometimes happen.

Those denominations which don't view the elements as becoming Christ's body and blood don't have a theology of desecration.

Who may receive communion?

In the Catholic Church, communion is ordinarily just for Catholics or those in full communion, but there are some exceptions.

Catholic canon law says members of the Oriental Churches can also receive if they ask for the sacrament and are properly disposed, as well as those from other churches that are in the same condition as the Oriental Churches.

In practice, this means some old Catholics, like the Polish National Catholic Church, can receive the Eucharist and Orthodox are permitted under proper circumstances, although the Orthodox churches nearly always don't allow their members to receive from the Catholic Church.

Eastern Orthodox churches allow those from any other recognized Eastern Orthodox Church to receive communion, but generally not Oriental Orthodoxy or any other group not in communion.

However, anyone can have some of the blessed bread, which is not consecrated.

The practice of restricting communion to only one's own group or denomination or those in altar fellowship with them is normally called closed communion.

Other churches that practice this include True Jesus Church, Christadelphians......

Members Church of God, Church of Jesus Christ, and many confessional Lutherans like the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, at least officially, though some LCMS churches don't practice this.

However, there is a bit of ambiguity with the terms here.

At some point, the term close communion came into existence, and this made a new category.

For example, many Baptists would say closed communion is where only the members of a single congregation can receive communion in their own church.

Members of other congregations they are in fellowship with still don't receive communion when they visit, because they view the ordinance as one for the local church only.

With this being called closed communion, the position of allowing members from other churches of like faith and practice to commune, but still restricting those not in altar fellowship or not in communion from partaking is called close communion.

This terminology is common among Independent Fundamental Baptists, the American Baptist Association, and many other Baptists.

Even some Lutherans have used this term close communion sometimes.

Generally, however, when you encounter the term closed communion in the wild, it refers to anyone from the whole denomination and those in fellowship with it being allowed to participate in communion at any of their churches.

So what close communion means is normally called closed communion worldwide.

As one LCMS president pointed out, apart from some Baptists and some in the LCMS, the rest of the world speaks of closed communion.

For Jehovah's Witnesses, only those part of the little flock of 144,000 can partake of the elements of communion.

So, although the communion service is often the most well-attended event of the year, in most cases, the elements are simply passed along and nobody participates since most all who are part of the 144,000 already died.

Another position is called fencing the table.

In this practice, the minister will verbally state requirements for communing members and instruct those who don't meet them to refrain from communing.

This term is mostly used among Presbyterians.

For some Presbyterian denominations, before someone receives communion for the first time, or if they're a visitor, they must be interviewed by the congregation's governing body called a session.

Only those who have been approved are called forward to partake.

Especially in the past, those who are approved would receive a physical communion token that they would present in order to receive communion.

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church's Book of Order says, "The session should be careful to refuse the Lord's Supper to those who are ignorant of its meaning or who are known to be ungodly." The opposite position to closed communion is open communion.

In this practice, a person need not be part of the same denomination to receive communion.

One American Baptist Churches USA congregation says, "We practice open communion, which means that we do not limit the Lord's Supper to members of our church or denomination.

If you are a baptized Christian, worship the Triune God, and trust Christ as your savior, you are invited to share in the sacrament of communion with us." Note that in this case, a communicant's denomination is not a limiting factor, but there still may be other requirements like being a Trinitarian and being baptized.

This open communion position is very common today.

It is held by most mainline Protestants, like most Methodists, many non-denominational churches, evangelical free churches, moderate Lutherans like the Lutheran Congregations And Mission For Christ, Community of Christ, Seventh-Day Adventists, and many others.

Not all who hold to open communion want just anyone to participate, for example, requiring a person to be baptized or to affirm the real presence to participate.

So in some cases, the term radically open has been used for those groups that would not make any effort to restrict, even verbally, any person from communing.

For example, the United Church of Canada says, "The United Church practices an open table, inviting all who seek to love Jesus to share in this family meal." However, they have even had an atheist minister.

In the Episcopal Church, Atlanta Bishop Robert Wright held an interfaith service and communed those from other faiths, including a Muslim cleric who also gave a sermon.

The bishop said, "She held out her hand to receive the host, and it is not my practice to refuse people." Are young children allowed to participate?

For the United Methodist Church, the answer is yes, including baptized infants.

Likewise, in Eastern Orthodox churches, the answer is yes.

The Presbyterian Church USA also allows infants to be communed, but most conservative Presbyterians do not allow infant communion.

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church does not.

And in the 1980s, a Presbyterian Church in America committee said, "Classical reform theology has been virtually unanimous in judging that covenant children ought not to be brought to the Lord's table before the age of discretion." In 2010, the Christian Reformed Church changed their previous practice of disallowing infant communion.

Their website says, "There was an inherent contradiction between our reformed covenant theology and our communion practices.

Our covenant theology explicitly declared that through baptism, a child fully belongs to the Lord.

Our communion practice implicitly declared that a child is not really a full member of Christ's body until he or she has made a public profession of faith." Some denominations that allow each local church to decide on this issue include the Reformed Episcopal Church, Covenant Presbyterian Church, and the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.

A Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod committee has stated, "We have been unable to find any reason to commune our infants and very young children.

No exegetical, systematic, confessional, historical, or pastoral argument was found to either require or encourage such a practice among us." Most Eastern Catholics, like the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, allow for or even require infants to be communed.

However, for most Catholics the world over, the practice is forbidden.

For denominations that do not baptize infants, it is nearly universal to also disallow them from communion.

For example, the Seventh Day Adventist Church says, "After receiving formal instruction in baptismal classes and making their commitment to Jesus in baptism, they are thereby prepared to partake in the service themselves." The Southern Baptist Convention's statement of faith says, "Baptism is a prerequisite to the Lord's Supper."Similarly, let's discuss first communion.

For Catholics, this is considered a significant milestone and typically happens around age seven.

For most Catholics, the sacrament of confirmation will not happen until several years later than that.

However, there is a trend where some Catholic dioceses are moving confirmation to before first communion, to take place in the same mass at age seven or eight.

Prior to 1970, most Lutherans in the US held first communion after a person was confirmed, around age 14.

Since then, however, the trend has been to move it before confirmation.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommends mutual conversation on the issue between parents and pastors.

In the United Church of Christ, it is common for first communion to be after or at confirmation.

For most Baptists, after making a profession of personal faith and being baptized, a person is then permitted to receive communion.

Though this is special to the individual and to their family, in most cases, it is not particularly celebrated or recognized publicly.

What is the relation of the practice of communion to those who are dead?

Because of the Catholic view of the Eucharist being a sacrifice, it is offered for all the faithful, living and dead.

Particularly for those who are dead but not yet fully purified, it is offered.

Catholics will commonly hold a funeral mass soon after one's death.

Catholic faithful may give bereaved persons mass cards like this one, where the giver can write in the deceased person's name, which promises that the deceased will share for five years in the spiritual benefits of the Mass of the Carmelites.

Though mass cards can be also filled out for living persons.

Another Catholic custom is a novena, or nine days of masses for a deceased person.

In Orthodoxy, particles are removed from the prosphora, some for the dead, and the words used request the Lord to take away the sins of those commemorated.

In the New Apostolic Church, the dead are communed.

In special services for the departed, the communion is received by a living person on behalf of a dead person.

In some denominations, such as the Catholic Church, a person near death may be given special prayers and sacraments called Last Rites.

For Catholics, the Eucharist, when given in this context, is called Viaticum, which is actually a Latin term for provision for a journey.

The United Methodist Church's Book of Worship allows for administering Holy Communion to a dying person, and the Church of England also suggests this with friends and family also receiving this communion.

A Serbian Orthodox priest says, "There is nothing magical about receiving communion a minute before we die.

If we did not participate in the life of the church, it is most certainly beneficial that we receive the sacrament before our death, but if we did that all lifelong and did it regularly, there is no problem if someone does not receive communion before they die." A Greek Orthodox priest writes, "Hopefully, our last act will be to receive the Holy Eucharist before our death." Many Protestants do not have any custom of providing communion to a dying person.

There have been occasional instances where animals have been communed.

For example, in 2010 in Canada, an Anglican priest apologized for giving communion to a visitor's dog.

However, no denominations allow this as a standard practice.

When it's approaching the time to take communion, should you be prepared in some way?

One practice is fasting.

For example, in Orthodox Churches, it is often the practice to not eat or drink the entire day leading up to the communion service.

Many Greek Orthodox say a complete fast from sundown Saturday until receiving on Sunday.

This Orthodox Church in America church in Canada says, however, "Prior to holy communion, there is no obligatory fasting.

In order to approach the cup of life, it is not necessary for one to fast more than the fast established by the church, Wednesdays, Fridays, Lent, and other fasting periods and days." Note that the Wednesday and Friday fasting spoken of here is not an absolute fast with no food, but abstaining from meat, dairy, eggs, olive oil, and wine.

One Greek Orthodox Church says, "In order to receive holy communion, a person has to fast at least three days or one week," referring to this type of fasting.

However, they also say, "Another theory is that as long as you are spiritually clean, you can fast all the Wednesdays and Fridays of the year and the fasting seasons of the church and receive holy communion." For Catholics, the fasting period is one hour.

However, for Viaticum, that last communion before death, there's no required fasting, and the hour also does not apply to the elderly, infirm, or those who care for them.

Rather, 15 minutes of fasting is the standard.

Most Protestants don't have a fasting requirement, but some view it as a good practice, like this Anglican Church, which recommends a one to two-hour fast.

Coptic Orthodox fast for nine hours prior to receiving or the whole day before receiving, whichever is longer.

Fasting is just the tip of the iceberg, however, in communion preparation.

For Oriental Orthodox Churches, there are several restrictions.

For example, the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States says that clothes must be clean and appropriate.

No blue jeans or T-shirts.

There is to be abstinence from marital relations on the eve and day of communion, not taking communion if a man has a nocturnal emission, and women do not take communion for 40 days after giving birth to a boy and 80 for a girl.

Women are not to take communion during their menstrual cycle.

Some Eastern Orthodox Churches have similar expectations in some areas.

Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in McKinney, Texas lists the following as things that should be done before communion: prayer at the evening service the night before, though you may be excused if you are absent for an honorable cause; pre-communion prayers; avoiding parties and movies the night before; and sexual relations.

Confession is necessary before communion if one has not done it in a long time.

Catholic Answers Ministry has an article suggesting approaching with the right intention, examining one's conscience to see if there is any grave sin that needs confessed, praying to receive the graces one is seeking, abstaining from food and drink as much as one can in the hours prior, and a prayer of thanksgiving after.

The self-examination is quite a common practice.

For example, the Protestant Reformed Churches quote from First Corinthians on this point.

"But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." They then say that a person should examine whether he believes that his sins are forgiven and whether he has laid aside enmity, hatred, et cetera.

One Church of Christ website says that feeling sorrow for your sins and committing yourselves to repentance is a prerequisite to partaking.

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod says, "Self-examination is certainly the responsibility of every person who desires to receive the Lord's Supper." Similar statements are affirmed by Sovereign Grace Churches, Assemblies of God, and many others.The Mennonite Church USA says that communicants should be living at peace with God and their brothers and sisters in the faith and are willing to be accountable.

In some church bodies, communion may be denied to people who are a part of the church under certain circumstances.

Bishops in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can withhold the sacrament from those who have done something wrong.

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod says that a pastor may withhold communion from an impenitent church member.

For Catholics, canon law prohibits ministers from denying communion to those who seek it at the right time, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving.

At the same time, The Pontifical Council for a Legislative Text made a June 24, 2000 declaration which said, "Should a priest deny communion to a Catholic who is an obstinate, public sinner?" And answered the question with, "Yes." Catholics who have been divorced then remarried without an annulment from the church and do not abstain from marital relations are a common situation where a priest may deny the Eucharist.

And another particularly controversial issue is some priests denying communion to politicians who hold stances viewed as an opposition to the church's teachings.

However, some priests never withhold communion.

One example being Pope Francis himself.

Some conservative Reformed and Presbyterian denominations also withhold communion by denying permission at an interview with the church session.

The Westminster Larger Catechism grants that ignorant and scandalous people can be kept from communion.

A church that is part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches gives an example of such a case also, when they suspended a member from the Lord's Supper.

A church in the Presbyterian Church in America says, "The foremost depths of church discipline are first admonition, then suspension from the Lord's Supper, then excommunication." As mentioned by that PCA church, the furthest level of discipline for many churches is excommunication.

This may also be called by other titles, like church discipline, though these are not always synonymous.

Someone who is excommunicated from a church would normally have to undergo some kind of process to be permitted to receive communion there again.

Excommunication in some denominations formally removes a person from the membership of the church.

For Catholics, an excommunicated person is still considered Catholic and still obligated to attend mass, but not allowed to take the Eucharist.

Similarly, for Orthodox, a person still part of the church can be in the state of excommunication for weeks, months, or years.

What are the effects of taking holy communion?

Although we've touched on this somewhat already, here's a bit more detail in brief.

The Catholic view is that the Eucharist is propitiatory, offered in reparation for sins and provides spiritual and temporal benefits from God.

It appeases the Lord, and in it, God forgives heinous crimes and sins.

One Dominican monastery puts it this way: "Our reception of holy communion at mass puts our soul in direct contact with the saving work of the cross.

Holy Mass is the means by which the graces merited by our Lord on the cross are communicated to the faithful." The Coptic Orthodox Answers website says, "We have a poison inside of us that the Eucharist is the antidote to, and when we eat it, we regain life." For Eastern Orthodoxy, the Eucharist is often viewed as part of deification or theosis.

One metropolitan said, "When we receive holy communion, Christ's body penetrates our body and his blood begins to flow in our veins.

And it is not only in our mind and in our heart that we are united with Christ, but also in our body.

Like in Christ himself, the entire human nature: body, soul, and spirit; was united with God, so also our entire humanity participates in the process of deification." For Lutherans, the Lord's Supper is a means of grace, one of the ways God offers, conveys, and seals unto his people the forgiveness of sins.

A church that is a member of the Bible Presbyterian Church says on their website, "The sacraments are not bare, empty signs, but true means or instruments of saving grace.

They are, in fact, effectual means of salvation for the elect." Jehovah's Witnesses say that no merit or grace is imparted and there is no forgiveness of sins.

The Pentecostal denomination The Apostolic Faith Church says that there is no saving grace in the ordinance.

Those who view the elements as symbolic often still believe in effects of the Lord's Supper.

For example, churches with this view may say that it proclaims Jesus' death, it causes people to remember Christ, demonstrates obedience, and causes anticipation of the second coming.

How often should a communion service be held?

For Catholics, parishes ideally offer the mass daily, though this is not an absolute requirement.

Other than any case of rare exceptions, a priest is only permitted to celebrate the mass two times on a weekday at most, and three times on a Sunday or holy day of obligation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists as the first precept of the church that Catholics attend mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

According to Catholic Answers Ministry, a Saturday morning mass does not fulfill the Sunday obligation.

However, a mass after 4:00 PM on Saturday does fulfill the obligation.

A Catholic layperson may receive the Eucharist up to two times in one day, but they need to be present for the entire mass.

As an absolute minimum, Catholics need to receive the Eucharist once each year.

The Orthodox Church in America also specifies once a year as an absolute minimum.

Orthodox churches hold the divine liturgy once each Sunday.

Churches of Christ and independent Christian churches associated with the Restoration Movement also observe the Lord's Supper weekly on Sunday.

This is also the practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Many groups that have a frequent observance of communion claim passages like Acts 2:46 as referring to the communion service when it says, "Breaking of bread." But others deny the reference to breaking of bread as always meaning a communion service, such as the United Church of God, which says, "It has no implication that they were sharing communion." One church of Christ says, "Sometimes it is used in the Bible for a common meal, and sometimes it is used specifically for the Lord's Supper." The Evangelical Presbyterian Church allows each church's session to determine the frequency, which may be as much as weekly and no less than quarterly.

The Church of God, a group founded by John Weinbrenner, today known as Churches of God General Conference, had early on a set of beliefs which stated, "The Lord's Supper should be often administered and to be consistent to Christians only, in a sitting posture and always in the evening." A 2012 survey showed that for Southern Baptists-60% have quarterly observance of The Lord's Supper, 18% monthly and 15% five to ten times each year.

8% did so less than quarterly and only 1% weekly.

Jehovah's Witnesses only observe The Lord's Supper once a year saying, "The pattern established by Jesus helps determine not only the frequency, but also the date and time of the memorial.

He introduced the observance after sundown on Nisan 14, 33 CE according to the Bible's lunar calendar.

We continue to observe the memorial on this date each year, following the practice of early Christians." The same day is observed by several other groups like the Jerusalem Seventh Day Church of God, Church of God Seventh Day and United Church of God.

In the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, churches tend to only observe communion once or twice each year.

The Church of Christ Scientists, also known as Christian Science, holds communion services twice a year on the second Sunday in January and July.

Some churches have other practices that go along with the communion service.

In The Brethren Church, the communion service is threefold with washing of feet, the love feast, and bread and cup.

This comes from the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition and is present also in the Church of the Brethren and Charis Fellowship among others.

John Christopher Thomas, writing on the website of the Anabaptist Mennonite Network says, "Since the foot washing serves primarily as a sign of the continual forgiveness of sins available for the believer, its observance just before The Lord's Supper is most appropriate." Foot washing is also practiced by many Seventh Day Adventists, normally in conjunction with the communion service, the Apostolic Faith Church and others.

In the Moravian Church, part of the communion liturgy is the Right Hand of Fellowship where communicants offer a hand clasp to those nearby them.

This happens two times, once near the beginning and once near the end of the service.

Christian Science is unique in that although they hold communion services, there are no elements.

Their website says that, "The sacrament is observed by a short interval of solemn and silent self-examination." However, there are some denominations which do not practice communion at all.

Many groups of the Religious Society of Friends, AKA Quakers, have no physical sacraments, including no Eucharist or communion services.

However, some actually refer to silent worship as communion in the manner of friends.

Evangelical Quakers in many cases do practice The Lord's Supper with physical elements.

Another group that does not practice The Lord's Supper is Acts 2:8 Dispensationalists.

One website teaching such theology says that, "To persist in practicing it is to betray a trust and confuse a promise in Christ with promises made to the fathers and that the church of the mystery has no warrant to observe it." Salvation Army congregations do not observe The Lord's Supper, a practice they began due to the variation in beliefs of their membership on the issue and the desire to avoid that controversy.

However, members are allowed to take The Lord's Supper from other denominations.

In this video, I've mentioned any denomination or group that self-identifies as Christian or followers of Christ, even if others view them as unorthodox or even as a cult.

This video does not intend to answer the question of who is really a Christian, but rather to show the full depth of differences on the topic of communion by those who practice it.

Making videos like this is a lot of work.

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