Life after the Eucharist: ordination and spiritual discernment

Holy Communion represents, for the Orthodox Christian, the supreme moment of union with Christ, marking the beginning of a mysterious work that must be preserved and fruitful. "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:56). This "abiding" is not a simple momentary state, but an exhortation to a new way of life, so that the whole of existence becomes a place of God's presence, for according to the teaching of our holy Church, the Savior is truly present in Holy Communion not only with His body and blood, but also with His soul and divinity, that is, with His full being. The real presence implies the fullness of being, that is, of the divine and human natures, inseparably united in the Person of the Incarnate One, a fact confirmed by the words of Saint John Damascene: “The Bread and Wine are in no way the representation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, but the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself united with the divinity.”

After communion with the Holy Mysteries, the soul of the believer is called to silence, gratitude, and wakefulness. The prayers of thanksgiving, read immediately after we have shared, represent the awareness of the gift offered to us. In the light of the teaching of the Church, Saint John Chrysostom affirms that it is not external gestures, but a changed life that shows the measure of authentic communion. Saint Nicholas Cabasilas emphasizes that the Eucharist transforms the being of man, and Saint Nektarios of Aegina urges us to live the day of union with the Lord in purity and peace. Saint Nicholas Cabasila says, “Oh! The depth of the Mysteries! The mind of Christ becomes one with our mind, His will with our will, His body and blood with our body and blood when it is dominated by the mind of God, how steadfast our will is if God Himself holds a hand, and how ardent our courage is if fire itself is poured upon it”. Therefore, the divine Communion is for the soul what material food is for the body (John 6:56).

At the same time, the tradition of the Church has cultivated a special attention to external behavior: avoiding idle talk, anger, and indecent gestures. Such care is legitimate because it springs from respect for the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in man.

Regarding the moment of receiving Holy Communion, but also those after, some practices or prohibitions have emerged that, although they start from piety, can become exaggerated or misunderstood. For example, it is sometimes stated that after the Eucharist, we are not allowed to spit, and if we are going to eat fish at the table, the bones must be thrown into the fire. Another tradition says that it is good to sleep after communion in order to "preserve" grace. All of this expresses, in an imperfect way, the desire to protect the gift received, but does not constitute the teachings of the Church. Grace is not a material reality that is lost through external gestures, but a living work, preserved through faith, prayer, and a pure life. In the same category is the idea that, after communion, the believer would be forbidden to kiss an icon, for fear that "crumbs" of the Holy Mysteries might remain there. Such a conception denotes a profoundly erroneous, almost materialistic, understanding of the Eucharist. Christ does not “fragment Himself”, nor does He mechanically transfer Himself from the lips to objects. Union with Him remains mysterious, beyond the power of human understanding. Moreover, the liturgical order itself shows the opposite: according to the typical provisions mentioned in the Liturgy, the bishop, priest and deacon, after the moment of communion, kiss the Holy Chalice, on which the icon of the Savior is represented, thus testifying to the unity between the Eucharistic and the iconographic Christ. If the clergy are urged to this liturgical gesture, why should the laity not be allowed to do it? Moreover, in some churches, after the moment of communion, the faithful receive anaphora and sometimes wine, precisely in order to carefully consume any material trace of the Holy Eucharist and not lose it through speech or even by kissing the icons.

It is fitting, therefore, to say clearly: the gestures after Holy Communion born of piety are healthy, showing that the good Christian has received from the chalice not a symbol, but the very Body and Blood of Christ the Savior. Let us therefore remember that we must not exaggerate, nor absolutize such traditions, for we can slip from piety into superstition. To reduce the Mystery of the Eucharist to an obsessive concern for “material crumbs” means to lower the work of God to the level of a crude conception, foreign to the spirit of the Church. More seriously, such practices can induce fear instead of joy, rigidity instead of spiritual freedom, and formalism instead of intense living. Orthodoxy is not a religion of anxious scruple, but of living communion with Christ the Savior. Where fear replaces faith, and external detail overshadows the essential, we are no longer talking about piety, but about its deformation.

Therefore, a possible response to these customs is not radical rejection, but their enlightenment and understanding. Authentic piety must be preserved, but cleansed of exaggerations and fear. Christ is not lost through gestures, but through sin; He is not preserved through rigidity, but through spiritual life.

In conclusion, after the Holy Eucharist, the Christian is called to a life of contentment, of peace, of working love. He can kiss the icons, speak, or work, but doing all of them in a new spirit, illuminated by the presence of the Savior Christ: the true preservation of the Mystery does not lie in fear, but in the transformation of life. Let us carefully protect this unspeakable treasure in our hearts, not through exaggerated fears, but through a pure life, through prayer, through love for our neighbor, so that Christ, the One received in the Holy Chalice, may remain – in order to bear fruit – in us. And may the fruits of sharing be peace, gentleness, spiritual joy, as a living testimony that we no longer live, but Christ lives in us.