www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Can I Get Sick from Receiving Communion?

This was in our Church bulletin this week...

Can I Get Sick from Receiving Communion?

With all the talk about “Swine Flu” (H1N1) and other communicable diseases, the question arises: “Can I get sick from the Chalice?” There is a one word answer to this, but more on that later. First, a few words about those who should not receive Holy Communion …

+ If you are Orthodox and not taking your spiritual life seriously;
+ If you are not living a life of faith and repentance;
+ If you have not been faithful in prayer in and worship;
+ If you refuse to forgive someone;
+ If you have not fasted;
+ If you have not made an honest effort to prepare yourself to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ;

If any of the above is the case: You should not approach the chalice without first making a sincere confession.

In reference to Holy Communion, St Paul writes: “For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks condemnation to himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29).

Living a life of repentance means that you are making an honest effort to refrain from sin: fighting against temptations and the lusts of the flesh, abstaining from all sexual relations outside the Sacrament of Marriage,
refraining from the poison of lies, gossip, cursing, and slander, avoiding excessive drinking, drug use, and other
bad habits. It also requires that one be striving to better oneself spiritually, attending services regularly, confessing
one’s sins, and making peace with one’s enemies.

To sum up: Receiving communion means we are living our life in Jesus Christ.*

According to Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (11:30), many of the people who received Communion
in an unworthy manner would become weak, sick, or even would die. In the St John’s Gospel, we hear our Lord
say to the Paralytic: “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you” (John 5:14).

We see a strong agreement between Jesus and St. Paul on how sin and illness are correlated. It is not the Body and Blood of Christ which is a vehicle for illness, but our own human tendencies to fall into sin. The H1N1 virus and many other
incurable viral diseases (HIV, the flu, herpes, cold sores, etc) are in existence because of the fall of humanity and
our insistence to remain fallen in sin.

Can I get sick from the Chalice?

The answer is, simply, no.

We should not worry about transmission of germs through common use of sacred vessels that have held and
touched “the divine, holy, pure, immortal, heavenly, life giving, and awesome Mysteries of Christ, let us worthily
give thanks to the Lord” (Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom). Further, Saint John in his Gospel quotes Jesus saying
“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal LIFE…” (John 5:54). Why would something that is LIFE-giving be the carrier of something that causes disease and death? **

Besides, after everyone else receives Holy Communion, the priests and deacons consume the remainder of the
chalice. The clergy, therefore, would be the recipients of a host of germs – from everyone! Yet, in truth, that which
is in the consecrated chalice is the very Body and Blood of the Physician of our souls. He has trampled down death
by death, and upon us, His faithful children, He has bestowed Life!

We can, however, get sick from contact with each other!
Take precautions:
+ Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after use.
+ Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Use Alcohol-based hand cleaners
+ Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
+ Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
+ If you are sick with flu-like illness, the Center for Disease Control recommends that you stay home for at least
24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone
without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.) Keep away from others as much as possible to keep from making
others sick.
+ While sick, limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
+ Visit the CDC website to find out what to do if you get sick with the flu and how to care for someone at home
who is sick with the flu.

all the resources for the article were in the paper copy of the bulletin, but not online. If anyone needs them I will supply them. http://www.saintgeorgeonline.org/

Pani Rose:

Someone sent me a pm once about St. John of Shanghai who reportedly consumed the Holy Gifts after they'd been in another person's mouth. When asked, he was reported to say that nothing bad could happen because these were the Holy Gifts.

Think about it. The Physician of Life doesn't allow His faithful ones to undergo any harm when they come to Him. It seems to me that when we get so focused on the outward form of the Eucharist, we lose the reality of Who we are receiving.

BOB

[quote=theophan]
Someone sent me a pm once about St. John of Shanghai who reportedly consumed the Holy Gifts after they'd been in another person's mouth. When asked, he was reported to say that nothing bad could happen because these were the Holy Gifts.[/quote]

That person was infected with rabies, I might add.

Thank you for sharing that excellent church bulletin!

I bet an entire day of recollection, or even a retreat, could be devoted to the subjects of your post. I sure do appreciate your having shared it with us.

Rabies usually transmits only through direct contact with the bloodstream. Still, one should not tempt God. That said, the odds of getting any disease from partaking of the Eucharist are slight, especially when it is received in the Byzantine fashion, the Body and Blood mixed together in the Chalice. Excessive fear of contagion is just as bad as blithe disregard.

If what you are receiving is the Blood and Body of our Lord, the odds of getting any disease from partaking of the Eucharist is nonexistent.

Also rabies can be transmitted by salivial contact with oral mucosa.

Alexandr

I am reminded of the tale of the flood . . . .

The town was being evacuated, due to the rising floodwaters.

A police car pulled up to the house, and called for the homeowner to climb in.

"No, I'll be fine. I'm a Christian, and God promised to take care of me."

As time passed, and the waters rose, a police boat pulled up, and the owner was now on his roof. Again he turned down his rescue, informing the police that he was a Christian and that God would take hare of him.

Time passed, and our protagonist was holding on to his rooftop antenna, shivering in the waters. A helicopter dropped a ladder, but he again refused it, and the the helicopter went on.

Shortly thereafter, he lost his grip,and sunk into the waters. He awoke at the pearly gates, quite disturbed.

"No, this is wrong! I demand to see God!"

"Calm down," replied St. Peter. "That's easy enough to arrange."

He entered the audience belligerently. "You said You'd take care of me, but You let me drown!"

"Really?"

"Yes, I counted on you and You did nothing."

"Now hold on. I sent you a police car, I sent you a boat, and I sent you a helicopter. What more could I have done?"

***

The tale is a bit snarky in nature, but there's truth behind it. How much of what we expect of him is to interfere in His natural order?

I'm not worried at all about getting sick a the Eucharist, but I am bothered by notitons that expect Him ti intervene . . .

hawk

so if I have celiac disease then I don't need to refrain from receiving the Body of Christ, right?

so if I have celiac disease then I don't need to refrain from receiving the Body of Christ, right?

What was that thing I said about tempting God? Celiac disease is an internal, not pathogenic disorder, so you are moving into an entirely different field of medicine to which the original poster was not referring.

Dear Pani Rose,

From the Orthodox side of things.... some of the Sluzhebniki (the "missal" used by priests to celebrate the Divine Liturgy) have instructions as to how to administer communion in a time of plague. That presupposes that sickness may be communicated thorugh the act of communing. It does not necessarily mean that the sickness arises from the Holy Gifts (consecrated elements) but it could be from the spoon touched by so many lips, from the priest's fingers, from kissing the side of the Chalice which everybody kisses.

As a priest without a deacon, I need to finish the Chalice after Liturgy, drinking down everything that is in it. I really have never been afraid of getting sick from it. Even now with a serious heart condition when a dose of the flu could effect me very badly, I am still happy to drink all the contents of the Chalice after Liturgy.

Not to worry, Father. You will not get the flu drinking from the Chalice, anymore than you would get plague. You are in far more danger whenever you shake hands with one of your parishoners.

Nevertheless, in obedience to the Church I would be obliged in such a time to observe the precautions which the Church prescribes. As you can understand, not to obey the bishops would be a sin and maybe even a matter of the imposition of a sentence of suspension.

We already see the loving care of the Church for her children's health and well-being in the way that babies commune of the Holy Gifts before any of the adults in the Church.

Here in New Zealand the Catholic bishops stopped the priests from placing the host on the tongue of parishioners during the worries about Swine Flu.

This is a reasonable precaution. It does not imply, as I have not implied about Orthodox communion, that disease may be communicated via the consecrated elements but that it may be communicated by the fingers of the priest, etc.

Father bless.

For what it is worth, I did understand what you were implying.

In Christ,
Alice