www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Infant communion - looking for resources

I am researching the historical/theological development of infant communion in the Byzantine Rite of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Do any of y'all have suggestions of printed or electronic resources which would help in that search?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

novocilman,

Infant communion goes back to the time of the apostles. It was the custom in the entire Church until the Latin West discontinued it in the middle ages. In many of the Eastern Catholic Churches the custom was dropped in order to imitate more closely the customs of the Latin Church. In the most recent generations the Eastern Catholic Churches have once again begun embracing our authentic Eastern traditions.

In the Roman Catholic Church there is a slow but steady process to return the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Chrismation and Eucharist) to their correct order and eventually join them together. The Most Reverend Samuel J. Aqulia, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota wrote a very good pastoral letter on the Sacrament of Confirmation that is worth reading as it provides some insight into the general discussion as well as a good history of the Sacraments of Initiation in the Latin Church. You�ll need the free Adobe Reader to read it: http://www.fargodiocese.org/Bishop/confirmation.pdf

Admin

Dear Novocilman,

Actually, a better topic would be on the Zamoisk Synod and the cessation of the practice of Infant Communion . . .

The way you've posted your question does indeed, as the Esteemed Administrator states, appear that you are assuming that the later Latin practice was normative . . .

Alex

"Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"
(Matthew 19:13-14)

The earliest explicit reference in the patristic corpus to infant baptism is in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, about 215 A.D.:
"Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them." (Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 21:15)

The practice in the Ruthenian and Kyivan tradition was undoubtedly to baptize, chrismate and communicate infants, until much more recently, as Alex correctly pointed out, the Synods of Zamostya and later L'viv imitated the Latin practice of "first communion at the age of reason". This is most definitely a latinization.

This issue has been settled canonically in the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the traditional practice fully restored. It was the decision of the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church as promulgated on December 24, 1997 to mandate the practice of infant communion within our Church. Some other eparchies had already promulgated local statutes requiring infant communion before the Synodal decision which made the practice consistent for the entire Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Parents do not deny their children food until they are old enough to "understand" food. The life-sustaining qualities of the food are inherent regardless of the ability of the child to understand. It is sufficient that the parents understand. This is even more true for the Eucharist.

Thanx boys, I sincerely appreciate the replies; but I 'knew all that'. What I'm trying to do is identify and get my grubbies on the documents/texts which supor that information.

Thanx in advance.

dear NovoCilman:

Browsing on the St. Elias "New&Cool" page http://www.saintelias.com/New&Cool/New&Cool.html,

I found a great link to the

INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLYING THE LITURGICAL PRESCRIPTIONS OF THE CODE OF CANONS OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES
promulgated by the Vatican Congregation for the Eastern Churches

(can't get much more authoritative than that for those who would deny Infant Communion because it is not "Catholic".

The Link was to a EWTN site http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/eastinst.htm#07, who put up the entire document (a blessing upon them)

The most relevant section to your inquiry is:

Does this address your inquiry?

"for Peace for the world, let us beseech the Lord"

Herb

The Liturgical Instruction can also be found at:

https://www.byzcath.org/faith/documents/instruction.htm

Dear Administrator:

Thank you for the information.

(and a blessing upon ByzCath too! must scope out that site some more!)

"for Peace for the world, let us beseech the Lord"

Herb

You have to understand where you have been to know where you are. One can't just regurgitate this or that catechetical canon without understanding where and how they developed.

The Scriptural and patristic basis for this practice are important in understanding the context. Hippolytus, Cyprian, Cyril of Jerusalem, St. John Chrystom, St. Basil the Great, Nicholas Cabasilas and many others in the patristic corpus offer invaluable insight into the spiritual and theological thought regarding this sacramental practice.

With regard to more current statements of the Church's position in restoring this undeniable part of the Eastern Catholic Church's sacramental tradition, Archbishop Raya's words from the "Face of God" are excellent:

"For the Byzantine mentality, the sacraments of Baptism, Chrismation, and Holy Eucharist are one single process by which a person enters the life of the Holy Trinity. The Father creates a new life, the Spirit "seals' it, and the Son nourishes it with his own Body and Blood. We are thus initiated into the life of the Trinity, and we thus partake of the Love that is God.”

“Now that all these treasures have been given and received we call on the Holy Spirit to protect, to strength and to "seal' these gifts in the
recipient, who is thus called to become a living witness to the goodness and love of God. The newly baptized offers his faith and good will to the sign which imparts grace. He offers his senses and his whole person to be "sealed' by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Almighty and Adorable, so that he may be kept in sanctification.”

“The Holy Eucharist forms a whole with Baptism and Chrismation. Grace is a principle of life. Final glorification has flowed from the love of the Father and has been bestowed upon the baptized by the Holy Spirit. The person has been sealed by the indwelling of the Spirit who now gives the baptized a new direction and a new mind, the "mind which is in Christ Jesus.' The Holy Eucharist is precisely this new mind. Jesus said, "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this Bread he shall live forever, and the Bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' (John 6:51)”

The address from the chancellor of the Eparchy of Stamford has also some more general considerations of the practice:

www.members.tripod.com/~cerkva/communion.html [members.tripod.com]

Also a fairly recent discussion on the Catholic Information Network (CIN) apologetics thread has some good info from various sources regarding this issue incorporating both the position of the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches:

www.cin.org/archives/cinapol/200107/0065.html [cin.org]

Sincere thanx for all the input and context. Y'all provided pretty much what I already had, but that's good - 'cause I didn't know if there were other references or sources for the information.

Diak - u going to the Sloatsburg this spring?

John, Sloatsburg all depends on my ordination date and remaining funds left after the trip to the cathedral.

Diak,

I hope all goes well and congratulations on your impending ordination. I will not be at Sloatsburg his Spring, but hopefully will be at the Summer intensive.

ZBohom