Explore Orthodox Church tradition and the historical practice of fasting before Communion.
When we ask whether fasting is necessary before Holy Communion, it is as though we were asking whether we need to prepare our home when the King is about to visit us. How much more so when the One who is about to “visit” us is the King of Kings, Jesus Christ! And because the human person consists of both body and soul, preparation for Holy Communion is twofold, involving both the soul and the body. Let us focus on the preparation of the body, namely, fasting before Holy Communion.
Saint John Chrysostom informs us that until approximately the third century, there had been a certain laxity in the manner in which Christians approached the Holy Mysteries. Most received Holy Communion without fasting. The Fathers therefore established fasting as a preparation for Holy Communion. (“To Those Who Fasted During the First Pascha…”, P.G. 48:867).
In his time, fasting meant eating dry foods, without oil, and occupied a prominent place in spiritual life. Consider this: during Great Lent, those who did not observe this strict form of fasting were so ashamed that they would not even go to church to hear the sermon. Saint John Chrysostom would tell them: “The shame, beloved, is not that someone has eaten, but that, having eaten, he remains at home and deprives himself of the sermon.” (Homily 10, On the Statues, P.G. 49:111). Could such people possibly have approached the Holy Mysteries without fasting?!
Thus, from the fourth century onward, as Professor Vlasios Feidas points out, “fasting was a fundamental prerequisite for Holy Communion.” (Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I, 2nd edition, Athens, 1991, p. 910).
By the sixth and seventh centuries, a seven day fast before Holy Communion had been established. This meant abstaining from meat, dairy products, and fish for an entire week, and also abstaining from oil during the final three days. Even today, older Christians ask their confessors: “If I eat fish on Palm Sunday, may I receive Holy Communion on Holy Thursday?”
This is also why, originally, the fasts before Christmas and the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos lasted seven days. (The fast from August 1 to 5 was for the Feast of the Transfiguration, and the fast from August 7 to 14 was for the Feast of the Theotokos.)
The renowned Patriarch of Antioch, Theodore Balsamon, a great interpreter of the Sacred Canons in the twelfth century, stated: “Those who do not fast during these days, whether laypeople or monks, are excluded from Holy Communion.” ( Question III, P.G. 138:941).
Is it merely a coincidence that the permission to eat fish during the Nativity Fast ends on December 17, approximately one week before Christmas?
In other words, the seven day fast before Holy Communion was a longstanding tradition of the Orthodox Church. This is also confirmed by a Synodal Patriarchal Encyclical of the eighteenth century, addressed to priests and deacons, which stated, among other things:
“If they wish to receive Holy Communion on another occasion outside the holy fasting periods, they should fast for seven days, or at least five. In cases of necessity, however, they may fast for only three days.” (Saint Symeon, Complete Works, Appendix, Part II, Chapter XII, On the Distribution, Preservation, and Veneration of the Divine Mysteries).
Does this mean, then, that a priest must also fast for five or seven days before celebrating the Divine Liturgy and receiving Holy Communion?
A priest, however, is obliged to celebrate the Divine Liturgy frequently, and it is not possible for him to fast before the Divine Liturgy and Holy Communion for as long as a layperson does. For this reason, the Church has established how long a priest should fast before celebrating the Divine Liturgy: “He should observe a certain degree of abstinence from the evening before.”
The connection between fasting and Holy Communion resulted in most Christians receiving Communion during the fasting periods, approximately three times a year.
The well known Kollyvades movement, which arose in Greece during the eighteenth century, with Saints Makarios Notaras, Nikodemos the Hagiorite, and Athanasios of Paros among its leading figures, advocated, among other things, frequent Holy Communion. This, however, must be understood in the context of that period, when Christians generally received Holy Communion only three times a year.
The Kollyvades insisted on frequent Communion without, however, disregarding the fast before Holy Communion. Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) wrote: “Although the divine Canons do not prescribe fasting before receiving Holy Communion, those who are able to fast for an entire week beforehand do well to do so.” (The Rudder, commentary on Canon XIII of the Quinisext Council).
And one further point: The Liturgies of the Presanctified Gifts during Great Lent were established in the sixth century on the following reasoning: Since we fast so strictly during Great Lent, observing even the practice of eating dry foods without oil, why should we not receive Holy Communion? In other words, fasting was the very reason for approaching Holy Communion.
Next in this series: Why Is There No Specific Canon on This Matter?
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