How babies and little children received Holy Communion in the ancient Church
In the Eastern Catholic Churches, babies receive Holy Communion right after Holy Baptism and Holy Chrismation. How? Under one species: drops of wine put on their tongue.
It had always been clear to the faithful that every little particle of the Holy Eucharist – be it of the consecrated bread or wine – contains the whole Body and Blood, humanity and divinity of Christ.
The Eastern Catholic practice to let babies and children partake of the Holy Eucharist goes back to the earliest days of the Church. And up to a certain point in time – even into the Middle Ages – it was also practiced in the West.
“They are infants, but they receive his sacraments. They are infants, but they share in his table, in order to have life in themselves.”
Saint Augustine of Hippo, 4th century
“(…) let the bishop partake, then the presbyters, and deacons, and sub-deacons, and the readers, and the singers, and the ascetics; and then of the women, the deaconesses, and the virgins, and the widows; then the children; and then all the people in order, with reverence and godly fear, without tumult.“
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, 4th century
“Sacramental initiation into the Mystery of Salvation is perfected through the reception of the Most Holy Eucharist. Therefore let it be administered as soon as possible after baptism and chrismation with the Sacred Myron, according to the discipline proper to each Church.“
Code of Eastern Canon Law, Canon 697
The practice of receiving Holy Communion in the ancient Church
“The most ancient practice of distributing Holy Communion was, with all probability, to give Communion to the faithful in the palm of the hand. The history of the liturgy, however, makes clear that rather early on a process took place to change this practice.“
Communion received on the tongue and while kneeling, published by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff in 2009
This document goes on to explain why Pope Benedict XVI chose, during his pontificate, to distribute Communion to the faithful only on the tongue while kneeling. The Church still upholds and recommends this norm (of receiving on the tongue), but has, in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also allowed for Communion in the hand.
Some quotes from the holy Church Fathers of the first few centuries indicate that Communion given in the hand was practiced in the ancient Church, even until the late first millennium. Here are a few examples: Saint John Crysostom, Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint John Damascene.
“Tell me, would you choose to come to the Sacrifice with unwashen hands? No, I suppose, not. But you would rather choose not to come at all, than come with soiled hands. And then, thus scrupulous as you are in this little matter, do you come with soiled soul, and thus dare to touch it? And yet the hands hold it but for a time, whereas into the soul it is dissolved entirely.“
Saint John Crysostom in Homily 3 on Ephesians
“And although the men are not one who take in hand the sacrament of God worthily or unworthily, yet that which is taken in hand, whether worthily or unworthily, is the same; so that it does not become better or worse in itself, but only turns to the life or death of those who handle it in either case.“
Saint Augustine of Hippo in Against Petilian the Donatist, Book 2, par. 88
“Let us draw near to it with an ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal.“
Saint John Damascene in An Exposition of the Faith, Book 4, ch. 3
The Council of Constantinople in the 7th century included a canon from the Council of Trullo that forbade people to receive the Eucharist by means of costly “vessels of gold“ “instead of their hands“:
“Wherefore, if any one wishes to be a participator of the immaculate Body in the time of the Synaxis, and to offer himself for the communion, let him draw near, arranging his hands in the form of a cross, and so let him receive the communion of grace. But such as, instead of their hands, make vessels of gold or other materials for the reception of the divine gift, and by these receive the immaculate communion, we by no means allow to come, as preferring inanimate and inferior matter to the image of God.“
Council of Constantinople, Trullo Canon 101, 7th century
As we see, the judgment was made here, that it is not appropriate that the Holy Body of Christ touches anything that is “inanimate and inferior matter to the image of God“. That requirement is met by any part of the human body, whether tongue or hand.
The quotes have revealed that there was a custom of shaping the receiving hands into “the form of a cross“.
In the 23rd Catechetical Lecture of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem we find a longer passage dealing with the reception of Holy Communion. It was common and usual to receive under both species – bread and wine.
Here is how Saint Cyril of Jerusalem describes the reception the Holy Eucharist:
“After this ye hear the chanter inviting you with a sacred melody to the communion of the Holy Mysteries, and saying, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Trust not the judgment to your bodily palate no, but to faith unfaltering; for they who taste are bidden to taste, not bread and wine, but the anti-typical Body and Blood of Christ.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in Catechetical Lecture 23, On the Sacred Liturgy and Holy Communion
In approaching therefore, come not with your wrists extended, or your fingers spread; but make your left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hallowed your eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest you lose any portion thereof; for whatever you lose, is evidently a loss to you as it were from one of your own members. For tell me, if any one gave you grains of gold, would you not hold them with all carefulness, being on your guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Will you not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from you of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?
Then after you have partaken of the Body of Christ, draw near also to the Cup of His Blood; not stretching forth your hands, but bending, and saying with an air of worship and reverence, Amen, hallow yourself by partaking also of the Blood of Christ. And while the moisture is still upon your lips, touch it with your hands, and hallow your eyes and brow and the other organs of sense. Then wait for the prayer, and give thanks unto God, who has accounted you worthy of so great mysteries.
Hold fast these traditions undefiled and, keep yourselves free from offense. Sever not yourselves from the Communion; deprive not yourselves, through the pollution of sins, of these Holy and Spiritual Mysteries. And the God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23) – To whom be glory and honour and might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.“
Immediately we notice the differences to today‘s practice: “The moisture“ of the wine on the lips – the Blood of Christ – was applied to the “eyes and brow and the other organs of sense“, similar to the anointing done in Holy Baptism and Holy Chrismation.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of a hallowing of the eyes by “the touch of the Holy Body“. How did that work? Especially, how was it possible without risking to accidentally break off some particles of the Eucharistic host while applying it to the eyes? Saint Cyril of Jerusalem makes it very clear that one must be careful not to lose even a tiny single piece.
The only logical explanation seems to be that they kept the host resting in the palm of their hands and bowed down with their heads to touch it, and then took it up with the mouth right from the palm of their hands. There is no instruction to receive the Eucharist into the left hand and to then take it up to the mouth with the right hand, as is the case today. In fact, the text says that the host was placed in the right hand.
The right hand was the “good“ hand in antiquity, the left hand was the “bad“ one. We also cross ourselves always with the right, and never with the left hand. It makes sense, then, that they also received the Eucharist into the palm of the right hand – but if so, then it would not be very meaningful to afterwards take it up with the left hand to put it into one‘s mouth, especially as most people are by nature right-handed.
All of this further indicates that the way to bring the Eucharist into the mouth was similar to the way in which a dog would eat from a bowl. By then licking the entire palm of the hand with the tongue, one could assure that every little particle had indeed been taken up.
“So she came and got down on her knees before Him, saying, ‘Master, help me!‘ And answering, He said, ‘It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.‘ But she said, ‘Yes, Master, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.‘ Then answering, Yeshua said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.‘“
Matthew 15: 25-28
Postures: on the meaning of standing and kneeling
What was the posture while receiving the Eucharist in the ancient Church? Standing? Or kneeling like the Canaanite woman begging Jesus for His favor and help in this Gospel passage? It feels hard to tell by simply looking at the few quotes we have considered here, as they do not tell us.
We, who come from the West, might immediately think and feel that surely kneeling was the most fitting way to express the position of a poor soul graciously fed from the Master’s table, but in the cultural context of the ancient Middle East, standing was actually usually the most reverent position possible, the way in which one shows respect toward a king.
And so everywhere in the ancient Church, the posture of standing was the common posture of prayer as inherited by the Jewish tradition, while kneeling was a position specifically for doing penance.
In fact, kneeling on the Lord‘s Day was explicitly forbidden by the Council of Nicea, after some people had introduced this habit. But did this instruction to not kneel on Sundays include even the reception of the Eucharist? Again, neither the quotes above nor the following ones do explicitly give us any insight into this. Only the close connection of the posture of standing with praying – on the Lord‘s Day – is made unequivocally clear.
“We consider it unlawful to fast, or to pray kneeling, upon the Lord‘s day; we enjoy the same liberty from Easter day to that of Pentecost.“
Tertullian, 2nd / 3rd century
“Forasmuch as there are certain persons who kneel on the Lord’s Day and in the days of Pentecost, therefore, to the intent that all things may be uniformly observed everywhere (in every parish), it seems good to the holy Synod that prayer be made to God standing.“
Council of Nicea in the year 325, Canon 20
With the liturgical reform of 1969, the Church tried to bring back the ancient posture of standing for common prayer by giving clear instructions when during the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist the people of God are supposed to stand, or sit, or kneel. Because Western-minded people have, for many centuries, associated kneeling with reverence and adoration, it is the posture chosen for the Eucharistic prayer.
Receiving Communion on the tongue while kneeling
“From the time of the Fathers of the Church, a tendency was born and consolidated whereby distribution of Holy Communion in the hand became more and more restricted in favor of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue. The motivation for this practice is two-fold: a) first, to avoid, as much as possible, the dropping of Eucharistic particles; b) second, to increase among the faithful devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Communion received on the tongue and while kneeling, published by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff in 2009
Saint Thomas Aquinas also refers to the practice of receiving Holy Communion only on the tongue. He affirms that touching the Body of the Lord is proper only to the ordained priest. (…)
A celebrated saying of Saint Augustine, cited by Pope Benedict XVI in n. 66 of his Encyclical Sacramentum Caritatis, (‘Sacrament of Love‘), teaches: ‘No one eats that flesh without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it‘ (Enarrationes in Psalmos 98, 9). Kneeling indicates and promotes the adoration necessary before receiving the Eucharistic Christ.
From this perspective, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger assured that: ‘Communion only reaches its true depth when it is supported and surrounded by adoration‘ [The Spirit of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2000), p. 90]. For this reason, Cardinal Ratzinger maintained that ‘the practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition, and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species‘ [cited in the Letter ‘This Congregation‘ of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 1 July 1, 2002].“
