Bishop Athanasius Schneider: First, I would like to say, and return once again to my parish priest in Estonia. He led me to the First Holy Communion. It is, it was secretly, and we received. It was so great for us, the Holy Communion was so great for me as a child; we had to kneel down. We were aware here, here, here is God with His Majesty sanctity, but also with his love. Of course, it is all together. We cannot separate the love and the sanctity of God, and in fact, too, just so folks, remember for you as a little boy to receive Holy Communion, to even go to church, was against the law.
And then, when we traveled to Germany, I remember when we said farewell to our Holy Father, Pavlovsky. He told us a thing, but it was a shock for us. I remember. He told us to be aware when we go to Germany. There are some churches, 73 there are some churches where they distribute the Holy Communion in the hands of the people. And we said, Father, it is impossible. We were shocked. I was as a child, shocked. It was impossible for me, how it is possible in such a banal manner, such as a cake, to Yes, to manage our Lord, to it was for me a child, and for my mother, and for all, we were astonished, and He consoled us, but only in some places. Please do not enter these churches.
And we promised our holy saint, Priest, oh yes, Father, we will not go to these churches. And then we arrived in Germany, and at the first church we entered to Holy Mass, almost all the people received in their hands, and we were shocked. Then my mother said to us. We will never go to this church. But this was a city. There were only four Catholic churches. Then we went to the next Church, the same next Sunday, we went to the next third Church, the same situation, and then to the last church, the same situation. And when I remember when we came home from this last church, my mother began to weep, how they make, what they make with our Lord so superficially, we could only weep. And this profoundly impressed my soul as a child already, and then, when I became a priest and studied especially the Church Fathers, I noticed the profound spirit of reverence of theirs, and this is what you mentioned. It is a myth, a legend. I will say it is incorrect information that was given to the faithful by the priests and even by the bishops.
Interviewer: So there’s a myth or legend that’s not factual about communion in the hands?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: This was intentionally, perhaps, because, firstly, we cannot, as we told simply, how does it return to a practice of the fourth or fifth century?
Interviewer: No more than you and I can return to not having to say
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: It is anachronistic and is against the law of growing and another because the Holy Communion was distributed in another manner, as today, nobody is allowed to touch with the finger the Holy Sacrament. It is important to notice this so that in the early church, even if the holy people did not the permission to touch with their fingers. The Blessed Sacrament was put in the car the palm, the palm of palm of the hand of the right hand, not of the left hand. Today, everyone receives the left hand, which would be for.
The ancient fathers’ horror, to receive the most holy in the left hand, how is it possible? And then in the right hand, you have to receive, and then to incline your head profoundly, to bow your head, to bow your head profoundly, and pick up directly with the mouth the Holy Sacrament. Therefore, it was a communion in the mouth, not in the hand. In reality, because the people received directly with the mouth the Holy Sacrament, but in a profound inclination, with a gesture of reverence, the man, and immediately before they had to clean their hands, because we touch so many things, right, even money, which is so dirty, right? And then with this hand, we go to the Most Holy Sacrament, which contradiction exterior, so. So in the early church, before they would receive, to would clean the palm, right? And after receiving, they had to pick up all the fragments so that no one fragment would fall down.
And some of the fathers would even speak of how, from each fragment, 1000s of people could be saved. Yes, and because it also crushes my book and the next point that the woman was not allowed to receive directly on the hand, the women had to put a white corporal, a white cloth. We call the corporal a corporal. And on the corporal was put the body of Christ, and from the corporal, even also in the same manner, reverently bowing down, receiving the Blessed Sacrament, and then cleaning the clothes from fragments so that no one will be lost. But even so, the church, instinctively in the East and in the West, noticed that we have to improve the gesture of reverence, and to that, the risk that some fragment could fall down will be diminished. And therefore the church, it was an organic development, organic as fruit of the veneration of the fathers the church began to administer directly in the mouth and one of the things that I also have heard, though, from the proponents of receiving Communion in the hand is that, look, I’m an adult, and I feed myself so I can receive Communion and give it To myself.
Because, you know, this is something that I’m old enough to do. I don’t need somebody to feed me like I was a baby. How would you respond to something profoundly wrong? And this does not correspond to the spirit of the gospel, to the spirit of Christianity, because our Lord said, we have to become children, children. When you do not become children, you cannot, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. As a matter of fact, he said that in the context of the apostles arguing amongst themselves which one was the greatest apostle, and after they were arguing, he put a little child in their midst and said, unless you become like little children, and we have to be in front of God, in front of Christ, who is nourishing us with His blood, like children to receive. We can only receive from God, and it is more convenient that we receive the Holy Communion as children. And children you give the nourishment on the in the mouth the little children, that one of the quotations you give is from the great doctor of the church, St John, Chrysostom said, just like a little baby automatically goes to open its mouth to suckle at its mother’s breast, so also, must we open our mouths like little children, not only St John Chrysostom, other fathers wrote about this. This is a common, common. Place in the church fathers.
And I think this is the deepest we have to go, deeper, deeper. And therefore it was very wise of the church. The Holy Ghost guided the church through all the times, even through the Middle Ages. And therefore we have to discover and reestimate this treasure, which we received from the church fathers, passing from the generations until our generations, our fathers, our grandfathers, also this was received in such a manner, and they gave us this veneration. As soon as your book is translated into English, I know that we’ll have that to be available for those who are interested in getting it from our religion.