Eucharist: Encyclopedia II - Eucharist - Open and closed communion

Eucharist - Open and closed communion

Christian denominations differ in their understanding of whether they may receive the Eucharist together with those not in full communion with them. Closed communion was the universal practice of the early Church. The famed apologist St. Justin Martyr, ca. A.D. 150, wrote: "No one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true...." For the first several hundred years of Church history, non-members were forbidden even to be present at the sacramental ritual; visitors and catechumens (those still undergoing instruction) were dismissed halfway through the liturgy, after the Bible readings and sermon but before the Eucharistic rite. The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, used in the Byzantine Churches, still has a formula of dismissal of catechumens (not usually followed by any action) at this point.

The ancient Churches, such as the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox exclude nonmembers from Communion under normal circumstances, though they may allow exceptions, e.g. for non-members in danger of death who share their faith in the reality of the Eucharist and who are unable to have access to a minister of their own religion. Many conservative Protestant communities also practice closed communion, including conservative Lutheran Churches like the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The Mennonites and the Landmark Baptist Churches also practice closed communion, as a symbol of exclusive membership and loyalty to the distinctive doctrines of their fellowship.

Most Protestant communities practice open communion, including some Anglican, Reformed, Evangelical, Methodist, and more-liberal Lutherans (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Church of Sweden). Some open communion communities adhere to a symbolic or spiritual understanding of the Eucharist, so that they have no fear of sacrilege against the literal body and blood of Christ if someone receives inappropriately. Others feel that Christ calls all of his children to his table, regardless of their denominational affiliation. Many churches that practice open communion offer it only to baptized Christians (regardless of denomination), although this requirement is typically only enforced by the recipients' honesty.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Open and closed communion", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki