Which are the necessary private Pre-Communion Prayers?

[rakovsky]

The website for the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto has a set of pre-communion prayers:

    Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto (Canada)
    Prayers Before and After Communion
    PRAYERS BEFORE COMMUNION

    In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

    O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

    Psalm 23
    ...
    First Prayer of St. Basil the Great
    ...
    First Prayer of St. John Chrysostom
    ...
    Prayer of St. Symeon the Translator
    ...
    First Prayer of St. John Damascene
    ...
    Second Prayer of St. Basil the Great
    ...
    Second Prayer of St. John Chrysostom
    ...
    Third Prayer of St. John Chrysostom
    ...
    Second Prayer of St. John Damascene
    ...
    Fourth Prayer of St. John Chrysostom
    ...

http://www.gometropolis.org/orthodox-faith/church-and-sacraments/holy-eucharist/prayers-before-and-after-communion/

For over the last 50 years, the OCA's St. Tikhon's monastery has published a prayer book called SVIT (meaning "light) that has the English translation next to the Slavonic prayers. The Pre-Communion prayers' section in the book has the following prayers:

A Prayer of St Basil the Great

A Prayer of St John Chrysostom

A Prayer of Simeon the New Theologian

A Prayer of St John of Damascus

The Prayer Before Holy Communion
I believe, O Lord, and I confess, that Thou art, in very truth...

I showed this to someone in Russia or Ukraine years ago and they complained that it was missing certain prayers (I think the Canons). An OCA priest in Carnegie, PA basically told me that the St. Tihon's list of prayers was the Pre-Communion prayers for beginners, and for comparison he showed me his own prayer book that was thick, well-used, and looked like it may even pages inserted.

At the Kiev-Caves Monastery I bought a prayerbook published by the monastery. "The canons to be read on the eve of Holy Communion" are (in Slavonic, but with my translation below):

Canon of Confession to our Lord Jesus Christ
Song 1
Irmos: As Israel walked on dry land...
Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me.
Now coming I am a sinner and burdened to thee, Master and my God...
Another Canon, to the Holy Theotokos
...
Another Canon, to the Guardian Angel
Lord Jesus Christ, my God, have mercy on me.
A Song to sing and praise, to the Saviour, of your servant worthily likening, to the fleshless Angel...
Song 3
...
Kondak to the Theotokos
...
Another Kondak, the same tone
...
Kondak to the Guardian Angel
...
Ikos
...
Sedalen
...
A Praise, the 6th tone
...
And now: of the God-bearer
Bound by many now prisoners of sins and holding evil passions and calamities, I run to Thee, my salvation, and sing: help me, Virgin, Mother of God.

Song 4
...
Song 5
...
Song 6
...
Kondak
...
Ikos
...
Song 7
...
Song 8
...
Song 9
...
A Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ
...
A Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos
...
A Prayer to the Guardian Angel

Which of these are the necessary prayers?

 

[hecma925]

All of them.

 

[Antonis]

There are a variety of traditions. I am inclined to believe that the contemporary, very long, Russian practice is a fruit of infrequent communion.

In Greek monastic practice--at least at Simonopetra, those affiliated with her, and I am inclined to believe others as well--the canon is done once a week, publicly, on Friday nights because Saturday is the primary Athonite day for communing. The three psalms, verses, and set of 10 prayers for the morning have their origin as a kind of part of the proskomide for the priest and, like the canon, may be recited privately.

In short, what your spiritual guide deems appropriate is best.

 

[WPM]

Thanks

 

[Iconodule]

Prayer books for the laity, as we have them now, have only been around for a few centuries. If you consider that the majority of Christians were illiterate for most of church history it’s odd to think of these lengthy written rules as the pre-communion rule.

 

[Dominika]

There are a variety of traditions. I am inclined to believe that the contemporary, very long, Russian practice is a fruit of infrequent communion.

+1
And it may lead to ridicolous situations, e.g this year at hour foot pilgrimage from Warsaw to the Holy Mount Grabarka one girl that's of Polish origins but all her life lives in Russia and comes to Poland only for holidays, didn't want at first to go t confession and partake the Eucharist during Liturgy on the 3rd day of the pilgrimage (that's in forest) because... she didn't say all the canons and akathist and it's not anough tiem for it; she hadn't been fasting (well, we don't eat meat during the pilgrimage, but she meant fish and milk). You see, girl saying this while we go by foot about 30 km every day, pray all the time, listen and read commentaries of old and modern Church Fathers... Finally, and fortunately, one of priest talked to her and she decided to go to confession and Communion.

Prayer books for the laity, as we have them now, have only been around for a few centuries. If you consider that the majority of Christians were illiterate for most of church history it’s odd to think of these lengthy written rules as the pre-communion rule.

Maybe they were read alout by a "djak" (chanter knowing the typicon) or a tonsured reader?..

But well e.g in Serbian literature ine one of the books there is a theme that one of the traditions for boys was that when they were about maybe 10-12 they were reading the Epistle at Liturgy first tiem in their life.

 

[RaphaCam]

Personally, I was never required to do them. Is that weird?

And it may lead to ridicolous situations, e.g this year at hour foot pilgrimage from Warsaw to the Holy Mount Grabarka one girl that's of Polish origins but all her life lives in Russia and comes to Poland only for holidays, didn't want at first to go t confession and partake the Eucharist during Liturgy on the 3rd day of the pilgrimage (that's in forest) because... she didn't say all the canons and akathist and it's not anough tiem for it; she hadn't been fasting (well, we don't eat meat during the pilgrimage, but she meant fish and milk). You see, girl saying this while we go by foot about 30 km every day, pray all the time, listen and read commentaries of old and modern Church Fathers... Finally, and fortunately, one of priest talked to her and she decided to go to confession and Communion.

IDK, I agree with you, but I get her as in following the usual customs strictly, at least as long as no other priest has given his own blessing to alleviate the rules.

 

[Agabus]

Re:  Which are the necessary private Pre-Communion Prayers?

A: The ones in the DL.

Longer A: You should try to do more rather than less to prepare to receive Our Lord.

 

[Iconodule]

Maybe they were read alout by a "djak" (chanter knowing the typicon) or a tonsured reader?..

Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov mentions that Russian priest's service books started appearing in the 17th century, which included the lengthy pre-communion prayer rule and an instruction to clergy to teach laity to read so they could pray them too. But I think it's pretty hard to figure out the source of all these prayers and where the present Russian rule took form. Fr. Sergei also makes the point that the Russian prayer rules were in flux until the Bolshevik revolution, where the development was frozen, so that now everyone just assumes that's how it has always been.

 

[Gorazd]

I believe one should follow the instructions of one's spiritual fathers.

 

[biro]

Re:  Which are the necessary private Pre-Communion Prayers?

A: The ones in the DL.

Longer A: You should try to do more rather than less to prepare to receive Our Lord.

But wouldn't everybody then be preparing forever? 

 

[Agabus]

Re:  Which are the necessary private Pre-Communion Prayers?

A: The ones in the DL.

Longer A: You should try to do more rather than less to prepare to receive Our Lord.

But wouldn't everybody then be preparing forever? 

"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

At least with communion we know about what time He will be there. Everything else is just practice for the parousia.

 

[rakovsky]

I went to confession once at a church in Belarus that was a former Old Believer parish and the priest was considered to be accordingly conservative. He was actually nice (eg. on my request, gave me the name of a certain English-speaking Archmandrite who I ended up meeting.). On his questioning about my preparation, I said I hadn't been to Vespers the night before, hadn't read the prayers, hadn't fasted for two days and I'd taken pills that morning. He said I hadn't prepared for Communion. Thus began my desire to pursue stricter observance when in the former USSR: trying to fast from meat on Friday and Saturday; nothing to swallow on Sunday morning unless necessary; trying to find out what are the necessary prayers from the book, going to Vespers if there is a church within reasonable distance.

In practice, there are Russians who commune in Russia without having been to confession in years. But the Russian church doesn't want that. I asked a priest in Kiev's Cave Monastery how close to communion to go to confession, and he compared it to washing one's hands before eating. One time I told a priest who would later give me communion that I was thirsty and had water before in the morning because I was thirsty and he said it was OK, and that in the future, whether it is OK depends on the individual response by whichever priest was in a given communing parish when I would ask him that morning. I think that there is some ekonomia on the strictness of Friday and Saturday fasting as long as the person tries to (eg. milk or fish could be ok). And if the person is able, they must go to Vespers the night before (eg. unless there is some intervening circumstance like an intense workload or too great a distance).

 

[WPM]

Orthodox - In the Name .. Of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

[biro]

That's the first one, yes.

 

[rakovsky]

For over the last 50 years, the OCA's St. Tikhon's monastery has published a prayer book called SVIT (meaning "light) that has the English translation next to the Slavonic prayers. The Pre-Communion prayers' section in the book has the following prayers:

A Prayer of St Basil the Great

A Prayer of St John Chrysostom

A Prayer of Simeon the New Theologian

A Prayer of St John of Damascus

The Prayer Before Holy Communion
I believe, O Lord, and I confess, that Thou art, in very truth...

I found what appears to be the same pre-communion prayer text as that in 1950's St. Tikhon's Prayer book in Isabel Hapgood's 1906 Orthodox service book online:

SERVICE BOOK OF THE HOLY ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC (Greco-Russian) CHURCH

COMPILED, TRANSLATED, AND ARRANGED FROM THE OLD CHURCH-SLAVONIC SERVICE BOOKS OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH, AND COLLATED WITH THE SERVICE BOOKS OF THE GREEK CHURCH
BY
ISABEL FLORENCE HAPGOOD
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT 1906 BY ISABEL FLORENCE HAPGOOD

https://archive.org/stream/ServiceBookOfHolyOrthodoxChurchByHapgood/Service_Book_Orthodox_Church_Hapgood_djvu.txt

A longer version of the pre-communion prayers are here on the Holy Resurrection OCA Church, Tacoma, WA website:

Pre-Communion Prayers

Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church of the Orthodox Church of America located in Puyallup, WA

orthodoxtacoma.com

Between the prayer of St. Simeon and the Prayer of St John of Damascus that are found in the St. Tikhon's prayer book, the Holy Resurrection OCA website has:

A Prayer of St. John of Damascus (a different one than the one in the St. Tikhon's prayer book)

A Prayer of St. Basil the Great

A Prayer of St. John Chrysostom

Another Prayer of St. John Chrysostom

Another Prayer of St. John Chrysostom

After these comes the same prayer of St John of Damascus in the St Tikhon's prayerbook.

 

[rakovsky]

The service book by Isabel Hapgood also has A Prayer of Simeon Metaphrastes that is not in the St Tikhon's prayerbook nor in the prayers on the Holy Resurrection OCA Tacoma WA website.

The Tacoma WA parish's website also ends with the same lines as in the St. TIkhon's prayerbook that are not in Isabel Hapgood's version:

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant; for I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom.

May the communion of Thy holy Mysteries be neither to my judgment, nor to my condemnation, O Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.

 

[rakovsky]

I was looking for the Slavonic text of what is in St. Tikhon's Prayer Book. I found the following similar section of prayers in Slavonic beginning with St. Basil's prayer on page 134 of the Russian Church (MP)'s prayer book "Glory to God for Everything":

Молитвослов Слава Богу за все

«Духовное преображение» Москва 2016 МОЛИТВОСЛОВ «Слава Богу за всё»

en.calameo.com

Молитвослов Слава Богу за все

«Духовное преображение» Москва 2016 МОЛИТВОСЛОВ «Слава Богу за всё»

en.calameo.com

The MP's prayerbook above actually has the prayer of St. SImeon Metaphrastes from Isabel Hapgood's prayerbook, along with prayers that look at a glance as the same as those on the Tacoma, WA webpage.

 

[rakovsky]

Personally, I was never required to do them. Is that weird?

I have been visiting GOARCH parishes many times while staying in the US South often over the last 10 years. There are a lot of long established GOARCH parishes here. I've been to Confession at least twice in a certain GOARCH church too.

My sense is that GOARCH, or in your case the CP, is more lax about these kinds of observances. First, it seems that the normal GOARCH practice is that many typical GOARCH parishioners only go to Confession about once a year, or a few times a year, but take communion at each liturgy. In contrast, in the OCA or MP, it's often about every month and a half, and the priest would expect the parishioner to only commune within about a month or month and a half of taking communion. In a very few cases when visiting ROCOR or OCA parishes, I was asked at the chalice when my last confession was. I can only remember one time when this happened - at a ROCOR parish, but it may have been more times, at other parishes.

Second, in OCA or Antiochian parishes, in a few parishes that I've visited, the priest announces before the Eucharist that Communion is for Orthodox Christians who prepared themselves with prayer, Confession, and fasting. I don't recall whether at the GOARCH parishes the priest specified the last three requirements (Confession, etc.). One or two times I asked GOARCH parishioners what Prayer they usedto prepare for Communion, and they replied that it's the one in the Service book that the congregation recites aloud in the minutes before receiving Communion. They were talking about a section of the parish Liturgy book that takes up about a page and a half, not the long series of prayers that I posted above from the Greek Archdiocese of Canada. (https://goarchdiocese.ca/prayers-before-and-after-communion/)

 

[RaphaCam]

I have been visiting GOARCH parishes many times while staying in the US South often over the last 10 years. There are a lot of long established GOARCH parishes here. I've been to Confession at least twice in a certain GOARCH church too.

My sense is that GOARCH, or in your case the CP, is more lax about these kinds of observances. First, it seems that the normal GOARCH practice is that many typical GOARCH parishioners only go to Confession about once a year, or a few times a year, but take communion at each liturgy. In contrast, in the OCA or MP, it's often about every month and a half, and the priest would expect the parishioner to only commune within about a month or month and a half of taking communion. In a very few cases when visiting ROCOR or OCA parishes, I was asked at the chalice when my last confession was. I can only remember one time when this happened - at a ROCOR parish, but it may have been more times, at other parishes.

Second, in OCA or Antiochian parishes, in a few parishes that I've visited, the priest announces before the Eucharist that Communion is for Orthodox Christians who prepared themselves with prayer, Confession, and fasting. I don't recall whether at the GOARCH parishes the priest specified the last three requirements (Confession, etc.). One or two times I asked GOARCH parishioners what Prayer they usedto prepare for Communion, and they replied that it's the one in the Service book that the congregation recites aloud in the minutes before receiving Communion. They were talking about a section of the parish Liturgy book that takes up about a page and a half, not the long series of prayers that I posted above from the Greek Archdiocese of Canada. (https://goarchdiocese.ca/prayers-before-and-after-communion/)

I'm from the PAOC. There is a discipline for Holy Communion, but it doesn't involve any particular set of prayers to be done outside the Divine Liturgy.

 

[J Michael]

I'm from the PAOC. There is a discipline for Holy Communion, but it doesn't involve any particular set of prayers to be done outside the Divine Liturgy.

What is "PAOC"?

 

[RaphaCam]

What is "PAOC"?

Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. It sounds exciting if you pronounce it "pawk".

 

[Vladimir Al-Masih]

I would have pronounced it "pah-ohk" but that's me.

 

[RaphaCam]

I would have pronounced it "pah-ohk" but that's me.

Here we just say a polonesa. Funnily, that's also the name of a restaurant near the main cathedral.

 

[Vladimir Al-Masih]

Here we just say a polonesa. Funnily, that's also the name of a restaurant near the main cathedral.

Does it serve Polish Orthodox food?

 

[RaphaCam]

Does it serve Polish Orthodox food?

No, just Polish. Unfortunately, it seems to be closing down due to the pandemics... Sad. It's a relic of a time people from all over the world actually thought leaving everything behind and coming to Brazil was a good idea.

 

[Katechon]

trying to fast from meat on Friday and Saturday;

Fasting on Saturdays is a heterodox practice, the Latins got scolded over that back in the days. Who advises this?

 

[Dominika]

No, just Polish. Unfortunately, it seems to be closing down due to the pandemics... Sad. It's a relic of a time people from all over the world actually thought leaving everything behind and coming to Brazil was a good idea.

Well traditional Orthodox region of Poland has had an impact on the rest regions and they have really ncie cusiine, esepically kiełbasa and some cakes like sękacz, mrówkowiec. Fasting cuisine is not so interesting it used to be topinambur, later potatoes in various forms.

 

[Vladimir Al-Masih]

Thank God for potatoes.

 

[rakovsky]

" trying to fast from meat on Friday and Saturday; "

Fasting on Saturdays is a heterodox practice, the Latins got scolded over that back in the days. Who advises this?

Katechon,
This is common in the Russian Tradition, as well as in maybe other Slavic traditions. To be clear, this is a practice of a 3 day private fast, running two days before the Eucharist and then the morning of the Eucharist. It is for those who take the Eucharist, and it wouldn't apply on Saturdays if the Eucharist would be taken on a day that falls on Tuesday to Saturday. The practice probably began as a way to address those who hadn't observed the normal weekly fasts.

We have a few threads on the topic:

Pre-communion fast

Hello all. I was just curious if most orthodox hold to a three-day pre-communion fast or if its a small minority. Maybe its because i'm in a convert church but I don't know of many people who do this. Generally I thought just from midnight on was the common practice along with the...

forums.orthodoxchristianity.net

3 days fasting before Communion

I was advised by my Godfather that it would be good for me to keep a 3 days fasting before Communion - he says monks in Athos do so and he also is trying to follow this rule. My question is: is it allowed to fast on Saturday? Let's say I decide to fast on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - in...

forums.orthodoxchristianity.net

 

[rakovsky]

Fasting cuisine is not so interesting it used to be topinambur, later potatoes in various forms.

I want to try Topinambur (Wild Sunflower tuber root), Paw Paw (Native American fruit), and Sugar Beets (They look like giant potato-colored beets)!

These are not sold in groceries in my US state.

 

[kijabeboy03]

Is most of your experience of the OC[N]A in the South? What you're describing is the practice of the Diocese of Dallas, but isn't standard at all in the rest of the OC[N]A. There's quite a range, from people who follow modern Russian Orthodox practice to 'every once in a while' as in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

I have been visiting GOARCH parishes many times while staying in the US South often over the last 10 years. There are a lot of long established GOARCH parishes here. I've been to Confession at least twice in a certain GOARCH church too.

My sense is that GOARCH, or in your case the CP, is more lax about these kinds of observances. First, it seems that the normal GOARCH practice is that many typical GOARCH parishioners only go to Confession about once a year, or a few times a year, but take communion at each liturgy. In contrast, in the OCA or MP, it's often about every month and a half, and the priest would expect the parishioner to only commune within about a month or month and a half of taking communion. In a very few cases when visiting ROCOR or OCA parishes, I was asked at the chalice when my last confession was. I can only remember one time when this happened - at a ROCOR parish, but it may have been more times, at other parishes.

Second, in OCA or Antiochian parishes, in a few parishes that I've visited, the priest announces before the Eucharist that Communion is for Orthodox Christians who prepared themselves with prayer, Confession, and fasting. I don't recall whether at the GOARCH parishes the priest specified the last three requirements (Confession, etc.). One or two times I asked GOARCH parishioners what Prayer they usedto prepare for Communion, and they replied that it's the one in the Service book that the congregation recites aloud in the minutes before receiving Communion. They were talking about a section of the parish Liturgy book that takes up about a page and a half, not the long series of prayers that I posted above from the Greek Archdiocese of Canada. (https://goarchdiocese.ca/prayers-before-and-after-communion/)

 

[rakovsky]

Is most of your experience of the OC[N]A in the South? What you're describing is the practice of the Diocese of Dallas, but isn't standard at all in the rest of the OC[N]A. There's quite a range, from people who follow modern Russian Orthodox practice to 'every once in a while' as in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

Second, in OCA or Antiochian parishes, in a few parishes that I've visited, the priest announces before the Eucharist that Communion is for Orthodox Christians who prepared themselves with prayer, Confession, and fasting. I don't recall whether at the GOARCH parishes the priest specified the last three requirements (Confession, etc.). One or two times I asked GOARCH parishioners what Prayer they usedto prepare for Communion, and they replied that it's the one in the Service book that the congregation recites aloud in the minutes before receiving Communion. They were talking about a section of the parish Liturgy book that takes up about a page and a half, not the long series of prayers that I posted above from the Greek Archdiocese of Canada. (https://goarchdiocese.ca/prayers-before-and-after-communion/)

Most of my experience has been in parishes in the state with the longest OCA history on the East coast.

There are three issues of preparation:
- Confession
- Pre-Communion Prayers
- Fasting for 3 days (In the modern Russian Tradition, this would be a strict fast on the morning that someone communes + the two preceding days. In the standard calendar, this is also Wednesday and Friday.)

It's true that I can only guess at what is standard in the OCA, since my experience and knowledge is limited: The only EO Church I've been to west of my home state was the one in Las Vegas.
Typically on issues like this, people suggest talking to your priest for counsel, and there is an expectation that there is going to be a little variability at least.

Further, even when I attend a parish, it's not going to be obvious what that parish priest follows. It's not like there is going to be a sign posted on the door necessarily. In some Antiochian and OCA parishes that I've been to, the priest announces something like, "Communion is only for Orthodox Christians who have prepared with Prayers, Fasting, and Confession." Since I'm already familiar with this, it's not something that I took special notice of. Likewise, I think that at least one time when I visited an OCA parish where I hadn't visited before and went to the chalice, a priest asked me before I communed when my last Confession was.

There could be some variability. There are only 3 OCA seminaries in the US, although the OCA has clergy who came from other jurisdictions (ROCOR, MP, Serbia, etc.) Maybe the graduates from different seminaries and different generations and backgrounds of priests can tend to act differently.

Another issue is that just because the priest at a parish has in mind a practice that he wants, or perhaps expects, his parishioners to follow or not follow (eg. 3 day fasting), it doesn't necessarily mean that all or most of the parishioners are aware or following, or not following, that practice.

 

[rakovsky]

Is most of your experience of the OC[N]A in the South? What you're describing is the practice of the Diocese of Dallas, but isn't standard at all in the rest of the OC[N]A. There's quite a range, from people who follow modern Russian Orthodox practice to 'every once in a while' as in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

There's also several aspects of observance:
What the Church's rules say, what clergy say, what clergy expect, and what the people do.

I don't know if there is a church canon on how frequent confession is supposed to be before communion. The RC Church seems like it has a lot of rules and historically, rather strict following of some of its rules historically. In the RC Church, Sunday attendance is an "obligation" and this is thought of in a strict sense. If Sunday attendance is an obligation in Orthodoxy, I don't hear it talked about much in that term. Likewise, I remember hearing that in the RC Church, there is a rule that Confession is supposed to be before every Communion, but I'm not RC and can be misremembering this.

My experience is that among Orthodox Christians in the US, the typical idea is to ask your priest. In the OCA, when I've asked clergy, it's usually been that Confession should be within about a month of Communion. A priest that I've had recently as a spiritual father, and who had studied in part at St Tikhon's, told me that the period should be a month or month and a half. When I first converted, my pastor never gave me a time period, and I went every Sunday morning before Communion. Then one Sunday, my pastor mentioned to me one Sunday morning that I didn't have to go every week, and that the period should be once a month. So afterwards, I went once a month.

At the Kiev Caves Lavra Monastery (it's in the UOC-MP) about 15 years ago, I asked a clergy or monk there how often it should be, and he said something along the lines that there is no strict rule, that you should be in accord with your spiritual father on the topic, and that it's like washing one's hands before a meal.

One time in a well-attended ROCOR parish that I visited, the priest asked me at the chalice when my last confession was, and I mentioned that it had been the previous week. At coffee hour, one of the parishioners told me that this particular priest's policy was that confession should be two weeks or less before Communion.

When I was often visiting a GOARCH parish in the South, one day I wanted to go to Confession, and I told the pastor. He said that we could do it on Wednesday. I agreed, and showed up at the time during the day. It was not a day when services were going on, so I figured that he must have more free time then. When I entered the church building, I was alittle surprised to see him dressed in full robes and have him carry out a full small pre-Communion service with oral prayers or chanting before the iconostasis. It was a slightly intimidating, since I was the only person there, and this impressed on me more that Confession in GOARCH is less frequent than in the OCA. Don't get me wrong, I was appreciative that he would go out of his way, and he was a pretty nice person to have Confession with.

 

[Shanghaiski]

All of them.

And even more. That is the Orthodox way!

 

[Dominika]

We are talking here more strictly about prayers before Communion, however there has been lifted the question of announcement "Communion is for the Orthodox Christians who have confessed recently or have blessing of their spiritual father [may be added: and who prepared by fasting or just: prepared" - this is how I hear in Poland. Not often, actually rather at celebrations that are hundreds or thousands people like Holy Mount Grabarka plus.. Recently sometimes on Sundays and feast at my parish because of huge amount of Ukrainians coming that are of various background (Church - Greek Catholic/Orthodox; canonical/uncanonical; they know a lto about the Churhca ot - they do not know how to behave; come very late or no) - earlier it was no need to say such things. And this line is often said in Polish and Russian.

 

[rakovsky]

And this line is often said in Polish and Russian.

Are your services in Church Slavonic or Polish?

It sounds like you have neat Orthodox things in Poland, like a lot of things in the far eastern part like around Bialystok and Biala Podlaska.

In historical censuses, there were lots of Ukrainians nad Carpatho-Russians living in what is now far southeastern Poland, but is there hardly anything left from them? I heard that there are some villages like the resort village of Krynica/Krynitsa near the Slovak border with a lot of Carpatho-Russians.

The map above, as you know, puts some of what is today Belarus and Ukraine in the borders of 1937 Poland, but someone familiar with the territory can get a strong sense of the demographics in what is now Poland. There were alot of Ukrainians around Przemysl and the Carpathians.

Here's a 1931 map:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/GUS_languages1931_Poland.jpg

Both maps put a lot of Ukrainians around Lubaczow, Poland.

In my fantasy world, if I lived in Poland, I would visit those places.

 

[Vladimir Al-Masih]

In my fantasy, while living in Poland, I would eat a lot of sausage, possibly during fasting times too.

 

[RaphaCam]

Are your services in Church Slavonic or Polish?

It sounds like you have neat Orthodox things in Poland, like a lot of things in the far eastern part like around Bialystok and Biala Podlaska.

In historical censuses, there were lots of Ukrainians nad Carpatho-Russians living in what is now far southeastern Poland, but is there hardly anything left from them? I heard that there are some villages like the resort village of Krynica/Krynitsa near the Slovak border with a lot of Carpatho-Russians.

The map above, as you know, puts some of what is today Belarus and Ukraine in the borders of 1937 Poland, but someone familiar with the territory can get a strong sense of the demographics in what is now Poland. There were alot of Ukrainians around Przemysl and the Carpathians.

Here's a 1931 map:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/GUS_languages1931_Poland.jpg

Both maps put a lot of Ukrainians around Lubaczow, Poland.

In my fantasy world, if I lived in Poland, I would visit those places.

Many Carpatho-Russians switched to a Ukrainian identity after being united within the same borders. Another thing I observed in the first map is how Silesians in Czechoslovakia are classified as Poles. Some Czechs still claim that Silesians in Poland are Czechs. They speak a transitional language, so it can get very political. OTOH, the "Czechness" of the Volhynian Czechs isn't questioned, presumably because they're not indigenous.

 

[Vladimir Al-Masih]

switched

My Rusyn godfather would say it wasn't willingly.