Eucharist - Open and Closed Communion

Open and Closed Communion

Christian denominations differ in their understanding of whether they may receive the Eucharist with those with whom they are not in full communion. The famed apologist St. Justin Martyr (c. 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, 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 non-members from Communion under normal circumstances, though the Catholics 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 community. Some Protestant communities including most Lutheran churches practice closed communion and require catechetical instruction for all people before receiving the Eucharist. Many of the stricter communities of the Reformed and Presbyterian denominations practice a form of restricted Communion, which they designate Close Communion (to distinguish it from the closed communion system mentioned above). Believing it is the elders' responsibility to ensure that participants do not "eat and drink judgment to themselves" (as mentioned in I Corinthians 11:27-34) they require those who would participate to make themselves known to the Kirk Session before the service begins. When it comes time to issue the invitation to come to the table the warning from I Corinthians 11:27-29 is read which is referred to as "fencing the table." Thereafter, when the elements are distributed they are passed to those who are known to the Kirk Session as members of the Congregation, members of sister Churches and those who have already met with the elders. The elements are not passed to others.

Most Protestant communities, including Reformed, Evangelical, Methodist, the Church of Sweden, and Anglicans practice open communion in the sense of not limiting it to members of their own Church alone, but some of them require that the communicant be a baptized person or a member of a partner church. Some Progressive Christian congregations offer communion to any individual who wishes to commemorate the life and teachings of Christ, regardless of religious affiliation.

Most churches in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, also practice their own form of open communion, provided those who receive are baptized and believe in the Real Presence.

In the Episcopal Church (United States), those who do not receive Holy Communion may enter the communion line with their arms crossed over their chest, in order to receive a blessing from the priest, instead of receiving Holy Communion.