We continue our translation of the book by Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite and Saint Macarius of Corinth, "A Soul-Profiting Book on the Continual Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ."

Some object, saying that Holy Communion is an awesome thing, and therefore those who commune are required to lead a life that is holy, perfect, and angelic.

That the Mystery of Divine Communion is great and awesome, and that a holy and pure life is needed, no one doubts. Only the word "holy" has many meanings.

Holy is God alone, for He possesses holiness by nature, not by acquisition. But people who have received holy Baptism receive holiness through communion with the Holy God. And they are called holy because they have received sanctification by the grace of the Holy Spirit through regeneration from above. Beyond all this, they always receive sanctification from the Divine Mysteries, because they commune of the Holy Body and Blood of our Lord. And insofar as they draw near to God through the fulfillment of the Master's commandments, so much the more sanctified do they ascend toward perfection. But insofar as, on the contrary, they withdraw from God by abandoning the commandments, so much, being deprived of sanctification, do they become possessed by the passions, and evil grows within them. For evil is nothing other than the deprivation of good.

Therefore, those who have been counted worthy of regeneration by the Holy Spirit have no impediment to being called holy, and consequently — as by grace holy children of the Holy God — to communing often of the Divine Gifts. This is why the divine Chrysostom says: "The Holy Gifts must be given to the holy, and not to the wicked and the impure." And wishing to show the distinction among the holy, he says: "Let no one of the sinful approach Communion. Yet perhaps I will not say 'no one of the sinful'; for otherwise I would be the first to separate myself from the Divine Table, but [I will rather say this]: 'Let no one approach who remains a sinner.' I know that we are all worthy of punishment and that no one can boast of a pure heart. Yet the misfortune is not that we do not have a pure heart, but that, not having a pure heart, we do not approach even Him who is able to make it pure" (Homily 6 on the words: "And it came to pass in the year that King Uzziah died" (Is. 6:1), and on repentance, 3. Cf.: St. John Chrysostom. Works. Vol. 6. Bk. 1. St. Petersburg, 1900 (reprint: Moscow, 1998). Pp. 427-428).

And Theodoret says: "Among those who commune of the Divine Mysteries, some commune [of Christ] as of the Lamb — those who have attained perfect virtue. Others, however, commune as of the scapegoat — those who, through repentance, are cleansed from the defilement of sin" (1).

Although those who dispute permit only the perfect to commune continually, nevertheless the divine fathers, as it turns out, do not require perfection of communicants, but require the correction of life through repentance. For just as in this visible world not all people are of the same age, so also in the spiritual world of the Church the condition of people varies, according to the Parable of the Seed. And if the perfect one renders to God a hundredfold, then the middling one renders sixty; while the beginner renders thirty — that is, each one according to his strength. And no one is cast off by God for not rendering a hundredfold.

(1) Commentary on the Book of Exodus. Question 24. Cf.: Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus. [Works]. Vol. 1. The Explanation of Difficult Passages of Divine Scripture. Moscow, 2003. P. 92, note 1 (a phrase omitted in the pre-revolutionary translation). Cf. also, for example, the Epistle of Barnabas, 7: "What does God say in the prophet? 'And let them eat of the goat that is offered on the day of fasting for all their sins' — note carefully — 'and let only the priests, all of them, eat the entrails unwashed with vinegar.' Why? — 'Because Me,' says the Lord, 'when I shall one day offer up My flesh in sacrifice for the sins of the new people, you will give to drink gall with vinegar; therefore eat ye alone, while the people fast and lament, clothed in sackcloth and ashes.' And to show that He must suffer for them, hear what commandment He gave. 'Take two goats, good and alike, and offer them in sacrifice: let the priest take one of them for a whole burnt offering.' And what are they to do with the other? 'The other,' it is said, 'let it be accursed.' Note how the type of Jesus is here revealed. 'Spit upon it, all of you, and strike it, and place a scarlet skein of wool around its head, and let it thus be driven out into the wilderness.' After performing this action, the bearer carries the goat into the wilderness, takes from it the scarlet wool, and lays it upon a shrub called the bramble, whose shoots we are accustomed to eat, finding them in the field, and which alone among shrubs has sweet fruit. And to what end, note also, is one goat placed upon the altar and the other made accursed, and why is the accursed one crowned? Because the Jews will see Him on that day in a long scarlet robe about His body and will say: 'Is not this He whom we once humiliated, pierced, subjected to mockery, and crucified? Truly this is He who then called Himself the Son of God.' Likewise, to what end is it that the goats must be alike, good, and equal? It is so that the Jews, seeing Him coming, might be struck by the likeness of the goat. Behold the image of Jesus, who was to suffer." Writings of the Apostolic Fathers. Moscow, 2003. Pp. 96-97.