On Churchgoing (Part 12)

Summary

The last of the churchgoing talks concerns the prosphoron brought for someone absent. It profits that person only if it reaches the priest before the proskomide, since what is sought is not that a name be read but that the absent share in the bloodless sacrifice — which is why it cannot be done at a memorial, on the weekdays of Great Lent, or at the Presanctified. The bread is to be made at home from clean wheat by devout hands, because it is destined to become the Body of Christ. Dimitrios Panagopoulos describes how the Lamb is lifted from one loaf and particles taken for the Theotokos, the ranks of the saints, and the living and departed, and how after Communion the particles are tipped into the chalice. He urges parents to bring children from infancy.