Taking the Holy Communion in Soviet Era: Practices of the Russian Orthodox Laity

Abstract

The paper uses the method of historical anthropology to look at the evolution of the practice of the Holy Communion in the Russian Orthodox Church during the Soviet era. The author shows that the frequency of individual communion increased in 5-10 times comparing to the pre-Revolutionary period when it was usually practiced no more than once a year. Such an evolution can be explained by three reasons, in fact, processes: an “emancipation” of the ritual from functions related to state control; the believers’ sense of existential fragility and insecurity under the Soviet regime, which made the Eucharist perceived as a pre-death farewell; and the blurring of the boundaries between a more intense monastic and ordinary lay practices.