The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article focuses on the research of possible outer and inner reasons of certain peculiarities of eucharistic worship concerning usage of bread, wine, holy vessels and vestments in Russian orthodox church in XX century in time of persecutions. Expecting future deprivation, the All Russian Local Council of 1917–1918 allowed to celebrate eucharist using rye bread, berry juice, simplified and cheap vessels and vestments at emergency. We investigate why after the Council in the absence of wheat bread and grape wine some clergymen refused celebrating eucharist while others used for eucharistic worship bread of any content, juices or even water, crockery instead of chalice and non-standard vestments. We show that under the ideological influence of the Council there appeared the following tendencies in the practice of XX century confessors of faith: 1) vanishing in liturgical actions features symbolizing “symphony” of church and state; 2) weakening of scholastic requirements to the content of eucharistic substances; 3) deviation from “Antiochene” symbolism of eucharist as salvation history to “Alexandrine” interpretation of this sacrament as real co-participation of believers in the Last Supper.