Holy Communion in the context of Baptists

The sacrament of holy orders in the Catholic Church includes three orders of men: bishops, priests, and deacons, in decreasing order of rank, collectively comprising the clergy. In the phrase "holy orders", the word "holy" means "set apart for a sacred purpose". The word "order" designates an established civil body or corporation with a hierarchy, and ordination means legal incorporation into an order. In context, therefore, a group with a hierarchical structure that is set apart for ministry in the Church.

Men in the last year of seminary training who are seeking ordination as a priest are typically ordained to the "transitional diaconate", while men who are not seeking priestly ordination are instead ordained to the "permanent diaconate". Deacons, whether transitional or permanent, receive faculties to preach, to perform baptisms, and to witness marriages (either assisting the priest at the Mass, or officiating at a wedding not involving a Mass). They may assist at services where Holy Communion is given, such as the Mass, and they are considered the ordinary dispenser of the Precious Blood (the wine) when Communion is given in both types and a deacon is present, but they may not celebrate the Mass themselves. They may officiate at a funeral service not involving a Mass, including a visitation (wake) or the graveside service at burial.After six months or more as a transitional deacon, a man will be ordained to the priesthood. Priests may preach, perform baptisms, witness marriages, hear confessions and give absolutions, anoint the sick, and celebrate the Eucharist or the Mass. Some priests are later chosen to be bishops, who are the ordinary ministers of confirmation and holy orders; bishops may ordain priests, deacons, and other bishops.

The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, took place on Saturday, 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. Charles acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II.

The ceremony was structured around an Anglican service of Holy Communion. It included the King taking an oath, being anointed with holy oil, and receiving the coronation regalia, emphasising his spiritual role and secular responsibilities. Representatives of the Church of England and the British royal family declared their allegiance to him, and people throughout the Commonwealth realms were invited to do so. The Queen was crowned in a shorter and simpler ceremony. After the service, members of the royal family travelled to Buckingham Palace in a state procession and appeared on the palace's rear and front balconies. The service was altered from past British coronations to represent the multiple faiths, cultures, and communities of the United Kingdom, and was shorter than Elizabeth II's coronation. It had a peak UK television audience of 20.4 million, making it the most watched television broadcast of 2023, and attracted a global audience of 2 billion people across 125 countries.

"Works of piety", in Methodism, are certain spiritual disciplines that along with the "works of mercy", serve as a means of grace, in addition to being manifestations of growing in grace and of having received Christian perfection (entire sanctification). All Methodist Christians, laity and ordained, are expected to employ them. The Works of Piety are:

1. Prayer
2. Searching the Scriptures
3. Holy Communion
4. Fasting
5. Christian community
6. Healthy living

The interior works of piety are paralleled by the external Works of Mercy. John Wesley insisted that the works of piety were important because they "further ensconced believers in a spiritual world of conflict in which humans needed to pursue holiness with the same vigor with which they sought their justification." In relation to soteriology, the grace of God was "all sufficient," and it issued in a universal atonement that made possible a saving "change of heart;" this change of heart required "the influences of divine grace," but it also required "constant exertions."

The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is the title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The first prayer book, published in 1549 in the reign of King Edward VI of England, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with Rome. The 1549 work was the first prayer book to include the complete forms of service for daily and Sunday worship in English. It contains Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, the Litany, Holy Communion, and occasional services in full: the orders for Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, "prayers to be said with the sick", and a funeral service. It also sets out in full the "propers" (the parts of the service that vary weekly or daily throughout the Church's Year): the introits, collects, and epistle and gospel readings for the Sunday service of Holy Communion. Old Testament and New Testament readings for daily prayer are specified in tabular format, as are the Psalms and canticles, mostly biblical, to be said or sung between the readings.

The 1549 book was soon succeeded by a 1552 revision that was more Reformed but from the same editorial hand, that of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. It was used only for a few months, as after Edward VI's death in 1553, his half-sister Mary I restored Roman Catholic worship. Mary died in 1558 and, in 1559, Elizabeth I's first Parliament authorised the 1559 prayer book, which effectively reintroduced the 1552 book with modifications to make it acceptable to more traditionally minded worshippers and clergy.

The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. The Commendation of the Dying is practiced in liturgical Christian denominations, such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church. They may be administered to those mortally injured, terminally ill, or awaiting execution. Last rites cannot be performed on someone who has already died. Last rites, in sacramental Christianity, can refer to multiple sacraments administered concurrently in anticipation of an individual's passing (such as Holy Absolution and Holy Communion).

Iconolatry (Greek: εἰκών, eikon, 'picture or image', + λατρεία, latreia, 'veritable (full) worship or adoration') designates the idolatric worship or the adoration of icons. In the history of Christianity, iconolatry was mainly manifested in popular worship, as freedom of worship while others viewed it as superstitious belief in the divine nature of icons or deities. It was practiced as a focal point on icons, and other deities representing various saints, angels and the God. One of extreme practices of iconolatry was scraping parts of icons into the Holy Communion.

Iconolatry is the opposite of iconoclasm, and it also should not be confused with iconophilia, designating the moderate veneration of icons. Both extreme positions, iconolatry and iconoclasm, were rejected in 787 by the Second Council of Nicaea, being the seventh Ecumenical Council. The Council decided that holy icons should not be destroyed, as was advocated and practiced by the Byzantine iconoclasm, nor veritable (full) worshiped or adored (Greek: ἀληθινήν λατρείαν; Latin: veram latriam), as was practiced by iconolatry, but to be only venerated as symbolic representations of God, angels, or saints.

Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong, the Lutheran Divine Service, the Orthodox liturgy, and other Christian services, including the Divine Office.

The qualities that create the distinctive character of liturgical music are based on the notion that liturgical music is conceived and composed according to the norms and needs of the various historic liturgies of particular denominations.

A watchnight service (also called Watchnight Mass) is a late-night Christian church service. In many different Christian traditions, such as those of Moravians, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, Adventists and Reformed Christians, watchnight services are held late on New Year's Eve, which is the seventh day of Christmastide. This provides the opportunity for Christians to review the year that has passed and make confession, and then prepare for the year ahead by praying and resolving. The services often include singing, praying, exhorting, preaching, and Holy Communion.

Watchnight services can take the form of Watchnight Covenant Renewal Services, Watchnight Vespers services, Watchnight Vigil services, or Watchnight Masses. As Watchnight services bring in the New Year by glorifying God, they are seen by many Christians as being preferable to "drunken revelry" in popular cultural celebrations that are commonplace in some localities.

The Porvoo Communion is a communion of 15 predominantly northern European Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches, with some church bodies in the Iberian Peninsula of the same denomination. It was established in 1992 by a theological agreement entitled the Porvoo Common Statement which establishes full communion between and among these churches. The agreement was negotiated in the town of Järvenpää in Finland, but the communion's name comes from the nearby city of Porvoo, where a joint Eucharist (or Holy Communion) was celebrated in Porvoo Cathedral after the formal signing in Järvenpää. The Porvoo Communion claims to represent 45 million members among the member churches, approximately 50% of Europe's Protestants.

Ritualism, in the history of Christianity, refers to an emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremonies of the Church, specifically the Christian practice of Holy Communion.

In the Anglican church in the 19th century, the role of ritual became a contentious matter. The debate over this topic was also associated with struggles between the High Church and Low Church movements.

Pope Pius X (Italian: Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 until his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, and for promoting liturgical reforms and Thomist scholastic theology. He initiated the preparation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive and systemic work of its kind, which was ultimately promulgated by his successor. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Pius X was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Confidence; while his papal encyclical Ad diem illum took on a sense of renewal that was reflected in the motto of his pontificate. He advanced the Liturgical Movement by formulating the principle of participatio actuosa (active participation of the faithful) in his motu proprio, Tra le sollecitudini (1903). He encouraged the frequent reception of Holy Communion, and he lowered the age for First Communion, which would become a lasting innovation of his papacy.

The Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral, frequently referred to as the Lambeth Quadrilateral or the Lambeth–Chicago Quadrilateral, is a four-point articulation of Anglican identity, often cited as encapsulating the fundamentals of the Anglican Communion's doctrine and as a reference point for ecumenical discussion with other Christian denominations. The four points are:

1. The Holy Scriptures, as containing all things necessary to salvation;
2. The creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds), as the sufficient statement of Christian faith;
3. The dominical sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion;
4. The historic episcopate, locally adapted.

The quadrilateral had its genesis in an 1870 essay by the American Episcopal priest William Reed Huntington, and was officially adopted by the bishops of the Anglican Communion in 1888. The four elements were held to establish "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing, made toward Home Reunion", that is, with the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

The Spoon (Greek: Κοχλιάριον, Kochliárion; Slavonic: Лжица, Lzhítza) is a liturgical implement used to distribute Holy Communion to the laity during the Divine Liturgy in some Eastern Christian rites.

It is also called a cochlear, Latin for "spoon". In Western Christianity (within traditions such as Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Methodism) a perforated spoon is used to remove any foreign particulate matter that falls into the wine. It is one of the items, in Western Christian Churches, that lies on the credence table.

During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the second part of the Mass, the elements of bread and wine are considered to have been changed into the veritable Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The manner in which this occurs is referred to by the term transubstantiation, a theory of St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Roman Catholic Church. Members of the Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran communions also believe that Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the bread and wine, but they believe that the way in which this occurs must forever remain a sacred mystery. In many Christian churches, some portion of the consecrated elements is set aside and reserved after the reception of Communion and referred to as the reserved sacrament. The reserved sacrament is usually stored in a tabernacle, a locked cabinet made of precious materials and usually located on, above, or near the high altar. In Western Christianity usually only the Host, from Latin: hostia, meaning "victim" (the consecrated bread), is reserved, except where wine might be kept for the sick who cannot consume a host.

The reasons for the reservation of the sacrament vary by tradition, but until around 1000 AD the only reason for reserving the sacrament was to be taken to the ill, homebound, or dying (viaticum). After that devotional practices arose, as for Eucharistic adoration and for Communion services when a priest is unavailable to celebrate the Eucharist. During the Paschal Triduum, the sacrament is taken in procession from the tabernacle, if on the high altar or otherwise in the sanctuary, to the Altar of Repose, and reserved from the end of the Mass of the Lord's Supper until the Communion Rite on Good Friday (called the Mass of the Presanctified, since the Eucharistic Prayer and consecration are omitted in the Good Friday celebration); this period is seen by some as symbolic of the time between the Last Supper and the Crucifixion of Jesus. The Blessed Sacrament is then absent from the tabernacle until the end of the Easter Vigil.

The soleas ((Greek: σολέα, other form σολέας) = Latin: solea meaning (“bottom, base”, as used in "sole of a shoe", cf. also the "sole" from the resemblance of fish to a flat shoe. Of uncertain origin)) is an extension of the sanctuary platform in an Eastern Orthodox temple (church building). The soleas projects beyond the iconostasis, forming a narrow walkway running the full length of the iconostasis.

In the center of the soleas is the ambon, directly in front of the Holy Doors, where the communicants stand to receive Holy Communion and where the clergy come out for public prayers, sermons, etc.

In many Western Christian traditions, Midnight Mass is the first liturgy of Christmastide that is celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, traditionally beginning at midnight when Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day. This popular Christmas custom is a jubilant celebration of the Mass or service of worship in honour of the Nativity of Jesus; even many of those Christian denominations that do not regularly employ the word Mass uniquely use the term "Midnight Mass" for their Christmas Eve liturgy as it includes the celebration of Holy Communion.