Rezerva euharistică
Eucharistic Reserve

Summary/Abstract: The central place of the holy table, in all Orthodox churches (even in the Roman-Catholic ones) is held by the box decorated with ornaments, most often in the shape of a little metal church, hosting the Eucharistic Reserve. An Eucharistic reserve holds the central liturgical scene only for a few days over the year - between the Holly Thursday and the following Enlightened Tuesday - it is function today being limited to a mere replacement in case of emergency; a kind of liturgical spare wheel, that the priest is using in a few limited cases: for the sick and for children, since this is what the rubrics also call it, a name which has nothing to do with the purpose and the genesis of this liturgical practice. Since in the Romanian literature, to my knowledge, there are no scientific studies on this topic and from the foreign literature translated into Romanian we can only mention that of Nikolai Uspensky (Evening Worship in the Orthodox Church), dealing with this subject in the context of communion of the Liturgy of the Afore -sanctified sacraments, this paper aims to investigate the genesis, and trace the historical evolution of taking the Holy Communion out side of the Holy Liturgy, in order to be in a position to reestablish the real significance and the correct administration of the Eucharistic Reserve.

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