The Greek-Latin Dispute Over the Communion of Infants
Authors: Salij Jacek 
Published: February 2021

$. e Greek-Latin dispute over the communion of infants is an integral partof the dispute over Eucharistic worship. e reason for the dispute are thechanges in the western liturgy as a result of the reaction against Berengar. echanges themselves were based on drawing consequences from the traditionalEucharistic realism, but they are a novelty in relation to specific traditional customs. us, Orthodox theology accused the West of illegitimate noveltyin relation to traditional rites, while Catholic theology justified the changes withfidelity to the traditional worship of the Blessed Sacrament. Both approachesreflect two different approaches to ecclesiastical tradition. In the East, moreattention is paid to the permanence of the deposit received, while in the West,the need for the organic development of tradition is appreciated.+. In addition, the dispute revealed separate positions on the necessity of theEucharist for salvation. Some emphasised the sacramentum, while others emphasisedres. Eastern theology taught about the necessity of material consumptionof the Eucharist, and Simeon of essaloniki or Gregory Dattivensis evenclaimed that anyone who has never consumed the Eucharist can never be saved.Western theology, on the other hand, emphasised that already through baptismman really becomes a member of the Body of Christ.%. e dispute revealed the different links between the theology of the Eucharistand theology of grace. e Eastern followers of infant communion saw in theEucharist, above all, the food of a new creation, food for eternal life. Defendersof the Western custom emphasised that infants are free from temptation, sothey do not need the help of the Eucharist in the fight against evil. e firsttheology links the Eucharist rather with the grace of holiness, the second withthe grace of works.*. e diversity of liturgical disciplines is also reflected in pastoral ministry.In the churches that administer all three sacraments of initiation to infants,there is less awareness that anyone, not only a priest, can baptise someonein life-threatening circumstancs.?. e original attitude towards the other party’s otherness was characterised byaggressive reluctance on both sides. However, the allegation of a deviation from thetruth appeared only in Eastern theology. is is not some particular merit of Westerntheology but is due to objective reasons. Western theology, by its very nature,could not sharply stigmatise a custom, the tradition of which was indisputable.3. At the Florentine Council, which clearly distinguished heresies from legitimatedifferences, the communion of infants was placed on the list of the latter.However, as the Florentine solutions were not widely accepted, they increasedthe original diversity of positions. In the Orthodox Church, it is still generallyconsidered dogmatically unacceptable not to grant communion to infants.e position of Orthodox theology has become established especially duringanti-Uniate polemics. In the Western Church, on the other hand, the admissibilityof the Eastern custom is now clearly proclaimed, however, quite o;en itsown custom is considered to be more appropriate. is teaching was officiallyconfirmed by the Council of Trent.
0. Uniate theology, in defending the legitimacy of Western custom, basicallyuses classical Western argumentation, which sees in the Eucharist above all thesource of works and graces.5. In the post-reform period, especially in the polemic a;er the Brest Union,Catholics of both rites o;en invoke the communion of infants as a testimonyto the legitimacy of communion in one form.4. e Uniate opponents of the Latinisation of the union most o;en did nottake a clear position on the western influences on the Eucharistic spiritualityof the Uniate Churches. e subject of their criticisms were, by their very nature,those manifestations of Latinisation which have no connection with dogma.e silence about transformations in Eucharistic spirituality expressed ratherthe conviction that these changes were correct. Partly, however, it could havebeen tactical silence. History also knows of the silence caused by the disregardfor theology, which was replaced by official orders and repressions during theliquidation of the union.$@. Using the example of the communion of infants, the difficulty of carryingout a strict borderline between the catholicisation and the Latinisation of theEastern liturgy is revealed. With regard to Eucharistic customs, this distinctiondepends on the extent to which the doctrine of concomitance and the liturgicalconsequences drawn from it in the Western Church belong to the essenceof Catholicism, and to what extent they are only a specific feature of Westernspirituality. Traditionally, the first alternative was rather accepted, but in thetwentieth century there were opinions in favour of a second solution.