I know that it is considered proper in many circles nowadays to present yourself to the priest with face upturned and mouth open wide ("like a baby bird," as has already been said.) Priests have gotten used to this and even teach this as the 'proper' way to receive Holy Communion so that they can flip the spoon and drop the Holy Gifts into the mouth of the communicant without touching his or her mouth with it. Doubtless people view this method of distributing Holy Communion by spoon as the most sanitary, least disease-spreading, Communion practice.

Just so you know... The traditional method of receiving Holy Communion in the Orthodox Church (and that means, by definition, in the Greek Catholic traditions) is the 'close the mouth on the spoon' method. The communicant presents himself to the priest looking straight ahead, opens his mouth wide enough for the spoon to be comfortably inserted into his mouth, The tongue is usually extended out a bit to cover the bottom teeth (bit not as far as a Latin Catholic is used to doing for receiving the Host on the tongue.) The priest places the bowl of the spoon into the mouth of the communicant and the communicant closes his lips and holds the Holy Gifts in his mouth while the priest withdraws the spoon.

Many, Greek Catholics and even many Orthodox, will protest: "But I've never experienced Holy Communion distributed in this way! My priest insists that we receive Holy Communion like baby birds!" Do not be fooled. The 'baby bird' method is of fairly recent origin by Church standards. It is no older than the irreverent way Modern Catholics of the Novus Ordo have been taught to pick up the Host in their fingers and pop it into their mouths like it was a vanilla wafer. (This is not to say, by the way, that I believe all reception of the Body of Christ in the hand is irreverent. The traditional Anglican way of doing this was far more reverent. But, for all I know, that practice may have gone the way of eastward-facing altars, the all male priesthood, and heterosexual marriage in Anglicanism.)

In the Russian Orthodox Church, we still distribute and receive Holy Communion in the traditional Orthodox manner, i.e. where both priest and communicant expect the mouth to be closed on the spoon. Therefore the priest does not flip the spoon over. I myself talk tough, but my pastoral heart impels me to accomodate myself to non-Russians who sometimes present themselves to me as if baby birds believing me to be their Mama. But this can lead sometimes to disastrous results. If you flip a spoon in the mouth of someone who actually closes their mouth, you can injure them. I've seen Russian Bishops sternly tell the baby birds, "Close your mouth!" At least that avoids broken teeth.

Archpriest David Straut

Father David:

As far as communicating in the hand in the Latin Rite, it was my understanding that the practice was actually an ancient one...the original method, in fact.

I prefer, myself, to receive on the tongue at Mass. I find it difficult to understand, however, why touching the Eucharist with one's hand is so horrifying to some, yet touching the Eucharist with one's tongue, palate, throat, and esophagus (&c) is just fine.

If so many organs come into contact with the Body of Christ, what is so terrible about skin contact, I wonder? Surely when he sojourned on the earth, people shook hands with the Lord or embraced him or otherwise touched His sacred body with their hands. I don't quite understand what the problem is.

If you carefully read my post, I do not criticize receiving Holy Comminion in the hand per se. (I actually extolled the former Anglican manner of receiving in the hand.) As a priest, I myself receive Holy Communion in my hands. But what I observe in Novus Ordo Masses does indeed seem irreverent to me. Rather than lifting his crossed hands to his lips and consuming the Host, making sure that no particle remains clinging to his hand, the new method of receiving the Host has the communicant picking the Host up from one hand in the fingers of his other hand and popping it into his mouth with no concern about particles that might cling to hand or fingers or fall to the floor. If Latin Rite communicants partook of the Host in the same manner as clergy of the Byzantine Rite partake of the Lamb, you would hear ne criticism from me. That being said, I do prefer the practice of partaking of the Host on the tongue, preferably after it has been intincted by the priest.

Archpriest David Straut

I'm trying to think... It was the Melkite tradition that handles Communion differently from other Byzantine Rite traditions, correct? Trying to remember... I think I only went to a Melkite Liturgy once as part of a Labor Day Festival... It's been far too long now.