‘Doors, doors.’ The Church zealously guarded that the unbaptized, who do not have spiritual vision, knowledge, do not see what happens at the Eucharist, so they do not harm themselves, falling into delusion. Let’s try to understand, as far as we can, such behavior of the Church.
Let’s consider the institution of the uninitiated in the early Church and how it operated. Everyone who wanted to receive baptism was proclaimed, studied the Law of God or catechism, that is, speaking in modern language, underwent catechetical courses. This period of proclamation sometimes lasted several years. Initially, the basic dogmas were considered: about God the Trinity, the God-manhood of Jesus Christ, the teaching about the Church, and only at the very end of the proclamation did they speak covertly about the sacraments. This is vividly testified by the works of St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Pre-baptismal Teachings, 18 catechetical for those preparing for baptism, and 5 sacramental (for those already baptized). As we study the teachings, we see that the unbaptized were first given verbal milk, and solid food – only after baptism.
But naturally, the question arises: why were the uninitiated not present at the liturgy of the faithful, it would probably be useful for them to see how everything happens, the order of the sacred acts. This question is from the category, again, of the obvious from a secular point of view. Proponents of filming tell us that broadcasting the liturgy of the faithful is pedagogy, education, mission! The early Church did not think so. One of the obvious arguments that this is not pedagogy is that during the singing of the Creed, which the uninitiated knew, studying and analyzing it at ‘catechetical courses of proclamation,’ they were no longer in the church, as evidenced by the exclamation: doors, doors. Otherwise, any logic is lost.
Therefore, to get to the truth, we move from the level of pedagogy to the level of ontology. First, we will answer the question, without resolving which we cannot move forward. And we formulate it as follows: is the Eucharist a reality, or just a symbol (meaning – an image that points to reality, not being itself partaking of it)? Is the Liturgy the reality of the Kingdom of God, which has come in power, or is everything in it – figurative, symbolic symbolism? If symbolism, then why didn’t the Church use it for pedagogy? What the early Church felt, what it lived by – the liturgy as the Kingdom of God, as heaven on earth, now this vision, as proclaimed, we need to preach! As Christ is not so much a teacher (John 16:13) as primarily a savior, so the Eucharist is not symbolic teaching and remembrance, but a reality that manifests for bodily sensations in symbols. This is the only way to indicate the visible reality of the invisible, which is already fully among us and within us (Luke 17:21). To help the reader better understand the essence of the problem, I refer him to the book by Prot. Alexander Schmemann: ‘Eucharist. The Mystery of the Kingdom.’
The thing is, you cannot look at the sacraments (because you see nothing but sacred acts there! And the essence is not in the sacred acts, but in the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given INVISIBLY), you can only participate in the sacrament!
What danger did the Church see in shameless viewing of the sacraments? For example, the Bread on the diskos and the Wine in the chalice after consecration are no longer just bread and wine, but the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bread and Wine united with the Divinity in the hypostasis of the Lord inseparably, unchangeably, indivisibly, and undivisibly. And a pagan and nominal Christian, without reverence, shamelessly looks, touches with their unclean gaze the greatest Christian shrine, the most holy! Of course, after consecration, the transformation of gifts, great saints, by the grace of God, saw with bodily eyes (as the apostles on Tabor, and those chosen, all others saw in faith in the Son of Man God) the Bread and Wine shining with the Taborian uncreated light of Divinity, that is, they saw the Truth. Since there are no special effects during the liturgy that would impress the eye of the uninitiated and nominal Christians, we can conclude: they are not edified, but only harm themselves, being tempted, not seeing reality. And since we do not know how to experience the liturgy as the Kingdom of God, then the uninitiated and nominal Christians conclude that it is only a remembrance of the Last Supper, as among sectarians, and not the reality of Eternal Life. The same is true in the sacrament of baptism. They either immerse or sprinkle the baptized, and visible signs of change, as in the early Church (speaking in tongues, prophesying: Acts.), unfortunately, are not visible. Therefore, there is a temptation to see what is not there, to profane the sacrament, to reduce it to exclusively ritual actions, pagan mysteries. The pagan and nominal Christian see only the form and do not see the essence of the sacrament. St. John Chrysostom says: ‘In the sacraments, we will not pay attention to the bodily side, because nothing bodily happens in the sacrament, but everything is spiritual.’ This is exactly what the Church protected people from – seeing what is actually not there – having learned from experience and Scripture the destructiveness of the state of delusion that a person enters.