You’ll find a set of prayers in your Orthodox prayer book called the Prayers Before Holy Communion. These are the traditional prayers the Church gives us to prepare our hearts and minds to receive Christ’s Body and Blood.
Most Orthodox prayer books include about six main prayers, written by saints like Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and John of Damascus. They’re prayers of repentance, confession of faith, and pleas for God’s mercy. You’re asking to be made worthy of something you know you don’t deserve. That’s the heart of it.
Here’s what you’ll typically find. A prayer from St. Basil that begins “O Lord and Master Jesus Christ our God, the fountain of life and immortality.” One from St. John Chrysostom asking God to “absolve, remit and pardon my transgressions.” A confession of faith: “I believe, Lord, and I confess that you are truly the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And the beautiful line “Of your mystical Supper, Son of God, receive me today as a communicant.”
The Antiochian Pocket Prayer Book has these arranged in a specific order. You can say them the night before Liturgy, or the morning of, or both. Some people read them quietly in church while waiting for Communion to begin.
But let’s be honest about something. If you work a rotating shift at one of the plants around here and you’re coming off nights, you might not have the focus for six formal prayers at 3am. That’s okay. The prayers aren’t a magic formula or a checklist God’s grading you on. They’re medicine for your soul, tools to help you approach the Chalice with the right heart.
What matters is that you’re preparing yourself. You’ve fasted as your priest has blessed. You’ve been to Confession recently. You’re examining your conscience and asking God’s mercy. If you can read all the prayers, wonderful. If you can only manage one or two with real attention, that’s better than rattling through all six while thinking about your grocery list.
The prayer that says “Let not the Communion of your holy Mysteries, Lord, be to me for judgement and condemnation, but for healing of soul and body” gets at why we do this. We’re about to receive something holy. We don’t want to receive it carelessly, the way St. Paul warns against in First Corinthians. So we prepare.
Some people also read Psalm 50 (that’s Psalm 51 in most Protestant Bibles). “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” It’s a psalm of repentance, and it fits perfectly with Communion preparation.
Don’t stress if you’re new and this feels like a lot. Start with what you can handle. Maybe just the confession of faith and one of the prayers from St. John Chrysostom. As you grow in the faith, you’ll find yourself wanting to pray more of them. They become familiar friends, words you return to again and again.
And here’s something practical: if you don’t have a prayer book yet, talk to Fr. Michael or pick up the Antiochian Pocket Prayer Book. It’s small enough to keep in your car or your bag. Lots of people at St. Michael’s use it. You’ll find the pre-Communion prayers clearly marked.
The goal isn’t to perform a ritual perfectly. It’s to ready yourself to meet Christ. These prayers help you do that. They remind you who you are (a sinner in need of mercy) and who He is (the source of life and healing). They turn your heart toward Him before you approach the Chalice.
So yes, say the prayers. But remember they’re preparing you for something real, not checking a box. You’re about to receive the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. That deserves some preparation.
