Tag Archives: 1st Corinthians

Whoever Eats or Drinks in an Unworthy Manner

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This icon of Melchizedek is one of several that I painted many years ago. You can see the curls of the challah bread in his hand reflected in the curls of his beard. He wears the turban of a high priest and the crown of a king, as he was both priest of God Most High and king of (Jeru-)Salem. His sacrifice of bread and wine (described in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110) is considered an anticipation of the Eucharist.


Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself…. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement upon himself. (1 Cor. 11:27-29)

The apostle’s words are blunt and sharp. Whoever shares in the Eucharist unworthily brings condemnation on themselves. Although meant to be life-giving, the Holy Gifts can bring judgement and condemnation because the presence of God is a two-edged sword: his light exposes and reveals the truth, whatever that truth might be. If it reveals our honest struggle to live in fellowship with him, we share the fellowship we seek. If it reveals either no such struggle or even active struggle to avoid his light, then we are judged because our partaking of the Eucharist reveals that we knew better, that we turned our back on our own words by refusing to even attempt to live up to the words we said at our baptism and at the celebration of the Eucharist.

“What does it mean to receive unworthily? To receive in mockery, to receive in contempt.”

St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 227

How do we mock the Eucharist? When we dare to consume the Eucharist when we are allowing ourselves to be consumed with greed, or anger, or malice. These attitudes are what make us unworthy to receive the Holy Gifts. It was these attitudes–especially greed and selfishness–on display among the Corinthians that made them refuse to wait for one another at the parish dinners, some eating too much and getting drunk while others were going hungry.

To struggle against our greed, anger, or malice is a sign of life and God honors that struggle by remaining in fellowship with the one who struggles. If we give up the struggle against these attitudes, we are already spiritually dead, even if we are physically still alive.

“Do you work wonders for the dead? Will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?” (Psalm 88:11) This question in the psalms concerns not just those dead and buried in the ground but those spiritually dead, still walking around the surface of the earth. In hell, there is no Eucharist; the spiritually dead, in need of Resurrection, are equally outside the Eucharist. “For in death, no one remembers you; and who will give you thanks in the grave?” (Psalm 6:5)

The dead, those who have surrendered to their greed-anger-malice, are incapable of giving thanks or honest participation in the Eucharist. These are the people who mock the Eucharist and receive it with contempt. Struggling against these attitudes are what make us capable of giving thanks and honest participation in the Eucharist; even if we fail and must renew our struggle time-after-time-after-time-after-time, this is the behavior of a person who honors the Eucharist and avoids bringing judgement and condemnation upon themselves.

A Woman Should Cover Her Head Because of the Angels

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Angels are depicted with red boots indicating their role as messengers of the heavenly court; red boots were worn by officials associated with the Byzantine imperial system and imperial messengers on imperial business were often identified by their red boots. So the angels, delivering messages from God to humans, were identified in icons as messengers of the King of heaven by their red boots as well.


For if a woman does not cover her head, let her hair be cut; if, however, it is shameful for a woman to cut her hair or shave it off, it is better to keep her head covered…. A woman should keep her head covered because of the angels. (1 Cor. 11:6, 10)

This passage is one of the most difficult in the New Testament for modern readers to understand. St. Paul talks about women keeping silent and their heads covered all because of the angels. How can the apostle who wrote these words also have written that in Christ there is neither rich nor poor, slave or free, male or female? What is he talking about in this passage?

Hairstyles were important in 1st century Greco-Roman culture. Elite women and men spent a lot of time and money to have their hair done “properly” and even the wives of the emperors could be criticized for having an incorrect hairstyle. Men were expected to have hairstyles that were very different from women; women were expected to wear hairstyles that made it easy to see that they were not men. So the easiest and most basic way to do that was for men to cut their hair short and women to keep their hair long; a woman who cut her hair short might as well shave it all off. Philosophers spent a lot of time and ink writing about proper, appropriate hairstyles.

St. Paul wants the Christian men and women in Corinth to be recognizable as men and women. The scandal of the Cross and Resurrection should be the only hurdle making it difficult for non-Christians to embrace the Faith; upending social norms should not be a reason for non-believers to reject the Faith. But what do the angels have to do with this?

Praying and prophesying involve exposing the worshipper to the power and influence of powerful spiritual entities. Some of these are good. Some are evil. Wearing their hair like a “proper” woman was a talisman against the evil spirits that might try to deceive a woman who was praying or prophesying or interpreting Scripture (a sub-genre of prophesy). Keeping their hair long and properly coiffed was a way to protect the Christian women of Corinth, allowing only the good angels to speak to them or inspire their words.

Perhaps one reason modern readers have difficulty with this passage is because we don’t take prophesying and angels seriously any more. Understanding preaching and interpretation of scripture as acts of prophesying and acknowledging the reality, importance, and power of the angels go a long way to make a difficult passage comprehensible and not as a misogynistic rant.

The Cup of Blessing That We Bless

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On the left, a Russian bishop prepares the one Bread and one Cup, adequate for a large number of communicants, who will all receive from the same loaf and chalice. On the right, a priest places the “fermentum” in the chalice, signifying the unity of the Eucharist which he celebrates with the Eucharist which the bishop celebrates elsewhere that day.


Judge what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not communion in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not communion in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread we, the many, are one body, for we all share in one and the same bread. (1 Cor. 10:15-17)

Because the parish in Corinth–wealthy members, poor members, Gentile Christians, Jewish Christians, the “weak”, the “strong”–all partake of the one bread and the one cup at the Eucharist, they are one body. One fellowship. One community united in faith against the temptations and allurement of the fallen world. Although many, they are one–manifesting and revealing the Kingdom of God to all those willing to look and see.

That chalice, or rather, what the chalice holds, consecrated by the word of God, is the blood of Christ. Through these elements the Lord wished to entrust to us his body and the blood which he poured out for the remission of sins. If you have received worthily, you are what you have received.

St, Augustine of Hippo, Easter Sermon

St. Augustine reminds his congregation of what St. Paul told the Corinthians: they must partake of the bread and cup worthily. If they do not partake in a worthy manner, the Holy Gifts will destroy them rather than enliven them.

But St. Paul didn’t say the Corinthians had to be pure or sinless. He said they had to be worthy. Worthiness is a very different thing. To be worthy to touch, to be worthy to consume the Body of Christ does not mean to be sinless. As several English theologians in the 1600s and 1700s pointed out, to be worthy is to be committed to self-examination, committed to repentance, committed to always turning around, changing direction, re-orienting myself towards Christ. So I must always prepare to approach the Table by examining myself, reviewing what I have done and who I have been during the time since I last approached the Holy Table. Examine myself, measure myself against our standard—which is Christ—and determine how I might, in perhaps some single small way, turn my back on that person that I do not want to be and take some small step closer to being the person I was made to be in Christ.

To be worthy of receiving Holy Communion, to dare to touch the Corpus Christi, I must be committed to self-examination and repentance. One of those English theologians, Simon Patrick[1] in 1660, suggested using a phrase from the Gospel that Greek and Russian Christians use as they approach the chalice: “Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” The thief crucified with Christ acknowledged Jesus as Lord and reoriented his life—turning his back on his image of himself as a victim who was owed whatever he could take from other people—and he asked Jesus to make a place for him in the Kingdom. What was Jesus’ answer? “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” If we approach the chalice with the self-examination, the reorientation of our lives, the words of the thief—Remember me in your kingdom—Christ makes the same promise to us: Today you will be with me in paradise. Today you will begin to live forever.

[1] Bishop of Ely, Mensa Mystica, or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. (Prayer Book Spirituality, p. 283)