Receive Communion standing or kneeling?

[FrmrTrad]

Speaking of standing, kneeling, sitting, communion, and all that, does anyone know of a book that summarizes the history of 'liturgical postures' throughout the history of the Church (including all 23 parts of the Church)?

[Deacon Ed]

Originally Posted by FrmrTrad

Speaking of standing, kneeling, sitting, communion, and all that, does anyone know of a book that summarizes the history of 'liturgical postures' throughout the history of the Church (including all 23 parts of the Church)?

There is no one book that covers the liturgical history of all 23 Churches. In fact, the history for several of the Churches has, unfortunately, been lost (especially that of the Indian Churches -- Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara).

In general, however, the Eastern Churches tend to stand for communion. For the Byzantines, in fact, there is no kneeling on Sundays at any part of the Liturgy (other than a prostration which looks like the Moslems at prayer by the priest and deacon after the consecration).

Fr. Josef Jungmann, S.J., covers some of this in his "Mass of the Roman Rite."

Deacon Ed

[FrmrTrad]

Thanks Deacon. Another point I have wondered about is how pews and kneelers came into use; apparently it has something to do with the Protestants. Would Jungmann's book address that also?

[Julian Peters]

Thank you to all those who have participated in this discussion. This thread is now closed.