26 October 1998
The Pious Pastors
of the Holy Diocese of Denver
Beloved in the Lord,
In a recent encyclical, I explained the significance of Holy Communion and how it can sanctify or even harm us.
At this time, due to a deterioration of the Mystery of Marriage in our society and an increasing number of Orthodox Christians who live together without being canonically married, the question has arisen, "Why are they who are legally married, but not in the Church, prohibited from receiving Holy Communion, but they who live together and are not married feel worthy to approach the holy chalice?"
If the lesson was not instilled in the past, individuals who are living together outside of marriage and who have not been informed that fornication (sexual relations between two unmarried persons) prohibits them from receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, this letter so informs those individuals through you, the faithful priests of this Diocese.
It is not right for pastors of the Church to prohibit Holy Communion to those who are legally married, albeit not in the Church, and to look the other way when two people who do not wish to marry, even civilly, live as married individuals and feel that it is not wrong for them to receive Holy Communion.
I ask our priests to instruct those who live like married persons to enter into canonical, Holy Matrimony as soon as possible. It is the right thing to do, and it will make people realize that by not marrying they are helping to lower the loftiness and the sacredness of marriage in their lives.
Marriage is one of the Mysteries of the Church established by God Himself. It must be honored as a divine institution for the sanctification of God's people.
With Paternal Blessings,
+Metropolitan Isaiah
Presiding Hierarch
of
the Diocese of Denver