Abstract

$. e Greek-Latin dispute over the communion of infants is an integral part
of the dispute over Eucharistic worship. e reason for the dispute are the
changes in the western liturgy as a result of the reaction against Berengar. e
changes themselves were based on drawing consequences from the traditional
Eucharistic realism, but they are a novelty in relation to specific traditional customs. us, Orthodox theology accused the West of illegitimate novelty
in relation to traditional rites, while Catholic theology justified the changes with
fidelity to the traditional worship of the Blessed Sacrament. Both approaches
reflect two different approaches to ecclesiastical tradition. In the East, more
attention is paid to the permanence of the deposit received, while in the West,
the need for the organic development of tradition is appreciated.
+. In addition, the dispute revealed separate positions on the necessity of the
Eucharist for salvation. Some emphasised the sacramentum, while others emphasised
res. Eastern theology taught about the necessity of material consumption
of the Eucharist, and Simeon of essaloniki or Gregory Dattivensis even
claimed that anyone who has never consumed the Eucharist can never be saved.
Western theology, on the other hand, emphasised that already through baptism
man really becomes a member of the Body of Christ.
%. e dispute revealed the different links between the theology of the Eucharist
and theology of grace. e Eastern followers of infant communion saw in the
Eucharist, above all, the food of a new creation, food for eternal life. Defenders
of the Western custom emphasised that infants are free from temptation, so
they do not need the help of the Eucharist in the fight against evil. e first
theology links the Eucharist rather with the grace of holiness, the second with
the grace of works.
*. e diversity of liturgical disciplines is also reflected in pastoral ministry.
In the churches that administer all three sacraments of initiation to infants,
there is less awareness that anyone, not only a priest, can baptise someone
in life-threatening circumstancs.
?. e original attitude towards the other party’s otherness was characterised by
aggressive reluctance on both sides. However, the allegation of a deviation from the
truth appeared only in Eastern theology. is is not some particular merit of Western
theology but is due to objective reasons. Western theology, by its very nature,
could not sharply stigmatise a custom, the tradition of which was indisputable.
3. At the Florentine Council, which clearly distinguished heresies from legitimate
differences, the communion of infants was placed on the list of the latter.
However, as the Florentine solutions were not widely accepted, they increased
the original diversity of positions. In the Orthodox Church, it is still generally
considered dogmatically unacceptable not to grant communion to infants.
e position of Orthodox theology has become established especially during
anti-Uniate polemics. In the Western Church, on the other hand, the admissibility
of the Eastern custom is now clearly proclaimed, however, quite o;en its
own custom is considered to be more appropriate. is teaching was officially
confirmed by the Council of Trent.

0. Uniate theology, in defending the legitimacy of Western custom, basically
uses classical Western argumentation, which sees in the Eucharist above all the
source of works and graces.
5. In the post-reform period, especially in the polemic a;er the Brest Union,
Catholics of both rites o;en invoke the communion of infants as a testimony
to the legitimacy of communion in one form.
4. e Uniate opponents of the Latinisation of the union most o;en did not
take a clear position on the western influences on the Eucharistic spirituality
of the Uniate Churches. e subject of their criticisms were, by their very nature,
those manifestations of Latinisation which have no connection with dogma.
e silence about transformations in Eucharistic spirituality expressed rather
the conviction that these changes were correct. Partly, however, it could have
been tactical silence. History also knows of the silence caused by the disregard
for theology, which was replaced by official orders and repressions during the
liquidation of the union.
$@. Using the example of the communion of infants, the difficulty of carrying
out a strict borderline between the catholicisation and the Latinisation of the
Eastern liturgy is revealed. With regard to Eucharistic customs, this distinction
depends on the extent to which the doctrine of concomitance and the liturgical
consequences drawn from it in the Western Church belong to the essence
of Catholicism, and to what extent they are only a specific feature of Western
spirituality. Traditionally, the first alternative was rather accepted, but in the
twentieth century there were opinions in favour of a second solution.