Communion cup

File:Communion Cups 001.jpg

A communion cup is a ritual vessel, a variant of a chalice, used by only one member of the congregation. A communion cup is usually quite small; it can be as small as a shot glass. They may be designed as small beakers or as miniature versions of the usual liturgical chalice.

This manner of administering consecrated wine at Holy Communion has become established in various Christian denominations, either as a general practice or as a temporary arrangement; for example, during epidemics.

In churches such as the Catholic Church, which generally offer communion without wine, or where intinction (dipping the host in the chalice) is the custom, communion cups are not known.

Scandinavia

In Scandinavia, the consecrated wine can be shared in the Church of Norway from a single chalice (from which everyone drinks in turn), from communion cups (særkalker),{{cite web |title=Særkalk |url=https://snl.no/s%C3%A6rkalk |website=Store norske leksikon |access-date=November 24, 2018}} or through intinction.{{cite web |title=Veiledning til gudstjenestens hoveddeler |url=https://kirken.no/globalassets/kirken.no/om-troen/gudstjeneste---liturgi/gudst2011_2012_veiledn_hoveddeler_bokm.pdf |website=Kirken.no |publisher=Den norske kirke |access-date=November 24, 2018 |page=38 |date=2011}} The use of communion cups in Norway is recent; it was introduced as part of the fight against tuberculosis in the late 1890s. The Norwegian Women's Sanitation Association (Norske Kvinners Sanitetsforening) was a key driver behind the innovation; it also helped to acquire communion cups for several churches.{{cite web |last1=Kolstad |first1=Siv Randi |title=Fredrikke Marie Qvam - grunnlegger av Norske kvinners sanitetsforening |url=http://www.kildenett.no/portal/artikler/2007/1168193164.22 |website=Kildenett |access-date=November 24, 2018 |archive-date=November 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124105922/http://www.kildenett.no/portal/artikler/2007/1168193164.22 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last1=Øverland |first1=Per |title=Lademoen kirke. En veileder |date=2012 |location=Trondheim |page=15 |url=http://lademoenhistorielag.com/lademoenhistorielag_dot_com_per_overland_Veileder_Lademoen_kirke_2012.pdf |access-date=November 24, 2018}} The practice was not introduced without controversy: it triggered a fierce debate over whether it was truly communion if not everyone drank from the same chalice.

The communion cup was introduced later in the Church of Denmark. It was first approved in 1909, but it was only came into general use at the end of the First World War, when both tuberculosis and the Spanish flu were rampant.{{cite journal |last1=Blomquist |first1=Helle |last2=Ingesman |first2=Per |title=Tro, viden og politik. Et sammenstød mellem sundhedspolitik og kirkepolitik i begyndelsen af det 20. århundrede |journal=Historie, Jyske Samlinger |date=1993 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=672–707}}

North America

Communion cups were also introduced in North American churches in the 1890s.{{cite news |last1=Wright |first1=Barak |title=The Complicated 'Science' of Individual Communion Cups |url=https://whyy.org/segments/complicated-science-individual-communion-cups/ |access-date=November 24, 2018 |work=WHYY |date=November 16, 2017}}{{cite web |last1=T |first1=Brenda |title=Who First Adopted Individual Cups as a Regular Communion Practice? |url=https://sharperiron.org/article/who-first-adopted-individual-cups-as-regular-communion-practice |website=Sharper Iron |access-date=November 24, 2018 |date=March 30, 2011}}{{cite news |last1=Wade |first1=Ronny F. |title=History of Individual Cups |url=https://www.newtestamentchurch.org/OPA/Articles/1991/07/OPA19910707.htm |access-date=November 24, 2018 |work=Old Paths Advocate |date=July 1, 1991}} As in Scandinavia, the new practice was motivated by sanitary concerns{{cite news|title=Unclean Communion Cups |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25657499/communion_cups/ |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=February 14, 1898 |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com |access-date = November 24, 2018 }} {{Open access}} and accompanied by debate over whether it was ritually acceptable. Newspaper headlines of the time warned of danger and contagion associated with the shared chalice.{{cite news|title=Danger in the Communion Cup |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25657547/communion_cups/ |newspaper=Hamilton Evening Journal |date=June 27, 1894 |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com |access-date = November 24, 2018 }} {{Open access}}{{cite news|title=Contagion in the Cup |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25657572/communion_cups/ |newspaper=News and Observer |date=April 28, 1895 |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com |access-date = November 24, 2018 }} {{Open access}}

United Kingdom

File:Set of communion cups 1920.JPG

In the UK they appear to have been invented by John Henry Jowett around the turn of the 20th century in response to health concerns related to the size of his congregation.{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O108981/communion-set-unknown/ |title=Communion Set |date=2 February 2005|website=vam.ac.uk |publisher=V&A |access-date=26 October 2023}}

References

Category:Chalices

Category:Eucharistic objects

Category:Religious terminology