The Use of Individual Communion Cups in Anglican and Episcopal Churches

By Robin G. Jordan

The way we celebrate Holy Communion is largely determined by custom, tradition that has only the authority which we give it. Tradition has no intrinsic authority of its own. Tradition is only binding upon us to the extent that we allow to bind us. Our preferences and tradition may align but such an alignment will not infuse tradition with its own authority.

It is within the realm of tradition that the practice of using the common cup falls. From Luke’s account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:17-20) we learn that Jesus gave thanks over two cups of wine, one at the beginning of the meal and the other later in the meal. Jesus instructed his disciples to divide the first among themselves. We are not told how the disciples went about dividing the cup. Luke does not provide this detail and it is not important to the narrative. Luke does not tell us whether Jesus instructed the disciples to divide the second cup among themselves but I believe that we can safely assume that they did just that.

What matters most, based upon Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul’s accounts of the Last Supper is that Jesus took bread and wine, gave thanks over them, and then gave them to his disciples with words that connected his actions to his suffering and death on the cross and established these actions as a commemoration of his salvific work, instructing his disciples to repeat them in remembrance of what he was about to do. Whenever we take bread and wine or unfermented grape juice, give thanks, and do what Jesus commanded with the intention of doing what he commanded, we are fulfilling his command. Whether the bread is a loaf of bread or individual wafers, leaven or unleaven, and the wine or unfermented grape juice in a common cup or individual cups does not matter. What matters is that we are repeating his actions with the intention of doing what he commanded.

Article 30 of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion articulates what has been the reformed Anglican Church’s position on communion in two kinds. “The cup is not to be denied to the laity, for both parts of the Lord’s Sacrament, the wine as well as the bread, ought by Christ’s ordinance and commandment to be ministered alike to all Christian persons.” The decision of the bishops of the Church of England to permit communion in one kind while prohibiting the use of individual cups is a departure from that position. It is a return to a practice that the English Reformers rejected in the sixteenth century and which was a major cause of controversy in the Church of England in the nineteenth century when the Romanists sought to revive the practice. Jesus gave both the bread and the cup to his disciples and the Articles affirm communion in both kinds, not as a tradition of the Church but as a divine ordinance.

Both Scripture and the Thirty-Nine Articles prescribe communion in both kinds but do permit leeway in how the bread and wine may be administered. I have attended communion services in Baptist, Lutheran, and Methodist churches as well as Anglican and Episcopal ones. I have observed the elements distributed with the same solemnity in these churches as one might expect to find in an Anglican or Episcopal church. The wine or unfermented grape juice were distributed in individual cups with the same dignity and seriousness as it would be in a common cup. While Anglican and Episcopal churches have a longstanding custom of using the common cup, this tradition should not deter them from using individual cups due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the transmission risks associated with the common cup.

What about prefilled communion cup bread and wine sets? A growing number of churches were using these hermetically sealed communion cups before the COVID-19 pandemic due to their convenience. The church did not have to fill communion trays with communion wafers or squares of communion bread before communion services. They also did not have to fill communion trays with individual cups of wine or unfermented grape juice  The prefilled communion cup bread and wine sets came with a communion wafer under the first seal and a small quantity of wine or unfermented grape juice beneath the second seal.

Unfortunately the use of the prefilled communion cups, also known as "fellowship cups" or “celebration cups,” has had a negative effect upon the communion time in a number of churches that are using them. A church in which I was involved put one or two “celebration cups” under each seat before each communion service rather than passing around communion trays of the cups at the beginning of the communion time. Participants in the Lord’s Supper were required to grope under their seats for one of these cups among the empty coffee cups, discarded granola bar wrappers, and other trash. The solemnity of the occasion was completely lost. The church also gave attendees no advanced notice of the Lord’s Supper so that they could prepare for the ordinance. A number of churches put a box of these cups on a table next to the exit to the sanctuary and the pastor will invite anyone who wants to receive communion to take one of the cups at the end of the service as they are departing. As a consequence I have some reservations about their use.

The actions of giving thanks and then giving the bread and wine to those who are participating in the Lord’s Supper is a part of the ordinance itself. If prefilled communion cup bread and wine sets are used, they should be distributed with solemnity appropriate to the ordinance, and then after a suitable prayer of thanksgiving and the words of institution.

During the COVID-19 pandemic prefilled communion cup bread and wine sets, however, may be the best option for churches desiring to celebrate communion in person or online. The prefilled communion cup bread and wine sets that I recommend can be purchased from Concordia Supply. Called TrueVine Chalice Cup Bread and Wine Sets, they come in wine or unfermented grape juice, standard bread or gluten free. The cup is shaped like a miniature chalice with wine under a seal at one end and bread under a seal at the other end. Most communion cups look like the tubs of jelly, butter, or creamer that restaurants provide diners. Their only drawback for churches accustomed to using wafers is the bread which is squares of hard communion bread, and not wafers. A church can purchase small boxes of 6 cups as well as larger boxes of 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 cups. The small boxes of 6 cups can be sent to church members who are unable to attend in-person communion services because they are in a high-risk category and the cups can be used in an online communion service.