Communion token

A communion token is a metal token issued to members of Reformed churches in order to provide them entrance to the Lord's Supper. There were many types issued in Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries, but they were largely superseded by communion cards.

Communion tokens were first suggested in 1560 by John Calvin and Pierre Viret in Geneva, and although the city council rejected the practice, the following year their idea was implemented in Nîmes and Le Mans. By 1586 communion tokens were in use at the Walloon church in Amsterdam. However, most were issued in Scotland, where over 5,000 types have been recorded. They were also issued in many other countries, especially Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Tokens were also issued by Presbyterian churches in Corfu, Florence, Hartslog, Madeira, Port Louis, Bombay, Cochin, Berbice, Demerara and Kingston, Jamaica. Most tokens are from the 19th century, but R. M. Grieg wrote in 1964 that they were still used by "a few congregations in the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia." Communion tokens were also used in Scottish Episcopal churches.

The issuing of these tokens is dependent on the practice of closed communion, in which only members of the church are allowed to participate. Raymond Mentzer says that "to avoid profanation of the Eucharist, the elders in the role as moral watchdogs distributed these entry counters to those members of the faithful whom they deemed qualified by virtue of correct belief and proper conduct." The distribution of the tokens would normally be preceded by catechetical instruction.

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