Paedocommunion

Infant communion (also paedocommunion) refers to the practice of giving the Eucharist, often in the form of consecrated wine, to infants and children. This practice is standard in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches; here, communion is given at the Divine Liturgy to all baptized and chrismated church members regardless of age. Infant communion is less common in most other Christian denominations, including the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church.

Support for infant communion is drawn from several gospel verses, including Matthew 19:14 and Mark 10:14. Among the Church Fathers, Cyprian, Augustine, and Leo the Great explicitly favored infant communion.

In the Early Church, everyone who attended the Liturgy of the Faithful was expected to receive communion; catechumens and penitents were not present for the Consecration. The Early Church permitted and encouraged parents to present their children to receive communion. The Apostolic Constitutions (fourth century) instruct that children are to receive communion after the various orders of clergy and consecrated laity and before the general congregation.

With no practical difficulties or theological qualms with giving communion to infants and children, this practice continues in the Eastern Orthodox Church to this day.

The practice of allowing infants and children to receive communion has fallen into disfavor in the Latin-Rite of the Catholic Church. Latin-Rite Catholics generally refrain from infant communion and instead have a special ceremony when the child receives his or her First Communion, usually around the age of seven or eight years old. This is in accordance with the Code of Canon Law (followed in the Roman Rite), which states:

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