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Dead, Communion of the

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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The practice of placing the eucharist within the lips of the dead prevailed in all parts of the Church for some centuries. This and the baptism of the dead were forbidden by councils. Gregory Nazianzen utters a serious warning against them. Even when the better sense of the Church rejected the more revolting usage, the custom continued in a form hardly less superstitious, of placing a portion of the consecrated bread upon the breast of the corpse to be interred with it, as a charm against the attacks of malignant spirits.