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Closed communion is the practice of restricting the serving of the elements of communion (also called Eucharist , The Lord's Supper ) to those who are members of a particular church, denomination, sect, or congregation. Though the meaning of the term varies slightly in different Christian theological traditions, it generally means a church or denomination limits participation either to members of their own church, members of their own denomination, or members of some specific class (e.g., baptized members of evangelical churches). See also Intercommunion . DEFINITION A closed-communion church is one that (perhaps with exceptions in unusual circumstances) excludes non-members from receiving Communion . The Roman Catholic church (and all churches that are in Full Communion with the Holy See , including the Latin and Eastern rites) has partially-closed communion. Members of churches that do not share the same theology of the eucharist (such as the Protestant churches) are excluded from communion at a Catholic church, but members of churches that share the same eucharistic theology (such as the Orthodox churches) are invited to receive communion if the spiritual need for it is great and if they are unable to attend a service of their own communion. The Eastern Orthodox Church , comprising 14 or 15 Autocephalous Orthodox hierarchical churches, is another closed-communion church. Thus, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church attending the Divine Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Church will be allowed to receive communion and ''vice versa'', but a Protestant or a Roman Catholic attending a Greek Orthodox liturgy will be excluded from communion. In either case, non-Christians are also excluded. Among Baptist churches, ''closed communion'' is the practice of restricting communion (or The Lord's Supper ) to only those who hold membership in the local church that is observing the ordinance. Thus, members from other churches, even other Baptist churches, will be excluded from participating in the communion service. This viewpoint is usually, though not exclusively, associated with Landmark ecclesiology. Confessional Lutherans, or those such as are found in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod , Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod , Evangelical Lutheran Synod , and Protestant Conference practice ''closed communion.'' Failing to do so is condemned by confessional Lutherans as the sin of unionism. The Apostolic Christian Church , Church Of God In Christ, Mennonite , some churches in the Reformed tradition and Primitive Baptist s also practice closed communion. Other groups that practice closed communion are The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses . The term ''close communion'' normally means the same thing as ''closed communion''. However, some make a distinction, so the terms can be a source of confusion. The earliest use of ''close communion'' comes from a mistranslation of the Lutheran theologian Franz Otto August Pieper's Christian Dogmatics. The term has since spread, although later translations corrected the error to "closed communion." EXAMPLES AND APPLICATIONS If a Roman Catholic marries a . A Catholic priest could give communion to a Protestant marrying a Catholic, provided the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist is not in any way contradicted. Many Scottish Protestant churches used to give tokens to members passing a religious test prior to the day of communion, then required the token for entry. Some US and other churches also used communion Tokens . USAGE NOTE
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