Chalice (Potirion)
ποτήριον — potirion · po-TEE-ree-on
In brief
The chalice — in Greek potirion, simply "cup" — is the vessel that holds the wine which, in the Divine Liturgy, becomes the Blood of Christ. From it every Orthodox Christian, from patriarch to newly baptized infant, receives Holy Communion. It is the most carefully guarded object in the church: used for nothing else, handled only by the clergy, and carried out through the Royal Doors with the words "With the fear of God, and faith, and love, draw near."
The cup of the Mystical Supper
On the night He was betrayed, Christ "took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament" (Matthew 26:27-28). The chalice on the Holy Table is the continuation of that cup. St. Paul already speaks its language a generation later: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16). Everything about the chalice's making and handling flows from the Church's plain conviction that what it holds after the consecration is not a symbol of the Blood of Christ but the reality.
Its contents are prepared before the Liturgy begins. At the Proskomedia, the priest pours wine mixed with a little water into the chalice — recalling the blood and water that flowed from the Savior's pierced side (John 19:34). During the Anaphora the gifts are consecrated with the invocation of the Holy Spirit, the epiclesis; and just before communion, in Byzantine practice, the zeon — hot water — is added, so that the faithful receive from a cup that is warm, a detail the tradition reads as a sign of the living, life-giving Blood and of the warmth of the Spirit.
How the chalice is treated
Because of what it holds, the chalice is set apart absolutely. It is typically made of precious metal, or at least gilded within; it is blessed for this one use and can never afterward serve any other purpose. Between services it remains in the sanctuary. During the Liturgy it is covered with its own veils, carried in solemn procession at the Great Entrance, and handled, as a rule, only by the bishop, priest, or deacon. The faithful never take the chalice into their own hands; in some traditions the communicant kisses its base after receiving, as one would kiss the hem of Christ's garment.
After all have communed, nothing is discarded. The remaining Gifts are consumed with complete care by the deacon or priest at the table of oblation, and the chalice is rinsed and dried before being put away. This is not fussiness but consistency: a Church that believes the cup holds the Blood of Christ cannot treat a single drop as leftovers.
One cup
At communion the consecrated Body is placed into the chalice, and the faithful receive both together from the communion spoon — the entire parish, elders and infants, from one cup. Before he himself receives, the priest prays in the words of the psalm: "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Psalm 116:13). At very large services additional chalices may be needed, but the meaning does not multiply: there is one Christ, one offering, one communion.
The Fathers heard the theology in the vessel itself. For St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing on his way to martyrdom around the year 107, the one cup was an argument for the unity of the Church — one Eucharist, one altar, one bishop, one cup of the one Blood. Every Sunday, the chalice carried out through the Royal Doors preaches the same sermon without words: God gives Himself to His people, and they become one body by drinking from one cup.