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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Communion token</span></span>

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<p>A <b>communion token</b> is a metal <a href="Token_coin" title="Token coin">token</a> issued to members of <a href="Reformed_tradition" class="mw-redirect" title="Reformed tradition">Reformed</a> churches in order to provide them entrance to the <a href="Lord's_Supper_in_Reformed_theology" title="Lord's Supper in Reformed theology">Lord's Supper</a>. There were many types issued in Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries, but they were largely superseded by communion cards.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Overview">Overview</h2></div>

<p>Communion tokens were first suggested in 1560 by <a href="John_Calvin" title="John Calvin">John Calvin</a> and <a href="Pierre_Viret" title="Pierre Viret">Pierre Viret</a> in <a href="Geneva" title="Geneva">Geneva</a>, and although the city council rejected the practice, the following year their idea was implemented in <a href="N%C3%AEmes" title="Nîmes">Nîmes</a> and <a href="Le_Mans" title="Le Mans">Le Mans</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Mentzer_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Mentzer-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> By 1586 communion tokens were in use at the <a href="Walloon_church_in_Amsterdam" class="mw-redirect" title="Walloon church in Amsterdam">Walloon church in Amsterdam</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Hastings_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hastings-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> However, most were issued in Scotland, where over 5,000 types have been recorded.<sup id="cite_ref-coinlibrary_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-coinlibrary-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 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 <a href="Corfu" title="Corfu">Corfu</a>, <a href="Florence" title="Florence">Florence</a>, <a href="Hartslog" title="Hartslog">Hartslog</a>, <a href="Madeira" title="Madeira">Madeira</a>, <a href="Port_Louis" title="Port Louis">Port Louis</a>, <a href="Bombay" class="mw-redirect" title="Bombay">Bombay</a>, <a href="Cochin" class="mw-redirect" title="Cochin">Cochin</a>, <a href="Berbice" title="Berbice">Berbice</a>, <a href="Demerara" title="Demerara">Demerara</a> and <a href="Kingston%2C_Jamaica" title="Kingston, Jamaica">Kingston, Jamaica</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 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 <a href="Presbyterian_Church_of_Eastern_Australia" title="Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia">Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia</a>."<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Communion tokens were also used in <a href="Scottish_Episcopal_Church" title="Scottish Episcopal Church">Scottish Episcopal</a> churches.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<p>The issuing of these tokens is dependent on the practice of <a href="Closed_communion" title="Closed communion">closed communion</a>, 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."<sup id="cite_ref-Mentzer_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Mentzer-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The distribution of the tokens would normally be preceded by <a href="Catechism" title="Catechism">catechetical instruction</a>.

</p><p>The <a href="Glens_of_Antrim" title="Glens of Antrim">Glens of Antrim</a> Historical Society notes that "from the end of the nineteenth century metal tokens were gradually replaced by communion cards and rules regarding admission to the <a href="Communion_table" title="Communion table">Lord’s Table</a> were eased, allowing visitors who were members of other denominations, on profession of their faith to communicate."<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Many tokens have verses on them, such as "This do in remembrance of me" (<a href="1_Corinthians_11" class="mw-redirect" title="1 Corinthians 11">1 Corinthians 11</a>:24) or "Let a man examine himself" (1 Corinthians 11:28). They were made of <a href="Lead" title="Lead">lead</a> or another <a href="Base_metal" title="Base metal">base metal</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and came in a variety of shapes: round, oval, square or oblong. Earlier tokens had the ministers' initials on them, and many had the name of the church. When the <a href="Free_Church_of_Scotland_(1843%E2%80%931900)" title="Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900)">Free Church of Scotland</a> was formed in 1843, many tokens were issued with that year and were used as stock tokens in many congregations. The <a href="Burning_bush" title="Burning bush">burning bush</a> is found on many tokens, as are objects such as a <a href="Bible" title="Bible">Bible</a>, <a href="Chalice" title="Chalice">communion cup</a> or <a href="Communion_table" title="Communion table">communion table</a>, or else Christian symbols such as the <a href="Ichthys" title="Ichthys">fish</a>, <a href="Lamb_of_God" title="Lamb of God">lamb</a> or <a href="Christian_cross" title="Christian cross">cross</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Hunterian_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hunterian-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The Dunblane Museum has a collection of over 6000 tokens on display at the museum.

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<p>Communion tokens belong to the field of <a href="Exonumia" title="Exonumia">exonumia</a>.

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<ul><li><a href="Open_communion" title="Open communion">Open communion</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFBrook1908" class="citation book cs1">Brook, Alexander J. S. (1908). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6IkPAAAAIAAJ"><i>Communion Tokens of the Established Church of Scotland: Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries</i></a>. Edinburgh: Neill & Co. p. 6.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Mentzer-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Mentzer_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Mentzer_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMentzer1999" class="citation book cs1">Mentzer, Raymond A. (1999). "The Reformed Churches of France and the Visual Arts". In Finney, Paul Corby (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C8vYRVoqzf4C"><i>Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition</i></a>. Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. <span class="nowrap">220–</span>221. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-8028-3860-X</bdi>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Hastings-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Hastings_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHastings" class="citation book cs1"><a href="James_Hastings" title="James Hastings">Hastings, James</a>. "Token". <i><a href="Encyclopaedia_of_Religion_and_Ethics" class="mw-redirect" title="Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics">Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics</a></i>. Vol. 12. p. 359.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-coinlibrary-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-coinlibrary_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110927044245/http://www.coinlibrary.com/wpns/club_wpns_pr_communion.htm">"Communion Tokens of Pennsylvania"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.coinlibrary.com/wpns/club_wpns_pr_communion.htm">the original</a> on 27 September 2011<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">11 April</span> 2011</span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Pictured in <i>Communion Tokens</i> Melbourne, Australia: Hawthorn Press, 1964.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFGrieg1964" class="citation book cs1">Grieg, R. M. (1964). "Australia". <i>Communion Tokens: The Australian, New Zealand and Miscellaneous Series</i>. Melbourne: Hawthorn Press. p. 2.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">R Kerr and JA Lamb, <i>Scottish Episcopal Communion Tokens</i>, Society for International Numismatics, 1986.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110927184342/http://www.antrimhistory.net/content.php?cid=55">"Presbyterian Church Communion Tokens"</a>. Glens of Antrim Historical Society. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.antrimhistory.net/content.php?cid=55">the original</a> on 27 September 2011<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 April</span> 2011</span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMcWhorter_Tenney1936" class="citation web cs1">McWhorter Tenney, Mary (1936). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.materialreligion.org/documents/aug98doc.html">"Communion Tokens: Their History and Use, With a Treatise on the Relation of the Sacrament to the Vitality and Revivals of the Church"</a>. Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States: Zondervan Publishing House. pp. <span class="nowrap">11–</span>16.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-Hunterian-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Hunterian_10-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/collections/museum/coins/more/more.shtml">"More on Communion Tokens"</a>. <a href="Hunterian_Museum_and_Art_Gallery" title="Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery">Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 April</span> 2011</span>.</cite></span>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

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<div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikimedia Commons has media related to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Communion_tokens" class="extiw external" title="commons:Category:Communion tokens">Communion tokens</a></span>.</div></div>

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<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_041/41_453_604.pdf">Communion Tokens of the Established Church of Scotland – Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries</a> by Alexander J. S. Brook</li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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