This study argues that the local eucharistic community (LEC) is an essential unit of life in the Orthodox Church. The LEC is understood as the community of people who are bound together by weekly participation in the Divine Eucharist around the same altar, in which they are united to Christ and one another, and who choose to live in deep intentional community, growing in the life of Christ together, caring for one another, and witnessing to the world. The author presents a framework for the study and nurture of LECs based on eight attributes, which are: eucharistic life, community life,...