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THE BREAD OF THE
EUCHARIST
REGINALD MAXWELL WOOLLEY, B.D. (Camb.)
Rtctor and Vicar ^Minting
A, R. MOWBRAY & CO. Ltd.
London ; 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W.
Oxford : 9 High Street
Milwaukee, U.S.A. : Yoxjng Churchman Co.
1913
[AU Rights Rfserved'l
^ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OP
CALIFORNIA
t SAN 0IE«O
I" /
^IL
JEWISH PASSOVER CAKE
5} inches by V,-,-inch
The cakes are iinl smooth and white, hut vnievcn and slightly scorched
{Frontispiece
ilfcutn €fu6 Zvada
XI
THE BREAD OF THE
EUCHARIST
REGINALD MAXWELL WOOLLEY, B.D. (Camb.)
Rector and Vicar of Minti7tg
A. R. MOWBRAY & CO. Ltd.
London : 28 Margaret Street, Oxford Circus, W.
Oxford : 9 High Street
Milwaukee, U.S.A. : Young Churchman Co.
[All Rights Reserved^
TO
E. M. W.
PREFACE
I HAVE tried in the following Tract to make use of all the
material extant that bears on the subject, though, doubtless,
some has escaped my notice.
I have many acknowledgments to make to those who
have readily given me information during the preparation
of the work.
In particular my grateful thanks are due to the Bishop
of Moray and Ross, who has most kindly overlooked my
translations of the East Syrian " Order for renewing the
Holy Leaven " and the West Syrian " Form for preparing
the Eucharistic bread," and making the very many cor-
rections which were necessary. Also my thanks are due
to Mr. F. C. Conybeare of Oxford, who most generously
placed at my disposal his translations of certain, as yet
unpublished, Armenian documents.
The Syriac text from which the West Syrian " Form
for preparing the Eucharistic bread " is translated was
procured for me by Dr. Wigram, Head of the Assyrian
Mission.
The East Syrian " Order of the preparation of the
Oblation " is reprinted here by permission of Mr. Bright-
man and the Delegates of the Oxford University Press.
Most of the photographs of Eastern breads were pro-
vi Preface
cured for me by Mr. Brightman. The Russian and Greek.
Orthodox breads, photographs of which, with the Passover-
cake, were made for me by Mr. C. F, Ohiey of Northamp-
ton, were kindly procured by the Rev. H. J. Fynes-
Clinton.
I would like to add that it is extremely difficult to get
accurate and trustworthy information as to details in the uses
of the different Eastern Churches. I think, however, and
hope, that I have not been guilty of any misrepresentations.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. TyE USES OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE SCHISM
OF EAST AND WEST ..... I
II. THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN EAST AND WEST . 23
III. ENGLAND ....... 3O
IV. THE EASTERN CHURCHES (wiTH CERTAIN DOCU-
MENTS). ....... 44
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
JEWISH PASSOVER-CAKE
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
GREEK ORTHODOX : EUCHARISTIC BREAD AND EULOGIA (JERU-
SALEM) .......
RUSSIAN: EUCHARISTIC BREAD AND LOAF OFFERED FOR SPECIAL
PURPOSES ......
COPTIC EUCHARISTIC LOAF . . , .
THE MAUNDY THURSDAY EULOGIA (cOPTIc) .
ABYSSINIAN EUCHARISTIC BREAD .
WEST SYRIAN (jACOBITE) LOAF
ARMENIAN WAFER . . . . .
EAST SYRIAN (nESTORIAN) LOAVES
44
45
46
47
48
49
57
63
THE BREAD OF THE
EUCHARIST
I
THE USES OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE
SCHISM OF EAST AND WEST
The matter requisite for the due celebration of the Eucharist
is bread and wine.
Bread is a cake made of vvheaten flour and water. It
has been customary, for ages, to add to this the ferment
of leaven to cause the loaf to rise.
Among the Jews, though leavened bread was in ordinary
use, for certain religious observances in which bread was
used the bread so used was unleavened. In some cases
in which it was used the omission of leaven had some
special historical significance, e.g. at the Passover ; in other
cases, such as the ordinance of the Shewbread, and the use
of bread in sacrifice, unleavened bread was used probably
for the sake of convenience, as keeping better.
In the Christian Church there have long been two
different customs in the use of bread for the purposes of
the Eucharist. The Oriental Churches have used ordinary
leavened bread, which use, they maintain, is the unchanged
immemorial custom of the Church from the beginning.
The Western Church, on the other hand, has long used
I
2 The Bread of the Eucharist
unleavened bread only, and has based her practice on the
alleged use by our Lord Himself at the Institution of
the Blessed Sacrament.
The question, which would seem unimportant in itself
if both leavened and unleavened are equally bread, assumed
an importance when the two uses were made a matter of
controversy to such an extent that their diversity of use
became one of the pretexts of the schism between East
and West.
The Anglican Church has compromised. Since the
time of the Second Prayer Book of 1552, while regarding
" unleavened bread " as the normal use, she permits, if
there is any particular reason for it, the use of ordinary
leavened bread, so long as it is of the best and purest that
can be procured.
When the controversy first arose between East and
West, the Easterns pointed to the immemorial use of
the Church in using leavened bread, and denounced the
Western use of unleavened as a novelty.
The Roman Church, seeking support for its practice,
adduced the circumstances of the Institution, pointing out
that, since this took place at a Passover-meal, our Lord
Himself instituted the Sacrament in unleavened bread.
The Greeks retorted by denying that our Lord had
instituted the Blessed Sacrament at a Paschal meal, and
by declaring that the accounts of the Institution prove
this by the use of the word apros for " bread," a word
which by itself cannot mean " unleavened bread," but
ordinary, that is to say, leavened, bread only.
The question as to whether the Eucharist was instituted
at a Passover meal or not is still unsettled. We have to
face the fact frankly that the Synoptists and St. John
contradict one another. The Synoptists put the meal at
which the Sacrament^ was instituted on the first day of
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 3
unleavened bread, and evidently regard the meal as a
Paschal Supper. St. John, on the other hand, as definitely
implies that the supper took place before the Passover.
The meal itself seems to have been intended by our
Lord as a Paschal Supper, whether it was on the proper
day or not. It is a question into which we cannot enter
here. The facts are as follows :
Either it was a Paschal Supper as the Synoptists indicate,
and the bread used in that case was certainly unleavened,
or the supper took place the night before the proper day
for the Paschal commemoration ; but it would seem, perhaps,
probable that even so the bread would have been unleavened,
for during the few days before the Passover and up till
midday on the 14th of Nisan the houses were being rid
of leaven.
There we must leave it. The question is still unsettled.
The probabilities seem to be much in favour of the view
that this was the proper Paschal Supper, and therefore that
our Lord, in the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament,
Himself used unleavened bread.
The next question to be considered is whether the word
apT09, which is used by the Synoptists and by St. Paul
in his account of the Institution, can properly denote
unleavened bread. In the controversy of the eleventh
century this was denied by the Greeks.
The contention of the Greeks seems to be true. *A/3to9
is properly " leavened bread," and is not used by itself
of " unleavened bread." If it is so used it is always
qualified by some other word — thus, ctpro? a^v/xo?. In
the LXX this is the case. "Apros alone is never used of
unleavened. In the case of the Shewbread, for instance,
which was unleavened, it is qualified — apros Trpodecre(o<;. It
is true that at the Council of Nymphseum the Latins
4 The Bread of the Eucharist
adduced Lev. vii. 12 as affording an example of apro? used
of " unleavened." In this passage aprovs eK cre/mtSaXew?
occurs in the LXX against the Hebrew nr^'O rh>n, but the
Greek translator did not read nivo here, for he translates the
word which occurs again in the verse by oi^vjxa. There-
fore this quotation proves nothing.
In the same way, panis^ which is the equivalent of
apro?, does not by itself represent unleavened bread.
Indeed, the use of unleavened bread seems to have been
almost unheard of in the West in early days, for the words to
denote it, azyma and (pants) infermentatus are both late words,
and Tacitus can speak of unleavened as " iudaicus panis." ^
But, if this is so, how are we to explain the use of the
Synoptists and St. Paul if, as we have suggested, the proba-
bilities are that oar Lord used unleavened bread.'' It may be
explained by the theory that, if the Synoptists realised that
they were speaking of a Paschal meal, and realised all that
this implied, such as the use of unleavened, then the context
would be sufficient to supply the qualification to dpTo<;.
This is not, perhaps, a very likel)' explanation. The
true explanation is probably that the Kvangelists, writing
many years after the events which they record, and when
they were familiar with the use of leavened bread only in
the Eucharist, used apro? in the ordinary signification,
quite overlooking the fact that at a Passover meal it would
be unleavened bread that was used.
In the Acts of the Apostles the expression " breaking
of bread " certainly includes, in some cases at least, the
Eucharist. Would unleavened bread be specially prepared .^^
It was true that the Eucharist was the new Passover ; but
it was the new, not the old, and there is no sign of the
other Jewish Passover observances being applied to every
celebration of the Eucharist.
' Hzsi. V. 4.
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 5
Again, St. Paul lays stress on the '* one loaf" of the
Eucharist,^ although no conclusive argument can be deduced
from these words. Then it is hardly probable that this
could cover the use of unleavened bread. With a large
number of communicants it would have been necessary to
have a very large unleavened cake.
It is true that among the Armenians only one wafer is
used, but communion is there given by intinction, be it
remembered. Also, if unleavened bread was used by St.
Paul, it would be due to his regarding the Eucharist as the
Christian Passover, and in the old Passover not one
unleavened cake, but several were used.
Then, again, the question of the Gentile converts comes
in. Even if the Jewish party did use unleavened bread in
the Eucharist — a use of which there is no shadow of a sign
— it would seem to be clear, from the decision of the Council
of Jerusalem in its ordinances for the Gentiles, that this was
not the practice of the Gentile churches. There would
almost certainly have been some mention of this if it was to
be the use of the Church at large.
If the use of unleavened bread ever existed in the early
Church (as it did among the Ebionites in the days of
Epiphanius), we may suspect that it was only among the
Judaising sects, which formed a very small and diminishing
part of the Church Catholic.
When we pass on from the New Testament to Patristic
writings, we find still no definite statements on the subject.
Nearly all the evidence is by deduction from the incidental
remarks.
The use of the word apro? itself is not absolutely
conclusive ; at any rate, it is not sufficiently so to settle the
question by itselt,
' " For we, being many, are one bread and one body . for we are all
partakers of that one bread " (i Cor. x. 17).
6 The Bread of the Eucharist
We have seen that Tacitus, by speaking of unleavened
bread as " iudaicus panis," shows that, to sav the least,
such unleavened bread was not in ordinary use among the
Romans.
Nor is there any ground for thinking that it was in
ordinary or common use among other Gentile peoples.
When, however, decrees of Councils deal with the subject
of the Eucharistic bread, we get much more definite evi-
dence — evidence all the more valuable as showing indirectly
the causes that led to the introduction of new uses. The
absence of all reference in the earlier Councils tends to show
that there was only one use in earlier times, and that general
to the whole Church.
It remains for us, then, to consider the evidence which
can be culled from Patristic writings and conciliar decrees
until the time when the difference of uses became a matter
of bitterest controversy between the two great divisions of
the Church Catholic.
The earliest work among Patristic writings is the
Didache, a work which, in its present form, is not later
than A.D. 130.
Here the bread of the Eucharist is spoken of as " the
broken [bread] " {to KXaafia). By itself this tells us
nothing, but the words of the consecration form in which
the expression occurs are enlightening : "flcnTep rjv tovto
Kkdafxa hieaKopTTLcr^evov eTrduo) roiv opiotv koX crvva.y^dkv
iyevero ev, k.t.X. (c. ix).
Here St. Paul's reference to the " one loaf" is at once
recalled to the mind, and there would seem to be very little
doubt that the writer is thinking of the communicants all
receiving from one loaf If this is so, the bread used was
probably, as we have seen when discussing St. Paul's words,
a leavened loaf.
Passing on to a little beyond the middle of the second
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 7
century, we find St. Justin Martyr explaining: "ETretra
npocrffiepeTai tco irpoecnoiTL tcov aSi\(f)(i)u dpTo<; kol noTujpi.ov
v8aT09 KOL KpoLfxaTo^ i^yJpol. I. § 65). Here, again, there
seems to be a reference to one loaf. It is apTo% " a loaf,"
not 6 dpTo<;, " bread."
Again, the careful statement of Justin (//', § 66) that,
after consecration, the bread is no longer kolvo^ apro9, perhaps
has some bearing on the question. St. Irenaeus, St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, and St. Gregory of Nyssa use the same expression
in the same connection, and St. Cyril also uses the equivalent
expressions, dpros Xtrds, \/;tX6? apro?.
Again in Ps. -Ambrose {de Sacr. IV. iv. 14) we find such
words as these : " Tu forte dicis ; meus panis est usitatus."
To the point, too, is the story of a woman who laughed when
St. Gregory the Great was about to administer to her the
Bodj of the Lord, and afterwards explained that she had
laughed " because you called the bread, which I knew 1 had
made with my own hands, the Body of Christ." ^
Surely these expressions seem to imply that the bread
used at the Eucharist was ordinary ; that is, leavened. It is
most improbable that none of the writers quoted above
should have commented on the fact if the bread was
unleavened when using such words. Indeed, if the bread
contemplated by Ps. -Ambrose was unleavened it was cer-
tainly not " usitatus."
The story of St. Gregory and the irreverent woman brings
up the whole question of the oblations of bread and wine by
the people. The very fact that for centuries it was the
custom for the people to offer the bread and wine to be used
in the celebration of the mysteries seems to me to argue
strongly in favour of the use of ordinary, i.e. leavened bread.
Bona even goes so far as to say that the practice proves the
use of leavened ; and it is interesting to note that, in the
' Life of Gregory, by John the Deacon, ii. § 41.
8 The Bread of the Eucharist
three Rites in which this oblation by the people survives,
the Consecration of a Bishop, the Consecration of a King,
and the Rite of Canonisation, the loaves then offered are of
leavened bread. ^
In the j'lcts of Thomas ^ a work of about the date 200,
we read : " And the Apostle bade his deacon to prepare the
[bread of] fraction." - Here the word is r<h\^ = Gr.
KKdo-fxa. Again in the same work (p. '<'«*i) Mygdonia, one
of the Apostle's converts, bids her nurse bring for the
Eucharist " mixed wine and water in a cup and one whole
loaf." Here the word for loaf is the ordinary word ptLsouJli.
Evidently it is an ordinary loaf of leavened bread which is
meant. The word rdisa^A ( = H. orh = Gr. dpros) is never
used, so far as I know, without a qualifying word of " un-
leavened bread," which is signified by k'ta^. About the
same time, but probably a little earlier, the Gnostic Ptole-
maeus, in his letter to Flora, speaks of the observances and
usages of the old law which were merely symbolical as having
now been done away with. Among these observances of the
old dispensation he mentions unleavened bread. He says :
To, iu TTpo(T<f>opaL<i Xeyo) Kai TrepLTOjxfj . . . kol d^vjxois koI
Tot9 TotovTots voyiodeTiqOevra' Travra yap ravra elKouc^ koI
avfi^oXa ovra, Trj<; dkr]0eLa<; (fiauepajdeicrrj^, fxeTereOr] (iii. 9).
In the Coptic version of the earliest Church Orders which
is probably to be dated somewhere between 250-300, in the
account of the Eucharist which follows on the Rites of
Baptism, in speaking of the consecration of the bread, the
words are: "[The Bishop] shall give thanks over a loaf." It is
difficult to believe that such an expression could cover a use
ot unleavened bread. The word used is the ordinary word
for " bread," and equivalent to apros. And again, in another
Syriac work, The Acts of John the Son of Zebedee^ belonging
' Bona, Rerum Liturgicarum, I. xxiii. iii.
- Wright, Apocryphal Acts, p. ja.^1
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 9
to the third or perhaps fourth century (and not to be confused
with the earlier Greek y^cts of John) ^ the Apostle, when about
to celebrate the Euciharist, asks for " pure white bread to be
brought " to him. Here the bread is specified. It is
*' white bread," i.e. " wheaten bread." The word used is the
ordinary word, r^Lrmjja.
St. Cyprian does not give us any definite information,
but refers again to the old figure of the many grains being
gathered into one loaf. In his letter on the mixed chalice
(£/). Ixiii. 13) he says: "Nee Corpus Domini potest esse
farina sola aut aqua sola, nisi utrumque adunatum fuerit et
copulatum et panis unius compage solidatum. Quo et ipso
Sacramento populus noster ostenditur adunatus, ut quemad-
modum grana multa in unum collecta et commolita et
commixta panem unum faciunt, sic in Christo qui est panis
caelestis, unum sciamus esse corpus, cui coniunctus, sit
noster numerus et adunatus."
This passage has sometimes been quoted as evidence of
the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist by the African
Church of Cyprian's day. But the passage does not really
touch the point. Leaven is not an ingredient, but a ferment,
and its use in making bread would not affect Cyprian's
argument here at all.
Origen has been quoted in evidence of the use of
unleavened bread in the Eucharist. But the passage in
question {in Matt, xii., P.G. xiii. col. 989) has nothing at
all to do with the Eucharist. He is commenting on our
Lord's words, " Take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees."
Origen comments thus : " You must know that, wherever
leaven is mentioned, it is used allegorically for ' teaching,'
whether in the law or in the other scriptures which come
after the law. And so leaven is never offered at the altar,
for prayers must not be like learnt lessons, but just simply
the asking of things good for us from God."
lo The Bread of the Eucharist
The words " leaven is never offered at the altar "
(ouTO) 8e fXTJ7TOT€ ^vfXT) ov TTpoafjiepeTaL inl tov Ovaiacniqpiov)
have nothing to do with the Eucharist or the Christian altar,
but refer to the directions as to sacrifice in the law, such as
that contained in Leviticus ii. ii : "No meat offering which
ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven :
for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any off^ering
of the Lord made by fire."
The attitude of the Fathers generally to the usages of
the Jews, and the contemptuous language in which they
refer to the use of unleavened bread among the Jews, makes
it difficult to believe that the use of unleavened bread in the
Eucharist was known to the writers in question.
Thus Augustine can say : " Illi \^sc. Judsei] ergo ita
sunt tanquam Cain cum signo. Sacrificia vero quas ibi
fiebant ablata sunt, et quod eis remansit ad signum Cain
iam perfectum est et nesciunt. Agnum occidunt, azyma
commedunt. ' Pascha nostra immolatus est Christus,' quid
de azymis? ' Itaque,' inquit, 'diem festum celebremus, non
in fermento veteri neque in fermento malitias et malig-
nitatis.' Ostendit quid sit vetus fermentum, vetus farina
est, et acuit : * sed in azymis sinceritatis et veritatis.' In
umbra remanserunt, solem glorias ferre non possunt. Jam
nos in luce sumus, tenemus Corpus Christi, tenemus
sanguinem Christi " {Enarr. in Ps. xxxix.).
The Western mind of later days found in a more literal
understanding of the passage which St. Augustine quotes
from St. Paul a justification of the use of unleavened bread
in the Eucharist.
St. Chrysostom uses language to the same eff^ect (de
prodit. Juda. ii. 3): AoKovcrt {sc. ot lovSatot) -na-a-yci. -rvoiCiv
eVetS^ yv(ji[i.rj avaiayyvTM to. a^v/xa irpo^aWovcnv 01 anept-
Tp.r)TOL Ttti? /capStats. ttox;, elne jxoi, to iracrx^ eTTiTeXets w
'louSate ; o vaos KarlcTKaTTTai, 6 jBcofxo^ dvyjprjTai, ra ayia
The Uses before the Schism of East and West ii
T(t)v ayioiv TreTraTrjTaL, Trd<Trj<; 6v(TLa<; etSo? XeXvrat . . . 6pd<;
vox; OLKadapra tol a^vfxa ; ttw? irapdvoixo^; -q ioprt] ; tt^o?
7rda)(a lovSatKou nore aXX' ikvOrj vvv ; kol eTrrjkOe to
TTvevfjLaTLKOv Trda)(a o 7rape8i8ou tote 6 XpicrTo^ icrSiovriav
ydp, K.T.X.
So St. Chrysostom classes the use of unleavened bread
with other ceremonies of the old law which have now been
done away with. Surely he could not have said that to,
d^vfjia were aKddapra if he knew of unleavened bread being
used in the Eucharist. This extract from St. Chrysostom
is also interesting as showing that he believed the Blessed
Sacrament to have been instituted during a Passover meal.
This was strenuously denied by the Greeks in their contro-
versy with the Latins at a later date.
We find the same attitude as regards unleavened bread
in Paulinus of Nola, a Western (353-431)- -^^ thus speaks
of the Jewish rites :
Inde fugae memores, etiam nunc azyma sumunt
Judasi solo retinentes nomine gentem
Infermentatis pulsi quia panibus olim
iEgypto fecere fugam ; paribus modo signis "
Per patrios, sed iam per inania sabbata, ritus
Antiqui recolunt vestigia grata timoris.
Nam frustra veterem vacua sub imagine legem
Exercent, verum nobis quia Pascha replevit
Unus pro cunctis Patri datus hostia Christus
Et quia corpus adest vitas perit umbra figura.
Carmen 26, 45.
Epiphanius, speaking of the Ebionites, says that, while
they celebrate the Eucharist in imitation of the Church,
yet they use unleavened bread for the bread, and water alone
in the cup. This is evidently a peculiarity ; and his drawing
attention to their use of unleavened bread as a peculiarity
12 The Bread of the Eucharist
shows that he knew of no such practice in the Church.
His words are : MvaTTJpia 8e hrjdev reXoucrt Kara iiiyi-qcnv
TOiv ayiiov iv ttJ iKK\r]cria dno eviavTOv ec5 iviavTOv ota
al^u^x-oiv, Kol TO aX\o ix4po<^ tov [xvcrT-qpiov 8t' vSaros jjlovov
(Haer. xxx. i6).
The 1 06 Canons of Basil ^ indirectly bear on the subject.
Canon 98 runs thus : "The deacons who prepare and bring
in the offerings shall examine the broken bread, whether
by chance it remains over from the previous day, or is
burnt, or has any blemish, that they commit no sin. For
these mysteries represent the lamb which was slain in the
time of the Hebrews in Egypt. With regard to this lamb
it is enjoined that none be taken in which is any blemish
or defect. How, then, can it be so with the bread which
they prepare for the purpose of the mysteries ?''
The Canon goes on to draw comparisons between the
Passover lamb and the bread, showing the spiritual sig-
nificance of the Passover rules as applied to the Eucharist.
The baking signifies the spiritual fire of Baptism by which
all have been purified who partake of the Eucharist. The
seven days of unleavened bread before the eating of the
lamb are meant to signify the preparation of him who was
to partake of the Holy Mysteries.
It is significant that the parallel is drawn between the
bread of the Eucharist and the lam/^ of the Passover. The
unleavened bread of the Passover Supper is actually men-
tioned, but has evidently no reference to the bread of the
Eucharist in the mind of a writer who could not fail to
seize upon the parallel if unleavened bread had been the
use in the Eucharist with v/hich he was familiar. So this
Canon, while saying nothing directly, yet makes it almost
' This collection of Canons, probably Egyptian, dates from about the
beginning of the fifth century. They are to be found in Riedel, Kirchen-
rechtsquellen des Patriarchats Alexatidi'ien.
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 13
certain that the writer had no knowledge of any Christian
use of unleavened bread, or at least in the Eucharist.
In the Liber Pontificalis there is an allusion to a practice
in the Roman Church of the fourth century which may
have some bearing on the question. The language does not,
however, very clearly explain what was the actual custom.
Of Miltiades we read : " Ab eodem die fecit ut oblationes
consecratas per ecclesias ex consecratu Episcopi dirigentur,
quod declaratur fermentum." ^
In the same work we are told of Pope Siricius : " Hie
constituit ut nullus presbiter missas celebraret per omnem
ebdomadem nisi consecratum Episcopi loci designati susci-
peret declaratum quod nominatum ' fermentum.' " ^
Mgr. Duchesne's comment on these somewhat obscure
statements is as follows : " Le ' fermentum ' etait une
portion du pain consacre a la messe episcopale que Ton
envoyait le dimanche aux pretres des titres ou paroisses
urbaines pour etre joint a leur propre consecration. C'etait
une symbole de Tunite de I'eglise locale, et en particulier
de son unite etroite dans la celebration du mystere
eucharistique."
The custom in somewhat later days is explained by
the letter of Pope Innocent to Decentius : " De fermento
quod die dominica per titulos mittimus, siiperflue nos
consulere voluisti cum omnes ecclesias nostras intra civi-
tatem sint constitutas, quarum presbyteri quia die ipsa
propter pleberh sibi creditum nobiscum convenire non
possunt, idcirco fermentum a nobis confectum per acolythos
accipiunt ut se a nostra communione maxime ilia die non
iudicent separatos. Quod per parochias fieri debere non
puto, quia non longe portanda sunt sacramenta. ..."
Thus it is quite clear that, in the time of Pope Innocent,
' Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i. p. i68. Paris, 1886-1892.
- Ib.^ i. p. 216.
l4 The Bread of the Eucharist
a portion of the Consecrated Bread was distributed from
the Pope's Mass among the neighbouring churches. In
the eighth century in the Papal Mass itself the portion
of the Host used for the commixture, called the " Sancta,"
was a portion of the Sacrament reserved from a previous
celebration to maintain the unity of the Eucharist. If the
Pope himself did not celebrate, the portion of the Host
used at the commixture was reserved from a celebration
at which the Pope had officiated, and was in this case called
the " fermentum." ^
We see here the same idea as that which underlies the
practice of the East Syrians and the West Syrians, who
both save a portion of the dough at the making of the
Eucharistic bread to be mixed with the next making, so
as to maintain a unity of the loaf. It is possible that some-
thing of the sort may have been the original custom of
the Roman Church, and that it developed into this practice
of reserving a portion of the Consecrated Bread for use at
the commixture. At any rate, the Pope's Eucharist leavened,
as it were, the Eucharist in the other churches, and the idea
of unity and one Eucharist was so preserved. But, as we
see, this practice has no bearing whatever on the question
as to whether leavened or unleavened bread was used.
Perhaps it may be added, as we are dealing with this
custom of the Roman Church, that St. Thomas Aquinas states
that St. Gregory the Great says that it was the custom of the
Roman Church of his day to celebrate with unleavened bread :
" Dicit enim Beatus Gregorius in Registro : ' Romana
Ecclesia ofFert azymos panes propterea quod Dominus sine
commistione uUa suscepit carnem ' " (P. III., Q. Ixxiv.
Art. iv.). This quotation is not, however, to be found in
any of the extant writings of St. Gregory, and St. Thomas
has apparently made a mistake in assigning it to him.
' Ordo Romamis I. 22.
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 15
In the valuable Homilies of Narsai, a Syrian Father
whose descriptions of the liturgy of his day (t502) are of
the greatest interest and importance, we find nothing said as
to the use of leavened or unleavened bread. In Homily xvii.,
" an exposition of the Mysteries," he says : " He now
begins to break the Body little by little, that it may be easy
to distribute to all the receivers." ^ The context makes it
fairly clear that only one loaf is used, and we may fairly
conclude that, if unleavened bread had been used, some
explanation would have been given in a work of this sort.
The Venerable Bede (673-731) tells us that in the time
of Mellitus (Bishop of London, c. 603) " panis nitidus "
was used at the Eucharist. Bede tells us that after the
death of Saberct, King of Essex, his three heathen sons came
and demanded of Mellitus that he should give them that
" white bread " (" panem nitidum ") which he used to give to
their father. -
'* Panis nitidus " is not, however, wafer-bread, but white
or wheaten bread in contradistinction to cakes made of other
meal."^
Moreover, I think that it may be questioned whether
the unleavened bread was at first white like that of to-day;
more probably it was like the Jewish Passover-cakes, some-
what brown and scorched.
Bede himself comments on the Jewish Passover and rites
as follows {in Luc. xxii.) : " Quia videlicet et Pascha dies
in azymis panibus est celebrari preceptus et nos quasi pascha
perpetuum facientes semper ex hoc mundo transire prasci-
pimur. Una quippe die agno immolato ad vesperam septem
ex ordine dies sequuntur azymorum. Quia Christus Jesus
• The Homilies of Narsai, Dom R. H. Connolly, M.A. (Cambridge, 1909),
p. 23.
« Bede, Hist. Eccl. II. v.
^ Aiithimus, a contemporary of Charlemagne, speaks of " panem nitidum,
bene fermentatum et non azimum " (de Observat, Cibantm).
i6 The Bread of the Eucharist*
semel pro nobis In plenitudine temporum passus est carne,
per omne nobis huius saeculi tempus quod septem diebus
agitur in azymis sinceritatis et veritatis praecipit esse
vivendum."
Here, surely, Bede must have mentioned the use of
unleavened bread in the Eucharist if such was the use in
his day. But it is noticeable here, and in other like passages
from other Fathers which I have quoted, that the unleavened
bread in the Passover represents that which was to come,
and when the law was fulfilled in the new dispensation the
shadow, the *' umbra," the law and all its observances and
ceremonies, had fulfilled their purpose and had passed away.
It is almost inconceivable that in these passages, all dealing
with the same subject, there would not have been at least in
some of them some reference to the use of unleavened bread
in the Christian Passover if any such use had been known
to the authors.
We come now to definite evidence.
In the XV 1th Council of 'Toledo (693) the question of
the bread used in the Eucharist and the irreverent careless-
ness of the clergy is dealt with in Canon VI. : " Adconventus
etenim nostri agnitionem delatum est, eo quod in quibusdam
Hispaniarum partibus, quidam sacerdotum, partim nescentia
implicit!, partim temerario ausu provocati, non panes mundos
et studio praeparatos supra mensam Domini in sacrificio
ofFerunt, sed passim quomodo unumquemque aut necessitas
impulerit aut voluntas coegerit, de panibus suis usibus
praeparatis crustulam in rotunditatem auferunt, eamque
super altare cum vino et aqua pro sacro libamine offerunt."
The Canon goes on to adduce the example of our Lord
against such irreverent practices, and concludes :
" Unde temeritatis huius aut nescientiae cupicntes ponere
terminum, id unanimitatis nostra,' delegit conventus ut non
aliter panis in altari Domini sacerdotali benedictione sancti-
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 17
ficandus praeparatus, nisi integer et nitidus qui ex studio
fuerit praeparatus neque grande aliquid sed modica tantum
oblata secundum quod ecclesiastica consuetudo retentat :
cuius reliquias aut ad conservandum modico loculo, absque
aliqui iniuria facilius conserventur, aut si ad consumendum
fuerit necessarium, non ventrem illius qui sumpserit," etc.
In Canon X. of the English Council of Chelsea (787) the
same matter is dealt with shortly.
" Oblationes quoque fidelium tales fiant ut panis sit non
crusta."
These two Councils are interesting and definite. They
deal with the irreverence and casual conduct of the clergy.
Frequently, instead of using bread which his been specially
and reverently prepared for this holy use, the clergy have
just taken bread from their own larders, any piece of a loaf
being sufficient, and, cutting it into a round cake, have used
it in the celebration. It is evident that this is not unleavened
bread. It is doubtful whether sometimes, in the cases
referred to, it was bread at all, i.e. wheaten.
The Canon of Toledo strictly enjoins that the loaf used
at the Eucharist shall be *' whole and wheaten " (" Integer et
nitidus "), while that of Chelsea forbids it to be taken from
the stale odds and ends of the priest's larder.
Mr. Warren, in his Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic
Church^ argues that the custom in Ireland was to use un-
leavened bread. He quotes DoUinger, who gathered that
the Celtic Church differed from the rest of Christendom,
from an old Irish Canon which says : " Gildas ait :
Britones toto mundo contrarii moribus Romanis inimici
non solum in Missa sed etiam in tonsura cum Judasis
umbrae futurorum servientes. . . ." It is difficult to see
how this quotation touches the question of the use or
' F. E. Warren, Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church (Oxf. i88l, pp.
1 3 1-2).
2
i8 The Bread of the Eucharist
non-use of azymes at all, and it may safely be dismissed
as irrelevant.
Mr. Warren, however, goes on to quote from Walafrid
Strabo in support of his contention :
" Dum de huiusmodi colloquium rebus haberent, super-
veniens Joannes diaconus secundum consuetudinem obtulit
ei panes azymos et lagunculam vini." ^
But if he had continued the quotation a little further
he would have made it clear that these azymes had
nothing at all to do with the Eucharist. The extract in
full runs :
*' Dum de huiusmodi colloquium rebus haberent, super-
veniens Joannes diaconus secundum consuetudinem obtulit
ei panes azymos et lagunculam vini, oleum et butirum et
mel in vasculis cum piscibus assis. Vir Dei cum eum venire
cognovisset gratias agit Deo gaudio plenus, discubueruntque
tres convivae fidissimi et cum gratiarum actione dona Domini
perceperunt."
The quotation in full places it beyond doubt that the
" panes azymos " have nothing whatever to do with the
Eucharist, but were part of the regular food of the saint.
It may, perhaps, be convenient here to draw attention
to the idea of the " one loaf," even as late as the time of
the Gregorian Sacramentary. On the Feast of St. Felix in
that Sacramentary, in the prayer " ad complendum," allusion
is made to the one loaf of Communion in the words,
'' Spiritum tuum nobis Domine tuas charitatis infunde, ut
quos uno pane cselesti satiasti," etc.
The first probable mention of the use of unleavened
bread in the Eucharist is made by the great English scholar
Alcuin. He says [Epist. Ixix. ad Fratres Lugdunenses) :
" Audivimus quoque aliquos in illis partibus adfirmare
salem esse in sacrificium Corporis Christi mittendum,
' Wftlafridus Strabo, Vita S. Gallic i. 17.
The Uses before the Schism of East and West 19
Quam consuetudinem nee universalis observat Ecclesia nee
Romana custodit auctoritas ... sic et panis qui in
Corpus Christi consecratur absque fermento ullius alterius
infectionis debet esse mundissimus. . . ."
Even here it is not certain that Alcuin means that the
bread should be unleavened. But he clearly shows that
leavened bread was very commonly in use in his days.
Soon after the time of Alcuin, Paschasius Radbertus
(844) wrote in support of the new doctrine of transub-
stantiation a work de Corpore et Sanguine Domini. Perhaps
he was familiar with the use of unleavened bread, though
it is not at all certain.
He says (xx. 3) : " Haec est namque vera et nova
conspersio sinceritatis et veritatis ut simus azymi sine
fermento malitiae et nequitiae. Nam in calice nihil aliud
bibimus quam Christi sanguinem, ubi et nos per aquam
admisti couniti sumus : in pane vero nihil praster corpus
ubi nos per Christi conspersionem iam membra sumus , . .
Hasc igitur conspersio de multis granis facit unum Corpus,
corpus inquam sinceritatis et veritatis si tamen sumus
azymi id est absque fermento malitise et nequitia?."
His language recalls that of St. Cyprian, but it is not
unlikely that Paschasius has in mind the use of unleavened
bread in the Eucharist.
The great adversary of Paschasius, Rhabanus Maurus,
is, however, quite definite in his reply, de Tnstitution6
Clericorum.
I. xxxi. " Nee enim in sacramentis aliud ofterri licet
nisi quod Dominus ipse constituit et suo exemplo facere
nos docuit."
He then proceeds to quote i Cor. xi. 23-5, and goes on :
' The mention of bread with salt in it is probably of ordinary leavened
bread. Alcuin seems to mean that already the general Roman custom was
to use the unleavened bread.
20 The Bread of the Eucharist
" Ergo panem infermentatum et vinum aqua mistum in
sacramentum Corporis et Sanguinis Christi sanctificari
oportet, quia ipsas res de se Dominum testificari Dominicum
evangelium narrat."
And again : " Quod autem panem sacrificii sine fer-
mento esse oporteat testatur liber Leviticus ubi commemo-
ratur Dominum per Moysen filiis Israel ita prascepisse,
* omnis,' inquit, * oblatio quas ofFertur Domino absque fer-
mento fiat, nee quidquam fermenti ac mellis adolebitur in
sacrificio Domini ' (Lev. ii. 1 1)."
Thus, then, by the middle of the ninth century it is
clear that unleavened bread had come into use in the
West. It may be inferred, from the insistence of Rhabanus
Maurus on the propriety of using unleavened, that leavened
bread was also in use at the same time.
In the year 867 the Patriarch of Constantinople, Photius,
denounced the Latin Church. He flings at the Latins
their observance of the Saturday fast and their prohibition
of marriage to priests as unorthodox, but makes no mention
of the use of unleavened bread in the Latin Church,
which was to become, about a century later, a matter of
such bitter controversy between Eastern and Western.
Commenting on this fact of his making no mention
of unleavened bread, Bona says : " Ex quo silentio, si non
evidenti saltem probabili consecutione deducitur, azymi
panis usum circum annum Christi 860 nondum in Ecclesia
latina viguisse " {Rer. Liturg. I. xxiii. iv.).
It may perhaps be convenient at this point, before we
pass on to the great controversy between East and West,
to consider the causes which led to the introduction of
unleavened bread into general use in the West.
The real reason seems to have been considerations of
convenience.
We must remember that there was a great difference
*I*HE Uses before the Schism of East and West it
between the civilisations of East and West. In the West
many regions were almost barbarous and we can
understand how very difficult it must have been to be sure
of getting a supply of fine, pure, wheaten bread/ Of
course, leavened bread is much more difficult to keep in
anything like a fresh condition than unleavened. Thus
we see that the use of unleavened bread, with its better
keeping properties, would be a matter of the greatest con-
venience.
In the same way the Councils of Toledo and Chelsea
show a common irreverence on the part of the clergy in
using any piece of bread for the Sacrament, The best way
to obviate such irreverence was to require for sacramental
purposes a special bread not in every-day domestic use.
Again, about this time the process of the hedging of
the sanctity of the Sacrament had begun. It was less
likely that people should regard the consecrated Sacrament
as " mere bread " if the bread used was not common bread.
The same process was continued in the introduction of the
ablutions after Communion, probably somewhat later.
In all probability all these three reasons helped to bring
about the general use of the wafer-bread in the West.
It was easy enough to find scriptural grounds for the
use when once it had been introduced. It was commonly
believed in the West, at least, that it was at a Passover-meal
that our Lord had instituted the Blessed Sacrament — there
was the authority of our Lord Himself. But probably still
more did the commonly quoted text of St. Paul, which
seemed so apt to the case, lend itself to the support of the
custom — I Cor. v. 7, 8 : " For even Christ our Passover
' Even as late as 1773 wheaten bread was a luxury unknown in parts of
the Highlands of Scotland. " I also gave each person a bit of wheat bread,
which they had never tasted before " (Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the
Hebrides, p. 123 (Everyman's Library Ed.)).
22 The Bread of the Eucharist
is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast, not
with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and
wickedness ; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth."
Thus, then, we may conclude that the introduction of
this use in the West was based on utility ; a spiritual
meaning was soon found for it/
' Many of the ceremonial usages of the Church were based on utihtarian
grounds ; it was only in later days that spiritual significations were found for
such usages, e.g. the use of lights and the mixing of the chalice.
II
THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN EAST AND
WEST
We have seen that, towards the end of the ninth centur)^,
the use of unleavened bread had become more or Jess
general throughout the West. In the eleventh century
it became a matter of bitter controversy between East and
West. The relations of the two great divisions of the
Church represented by Rome and Constantinople had been
very strained for some time past, and the jealousies which
led to the final rupture in the time of Michael Caerularius,
Patriarch of Constantinople (1043-59) unhappily found too
easily pretexts and excuses for schism.
Photius had, in 867, objected to certain practices in the
Roman Church. Michael insisted on these objections once
more and added to the list the Western use of unleavened
bread, which it is of importance to note that Photius had not
mentioned.
The controversy began in a letter ^ from Michael and
Leo the Bulgarian, Archbishop of Achrida, to John, Bishop
of Trani, in Apulia, a district over which the Constanti-
nopolitan patriarchs had had, and still claimed, jurisdiction.
In this letter John of Trani is warned against the errors of
the Latins, especially against the use of unleavened bread and
the observance of the Sabbath, both of which were condemned
as Judaising.
' This letter is extant only in a Latin translation.
23
•/4 The Bread of the Eucharist
The Greeks quote St. Matthew's account of the In-
stitution, and point out how our Lord said, '* This is My
blood of the ISlew Testament," by which He shows that
the things belonging to the old dispensation {yeteris
testamenti) are thereby done away with. Then they pass
on to the significance and derivation of apros- " Vos quidem
* panem,' nos dprov dicimus. "Apro? autem interpretatur
' elevatus ' et ' sursum portatus,' ^ a fermento et sale calorem et
elevationem habens." Unleavened bread is lifeless. "Azymae
autem nil distant a lapide sine anima." They then go on,
doubtless, with the great Latin text, i Cor. v. 7, in their
mind, to apply this derivation to the Christian Passover :
" Nostrum Pascha gaudium et laetitia totum est et extoUit
nos ex humo propter gaudium ad ccelum sicut et fermentum
propter proprium calorem panem, qui panis omni suavitate
plenus est." Finally, the use of unleavened bread was
instituted under the Mosaic law, and does not commemorate
the death of the Lord, and under the new dispensation is
past and done away with.
This joint letter was answered at great length by Pope
Leo IX. I'he Pope begins by setting forth the great
importance of preserving the unity of the Church, which
is imperilled by such an attitude as that taken up by
Michael and Leo of Achrida. He then goes on, full of
indignation at the presumption shown by Michael and his
ally in daring to criticise the Roman Church : " Tu, carissime
nobis et adhuc dicende in Christo Frater, tuque Leo Acri-
dane, dicimini apostolicam et Latinam Ecclesiam nova
presumptione atque incredibiU audacia, nee auditam nee
convictam, damnasse, pro eo maxime quod de azymis
' This derivation is doubtful. Dionysius Bar Salibi (t 1171) draws the
same distinction between the Syriac words r<Ls«4*.\ ( ^ uprus) and t^TiJ^^
{= u(vfjios), Exposilio IJtnrgzce, p. 26 (Corpus Script. Christ. Orientahum,
Paris, 1903).
The Controversy between East and West 25
commemorationem dominica; passionis celebrare. . . . Ecce
iam post mille ac ferme xx a passione Salvatoris nostri
annos incipit per vos discere Romana Ecclesia qualiter
memoria passionis eiusdem sit recolenda. . . ."
But the Western point of view was taken up by one
who was a much abler man to deal with the question than
Leo seems to have been. This was Cardinal Humbert,
Bishop of Silva Candida. Humbert's rejoinder to Michael
and Leo of Achrida takes the form of a discussion between
a Roman and a Constantinopolitan, and is most moderate
and reasonable in its tone.
His chief point is, as against the Greek position, that
panis may mean any sort of bread. He quotes in support
of this Ps. Ixxviii. 24, 25 : " and gave them food from heaven :
so man did eat angels' food" ; Exod. xvi. 16, " This is the
bread which the Lord hath given you to eat " — both of
Manna. And again, the angels who came to Abraham (Gen.
xviii. 6) are said to have eaten " subcinericios panes " (aprov?
vTrore^povs, though the latter expression is not used in the
passage in question in the LXX). Again, he argues, the
expression dpTov rarreLV(ocreco<g is equivalent to azywa. He
does not seem to have noticed that in each case that he cites,
dpros does not stand alone, but is qualified by some other
word.
Moreover, he points out that, in the New Testament,
leaven is always used in a bad sense.
Then he goes on to give what was probably one of the
chief reasons why unleavened bread became general in the
W^est, whether he was conscious of it or not, and that is the
great convenience of the use of unleavened, and the absence
of crumbs — § xxiv. : " Deinde ritum vestrum discere non
curamus quia minimam cautelam et maximam negligentiam
' Binius, Concilia Genemlia, iii. pt. 2, p. 1097. Leo ended soon after
this by anathematising Michael and all who held to him.
26 The Bread of the Eucharist
el inesse cognoscimus, dum sanctum panem frangentes
et sumentes, hinc inde decidentes micas non curatis — quod
etiam solet contingere dum patinas sanctas foliis palmarum
et porcorum setis fricatis inhoneste." Then he goes on to
charge the Greek clergy with irreverence : " Multi quoque
vestrum tarn irreverenter Corpus Christi reponunt ut pyxides
inde cumulent et ne decidat aut superfluat manu inculcant.
Reliquias quoque oblationis velut communes panes non-
nunquam usque ad fastidium sumunt."
This account which Humbert gives of the irreverence of
the Greek clergy may be overdrawn, but we may probably
hold, from our knowledge of the general carelessness of the
clergy of all times, that it is on the whole not far from the
truth.
Apart from the fact that Humbert gives the probable
reason why unleavened bread became general in the West, he
seems to hint that the use of a bread which was unfamiliar
in daily domestic use is more likely to keep in the mind of
priest and people the sanctity of the Blessed Sacrament and
to obviate its being regarded as " communis panis."
The controversy was maintained on the Greek side by
Nicetas Pectoratus, a monk of Studium, who rejoins with
much the same arguments as had been previously used, that
the use of unleavened is a Judaising custom, that "panis "
does not ever mean " azymum," and that, as to the Latin
argument from the Institution, that falls to the ground inas-
much as the Blessed Sacrament was not instituted as a
Passover-meal at all. Cardinal Humbert, in his next con-
tribution to the controversy, abandons his moderate tone and
descends to violent and coarse abuse of the Greeks.
' He also, quite rightly, points out that the nth Canon of the Trullan
Council (which forbids any clergyman or layman to eat any Jewish Passover-
cakes) has nothing to do with the matter in question. This Canon had been
quoted against the Latins.
The Controversy between East and West 27
Dominicus, Patriarch of Grado, also writes on the sub-
ject to Peter, Patriarch of Antioch. His tone is moderate
and his chief desire is to preserve the unity of the Catholic
Church. He pleads that each part of the Church should
retain its own use. Each party gives a special significance to
its own use, the Greeks seeing, in the " fermenti et farinae
commistio," the " Incarnati Verbi substantia " ; while, on
the other hand, the Latins see signified in their unleavened
bread the purity of the human nature of our Lord :
" quam placuit Divinitati Sibi unire citra controversiam."
Dominicus also claims immemorial custom for the Western
use. This use, he says, " non solum apostolica sed etiam
ipsam et Domini traditione retinemus." This means, of
course, that the Western use is in conformity with that of
our Lord at the Institution. The weak point of the Latin
position in the controversy was that they could not claim an
unbroken use, but had to go back to the Institution in de-
fence of this practice.
Yet the position of Dominicus is most moderate and
reasonable.
Peter of Antioch also answers moderately enough. He
begins by having a thrust at Dominicus for calling himself
" Patriarch " of Grado. He only knows five patriarchs in the
Church, he says. Then, coming to the matter in question,
he says that the use of unleavened is at variance with the
traditional use of the Catholic Church, and goes on to the
now stock argument that ctpros is the word used in the
account of the Institution. The use of a^vjxa, which have
only to do with the commemoration of the Jewish deliverance
from Egypt, is mere Judaising. Also, unfermented bread
is not perfect bread.
He also makes a point of John xiii. i, that the Institution
took place, not at the Paschal-meal, but before the Passover.
The Easterns seem to have been committed to their position
28 The Bread of the JEucharist
(in spite of St. Chrysostom) by the exigencies of their
controversy.
So the controversy remained. It was a pretext for
justifying the schism more than anything else. The Roman
practice may have been an innovation, but the Roman
position was moderate and reasonable, and the Western
Church never once demanded that the Easterns should con-
form with the West in this matter. The Easterns, on the other
hand, while they had the ancient tradition of the Church on
their side, showed a most narrow and obstinate spirit. The
Latin attitude has been throughout that, so long as the matter
used in the Sacrament is bread, it is an aZid<^opov whether
that bread be leavened or unleavened ; the Greek that the
leaven is essential to the right matter, and so to the validity
of the Sacrament.
An effort was made at a Council at Nymphaeum, in
Bithynia, in 1233, to settle the question. At this council were
representatives from the Latin Church, and a consultation was
held to see if any accommodation could be arrived at.
The Latins complained of the aspersions cast by the
Greeks on the Latin Eucharist, who were stated to have
gone to the length of washing altars which had been used by
Western priests before they were used for the Greek rite,^
and even of compelling folk who came from the Latin
jurisdiction to the Greek to abjure the Western Sacraments
before admission to Greek Communion.
The conference came to nothing. The old arguments were
used. It was argued out whether the Institution took place
at a Paschal-meal or not, the Latins maintaining that it did,
the Greeks that it did not. But the conference was useless
' Worse things than this seem to have been done. In the anathema of Leo
against Michael, Casrularius is there joined with the Eastern Patriarch and
others in their condemnation : " Et sacellarius ipse JVIichaelis Constantinus
qui latinum sacrificium profanis conculcarit pedibus."
The Controversy between East and West 29
from the very first. It was maintained, from beginning to
end, that the Latin Eucharist in unleavened was invalid.
" Vos quaeritis," says the Greek Archbishop of Sumastria,
" si Corpus Christi potest confici in azymo. Et respondemus
quia hoc est impossibile." An accommodation was come to
by the Council of Florence. It adopted the position of St.
Thomas Aquinas, which indeed represents the attitude of
the Roman Church throughout the whole controversy. The
Florentine Council declares : " Item in azymo sive fer-
mentato pane triticeo Corpus Domini veraciter confici ;
sacerdotes quoque in altera ipsum Domini Corpus conficere,
iuxta suse latinae vel orientalis Ecclesiae consuetudinem." ^
The accommodation, however, was never acted upon, owing
to the Eastern repudiation of the Council.
' Labbe & Cossart, t. xiii, col. 1136,
Ill
ENGLAND
In England unleavened bread came into use doubtless at
the same time as in the rest of the West. We may take it
for granted that, if Alcuin used unleavened, the same use
was already known and practised in England. Henceforth,
up to the time of the Reformation, the use went on
unbroken.
A few instances, perhaps, may be adduced of references
to the Eucharistic bread at this time.
We find in the Constitutions of William de Bleys (1229),
cap. i. :
Circa species itaque quas ad idem Sacramentum exi-
guntur, cura diligentior adhibenda est, ut scilicet oblatas de
puro grano frumenti fiant. Ministri ecclesia^ induti super-
pelliceis in loco honesto sedeant quando oblatas faciunt.
Instrumentum in quo oblatce coquendae sunt cera tantum
liniatur, non oleo vel alio sagimento : oblatas honestum
candorem et decentem rotunditatem habentes supra mensam
altaris offerantur.
It is to be noticed that the round form of the oblatae,
which the Council of Toledo recognises, is still retained
in the unleavened bread.
The significance of this shape is explained by Durandus
{Rat. iv. 61): "Per modum denarii formatur tum quia
Panis vitae pro denariis traditus est tum quia idem denarius
30
England 31
in vinea laborantibus in prasmium dandus est." Durandus
is here following Honorius of Aulun {^fl. 1 130).
Probably before unleavened bread came into use it was
customary to use bread in a round form, and unleavened
bread naturally kept to the traditional shape. The explana-
tion of Durandus is doubtless an attempt to explain a use
the origin of which was lost.
It is perhaps to be noticed that there is no mention here
of any imprint on the wafers.
In a Synod held at Exeter in 1287 under Peter Quivil it
is ordered (cap. iv.) :
'* Provideant igitur sacerdotes quod oblatas habeant
confectas de simila frumenti et aqua dumtaxat ; ita quod
nihil immisceatur fermenti ; sint et oblatas integras Can-
didas et rotundas : nee per tantum tempus custodiantur
quod in sapore vel aspectu abominabiles habeantur."
Again, in the Constitutiones Synodales Sodorenses (1350)
it is ordered (cap. ii.) :
'* Hostia de frumento sit, rotunda et integra et sine
macula, quia agnus extitit sine macula et os non fuit com-
minutum ex eo. Unde versus :
" Candida, triticea, tenuis, non magna, rotunda,
Expers fermenti, non mista sit hostia Christi,
Inscribatur, aqua non cocta sed igne sit assa."
Here we find mention made of a device printed upon
the Host, which was generally, if not always, the cruci-
fixion.
These three references are sufficient to illustrate the
English use up to the Reformation. Great care was shown
that the wafers should be whole, and as white as possible.
As to the preparation of the bread, Maskell ^ quotes a
rule drawn up by Archbishop Lanfranc for the Order of
St. Benedict : " And on the day on which the hosts are to
* Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, pp. 46, 47 «.
32 The Bread of the Eucharist
be made, let the secretarius and the brethren who shall
assist him wash their hands and faces before they begin,
and vest themselves in albs and veil their heads in amices,
except that one who is to manage the irons and otherwise
to serve them. Let one of them sprinkle the flour with
water on a perfectly clean table, and press it firmly with
his hands and knead it, and let the brother who holds the
irons in which [the wafers] are cooked have his hands
covered with gloves. In the meantime, while the hosts are
being made and cooked, let the same brethren say the
ordinary psalms of the hours and the canonical hours, and
from the Psalter in order as much as may be sufficient, if
they prefer it."
This rule is interesting as presenting something of a
parallel to the rites accompanying the preparation of the
Eucharistic breads among the Nestorians, etc., but there
seems to have been no such custom general in the West.
In the Constitutions of William de Bleys, quoted above, the
ministers who make the bread are ordered to wear
surplices.
No change was made in the communion bread until
the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. was issued in 1549.
The Order of Communion^ published in 1548, expressly
orders that the bread shall be as used heretofore.
" Note, that the breade that shalbe consecrated shalbe
such as heretofore hath bene accustomed, and euery of the
sayd consecrated breades shalbe broken in twoo peces at the
least, or more, by the discretion of the ministre, and so
distributed. . . ." (First note at end of the " Order.")
In the First Prayer Book (1549) a change is made,
though the bread is still to be unleavened. The Third
Rubric at the end of the Mass gives the following
directions :
" For aduoyding of all matters and occasyon of
England 33
dyscencyon, it is mete that the breade prepared for the
Communion, bee made, through all thys realme, after one
sort and fashion, that is to say, unleauened, and rounde,
as it was afore, but without all maner of printe, and
somethyng more larger and thicker than it was, so that it
maybe aptly deuided into diuers pieces : and euery one
shall be deuided in two pieces at the leaste, or more, by
the discrecion of the minister, and so distributed."
So the first change is made. The wafer is to be plain
and larger and thicker than before.
The Second Prayer Book of King Edward in 1552 makes
a great change :
" And to take away the supersticion whiche any person
hathe, or myghte haue in the bread and wyne, it shall
suffyse that the bread bee suche as is usuall to bee eaten at
the Table wyth other meates, but the best and purest wheate
bread that conueniently maye be gotten " (Fourth Rubric
after the Communion).
Here an alternative use is for the first time provided
and allowed. It is permitted to the priest to use leavened
bread if he choose instead of the wafer, so that it be bread — •
that is to say, wheaten, and the purest procurable.
The Second Book, however, was no sooner issued than
the King died, and the book was dropped before it came into
anything like general use.
Elizabeth, after the Marian reaction, issued, as is well
known, an improved edition of the Second Prayer Book
which had so short an existence.
In Elizabeth's book, which was issued in 1559, the
rubric on the communion bread stands word for word the
same as in the Second Prayer Book of King Edward, thus
leaving the clergy free to use leavened bread if they choose
in place of the wafer.
This, however, was not the end of the matter.
3
34 The Bread of the Eucharist
In the Injunctions issued by the Queen in 1559, it is
ordered :
" Where also it was in the time of King Edward the sixth
used to have the Sacramental bread of common fine bread, it
is ordered for the more reverence to be given to these holy
mysteries, being the Sacrament of the body and blood of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, that the said Sacramental bread be
made and formed plain, without any figure thereupon, of
the same fineness and fashion round, though somewhat
bigger in compass and thickness, as the usual bread and
water, heretofore named singing Cakes, which served for the
use of the Private Mass." ^
" Item, that the communion bread be thicker and
broader than is now commonly used." "
Here is the rubric of the First Prayer Book of King
Edward reissued in a slightly different form. Also this
injunction gives us the information that leavened bread
was in use in King Edward's time." Since the Second
Prayer Book was never in general use, this means that
leavened bread was in use in places at least under the First
Prayer Book and in defiance of the rubric of that book.
Also it would seem that Elizabeth had not noticed
that the rubric of the Second Book was repeated in her own,
for the Injunctions were issued soon after her book appeared.
This Injunction that the Archbishop and Bishops tried
their best to enforce caused much trouble, as the Zurich
Letters show. George Withers writes to the Elector
* Injunctions given by the Queen^s Majesty^ p. 13. London, mdlix.
2 The Interpretations of the Bishops,^. 2,'2. Alcuin Club Tract. Longmans,
1908.
2 Bishop Horn, writing to Henry Buliinger, and describing the order of
administration of Common Prayer and the Sacraments in the time
of Edward VL, says : " The bread which is used at the Lord's Supper is of
the usual kind, but the purest that may be gotten " {Zurich Letters, 2nd
series, app. ii, p. 355). His description of the order shows that he is
speaking of Edward's Second Book.
iLNGLAND 35
Palatine, Frederick III., apparently just after the publication
of the Injunction :
" Ccerimonice vero, quae prima reformatione Edwardi
(quemadmodum prius dictum est) relictae in ecclesia sunt,
sub eodem nomine restituuntur. Reginae praeterea et
Archiepiscopo superinducendi quas velint casrimonias
potestas data est,^ qui statim postea et panem communem
prius ad celebrandam coenam constitutum aboluerunt, et
novioris renovationis causa placentulam rotundam, ad
formam eius qua papistae utebantur, instituerunt." '
In 1560, Peter Martyr answers the queries of Thomas
Sampson on the subject : " De pane infermentato qui
adhibetur coenae sacrae, tu ipse nosti omnes Ecclesias nostras
non litigare, imo omnes passim uti." ^ To the same effect
Peter Martyr had answered Grindal's doubts when Bishop-
Elect of London in 1559.^
An attempt was made over a period of some years to
enforce the use of wafer bread. Thus we find in Parker's
Visitation Articles of 1563 :
" Item, whether they do use to minister the Communion
in wafer bread according to the Quene's maiestie's Iniunc-
tions, or in common bread ."^ "
This article is repeated in the articles to be inquired of
in the Diocese of Norwich at the Metropolitan Visitation
of Matthew Parker in 1567.
But there was much opposition. Miles Coverdale,
Lawrence Humphry, and Thomas Sampson, writing to
' " And also, tliat if there shall happen any contempt or irreverence to be
used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the misusing of tlie orders
appointed in this book, the Queen's Majesty may, by the like advice of the
said Commissioners or Metropolitan, ordain and publish such further Cere-
monies or Rites as may be most for the advancement of God's glory, the
edifying of his Church, and the due reverence of Christ's holy mysteries and
Sacraments" (Act of Uniformity, anno 1° Eliz., sub fine).
* Zunch Letters, 2nd series, p. 95. ^ Ibid., p. 24.
* Strype, Life of Grhidal, p. 46. Oxford, 1822.
36 The Bread of the Eucharist
William Farrell, say (in 1566): "Res nostras non in
melius commutatae, sed, proh dolor ! in deterius prolapsae
sunt. Hasc enim acta et transacta sunt, ut loco panis
vulgaris placentula azyma habeatur."
The difficulties which the Bishops had to encounter were
seen in the attitude of some puritan nonconformists who
were brought before Bishop Grindal in 1567, and with
whom the Bishop argued some of the points of difference.
Strype says {Life of Grindal, p. 173): "The Bishops
knowing the reverence they had for the Church of Geneva,
shewed how they communicated in wafer-cakes, one of the
things used then in the administration of the Sacrament, and
which they were much against. One said they of Geneva
did not compel so to receive. The Bishop said * Yes, in
their parish churches.' But another of their party put that
off by saying that the English congregation there did
minister with loaf-bread. And another said that it was
best lo follow the best example, and that they were to follow
that Church of Geneva as that followed Christ."
A letter written by Archbishop Parker to Sir William
Cecil, in January I57y> gives us a pretty clear view of
the state of things. 1 mve it in full from Parker's
Correspondence}
« Sir,
"Whereupon upon the return of My Lord of London
(Edwin Sandys) from the court, we had communication of
the Communion bread, and he, seeming to signify to me
that your Honour did not know of any rule passed by law
in the Communion book that it may be such bread ' as is
usually eaten at the table with other meats,' &c., I thought
it good to put you in remembrance, and to move your
consideration in the same. For it is a matter of much
' Correspondence, p. 376, Parker Society.
England 37
contention in the realm : where most part of protestants
think it most meet to be in wafer bread, as the injunction
prescribeth ; divers others, I cannot tell of what spirit, would
have the loaf bread, &c. And hereupon one time at a
sessions would one Master Fogg have indicted a priest for
using wafer bread, and one indirectly for charging the wafer
bread by injunction : where the judges were Mr. Southcoots
and Mr. Gerrard, who were greatly astonied upon the
exhibiting of the book. And I being then in the country,
they counselled with me, and I made reasons to have the
injunction prevail. First, I said, as her Highness talked
with me once or twice on that point, and signified that there
was one proviso in the Act of the Uniformity of Common
Prayer that by law is granted unto her, that * if there be any
contempt or irreverence used in the ceremonies or rites of
the Church by the misusing of the orders appointed in the
book, the queen's Majesty may, by the advice of her com-
missioners, or metropolitan, ordain or publish such further
ceremonies or rites, as may be most for the reverence of
Christ's holy mysteries and sacraments,' and but for which
law her Highness would not have agreed to divers orders of
the book. And by. virtue of which law she published
further order in her injunctions, both for the Communion
bread and for the placing of the tables within the quire.
They that like not the injunctions force much the statute
in the book. I tell them that they do evil to make odious
comparison betwixt statute and injunction, and yet I say and
hold that the injunction hath authority by proviso of the
statute. And whereas it is said in the rule,' that ' to take
away the superstition which any person hath or might have
in the bread and wine, it shall suffice that the bread is such
as is usually eaten at the table with other meats, &c.' ; * it
shall suffice,' I expound, where either there wanteth such
• I.e. the rubric in the Prayer Book.
^8 The Bread of the Eucharist
fine usual bread, or superstition be feared in the wafer bread,
they may have the Communion in fine usual bread, which is
rather a toleration in these two necessities than is in plain
ordering, as in the injunction.
" This 1 say to shew you the ground which hath moved
me and others to have it in the wafer bread ; a matter not
greatly material, but only obeying the queen's Highness,
and for that the most part of her subjects disliketh the
common bread for the sacrament. And therefore as her
Highness and you shall determine, I can soon alter my order,
although now quietly received in my diocese, and I think
would breed some variance to alter it. I hear also that in
the court you be come to use the usual bread. Sir, the great
disquiet babbling that the realm is in in this matter maketh
me thus long to babble, and would be loth that now your
saying and judgement should so be taken as ye saw a law that
should prejudice the injunction."
This important letter gives us a general idea of the
prevalence of the use of wafer-bread in 1570. For ten years
now the Archbishop had been insisting on the injunction,
and apparently with great success. The wafer-bread was
now " quietly received in my diocese," and Parker says that
" the most part of her subjects disliketh the common bread
for the sacrament." The greatest proof of the wide pre-
valence of the wafer-bread is shown by the fact that two
judges did not even know of the rubric, and were astonished
when Parker told them of it.
On the other hand, the strenuous minority of Puritans
insisted on the force of the rubric, though Parker says plainly
that he regards the injunction as " further order," and as
having authority under the Act of Uniformity. But the
latter part of the letter shows that Cecil is now favouring the
Puritans in this question. Ordinary bread is now in use
England 39
even in the Queen's chapel, and Parker evidently fears that
Cecil is taking the line that the injunction has no force as
against the rubric.
Whether Parker had been too optimistic in his views
as expressed in this letter, or, as is more likely, the
growth in power of the Puritan party, encouraged and
supported by influential persons at Court, had undone the
Archbishop's work, he writes in a very different strain to
Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich, on June 14, 1574: "And
as for their contention of wafer bread and loaf-bread, if the
order you have taken will not sufl'ice them, they may fortune
hereafter to wish they had been more conformable, although
I trust that you mean not universally in your diocese to
command or wink at the loaf-bread, but for peace and quiet-
ness here and there to be contented therewith." ^
Evidently in the Norwich Diocese the use of wafer-bread
is the exception. Parker's suffragans were not loyal, and the
Archbishop evidently more than suspects the Bishop of
Norwich of being lukewarm in the cause.
Henceforward we hear but little of the subject. Other
questions of a more important nature, such as kneeling at
the Communion, and the general government of the Church,
excluded a controversy on what was, after all, as Parker says
in his letter to Cecil, "a matter not greatly material."
Thus in the later Visitation Articles we do not find this
inquiry as to wafer-bread.
The rubric was repeated in the Prayer Book under
James I., but the use of wafer-bread had not by any means
died out. It was only the Great Rebellion, ending in fifteen
years of Puritan supremacy, that brought the use to an end
till it was revived in our own day.
The Canons of i6o|- order simply " wheaten bread"
{pants siligineus) in Canon 20.
' Parker's Correspondence, p, 460.
40 The Bread of the Eucharist
Archbishop Bancroft's Metropolitan Visitation Articles of
1605 simply inquire "whether the churchwardens doe
provide against every communion with the advice of the
Minister a sufficient quantity of fine Whit Bread. . . ." This
is the line taken by all the Visitation Articles which touch the
matter henceforward. There is no mention of the wafer-
bread, but only an insistence of " fine whit bread " or " fine
white bread." " Whit " is white, or v/heaten, in contradis-
tinction to loaves of other meal in oreneral domestic use.
o
But the use of the wafer-bread was still retained by the High
Church party, as there is plenty of evidence to show, and
apparently in the Chapels Royal.
For example, at Westminster Abbey there seems to have
been an unbroken use of unleavened bread until the Great
Rebellion and persecution of the Church at that time made
the break in the continuity of church life which saw the end
of the cope and the wafer together. Thus, at least on two
occasions there was trouble in the Puritan House of Commons
on this Westminster use.
On April 14, 1 614, we learn that It was resolved that
the whole House is to receive the Communion not at
Westminster Abbey, " for feare of copes and wafer cakes,"
but at St. Margaret's.^
Again, we read it recorded in 1621 : '* Note that the
Speaker of the Commons acquainted the House that the
Dean and Chapter of Westminster refuse to permit them to
receive Communion there because they were not first asked,
and because the preacher was not one of themselves, but
that if they would appoint a Canon preacher they might
receive the Communion with ordinary bread ; and that the
House of Commons rejected the offer and chose the Temple
Church." 2
' A letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, State Papers, Domestic, Ixxvii. 7.
^ Feb, 16, 162 1 (State Papers, Domestic).
England 41
The use of the Chapels Royal is probably represented by
the arrangements made for the worship in Prince Charles's
private chapel during his visit to Spain. Among the
instructions given to the Prince's chaplains it is directed,
" That the Communion be celebrated in due form, with
an oblation of every communicant, and admixing Water
with the Wine : the Communion to be as often used as
it shall please the Prince to set down ; smooth Wafers to
be used for the Bread." ^
Yet, on the other hand, such decided High Churchmen
as John Cosin seem to have been quite content with the
ordinary leavened bread. Prynne, in Canterburie s Doome^
where he is describing Cosin's ceremonial at Peterhouse,
mentions the knife used for the cutting of the bread for
Communion, but does not say anything about any use
by Cosin of unleavened bread." It is noticeable, too, that
Cosin himself, in his Archidiaconal Visitation of the East
Riding of Yorkshire in 1627,^ inquires simply, "Doth
he carefully see to the preparation of the Bread and
Wine before every Communion, that they be pure and
wholesome .^ . . ."
Prynne has much to say on the ceremonial of Archbishop
Laud's private chapel in his Canterburie s Doome. There,
among the list of the Archbishop's ornaments, appears " a
silver and gilt candlesticke [sic] for wafers." * Thus it is
evident that the alternative uses of leavened and unleavened
bread went on side by side,^ and that the use of ordinary
' Heylin, Cyprianus Aiiglicus, p. loo. Loiidon, imdclxxi.
^ Nor is there any mention of wafer-bread in Peter Smart's complaints
against Cosin's doings at Durham.
' Cosin's Correspundencc, vol. i. p. ii8. Surtees Soc, i86S.
* Page 123.
* A list of instances of the use of unleavened bread at this time is to
be iovind \n Hierurgia Anglicana, part ii. pp. 129-43, ed. by the Very Rev.
Vernon Staley (London: Alex. Moring, 1903). It is superfluous, therefore,
to give it here.
42 The Bread of the Eucharist
bread was by no means confined to the Low Church
party.
After the Great Rebellion the question came up once
^lore at the Savoy Conference. There an attempt was
made, but unsuccessfully, to alter the rubric. Thus, in
the Prayer Book presented to the Conference by Cosin,
the rubric appears in the following shape : " It shall suffice
that the bread shall be such as is usuall, yet the best and
purest wheat bread that conveniently may be gotten, though
wafer bread, pure and without any figure, shall not be
forbidden, especially in such churches where it hath bin
accustomed. The wine also shalbe of the best and purest
that may be had." ^
But the attempt to change the rubric was unsuccessful,
and the rubric was inserted in a form almost identical with
that of the Second Book of Edward VI. :
" And to take away all occasion of dissension, and super-
stition, which any person hath or might have, concerning
the Bread and Wine, it shall suffice that the bread is such
as is usual to be eaten ; but the best and purest Wheat
Bread that conveniently may be gotten."
The break in church life in the seventeenth century
of the fifteen years, 1645-60, during which the Liturgy
of the Church of England was not heard in her churches,
did away with many old uses, among which may be reckoned
the use in some churches of wafer-bread. Apparently it was
very little used, if indeed at all, after the Restoration.
The best proof of this is to be seen, perhaps, in the fact
that wafer- bread was not, like the mixed chalice, one of
the vexed questions in the " usages " controversy among
the non-jurors who represented the High Church party
of Restoration times.
Since then, till recent times, the Church of England has
' Cosin's Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 62.
England 43
been content to use ordinary, that is to say leavened, wheat
bread.
Her rubric still, as it stands, regards the use of wafer
bread as the normal, while giving a wise permission to those
who prefer it to use leavened bread, acting in accordance
with the axiom of the Pacificator, " in non necessariis
libertas."
IV
THE EASTERN CHURCHES
The Eastern Churches, with the exception of the Armenians
and the Maronites, have always used leavened bread ; and
there can be little doubt that the same use obtained among
the Armenians before the seventh century, and among the
Maronites before their union with Rome in the twelfth
century.
In the following pages an account is given of the use
of all the Eastern communities : of the Orthodox Churches
(including Russia), of the Coptic Church, the Abyssinian
Church, the East Syrian Church (commonly known as
" Nestorians "), the Syrian Orthodox Church (commonly
known as "Jacobites"), the Armenian Church, and the
Maronites.
I^he Order for the Renewal of the Holy Leaven among
the East Syrians, and the Form for the preparation of the
Eiicharistic Bread among the West Syrians are here given
for the first time, so fir as I am aware, in English. It
is the general custom, throughout the Eastern Churches,
to administer both the species of the Holy Sacrament
together, by dipping the species of bread into the species
of wine, and then placing the Sacrament in the mouth of
the communicant. Sometimes a spoon is used for the
purpose, as in the Greek, Russian, West Syrian, Coptic
(sometimes), and Abyssinian Churches. In the Coptic
Church a spoon is not always used. Among the Armenians
44
GREE ORTIIOD X
EUCHARISTIC BREAD
EULOGIA (JERUSALEM)
RUSSIAN
EUCHARISTIC BREAD
LOAF OFFERED FOR SPECIAL TURPOSES
Us
The Eastern Churches 45
a spoon is not used at all, the priest dipping with his fingers
a portion of the species of bread into the species of wine.
The exception to the Eastern custom is found among the
East Syrians, where the two species are administered sepa-
rately, as with us.
It will be remembered that the two species were
administered separately in the Liturgy of the Apostolic
Constitutions^ and in the time of St. Cyril of Jerusalem,
They were so administered separately among the West
Syrians in the time of Narsai ^ (f c. 502).
The Orthodox Church
The bread used in the Greek Church consists of a
round leavened cake 5 in. by 2 in. It is stamped with
a square which is itself divided by a cross into four squares
in which are printed IC, XC, Nl, KA, i.e. 'l7]aov<; Xptcrro? vi.Ka
(Jesus Christ conquers). The square is ceremonially
detached and placed on the paten, and is called " The
Lamb." No rites are used in connection with the making
of the bread."
In the Russian Church the bread is formed of two
pieces, typical of the twofold nature of Christ. The upper
part of the loaf is smaller than the lower part, and the
top is stamped with the impression of a cross and the
inscription IHC XC Nl KA.
In the Greek Church only one loaf is used. In the
Russian, though one loaf only may be used, it is the general
custom to use five, in remembrance of the miraculous
' R. H. Connolly, Homilies of Narsai, p. 60 (Camb. Univ. Press, 1909).
^ There are other loaves used in connection with the Eucharist, but not
for the Eucharist, which must not be confused with the Eucharistic breads.
For example, small loaves, stamped with a representation of the Risen Lord,
are at Jerusalem blessed during the Liturgy, and afterwards distributed
among pilgrims. Loaves of much the same kind are also used for the
" Artoklasia."
46 The Bread of the Eucharist
feeding of the multitude with the five loaves. The Blessed
Sacrament is administered in both species together by means
of a spoon. The loaf used as the priest's bread is always
one stamped with the squares, other loaves, which may be
offered by the people, having the figure of a saint impressed
on them. The loaf in the illustration is one so offered,
and has a legend written round it in ink, " Offered for the
Nun Nina." From such loaves offered by individuals
a small particle is taken and placed among the other
commemorative particles, which are not used for communi-
cating, but are put in the chalice and consumed by the
deacon at the end of Mass.
The Copts
The Eucharistic bread among the Copts is a round
leavened cake four inches across by three-quarters of an inch
thick. It is stamped with a cross consisting of twelve little
squares, and round the edge runs the inscription in Greek :
"Ayio? 6 ^eo? ctyiog laxvpo<; aytog aBdvaTos (Holy God,
holy mighty, holy immortal). The inscription sometimes
varies slightly. There are also sometimes five small holes
in the cake, representing the five wounds of our Lord.
The twelve squares are held to represent the twelve
Apostles.
Among the Jacobites and Nestorians, and in the
Orthodox Church, oil and salt are used in the making of
the bread, but neither is used by the Copts, between whom
and the Syrian Jacobites there was a bitter controversy on the
matter in the eleventh century.
The bread is made within the precincts of the church by
the doorkeeper, or sacristan, who is specially appointed for
that purpose.
In the celebration the four central squares, called the
COPTIC EUCHARISTIC LOAF
46]
THE MAUNDY THURSDAY EULOGIA (COPTU)
[47
The Eastern Churches 47
Asbadikon ( = SecrTroTLKov, sc. croi/Aa) is broken off at the
fraction and used for the commixture.
The Communion is given in both species at once, the
Consecrated Bread being slightly dipped in the chalice and
placed in the communicant's mouth, sometimes by means of
a spoon (koklidrion).
The bread in the form of a cross is not strictly Eucharistic
bread, but is the Eulogia distributed to the worshippers on
Maundy Thursday.
The Abyssinians
The bread used among the Abyssinians is a round, flat,
leavened cake, four inches across by three-quarters of an
inch thick. It is stamped with a cross of nine squares, with
four squares added in the angles of the cross.
Ludolf^ makes the statement, which has been quoted
from him by Le Brun, that on Maundy Thursday the
Abyssinians use unleavened bread, as in the Eucharist. It
is noticeable, however, that Jerome Lobo, one of the
Portuguese Jesuit missionaries to Abyssinia, though he goes
into the uses of the Abyssinians, and mentions their use of
leavened bread in common with the rest of Eastern
Christendom, makes no reference to this alleged Maundy
Thursday use.
On the other hand, it is possible that Ludolf, or his
informant, may have based this statement on the form of
the words of Institution which occurs in the Ethiopic
Liturgy of St. Epiphanius." It is as follows :
" In that night, the evening of Thursday to the dawning
of Friday, when He had sat down in the house of Lazarus,
' Comment, ad sua7n Hist., \>. 5, n. 28. Le Brun, who willingly follows
him here, elsewhere derides him as utterly untrustworthy,
» B.M., Or. 545, fol. 91 ^, col. I.
48 The Bread of the Eucharist
His friend, He took bread of wheat, unfermented, of that
which they had brought to Him for the supper. . . ."
Failing further evidence than Ludolf's assertion, we may
naturally hesitate to accept any such alleged use as an
undoubted fact.
The Orthodox Syrian Church
(Syrian Jacobites)
The Syrian " Jacobite " Eucharistic bread consists of a
leavened cake two and three-quarter inches in diameter by
three-quarters of an inch thick. It is shaped like a wheel
with four diameters, the alternate radii being cut off half-
way from the circumference by a concentric circle.
Among the " Jacobites " Holy Leaven is used, but this
is not to be confused with the Holy Leaven of the
Nestorians. At each making of dough for the bread a
small piece is set aside and mixed with the next making of
dough, and so the continuity of the Eucharist is emphasised
by the unity of the bread used. This piece of dough set
aside for mixing with the next making is called the " Holy
Leaven." This practice is also followed among the
Nestorians, but the Holy Leaven with them is additional,
and quite distinct from this,^
Salt and oil are among the ingredients, though it is now
asserted that the oil is simply used on the priest's hands to
prevent the dough sticking to them. But a special signifi-
cance was given to each of these ingredients in olden times.
Thus John Bar-Susan, "Jacobite" Patriarch from 1064 to
1073, in his controversy with the Armenian Patriarch of his
day, explains that, as Adam was formed of water, air, fire,
' There is no mention of this Jacobite practice by Dionysius Bar-Salibi,
who flourished in the twelfth century, and who wrote an important Expositio
LiturgicE. Even Assemani, B.O., ii. Dissertatio de Monophysitis, v., does not
mention this practice.
AKVSSINIAX EUCHARISTIC IJREAH
48]
WEST SYRIAN JACOKITR I.OAl'
The Eastern Churches 49
and earth, which, with the spirit, make five ingredients,
so there is a special meaning in the five ingredients used
in making the Eucharistic Bread. So the water used
signifies the water used in the creation of Adam, the flour
signifies the earth, the salt the fire, the leaven the air, and
the oil signifies the spirit.^
There is also an ancient rule among the Syrian Jacobites
that, if more than two loaves be used in the celebration of
the Eucharist, the number shall be odd." Dionysius is also
very insistent on the cooking of the bread on the day on
which it is to be used, and claims Apostolic authority for
this practice. As, however, has been remarked, this practice
of baking the bread on the day on which it is to be used is
common to the whole Eastern Church, with the exception of
the Maronites.
The following is the form with which the Eucharistic
bread is prepared.^
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost, one true God.
Verses to be said over the Dough [used for~\ the Kur-
bana.
To the chant " The P otter T
After the "Our Father," and Ps. 51, "Have mercy
upon me."
" I am the Bread of Life, said Our Lord, which from the
height came down to the depth. Food Eternal. The
Father sent me, the Word that was not flesh, and as an
' Ter-Minassiantz, Die Armenische Kirche, p. 99 and pp. 102-3 i '^f-
Dionysius Bar-Salibi, Expos. Lit., p. 27 (Labourt Ed., Paris, 1903).
^ Dionysius Bar-Salibi, Expos. Lit., p. 24.
' I am indebted for this form to the Rev. W. A. Wigram, liead of the
Assyrian Mission, who most kindly procured it for me from Rahib Ephraim
Bar-Soma, Secretary to his Holiness the Patriarch of the Orthodox Syrian
Church, more familiar to us under the name of the "Jacobite" Church.
4
50 The Bread of the Eucharist
husbandman Gabriel sowed me, and the womb of Mary
received me as good ground. And lo ! through them
priests carry me upon the altar after the type of the
Angels."
" On the speaking spheres of fire and spirit. So there
is carried that body which Our Lord received from us : and
Him the numberless Cherubim bless : and to Him the
Seraphim chant ' Holy ' with their wings : and cry to Him
' Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord. The Heavens are
full of Thee, and the Earth of Thy glory : blessed art Thou
for ever.' "
*' Let him that hath not received the seal depart,
crieth the Church. And ye, the sons of Baptism, come,
enter into the sanctuary. Woe to the soul who wanders
in the streets at the time when the Mysteries are being
celebrated : the table of life is ready, and the Bread of Life
upon it, and the cup which is mixed from the side of the
Lord unto forgiveness of sins."
" O sinner, wherefore goest thou forth from the holy
place at the time when thy Lord is sacrificed upon the
altar ^ Instead of making petition to Him because of thy
sinfulness, lo, thou goest forch on a vain pretext. Remain,
O man ; pray for mercies from God, and cry unto Him,
' Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O God in Heaven and on
earth.' "
The Armenians
The Eastern Churches have always adhered to the
use of leavened bread, and claimed that such is the primitive
and original practice of the Church, with the exception of
the Armenians ; and all, except the Maronites, insist on
bread being newly made for the Eucharist. The Maronites
use the Latin unleavened wafer. The Armenian Chu*'ch
stands alone among the Eastern communities in using
The Eastern Churches 51
unleavened bread. The origin of this use is difficult to
arrive at. It is not due to the Western influence to which
the Armenians were subjected in the twelfth century, for it
existed long before that date.
The Armenian Church observes another use in con-
nection with the Eucharist which is unique in East and
West, and that is the practice of using an unmixed cup.
But the two peculiarities do not seem to be connected, for
the use of the unmixed cup seems to have been very early,
and, at any rate, considerably anterior to the introduction of
unleavened bread.
The first hint we get of anything peculiar in the
Armenian method of celebrating the Eucharist is in con-
nection with their use of an unmixed cup. This is
referred to and reprobated in Canon XXXII. of the Trullan
Council of 684 ; but it is to be noticed that, while this
Canon condemns the unmixed cup, it does not even mention
any use of unleavened bread— a fact that certainly argues
that such a use, if in vogue at all, was certainly not the
general and official use of the Armenian Church.
From this date we find but few references to Armenia
in Greek writers, partly because the Armenians refused to
accept the Council of Chalcedon, and were therefore
ecclesiastically cut off from orthodox Eastern Christendom,
and partly because Armenia was constantly after this time
falling into the hands of the Saracens, and so was politically
cut off from the Empire.
In the eleventh century we find a Greek writer,
Philippus Solitarius, writing about Armenia and its customs.
He speaks of the use of unleavened bread and the unmixed
cup as already an ancient custom among the Armenians, and
says that old writers among the Armenians declared that
these uses had been handed down as a tradition to the
Armenian Church by St. Gregory the Illuminator.
52 The Bread of the Eucharist
Philip's own words may perhaps be given. He says
{de rebus Armen. vi.) : Kal Tr]v vtt avToiv Trpoo-ayojxeprjv
7Tpoo'(f)opav d^vfJiov ttolovq-lv. kol eV rw Trj<; Koivoivia,^
TroTrjpLO) Kara rov'^ laKoy^iTas oivov ixovov ip,/3dk\ovcn kol
ov irapaiXLyvvovcri voart . . . koX ol vvv\ ^aTit^dpioL i^
akoyov 77apa8ocreoJ9 ravra XrjpovcrL. ol Se dp)(aloL tovtcjv
Ka6r)yr]Tal top ev dyioi^ 0e6(f)opov kol [xdpTvpa Vp-qyopiov
ttJs p.eyd\.7]<; 'Ap/tei'ta? aurot? irapaSovpaL rrjp re ^(ji}p\<i
l,vixr]<; TTpo(T(f)opdp koI to x^'^P'-^ vSaros TTOTrjpiov Sto, to top
dpTOP (fjacrlp CKcipop op 6 Xpto-ro? eV toj pvaTiKM SetTrpo)
T069 [xa6y]TaL<; eScoKep d^^vpop elpat koI to TroTTjpiop xojpls
vSaTos-
Philip had evidently been at some trouble to investigate
the origin of the Armenian peculiarities. The Armenians
of his day seem to have been unable to account for them
except by simply stating that this was the custom of their
Church, and this attitude is probably what Philip is reflecting
on when he speaks of the dXoyo^ TrapdSocns which the
Armenians of his day follow. But none the less he has
discovered the more ancient claim, made by Armenian
writers of two or three centuries before, that these practices
were received from Gregory the Illuminator.
It is worth noticing that, in the Trullan Canon which
condemns the Armenian use of the unmixed cup, it is stated
that the Armenians of tnat date claimed St. Chrysostom
as their authority for the use. Now, though this has no
particular bearing on the unmixed cup, it has on the question
of unleavened bread, because St. Chrysostom alone, 1 believe,
of all Eastern Fathers, did hold that the meal at which the
blessed Sacrament was instituted was a Paschal Supper (de
prodit. Jud^. i. 5).
It is also noticeable that, in the controversy betweei)
East and West in the eleventh century, neither side adduced
the use of the Armenians.
The Eastern Churches 53
The Greeks, then, seem to have known but very little
about the usages of the Armenians. But when we turn
to Eastern sources of information we learn more.
Kalemkiar and Dashian,^ in the introduction to their
volume of Liturgies (p. 68, in Armenian) claim that John
Mandakuni, Catholicos of Armenia c. 480, witnessed to the
use of mixing water with the cup, but his text has been
tampered with. He testified, however, neither for nor
against the use of unleavened bread.
The same authors point out that in the fourth century
the Armenians almost certainly derived their rites from the
Syriac Church of Edessa, and would therefore have used
azymcs. But it is necessary first to show that the Edessene
Church of that date used azymes, and such evidence is not
forthcoming. There is only one passage in Syriac Patristic
literature of this date that can be held at all to touch the
subject. Aphraates {de Paschate, 8) remarks : " Israel after
Passover eats azyme [singular] for seven days until the
2 1 St day of the month: we also keep azymes [plural] at
the celebration of our Saviour." But even Aphraates (f. 350)
is almost certainly not referring to any use of unleavened
bread among Christians, but simply to the observance of the
Feast of Easter.
We get nearer to definite dates when we find works
ascribed to Jacob of Edessa (f 708) written against the use
among the Armenians of the unmixed cup and unleavened
bread.
But we find definite and authoritative information in the
Canons of John of Odzun, or Otsun, Catholicos c. 718.
In his eighth Canon we read :
" It is right also to offer unleavened bread and pure
' For this and other information as to the Armenians, and especially
for the translation of Armenian documents, I am indebted to Mr. F, C.
Conybeare,
54 The Bread of the Eucharist
wine on the Holy Altar, according to the tradition handed
down to us by St. Gregory. And we must not stoop to
the traditions of the other races of Christians. For the holy
Illuminator carried on this practice from the legal Covenant,
and in apostolic wise caused his precept to be carried out
by the members of his diocese. In the same way also he
prescribes the admixture of the salt of blessing with the
animals slain as victims of the Agapes ; and, according to
the order of the Levites, he prescribed that the grace of
the Church should be reserved in certain chosen families.
And we ought to continue the same custom, and not abandon
it, nor introduce any innovations." ^
Here we have already the definite statement that the
use of unleavened bread and the unmixed cup is derived
by a tradition from Gregory the Illuminator. I have given
the concluding part of this Canon to show that there were
also other and curious practices in vogue among the
Armenians of a Judaistic nature and which were also ascribed
to St. Gregory.
In the year 727 or 728 a very important national
Council was held at Manazkert. It was attended by
Armenian and Syrian Bishops, and met with the intention
of repudiating the Chalcedonian Council and of reaffirming
Monophysitism and promoting a union among the Mono-
physite communions.^
Heraclius, after his defeat of the Persians and his recovery
of the Cross in 628, had made a great effort to promote
a general reunion of the divided Eastern Churches, He
succeeded in Grecising and reconciling to the orthodox
faith Western Armenia, and an orthodox Catholicos, Ezra
by name, was appointed by him. Apparently the Chalce-
^ The translation is Mr. Conybeare's, and is made from a MS. copy of the
Canons.
^ E. Ter-Minassiantz, Die Armenische Kifche, p. 75.
The Eastern Churches 55
donian faith then Imposed had never again been definitely-
rejected until the Council was held at Manazkert in 727.
In the Acts of this Council we read : ^
"Accordingly we shall banish the corruptible from the
incorruptible ; that is to say, we shall henceforth exclude
leaven and water from the life-giving mystery, that those
who follow me may not regard this, and by bringing back
these corruptions be led astray and fall into the diphysite
faith of Chalcedon, and thereby lead astray the dioceses of
Armenia, as [was done] by Ezra, who disseminated over our
land tares of wrath, which the Lord has enjoined upon me
to root up, contriving and establishing a fence indivisible and
inseparable. And we shall use the follov/ing means against
them. We shall exclude leaven and water from the divine
Mystery [they being] a pretext for [asserting] the corrup-
tibility of the flesh of Christ " and for its disjunction.
Accordingly if henceforth any one shall celebrate the Mystery
with leaven, let him be accursed and suffer a severe and
extreme punishment."
This important document is interesting when compared
with John's Canon given above. His Canons were in all
probability issued on the strength of the decisions of this
Couiicil. It is fairly clear, from the above passage of the
Acts of this Council, that it was at this time that the use of
unleavened bread was made the definite general and authori-
tative use of the Armenian Church, though probably the
practice had been a common though not authoritative one
before. Stephen Asolik (who flourished at the end of the
tenth and beginning of the eleventh century) states that it
' The translation is again Mr. Conybeare's, and is from the work entitled,
Of John the Philosopher, Catholicos of the Armenians, concerning the
Councils which have been among the Armenians, contained in the letter-book
of the Patriarchs ; the MS. followed was copied from an archetype of the year
of the Armenians ^2J i.e., 1078.
^ This was aimed at the Syrian Julianists.
56 The Bread of the Eucharist
was at this Council that it was definitely decided to celebrate
the Eucharist without leaven or water/ Also it is to be
noticed that the Acts make no mention of St. Gregory as
the originator of the use, while in John's Canons the
tradition is referred to in the company of other traditions
of a Judaising nature.
In later Armenian writings, of the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries, Mr. Conybeare informs me that many
passages from the older Fathers are quoted in support of these
usages, but that none of them are any proof of the existence
of the use of unleavened bread before the eighth century.
The explanation of the custom is not simple. The facts
remain as follow. There was a common use of the unmixed
cup among the Armenians in the seventh century, as is
witnessed to by the Trullan Canon. Also, if the works
ascribed to Jacob of Edessa against the use of unleavened
bread are really his, then there was also a use of unleavened
bread among the Armenians at the end of the seventh
century.
This use was not, however, binding, authoritative, and
general until it was made so by the Council of Manazkert
for doctrinal reasons in 727.
Among the Armenians, as I have mentioned, were
observed many strange customs of a Judaising character.
One of these was the custom of eating the Passover on
Maundy Thursday. This observance John of Odzun, among
other things, restricted to priests alone. At this Jewish rite,
based on the old law, the " old Zatik," it is most probable
that the directions of the old law were followed, and un-
leavened bread was eaten. ^ It almost looks as if when this
' Ter-Minassiantz, p. 76.
^ If Ludolf is to be relied upon, the Abyssinians use unleavened bread at the
Eucharist on Maundy Thursday alone {Com?nent. ad suam Hist., p. 5).
It is noticeable that the Abyssinian Church is even perhaps more Judaising
than the Armenian.
ARMENIAN WAFER
[57
The Eastern Churches 57
custom, which in all probability was suppressed by the
orthodox Ezra in the time of Heraclius, was revived by
the Council of Manazkert, the use of unleavened bread
at the " old Zatik " on Maundy Thursday .was extended
to the " New Zatik " of Easter Sunday, for the purpose of
insisting upon the one nature of our Blessed Lord.
The facts, then, seem to be that unleavened bread was
introduced as the authoritative use of the Armenian Church
in 727 by the Council of Manazkert.
If so it is a curious coincidence. It was at more or less
the same time that the use of unleavened bread seems to
have come into use in the West, not there, however, for
doctrinal reasons, but for the simple reason of convenience.
Le Brun remarks : " Ce seul Decret [of Manazkert] de
leur conciliabule montre suffisamment qu'ils se servoient au-
paravant de Pain leve ; et Ton peut d'ailleurs regarder ce
fait comme certain, quand on considere . . . qu'ils ont tire
leur Liturgie de I'Eglise de Cesaree en Cappadocie et de celle
de Constantinople on il n'y pas lieu de douter qu'on ne se
servit de Pain leve." ^
The Present Use of the Armenians
The bread used by the Armenians at the present day
is a round unleavened wafer 3 inches long and ^ inch
thick. It is stamped with a crucifix and a narrow orna-
mental border runs round the edge of it. The bread is
made in a chamber in the church specially reserved for that
purpose, and is prepared by the priest. While he is preparing
the bread the priest reads certain prayers. At the same time
he makes a wafer for the avriSoypou or pain benitj to be
distributed after service to those who have been present.
This last wafer is different in form from that used for the
Eucharist, being larger, softer, and thinner.
^ Le Brun, Explic. de la Messe, iii. 119.
58 The Bread of the Eucharist
Only one wafer is used in the Eucharist, varying in size
according to the estimated number of communicants. The
Communion is in both species, a particle of the Host being
dipped in the cup and then placed on the tongue of the
communicant,^ no spoon being used, as in the other Eastern
Churches. The same practice as to Reservation obtains
among the Armenian as in the Orthodox Church, the Host
being dipped in the cup and dried and so reserved.
In the illustration the lettering of the superscription is
I. N.R.I. That on the left side is JS = Jesus ; on the right
KHS = Christ.
The Maronites
The Maronites, who entered into communion with the
Roman Church in the twelfth century, and have ever since
remained in communion with her, use in the Eucharist the
Latin unleavened wafer. This body alone of Oriental com-
munions is indifferent as to the preparation of the bread on
the same day on which it is to be used in the Eucharist.
The East Syrians, or Nestorians
Among the fvast Syrians, or Nestorians, some curious
and most interesting customs obtain as to the bread of
the Eucharist. The cakes used are, of course, leavened.
They are round in shape, 2-2|- inches across by 1-inch
thick, and are stamped with a crosslet and four small
crosses. But the most interesting of the Nestorian customs,
in this connection, is their use of the Holy Leaven. A
small portion of this is mixed with the dough from which
the bread for the Eucharist is made, and it is claimed
that this Holy Leaven, which is counted among the
' M. Ormanian (Armenian ex-Patriarch of Constantinople), L'£glise
Armemenne, p. 89.
The Eastern Churches 59
Nestorians as one of the Sacraments, Is derived from the
Apostles themselves. Badger • gives the legend as told by-
John Bar-Zobi, who flourished at the end of the twelfth
and the beginning of the thirteenth century, as follows :
"... And when He was about to close His dispen-
sation, and His passion and death drew nigh, on the
evening preceding Friday He committed His passover to
His disciples in the bread and wine, as it is written, and
gave to each a loaf ; but to John He gave two loaves, and
put it into his heart to eat one and to preserve the other,
that it might serve as leaven to be retained in the Church
for perpetual commemoration. After this, when our Lord
was seized by the Jews, and the disciples through fear
hid themselves, John was the only one who remained.
And when they crucified the Lord in much ignominy
with the thieves, John alone was present, determined to
see what would become of Him. Then the chief priests
ordered that the crucified ones should be taken down
from the cross, and that their legs should be broken, in
order that, if yet alive, they might die outright. The
soldiers did this to the thieves, but when they came to
our Lord and found that He was dead already, they
broke not His legs, but one of them with a spear pierced
His side, and straightway there came out blood and water,
of which John was witness. Now this blood is a token
of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood in the Church,
and the water is the token of the new birth in believers.
John was the only one who perceived this separation of
water and the blood, and he bare true witness thereof, as
he says, that we might believe. He declares that he saw
them unmixed, and that he did not take of them together,
but of each separately. He took of the blood upon the
loaf which he had received from the Paschal Feast, and he
' The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. ii. pp. 161-2. London, 1892,
6o The Bread of the Eucharist
took of the water in that same vessel which had been
committed to him by John the Baptist. The very blood
of His body, therefore, mixed with the bread which He
had called His body, and the water from His side mingled
with the water of Baptism. After He rose from the grave
and ascended up in glory to His Father and sent the
grace of His Spirit upon His disciples to endow them
with wisdom, He commanded His Apostles to ordain in
His Church that same leaven which He had taken from
His body to be for the Sacrament of His Body and also
for the Sacrament of Baptism, And when the disciples
went forth to convert the nations they divided the leaven
amongst themselves, and they took oil of unction and
mixed it with the water which was kept in the vessel,
and they divided this also amongst themselves to be a
leaven for Baptism. The loaf which John had, and which
was mixed with the blood which flowed from His side,
they bruised into powder, then mixed it with flour and
salt, and divided it among them, each portion being put
into a separate vessel to serve as leaven for the Body and
Blood of Christ in the Church. This is the account which
I have read, which bore the sign of Peter, and I have
written it as I found it for the benefit of such as may
read this our epistle. The Presbyter Rabban Shimoon,
who first related the narrative to me and then afterwards
showed me the written account, can witness to the truth."
Badger further quotes ^ from 'The Jewels of Mar Abd
Jeshua, Metropolitan of Nisibis in 1298 : "The Holy and
Blessed Apostles Thomas and Bartholomew of the Twelve
and Adi and Mari of the Seventy, who discipled the
East, committed to all the Eastern Churches a Holy
Leaven to be kept for the perfecting of the administra-
tion of our Lord's Body until His coming again."
* The Nestoria7is and their Rituals, vol. ii. pp. 409, 410.
The Eastern Churches 6i
The account of the origin of the Holy Leaven which
Bishop Maclean gives from Isaac of Ishbad, in 'The
Catholicos of the East and his People, is derived from John
Bar-Zobi.
A form of the legend, which varies somewhat from
the above and is interesting as showing that the writer
does not regard the Holy Leaven as essential, and also as
witnessing: to the fact that it was not used in other
Churches of the East, is given by Solomon of El-Basra
(thirteenth century) in his Book of the Bee} It is as follows:
" Some men have a tradition that, when our Lord
broke His body for His disciples in the upper chamber,
John the son of Zebedee hid a part of his portion until
our Lord rose from the dead. . . . [The Lord's Blood
was on Thomas's finger.]. . . . And John took that piece
of consecrated, and wiped up that blood with it ; and the
Easterns Mar Addai and Mar Mari took that piece, and
with it they sanctified this unleavened bread which has
been handed down among us. The other disciples did
not take any of it, because they said, ' We will consecrate
for ourselves whenever we wish.' As for the oil of
baptism. . . . This account we have heard by ear from a
recluse and Tre/atoSeurif?, and we have not received it from
Scripture."
Solomon's reference to the other disciples not taking the
leaven seems to point to the fact that, in the thirteenth
century, the use of the Holy Leaven was a unique Nes-
torian custom.
Year by year, when the Holy Leaven of a church is
nearly expended, on Maundy Thursday it is renewed with
great solemnity. What remains of the Holy Leaven is
mixed with dough, salt, and olive-oil, and leavens the
whole. And no Eucharist can be celebrated without it.
' Ed. Budge, 1886; chap, xlvii, 2nd paragraph.
62 The Bread of the Eucharist
It is renewed by a priest and deacon with a special office
called " the renewal of the Holy Leaven."
But not only so do the Nestorians obtain a continuity
in the Eucharistic bread. The continuity is doubly main-
tained, for, besides their practice of mixing some of the
Holy Leaven with the dough, they save (like the West
Syrians) a piece of the dough from each making to be
incorporated in the dough of the next making.
The bread is made solemnly, and a form of prayer
is used at the makino-. 1 ffive the two orders :
(i) The Order of the preparation of the Oblation.
(2) The Order for the renewal of the Holy Leaven, or
Malca.
FROM THE LITURGY OF THE NESTORIANS
THE ORDER 1 OF THE PREPARATION OF THE
OBLATION
(THE MAKING OF THE LOAVES)
Our Father
The priest prays.
Vouchsafe us, O our Lord and our God, to go on in
profitable works which are well-pleasing to Thy majesty,
that our delight may be in Thy law, and we may meditate
therein day and night, Lord of all. Father and Son and Holy
Ghost, for ever.
Psalms i-xxx
\In three hullale^ before each subdivision of which is said a
prayer like the foregoing?^ Meanwhile he brings fine flour and
olive-oil and warm water and mixes them together and pours
* This Order is reprinted by permission from Brightman's Liturgies
Eastern and Western, pp. 247-9.
EAST SYRIAN (NESTORIAN) LOAVES
[63
The Eastern Churches 63
leaven into them} He puts in salt according to his discretion.
He says the three hull die until the dough is made. IV hen it is
made he stamps the dough in the middle^ on the east, on the
westy on the north, and on the south, and covers it carefully until
the time of preparing [the loaves'].
The Order of Preparing
When he prepares he first takes the portion for the
m'caprana '^ from the top of the dough, then the leaven, and then
he takes from the middle of the dough the portion of the Malca
[i.e. the priest' s loaf^ and makes in it a square cavity, in zvhich
he puts a little olive-oil kept for the purpose.
He goes and brings the Malca, saying Ps. cxlv. i-j a :
then he opens the vessel and with two fingers takes some of the
Malca, saying:
This dough is signed and hallowed with the old and
holy leaven of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given
and handed down to us by our holy fathers Mar Addai
and Mar Mari and Mar Thoma the Apostles, who made
disciples of this eastern region : in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
He signs the dough in the form of a cross and then takes the
Malca and signs the oil in the priest's loaf in like manner. He
also takes in two fingers some of the Malca, saying:
This broken portion is signed and hallowed with this
Holy Leaven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost.
He puts on the cover of the vessel containing the Malca and
• I.e. a portion of the dough from the last Eucharist, kept as leaven
(.h'mira), not to be confused with the Holy Leaven (Malca).
^ I.e. the Eulogia, or Antidoron, the blessed bread (not the Sacrament)
given to the people after service is over.
64 The Bread of the Eucharist
goes and carries it to its place^ i.e. to the altar ^ saying Ps. xxiv.
1-6. Then he says :
Our King is with us, and our God is with us, and our
helper is the God of Jacob. Happy are the people that are
in such a case.
Repeat : Yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord
for their God.
He proceeds to Ps. xxiv. 7 and 10 and hangs up the vessel
in its place ^ and he proceeds^ beginning :
Glory to God in the highest.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come.
Holy, holy, holy art Thou, our Father which art in
heaven : heaven and earth are full of the greatness of Thy
glory. Watchers and men cry to Thee, Holy, holy, holy
art Thou.
Our Father, etc.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost,
From everlasting to everlasting, world without end.
y^men.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Holy, holy, holy art Thou, etc.
He says Pss. Ixxxii.-ci. while signing and kneading.
When he has finished the preparation he goes to the oven
and says :
He brought me also out of the horrible pit, out of the
mire and clay : and set my feet upon the rock, and ordered
my goings.
He fills the censer with coals 'of fire and hangs it up and
covers the fire in the oven until it has got somewhat low. He
The Eastern Churches 6^
wipes [the side of the oven] carefully and uncovers the fire.
He takes a little incense and puts it in^ saying:
This earthen vessel is hallowed : in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
He proceeds :
Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Ghost.
Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.
From everlasting to everlasting, world without end.
Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.
He puts his hand into the oven and takes the priest's loaf^
in his hand^ saying :
The King of kings' came down to be baptized, and
bowed His head to be baptized of him.
He arranges the priest's loaf on the east side of the oven and
another on the westy sayings From the east and from the west :
then another on the north and another on the south^ sayings
From the north and from the south ; and another on the right
of the priest's loaf sayings Titus ^ on the right hand, and
another on the left^ sayings Dumachus ^ on the left : two
robbers were crucified with the one heavenly Treasure : he
on His right hand would not cease from his robbery, but in
his last robbery robbed the paradise of Eden : for the others
he says, They shall be fat and well-liking, that they may
show how true the Lord my strength is, and that there i^no
unrighteousness in Him.
When he has done arranging them he says :
Like the smoke of the goodly incense and the savour of
' Malca. * Malca d* Make.
^ Cf. Evang. Infantice, 23.
66 The Bread of the Eucharist
the sweet censer receive, O Christ our Saviour, the request
and prayer of Thy servants, three times.
He takes a little incense and pours it into the oven, which he
covers^ saying :
Halleluiah, halleluiah : glory be to Thee, O Lord,
three times.
The following Rite is tlfat by which the Malca,* or Holy
Leaven, is renewed when the supply begins to fail. It is not
necessarily performed by a Bishop. The Malca is the Holy
Leaven received by tradition from the Apostles, a portion of
which, as well as a portion of the dough of the last making,
is mixed with every making of bread for the F.ucharist.
THE ORDER FOR THE RENEWAL OF THE HOLY
LEAVEN; THAT IS TO SAY, MALCA ^
First, on the Thursday of Pascha (i.e. Maundy Thursday)
they shall bring fine wheaten flour that is " Smidha^' ^ two
thirds and one third of fine pure pounded salt^ and they shall
pour upon it a little fine preserved olive-oil and three drops of
' It may be as well to draw attention to the fact that it is sometimes
stated, at least by "Jacobite" ecclesiastics, that the East Syrians mix with
the bread for the Eucharist a portion of the Reserved Sacrament itself. This
is not the case. In the first place, it is definitely forbidden among the
Nestorians to reserve the Holy Sacrament over night. And this statement is
probably explained by a misunderstanding of the word "Sacrament '' used in
this connection. The Malca, or Holy Leaven, is numbered by the Nestorians
among the Sacraments, and so in one sense the Sacrament is mingled with
each bread-making; but the Sacrament thus mingled is the Sacrament of the
Malca, or Holy Leaven, and not the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
* This translation has been submitted to the Bishop of Moray, Ross, and
Caithness, and appears as corrected by him, and to him are due all the
annotations.
* = (TffllboKlS.
The Eastern Churches 67
wafer, and they shall mix them together on the carved Eucharistic
slab, the Sacristan and another priest or more and the deacons
with them. And they shall set the Cross and the Gospel book
on the carved Eucharistic slab with the censer and lights and
shall begin :
Holy, holy, holy art Thou, our Father which art in
heaven : heaven and earth are full of the greatness of Thy
glory. Watchers and men cry to thee Holy, holy, holy
art Thou,
And, Our Father.
Prayer
May the worshipful and glorious Name of Thy glorious
Trinity be worshipped and glorified and honoured and
exalted and confessed and blessed in heaven and on earth
at all times, Lord of all, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
for ever ;
Or .
Thee, O King, whom kings worship, and the adorable
honour of whose majesty companies and ten thousands of
angels and archangels, standing in great fear and trembling,
serve and celebrate, we are bound to confess, worship, and
glorify at all seasons and times, Lord of all, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
And they shall perform the three Hulldle : " God standeth "
(Ps. Ixxxii.), *' My song shall be alway of the loving-
kindness of the Lord " (Ps. Ixxxix.), and " The Lord is
King " (Ps. xciii,).
Prayer
For all Thy helps and graces (given) to us, which cannot
be repaid, let us confess and glorify Thee without ceasing in
Thy crowned Church, which is full of helps and all bkssings.
68 The Bread of the Eucharist
For Thou art the Lord and Creator of all, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
They say the Lakhumara. Thee, O Lord, we confess :
and Thee, Jesus Christ, we glorify : for Thou art the
quickener of our bodies : and Thou art the Saviour of our
souls. / was glad when they said unto me^ We go into the house
of the Lord. Thee, Lord of all, etc. Glory be, etc. From
everlasting to everlasting. Amen. Thee, Lord of all, etc.
'They say^ Let us pray. Peace be with us.
Prayer
Thou, O my Lord, art in truth the quickener of our
bodies, and Thou art the good Saviour of our souls and the
perpetual guardian of our lives, and Thee are we bound to
praise, worship, and glorify at all times. Lord of all. Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
And the deacon says : Raise up your voice and glorify, all
people, the living God.
And they shall say : Holy God, holy mighty, holy
immortal, have mercy upon us. Glory be, etc. Holy
God, etc. From everlasting, etc. Holy God, etc. They
add, Let us pray. Peace be with us. '
Prayer
Holy and glorious and mighty and immortal, who
dwellest in the saints, and whose will is pleased with them,
turn, O my Lord, we beseech Thee, and be merciful, and
have pity on us, as Thou art wont, at all times, Lord
of all, etc.
And the deacon says : Bend your heads for the laying on
of hands, and receive a blessing.
And the priest pronounces in a low voice:
O Treasure enriching to those who receive it : O Thou
The Eastern Churches 69
who art rich and whose gifts are not withheld from the
poor ; O Thou who art good and dost not injure Thy
labourers ; O Lord who dost not neglect Thy servants ;
Hear, O my Lord, the prayer of Thy servants in Thy
clemency and receive the petition of those who worship Thee,
according to Thy mercies ; and answer in Thy mercies our
requests from Thy rich treasure-house, and keep in Thy
grace the beloved flock of Thy pasture from all harm, and
establish Thy peace among us all for ever, Lord of all.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for ever.
And he raises his voice and says : May our souls be per-
fected in the one complete faith of Thy glorious Trinity,
and may we all in one union of love be worthy to raise to
Thee glory, and honour, confession, and worship at all times,
Lord of all, etc.
'They say The Anthem.^
[Ps. cxlv. 7] The memorial of Thine abundant kindness
shall he showed. Thy Church our Saviour maketh : the
memorial of Thy precious passion : which was accomplished
for our salvation : keep her children from harm.
[Ps. xlv. 1 8] / will make Thy name to he remembered in
all generations. Thy Church, O our Saviour, etc.
Go on to the tune, " The Blessed MartyrsT
[Ps. Iv. 20] He that abideth of old. The mystery which
was hid from the ages and generations : by the good pleasure
of the Creator those in heaven and those on earth : men
learnt in the manifestation of Christ : and men and angels
began : to tell of the holiness of His glory : Three [Persons]
one Godhead.
[Ps. cxvi. 13.] Before all the people. In the river
Jordan John baptized Him : the Lamb of God : and when
He was coming up from the waters : the Holy Spirit of
> In the Anthems and Hymns of Praise a colon marks the change of chant
and a full stop where the choir changes.
70 The Bread of the Eucharist
Truth : in the likeness of the bodily form of a dove : came
down and lighted upon the head : of our Saviour after He
-wiLs baptized.
Go on to the tune^ " God the WordT [Ps. xl. 2] He set
my feet upon a rock and ordered my goings. Lord, in the
foundation of the rock of the truth, Simon Peter, Thou didst
establish me : and in Baptism Thou didst promise me true
adoption : and I by my deeds have become like that heir
who squandered his possessions : I beseech Thee like him,
making request, " I have sinned against heaven and before
Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son " :
merciful Father, have mercy upon me.
[Ps. civ. 5] That it never should move at any time. Lord,
upon the foundation of the faith of Simon Peter Thou hast
built Thy Church : and because of Thy promise to Him
the waves and storms of heathenism have not shaken it :
and when Satan saw that by his angels he could not prevail
against the Catholic [Church] : he incited the sons of her
teaching in every quarter [of the world] : to destroy one
another with the shafts of envy : bring to nought her
vainglorious ones : who envy and make light of one
another : and may Thy peace reign over her children.
Go on to the tune " Whosoever is wise.'' [Ps. cxlv. i] /
will magnify Thee, O my Lord, the King. O Christ, the Son
of God, who camest for our salvation : remember Thy
Church which Thou didst purchase from eternity : and
subject to it the divided [or, striving ?] peoples which
delight in war : as Thou didst promise to Peter its founder :
that the gates of Hell and Hell's tyrant should not prevail
against it for ever: confirm Thy word,0 our Saviour,unto it:
that Thou art its King : and the bringer-up of its children :
and the boast of its inhabitants.
[Ps. Ixxiv. 2] Remember Thy Church which Thou didst
purchase from eternity. O our Lord, in Thy mercy guard
The Eastern Churches 71
Thy Church : which Thou didst elect and establish from
eternity : and make to cease from it wars and contentions :
and bind its sons with love and concord : let its priests be
in peace and firm faith : its shepherd keep in Thy grace that
he may be a defender : and may seek from Thee peace to
his flock at all times. Go on to the turn of " Blessed art
'Thou, O Lord of all. [Ps. cxlv. 1 1] They shall tell the glory
of Thy kingdom. Praised, O my Lord, be Thy Advent '
and Thy Nativity and Thy Upbringing and the Com-
memoration of Thy Mother : and the Epiphany and the
Feasts of Thy preachers John and Peter and Paul Thy
disciples: and the four Evangelists who wrote Thy Gospel,
and Thy friend Stephen and the company of Diodore,^ and
the company of Mar Narsai and Mar Abha '^ : and all the
departed who confessed Thy domination, O Thou Hope of
Thy true ones.
[Ps. xxxiv, i] I will bless the Lord at all times. Blessed
be Thy Fast * O our Lord, and Thy Going-up to Jerusalem,
and Thy Passover, and Thy [Feet-] washing : and Thy
Passion and Thy Death and Thy Resurrection : and the
Commemoration of Thy confessors and George Thy martyr :
and the day of Thy Ascension and the Descent of the Holy
Ghost, the token given to the Apostles : and the two
Inventions of the Cross of Light and the Hallowing of
Thy Church,^ and the Transfiguration, whose greatness
conquers all.
Glory be to the Father, etc., to the tune of *' The Great
Mystery''' With the eye of understanding and of love let
us all look on Christ : through the mysteries and types
' These are the seasons and festivals of the first part of the ecclesiastical
year.
* Commonly called "the Greek doctors."
' " The Syrian doctors."
* I.e. Lent and the following holy days.
* A sort of general dedication festival.
72 The Bread of the Eucharist
which He has delivered to us : when He was led to the
passion of the Cross : and when upon the Holy Altar He
was set a living sacrifice : and as angels the priests celebrate
the memorial of His Death with voices of praise, saying :
" Glory be to Him for His ineffable gift."
'They go on to say the Creed : We believe in one God the
Father almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the
first-born of every creature, who was begotten of His
Father before all worlds and not made, very God of very
God, of one substance with His Father : by whom the
worlds were framed and all things were created : who for
us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,
and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and was made man,
and was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, and
suffered and was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, and
was buried, and rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sat down on the
right hand of His Father, and shall come again to judge
the dead and the quick. And in one Holy Ghost, the
spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, the Spirit,
the giver of life. And in one holy and apostolic Catholic
Church : and we acknowledge one baptism for the remission
of sins, and the resurrection of our bodies, and the life
everlasting. Amen.
And the deacon says the Litany.
Let us pray. Peace be with us all.
Pray and make request of God the Lord of all that ye
be unto Him a kingdom, holy priests and people : cry to the
Lord God of hosts with all your heart and all your soul, for
He is God the Father of Compassion, merciful and pitiful,
that wisheth not that those whom He hath fashioned should
perish, but that they should repent and live before Him.
And especially are we bound to pray and confess and
The Eastern Cfiurches 73
worship and glorify and honour and exalt our God the
adorable Father, Lord of all, who by His Christ wrought
a good hope and salvation for our souls, that He fulfil in
us His grace and mercy and compassion unto the end.
I^. Amen.
"The deacon proceeds :
With request and beseeching we ask for the angel of
peace and mercy
I^. From Thee, O Lord.
Night and day throughout our life we ask for continual
peace for Thy Church, and life without sin
I^. From Thee, O Lord.
We ask continual love, which is the bond of perfectness,
with the confirmation of the Holy Ghost
^. From Thee, O Lord.
We ask forgiveness of sins and those things which help
our lives and appease Thy Godhead
I^. From Thee, O Lord.
We ask the mercy and compassion of the Lord continu-
ally at all times
I^. From Thee, O Lord.
Let us commit our souls and one another's souls to the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
And the priest repeats in a low voice this [Prayer ofj
Inclination : O Lord God Almighty (repeat) assist my
weakness by Thy mercies, and by the help of Thy grace
make me worthy by Thy help to draw nigh and sign this
matter with the sign of the cross to sanctify it ; that it may
be for the signing and the perfecting of the dough of the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Canon ^ : And to Thee and to Him and to the Holy
Ghost let us offer glory and honour and praise and worship
now and for evermore. Amen.
' Here used in the sense of the conclusion of a prayer.
74 The Bread of the Eucharist
And he shall sign himself and proceed and say \this'\
Canon: The grace ot our Lord Jesus Christ and the love
of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost
be with us all now and for evermore. Amen.
And he shall sign the matter. And he shall proceed:
Thee the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Israel,
glorious King. And he shall proceed: Let us praise and
worship and glorify God the Lord of all.
And they shall answer : It is meet and right.
And the deacon shall say : Peace be with us all.
And the priest says the Gehantha}
Yea, O Lord God Almighty, Omnipotent (^repeat)^
heavenly Treasure, who suppliest and sheddest Thy mercies
on the poor, to Thee we present our souls, our minds,
and thoughts, and the understanding of our intellects, the
gaze of our eyes cast down, and our hands spread forth
to Thee. We cry and pray and supplicate and beseech that
Thou wilt sanctify and perfect this matter by the instru-
mentality of these Thy feeble and vile and wretched servants
and by the alighting of Thy Holy Spirit, through Thy
lovingkindness and Thy mercies. Amen.
And he says^ instead of a Canon : In the beginning was
the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by Him, and without Him was not any-
thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. Now and for
evermore. Amen.
And he signs the matter. And then he takes the old from
the altar and signs the new with it and says : Signed and
sanctified and mixed is this new leaven with this holy
and old leaven of our Lord Jesus Christ, which has been
' Prayer of inclination, said with a bowed head and low voice.
The Eastern Churches 75
handed down to us from our spiritual fathers, Mar Mari
and Mar Addai and Mar Thoma, the blessed Apostles,
teachers of this Eastern Country, and has been carried
from place to place and from country to country for the
perfecting and the mixing of the living Bread ^ of the
life-giving mysteries, as often as reason of necessity requires,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.
ylnd they shall mix them zvell with one another.
Prayer
To Thy wonderful and ineffable dispensation, O my
Lord, wlilch in mercies and clemency was perfected and
made and fulfilled for the renewal and salvation of our
nature, in the firstfrults which were of us, we lift up glory
and honour and praise and worship at all times, Lord of
all, etc.
Canon "
Priest. Come, let us praise the Lord, and let us sing
unto God the Saviour.
From error and from sin and from deaths in His compassion^
our Lord has redeemed us : let us zvorship Him, and let us
glorify Him.
Come, let us praise the Lord, and let us sing praise unto
God the Saviour.
Deacon. Let us come before His presence with thanks-
giving and let us glorify Him with songs.
Priest. For the Lord Is a great God, a great King
above all gods.
Deacon. In His hands are the foundations of the
' Lit. the breaking.
* Here used in the sense of a chant intercalated with a psalm (more
elaborate than farsing).
-76 The Bread of the Eucharist
earth and the height of the hills : the sea is His, and He
made it.
Priest. And His hands prepared the dry land : come,
let us kneel and worship Him.
Deacon. And let us praise the Lord who made us : for
He Is our God, and we are His people and the sheep of
His pasture.
From error and from sin and from death, in His compassion,
our Lord has redeemed us : let us worship Him and let us
glorify Him.
Priest. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy Ghost, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.
O Thou, who didst say in Thy teaching to Thy disciples
' Knock, and I will open ' ; open the door to our prayer.
Praise
Glory be to Thy mercies, Christ our King : Son of
God, worshipped of all. For Thou art our Lord and
Thou art our God : the head of our lives and our blessed
Hope. Thee worship the Orders above : and the multi-
tudes below in one symphony : praising Thee who art
invisible : who didst manifest Thyself in our body in the
fulness of time. When Thy mercies were moved thou
didst please in Thy love : to come for our salvation and
didst free our race. Our sorrows Thou didst heal, and our
guilt thou didst pardon : and our mortality thou didst
raise in Thy mercies. And Thou didst found on earth a
holy Church : as the type of that above in heaven. In a
type thou didst sign her and in love thou didst wed her:
in mercy thou didst receive her, by suffering thou didst
perfect her. And the hater of men, lo ! he doth trouble
her : by the boldness of his audacity by his ministers.^
' I.e. the evil angels.
The Eastern Churches 77
Neglect not, O my Lord, the holy Church : that the
promise of Thy words be not falsified. Let not her fair
beauty be disfigured : let not her great riches be reduced
to poverty. Remember Thy promise to Peter : fulfil in-
deed the thing that Thou hast said. Make firm her doors
and strengthen her bars : lift up her horn and exalt her
walls. Bless her sons and preserve her children : and set
at peace her priests and put to shame those who hate her.
And establish within her the peace which is from Thee :
and make to cease from her dividing schisms. And grant
that we may dwell a quiet habitation : without confusion
in reverence for the truth, keeping our faith : in good
hope and perfect love. And also let our conversation be
pleasing to Thee : and may we receive mercy in the day
of recompense. And without ceasing may we offer praise :
to Thy Father through Thee and to the Holy Ghost : to
whom be praise through all generations : of the ages of
the ages. /Jmen and Amen.
Litany
Let us stand in order all of us. In joy and in glad-
ness let us pray and say, Our Lord have mercy upon us.
And they shall answer : Our Lord have mercy upon us.
Lord Almighty, Omnipotent, God of our fathers, we
beseech Thee. I^\ Our Lord, etc.
Holy and glorious, who dwellest in the saints and whose
will is appeased, we beseech Thee. V^. Our Lord, etc.
King of kings and Lord of lords, who dwellest in the
glorious light, we beseech Thee. I^^ Our Lord, etc.
Thou whom no man has seen nor ever can see, we
beseech Thee. I^. Our Lord, etc.
Thou who wiliest that all men should be saved and turn
to the knowledge of the truth. I^. Our Lord, etc.
78 The Bread of the Eucharist
For the health of our holy Fathers, Mar N., Catholic
Patriarch, and Mar N., Bishop Metropolitan, and for all their
clergy, we beseech Thee. I^^ Our Lord, etc.
Merciful God, Thou who in mercies rulest all, we beseech
Thee. I^. Our Lord, etc.
Thou who in heaven art glorified and on earth art
worshipped, we beseech Thee. I^. Our Lord, etc.
Thy peace and Thy tranquillity establish in the multitude
of Thy worshippers, Christ our Saviour, and have mercy
upon us.
y/z^w .•; Holy God (x^./). 68). Jnd : Our Father which
art in heaven.
And they shall say the prayers and concluding bene-
diction,^ and they shall place the leaven in a vessel or else
in a box [J\ ; and bring it into the sanctuary to the psalm,
" The earth is the Lord's " (Ps. xxiv.), and shall suspend it
in its place. And for the rest, the sacristan shall bring
the matter and wipe it [or perhaps " cover it "] with care
well, when first he brings the leaven which is in the
sanctuary, with the psalm, " I will magnify Thee, O God,
my King " (Ps. cxlv.), and shall sign the matter according
to custom, then wipe it and prepare the Bread [for the
Eucharist].^
' For these see Maclean's East Syrian Daily Offices, pp. 16-22 (Riviiigton,
Percival & Co., 1894).
* The meaning of the last part of this rubric is not quite clear.
INDEX
Abyssinians, 47
Alcuin, 19
Aphraates, 53
Armenians, 50 fit.
apros 3, 4
Augustine, St., 10
Bancroft, 40
Basil, St., Canons of, 12
Bede, 15
Bona, 20
Canons of 1603, 39
Chapels Royal, 41
Chelsea, Council of, 17
Chrysostom, St., 10, 1 1
Church Orders, 8
Copts, 46
Cosin, 41
Cyprian, St., 9
Cyril, St., 7
Didache, 6
de Bleys, William, 30
Durandus, 30
East Syrians (Nestorian), 58 ff.
Elizabeth's Injunctions, 34
Epiphanius, St., n
Gregory of Nyssa, St., 7
Gregory the Great, St., 7, 14
Gregory the Illuminator, St., 54
Holy Leaven, 59
Renewal of, 61, 66 ff.
Humbert, Cardinal, 25
Irenaeus, St., 7
John, Acts of, 9
John of Odzun, 53, 56
Justin, St., 7
Lanfranc, 31
Liber Pontificalis, 13
Manazkert, Council of, 54
Maronites, 58
Michael Caerularius, 23
Narsai, 15
Nymphaeum, Council of, 28
Order of Communion, 32
Origen, 9
Orthodox Church, 45
Parker, 35, 36, 38
Paschasius Radbertus, 19
Paulinus of Nola, St., 11
Prayer Book, First, 32
Second, 33
of Elizabeth, 33
Quivil, Peter, 31
Rhabanus Maurus, 19
Sodor, Synodal Constitutions of, 31
Thomas, Jets of, 8
Toledo, XVIth Council of, 16
West Syrians (Jacobites), 48
79
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THE ALCUIN CLUB
Founded wilh the object of promoting the study of the History and use of
the Book of Common Prayer.
Coininittee
Athelstan Riley, Esq., Sr., M.A., Chairman.
E. G. CuTHBERT F. ArcHLEY, Esq.,
L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S.
W. J. BiRKBECK, Esq., M.A.,
F.S.A.
The Rev. Prebendarj' F. E.
Brightman, M.A.
CvRiL S. Cobb, Esq., M.A., B.C.L.,
M.V.O.
The Rev. Percy Dearmer, D.D.
F. C. Eeles, Esq., F.R.Hist.S.,
F.S.A.Scot.
The Rev. W. Howard Frere, D.D.
Stephen Gaselee, Esq., M.A.
W. H. St. John Hope, Esq.,Litt.D.
Harold C. King, Esq., M.A.
The Rev. T. A. Lacey, M.A.
The Rev. J. N. Newland-Smith,
M.A.
C. R. Peers, Esq., M.A., F.S.A.
E. G. P. Wyatt, Esq., M.A.
The Rev. Canon Chr.Wordsworth,
M.A.
Ibon. Secretary anb ITreasurer
The Rev. Percy Dearmer, D.D.
Hssistant Secretary
Miss Ward, 20 Antrim Mansions, Hampstead, London, N.W.
THE ALCUIN CLUB
THE Alcuin Club has been formed to encourage and assist in the
practical study of ceremonial, and the arrangement of Churches,
their furniture and ornaments, in accordance with the rubrics of the Book
of Common Prayer, strict obedience to which is the guiding principle of
the work of the Club.
The Club consists of Members and Associates, who must be in
communion with the Church of England.
The Subscription for Members is zos. per annum, entitling them to
all publications gratis ; and for dissociate! zs. 6d. per annum, entitling
them to such of the Tracts gratis, and such reductions on other publications
as the Committee may determine.
Applications for election should be sent to Miss Ward, 20 Antrim
Mansions, Hampstead, N.W.
The Annual Report and List of Members can be obtained from the
Honorary Secretary.
RULES
1. The object of The Alcuin Club shall be the promotion of the
study of the history and use of the Book of Common Prayer.
2. The Work of the Club shall be the publication of Tracts dealing
with the Object of the Club, and such other works as may seem desirable,
with reproductions of miniatures from MSS., and photographs of Church
Furniture, Ornaments and Vestments.
3. The Club shall consist of Members and Associates, to be elected
by the Committee ; all Members and Associates to be in communion with
the Church of England.
4. The Subscriptions for Members shall be 20/. per annum, entitling
them to all publications gratis, and for Associates, zs. dd. per annum,
entitling them to such of the Tracts gratis, and such reductions on other
publications as the Committee may determine. There shall be no
Entrance Fee nor Composition for Subscriptions.
5. The affairs of the Club shall be managed by a Chairman and a
Committee of not more than twenty Members or Associates, to be elected
by Members of the Club, and subject as to one-fifth, to retirement by
rotation annually.
6. A General Meeting of the Club shall be held every year on May
19th (the anniversary of the death of Alcuin), for the purpose of receiving
a Report from the Committee, electing Committee-men, and transacting
the general business of the Club.
7. A General Meeting of the Club may be called at any time by the
Chairman or five Members of the Committee.
8. The Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary shall be elected by the
Committee from among their number.
9. No alteration shall be made in the rules of the Club except at a
General Meeting of the Members, seven days' notice of the proposed
change having been sent beforehand to all Members of the Club.
PUBLICATIONS
COLLECTIONS
L English Altars. A large folio volume with 14 pp. of Collo-
types. Explanatory Notes by W. H. St. John Hope, M.A.
[0«/ of print, e/ new and enlarged edition is in preparation?^
n. Exposition de la Messe. A large folio volume containing
a Treatise on the Mass from a French Version of the Legenda
Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, now in the Fitzwilliam
Museum at Cambridge, and 22 plates from Illustrations in
this MS. Together with four Tracts from "The Lay Folks'
Mass Book," " Merita Missae," etc. Edited by the Rev.
Walter Howard Frere, D.D. Price [^\. 10/.
Ill and IV. Pontifical Services, vols, i and ii. Two large folio
volumes containing Descriptive Notes and a Liturgical Intro-
duction by the Rev. Walter Howard Frere, D.D., and 20
plates of 62 Illustrations from Miniatures of the XVth and
XVIth centuries. Price ^^i, 10;. each.
V. Dat Boexken vander Missen. (The Booklet of the Mass.)
By Gherit vander GouDE, 1507. 34 woodcuts illustrating
the Celebration of the Holy Communion, described, and the
explanatory text of the Flemish original translated, with illus-
trative excerpts from contemporary missals and tracts by the
Rev. Percy Dearmer, D,D. Price j^i. \s.
VI. The Edwardian Inventories for Bedfordshire. Edited
by F. C, Eeles, F.R.Hist.S., F. S.A.Scot., from transcepts by
the Rev, J. E. Brown, B.A. Price 5^.
VII. The Edwardian Inventories for Huntingdonshire.
Edited by Mrs. S. C. Lomas, editor of "State Papers Charles I
Addenda," etc., from transcripts by T. Craib. Price 10/.
VIII. Pontifical Services, vol. iii. Descriptive Notes and 143
Illustrations from woodcuts in pontificals of the XVIth
century. Edited by F. C. Eeles, F.R.Hist.S., F.S.A.Scot.
Price j^i. IX.
IX. The Edwardian Inventories for Buckinghamshire.
Edited by F. C. Eeles, F.R.Hist.S., F.S.A.Scot., from
transcripts by the Rev. J. E. Brown, B.A. Price ^^i. i/.
X. Fifty Pictures of Gothic Altars. Descriptive Notes and
50 Illustrations. Edited by the Rev. Percy Dearmer, D.D.
Price [^\. \i.
XII. Pontifical Services, vol. iv. Descriptive Notes and 1 34
Illustrations from woodcuts in pontificals of the XVIth cen-
tury. Edited by Athelstan Riley, M.A. Price j^i. \s.
iii
XIII. A History of the Use of Incense in Divine Worship.
XX + 404 pp. 60 Illustrations. ByE.G.CuTHBERT F. Atchley,
L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. Price £7,.
XIV. Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the Period of
the Reformation, vol. i. An Introduction on the theory,
history, and practice of Episcopal and other Visitations. By
the Rev. Walter Howard Frere, D.D. Price £\.
XV. The Same, vol. ii (1536-58). Edited by the Rev. W. H.
Frere, D.D., with the assistance of W. M, Kennedy, M.A.
Price 30/.
XVI. The Same, vol. iii (1558-75). Edited by the Rev. W. H.
Frere, D.D. Price 30/.
XVII. Traditional Ceremonial and Customs connected with
the Scottish Liturgy. By F. C. Eeles, F.R.Hist.S.,
F.S.A.Scot. Price i; I.
XVIII. The Rationale of Ceremonial, 1540-1543, with Notes
and Appendices and an Essay on the Regulation of Ceremonial
during the reign of King Henry \^III. By C. S. Cobb,
M.A., B.C.L. Price 10/.
XIX. Illustrations of the Liturgy. Thirteen drawings of the
Celebration of the Holy Communion in a parish church.
By Clement O. Skilbeck. With Notes descriptive and
explanatory, an Introduction on " The Present Opportunity,"
and a Preface on the English and American Uses. By Rev.
Percy Dearmer, D.D. Price 4/. 6d. net.
TRACTS
I. Ornaments of the Rubric. (Third Edition.) By J. T.
MiCKLETHWAiTE, F.S.A. Price 5/.
II. Consolidation. (Second Edition.) By the Rev. W. C. E.
Newbolt, M.A., Canon and Chancellor of S. Paul's. Price \s.
III. Liturgical Interpolations. (Second Edition.) By the Rev.
T. A. Lacey, M.A. [Out of print.']
IV. The Parish Clerk and his right to read the Liturgical
Epistle. By E. G. Cuthbert F. Atchley, L.R.C.P.,
M.R.C.S. [Out of print.']
V. A First English Ordo : A Celebration of the Lord's
Supper with one Minister, described and discussed
by some members of the Alcuin Club. Price zs. ;
or is. in stiff paper covers.
iv
VI. The People's Prayers : Being some considerations on
the use of the Litany in Public Worship. By E. G.
CuTHBERT F. Atchley, L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. Price \i. 6d. ;
or 6d. in paper covers.
VII. The Sign of the Gross in the Western Liturgies. By
the Rev. E. E. Beresford Cooke. Price is. dd.
VIII. The "Interpretations" of the Bishops and their
Influence on Elizabethan Policy. By V/. M. Kennedy,
M.A. Price \s. 6d.
IX Prayer Book Revision : The "Irreducible Minimum."
Edited by Athelstan Riley, M.A. Price is. net.
X. The Bread of the Eucharist. By the Rev. R. Maxwell
WooLLEY, B.D. With I I Illustrations. Price 4/. 6d. net.
XI. English or Roman Use. By E. G. P. Wyatt, M.A.
Price is. net ; cheap edition, 3</. net.
PRAYER BOOK REVISION
PAMPHLETS
I. Liturgical Interpolations and Prayer Book Revision.
By the Rev. T. A. Lacey, M.A. Price is. ; or in paper
covers, 6d.
II. The Liturgical Gospels. By the Rev. W. H. Frerk, D.D.
Price is. 6d. ; or in paper covers, is.
Reduced Prices. — Members can obtain, through the Secretary, some
of the first Collections at a third of the original price, and other
publications at a reduction.
Lantern Slides. — A varied selection of slides for lectures can be
borrowed from the Club. Further particulars on application.
For all information apply to Miss Ward, 20 Antrim Mansions,
Hampstead, N.W.
Publishers. — Messrs. A. R. Movi^bray & Co. Ltd., 28 Margaret Street,
London, W., and 9 High Street, Oxford.
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
Further Collections will be selected from the following : —
Ottery St. Mary. By Canon Dalton. \^In preparation.']
Academical and Clerical Dress. By the Rev. F. E. Brightman,
[^In preparation.']
New and larger edition of Collection I. English Altars, by Dr.
St. John Hope. [In preparation.]
Scottish Liturgical Services of the X\'IIIth century. Forms for
ordination, etc., drawn up by Scottish Bishops. \_In preparation.]
English Altars II. From the Reformation to 184.0. A collection
of pictures uniform with No. i. [In preparation.]
The Edwardian Inventories for Exeter.
The following Tracts are also proposed : —
The Ceremonial connected with the Consecration of the Eucharist.
The Carthusian Rite.
The Ancient Use of London.
The Liturgical Colours.
Examples of Church Plate and Metal Work. The Eucharistic
Vestments : examples from various sources. The Occasional
Services.
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