A Little History about Bread

For us in the twentieth century, bread is just bread. (Except if we are refugees in the Balkans or elsewhere. When we see bread being unloaded from trucks, we only begin to understand its importance!) We can live without it. After all, we have bagels, English muffins, and anything else we want to make, or, more often, buy. Bread is bread! Or is it? I can remember going with my mother to the Greek-Italian import store for specialty items not found in the local grocery store: feta cheese, Greek olives, and Italian bread. That Italian bread was not sliced. It had a hard crust all around it. It had a different texture; it was chewy. And it was great to use to sop up the salsa/sauce from various Greek meals Mom made. Bread isn't just bread!

At the time when Jesus walked among us, bread was an important staple in the diet of ordinary people. By virtue of paying taxes, each Roman citizen was entitled to a daily ration of bread. As a result it was regulated. The Romans had stringent laws about the size and weight of loaves of bread that were sold. The consequences for shortchanging the purchaser were dire. Sealing each loaf with the imprint of the baker kept the bakers honest, and guaranteed that the Roman government got exactly the amount of bread paid for to feed the Roman troops. Bread was not the only item sealed. Dealers of olive oil and wine used clay seals to identify their products.

Bread and the Liturgy

Prosphora is a Greek word meaning "offering." In one sense, all that we offer for the use of the Church is prosphora: wine, incense, charcoal, oil (for oil lamps), candles, flowers, and bread. Our offerings are never raw materials. In all these cases we take something and make it into something else. Grapes to wine, olives to olive oil, wheat to bread, etc. Generally speaking, prosphora refers to the bread offering. In addition, the bread was not only a gift for use in the Liturgy, but it was also a gift to the Church to feed the priest and the poor.

While its use has remained the same as in the early Church, its form and markings have evolved. Bread with markings and in various shapes was common in ancient times among pagans as well as Christians. People decorated or impressed symbols on bread that was baked, bought, and eaten every day, as well as on bread offered in religious rites. Once again the Church "Christianized" a pagan or common practice.

Details concerning the first Eucharistic loaves are not found in the writings of the early Fathers. "Probably the texts are silent because the forms and symbols were known to all and interpreted correctly. The use of bread in worship was delivered to the Christian communities by practice itself, before any formulation had found a place in the written documents. This is better understood if one remembers that the celebration of the Eucharist predates any written source. The Sacrament was celebrated as soon as a Christian group was formed. In Jerusalem, for example, the Eucharist was performed immediately after Pentecost, that is, twenty years or more before the writing of the Synoptics." [the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke] (Galavaris, Bread and the Liturgy, p.22)

During the time of Christian persecution, Christian symbols became cryptic, hiding, for example, the cross in simple decorative motifs. Although the symbol used on the bread may have varied during the early years, St. John Chrysostom (4th century) refers to the bread being "sealed," probably with the IC-XC NIKA.

Two Prosphora Traditions

The Slav tradition uses a small seal, stamped on five loaves, in honor of the feeding of the 5000." These small loaves are made with two layers to represent both the two-fold nature of Christ and the uniting of heaven and earth. The Greek style, which uses one large loaf marked with IC-XC NIKA in the center, surrounded by several other seals, signifies the one Body of Christ. The first bread seals were bronze. Seals have also been made of ceramic, marble, wood, and now plastic.

Preparing the Bread at Church

The priest prepares the offering in the part of the Liturgy called the proskomidia or prothesis, offered just prior to the Divine Liturgy. The center of the seal, in both the Greek and Slav traditions, reads IC-XC NIKA, which means "Jesus Christ Conquers /The Victor." The priest cuts one seal in the shape of a cube to be offered as the "Lamb," which becomes Christ's Body. He also removes pieces and places them next to the Lamb on the diskos (paten). To the left is placed a large triangular piece for the Theotokos, Christ's Mother. Nine smaller triangular pieces are placed to the right, in three rows of three, "in memory of John the Baptist, the prophets, apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, monastic saints, healers, and the whole company of the righteous, with special mention of the saints commemorated on that particular day. Finally a piece of bread is place on the diskos in memory of the saint whose liturgy is being celebrated. In addition, two rows of bread pieces are placed on the diskos for the bishop of the given church, for the civil authorities of the country and for all of the faithful both living and dead, once more with particular mention by name of those particularly remembered by the local community." (Fr. Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, Vol. 2, Syosset, NY, 1975, p.160-1). In this way the whole Church, the entire Body of Christ - saints, loved ones in heaven together with the local congregation - participates in the offering to God. In the Slav tradition a separate loaf is used for each set of particles cut during the proskomidia: the Lamb, the Theotokos, the "Nine Ranks," the living, and the dead.

Prayerful Preparation

Preparing this bread is a very special and holy service to God. By reflecting on the bread's use, the baking of it becomes a prayerful and solemn undertaking. Needless to say, before one begins the baking process, prayers are in order. Although traditions vary, begin with the Trisagion Prayers and the Creed. The work area can be sprinkled with holy water and a vigil light lit. While the bread is rising, read some of the psalms or other spiritual reading. Consider placing a vigil lamp/candle near the rising bread. Your parish priest should be able to offer guidelines relative to your jurisdiction's practice.

This task is so important, that in some monasteries there is a separate area and oven to prepare the prosphora. If one was making prosphora on a regular basis, the equipment used should be kept separate and used only for prosphora baking. Only the purest ingredients available should be used. A suggested recipe appears below.

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