He Is Risen: A Manifesto for Leavened Communion Bread
EDITOR’S NOTE: The discussion of leavened and unleavened communion bread spans the centuries, and Christians and churches of committed orthodoxy have defended and adopted both practices. Anglican Compass takes no side in this discussion. However, we believe Fr. Jefferies offers both good advice [and a recipe!] for those who might entertain using leavened bread and food for thought [!] for those who don’t. Meanwhile, we also have a recipe for unleavened communion bread.
Two months ago, my nine-year-old daughter, Lucy, overheard me explaining to a member of the parish how the Eastern portion of the Church refers to the Western Church as “Azymites” (unleavened) and scorn us for using unleavened wafer-bread in Holy Communion. That Sunday, we had, in the course of distributing Holy Communion, run out of the sacrament (For several years, we have used pita bread at my church) and retrieved some consecrated “wafers” from the tabernacle. I quickly explained that the matter is adiaphora —i.e., the kind of bread you use is unimportant and shouldn’t cause division.
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Later that evening, Lucy inquired about the earlier exchange and wanted to know what ‘adiaphora’ meant (priest-kid alert!), so I explained it a little further. She took it in, paused for a minute, and then, with a consternated look on her face, asked, “You really think it doesn’t matter?—I nodded—and immediately she burst out, “Well, let me ask YOU a question: Is the body of God fluffy and yummy and good for you and delicious? Or is it stale and crunchy and yucky?” Her instinct made an impression on me. I told her she made a good point and that I would look into it a little more.
Is Leavened Communion Bread Historic?
Well, starting with the very helpful article on eucharistic bread in the old Catholic Encyclopedia, I was startled by what I discovered upon inquiring:
- Eucharistic bread was leavened in both the West and the East for most of the Church’s first millennium. The “wafer” is a development of the High Middle Ages.
- For most of our Church’s post-Reformation history, Anglicans utilized regular leavened bread and only switched to the Roman wafer around the turn of the last century (1900).
- Since biblical scholars are increasingly favoring John’s chronology of Jesus’ death vis-a-vis the Passover, it seems likely that the bread Jesus used for the Last Supper would have been made prior to the first day of unleavened bread and, therefore, would have been leavened.
Moreover, I was startled to learn how seriously and regulated Eucharistic bread production was in the past! A personal hero of mine, St. Theodulph of Orleans (of ‘All Glory, Laud, and Honor’ fame), required that his parish priests bake the bread themselves, accompanied by fasting and prayer!
Two Principles
For a long time, our parish has utilized pita bread instead of wafers for Holy Communion because I have long valued the one-bread/one-body symbolism (1 Corinthians 10). However, through the course of this mini-research quest launched by my daughter, I became convinced of two things:
- One was that my shabby custom of just picking up pita bread from Aldi was way out of step with the instincts of the ancient church.
- Two, while it is not such a grave matter as would require the breach of inter-communion with other ecclesial bodies, the difference between yummy leavened bread and dry wafer crackers is not insignificant.
A substantial chunk of real, yummy bread has a much richer and much more Anglican symbolism to it since it is manifestly food for the body, as well as spiritual food for the soul (thus, keeping in view the true nature of a sacrament, according to our 39 Articles, that is—that it is BOTH bread and the sacramental Body of Christ).
It also layers down a pleasant sense-memory connected to the receiving of Holy Communion—and this is what my daughter was getting at—that it is meaningful to have a yummy association with the receipt of the Bread that came down from Heaven and gives life to the world.
The Work of Human Hands
And so, for the past several months, in keeping with the directives of St. Theodulph—I, as the rector, have been baking the eucharistic loaf early on Sunday mornings. And it has been a delightful experience. Now, when I whisper over the bread, during the setting of the Table, the adapted Jewish prayer, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation. Of your goodness, we have this bread to offer—the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of heaven.” I delight in knowing that it is the work of my hands that has brought this bread to this Holy Table. Likewise, the congregation has remarked on how wonderfully yummy the bread is and how it has brought additional joy to their experience of Holy Communion.
So, with this in view, a two-point manifesto and a recipe:
- Priests and Altar Guilds of the ACNA, let’s stop using wafers! Let’s return to regular bread. Pita bread from the store is better than wafers from an online store, but homemade bread is even better!
- Priests, as you are able, let’s bake the hosts for our congregations! Here is a recipe to help you do just that:
A Recipe for Holy Communion Bread
Ingredients:
These ingredients are approximate. Tweak them up or down to taste.
- 1 scant cup flour
- ⅓ cup milk (or water)
- 1 scant tsp salt
- ¼ c active sourdough starter (or scant ¼ tsp dry yeast mixed into 1 tbsp water)
Instructions:
Stage I: On Saturday Night, around 10 pm (5 minutes)
- In a ceramic bowl, mix flour and salt (salt will kill yeast on contact if not mixed in)
- Add milk and starter.
- Mix with two fingers into a small ball of dough until fully mixed (it should be a little softer than soft play-dough and a little firmer than chocolate pudding—add a tablespoon of flour if it’s too soft or a tablespoon of water if it’s too firm).
- Cover the bowl (with a plate or cling film), and place it in a room-temperature oven WITH THE OVEN LIGHT ON (the oven light provides +5 degrees temperature, which really helps activate the yeast’s metabolic activity) for the duration of the night (time does not need to be exact).
Stage II: On Sunday morning, upon waking (5 minutes work. 75 minutes rising and baking)
- Work/press/knead the dough for 1 minute in the bowl
- Turn out onto a floured countertop, and roll with a rolling pin into a ~⅜” thick circle (a little thicker than an iPhone).
- TENDERLY pick up and place on a well-floured pizza stone (or a metal baking tray).
- With the BACK of a knife, press a cross-shape into the top
- Place into a cold oven and let sit for 45 minutes.
- Turn the oven on to 350 degrees (with the bread still in the oven). When it reaches temperature, set a timer for 12-15 minutes.
- When you start to smell the bread, or when the edges of the loaf start to turn a little browner than the rest, take it out.
- Let cool on a cooling rack for 20 minutes.
- With a butter knife, scrape off any excess flour that has clung to the bottom.
Take to Church, and use for Holy Communion! If you tear off pieces the size of a nickel, a loaf this size will provide Communion for about 60-70 communicants. You could make two or more as needed by multiplying the above recipe but keeping the process the same.
FAQ for Liturgical Nerds like myself:
Will this loaf fit on my paten?
A: Probably not. Most patens are tiny. You will need to get a larger, lipped paten like this one or this one.
What about Crumbs?
Bread made according to the recipe, if used within 24 hrs, is not very crumby at all. The amount of crumbs will only be fractionally more than with wafers. Moreover, the neurosis among my fellow anglo-Catholics about the possibility of errant crumbs seems unwarranted. Though the sacrament should always be treated with the utmost reverence, nevertheless, in his death on the cross, Christ atoned for the sins of the whole world. However, since not all are saved, then some of the grace is surplus and “unused”—an analogy for the crumbs.
What if you have lots of bread left over after everyone has communicated?
It makes for a bit more post-Communion consumption by the Priest and Deacon, but this is also much yummier!
Doesn’t Communion bread have to be made of bread and water and no other ingredients?
This is a scruple created by the modern Roman Catholic Church. Bread has had salt in it since time immemorial, and a little bit of fat (either from olive oil, milk fat, or butter) or a little bit of honey is very common in the bread-making of most cultures. It is, therefore, not “un-bread-like” to have such ingredients in the bread. It needs to be recognizably simple bread, that is all. The presence of fat in bread helps the crumb to congeal together and makes it softer and less crumbly.
Can this bread be used for the reserved sacrament?
For those who reserve the consecrated bread, this only stays fresh for 24 hours. After that, it becomes quite stale, and after a few days, it might be liable to mold. So, it is best to still keep “wafers” for reserve, not home-baked bread.
Photo by Allebach Photography from Getty Images, courtesy of Canva.
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