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Once the time also in the roman rite there was the custom to use no leather shoes for the altar area.
This custom then was applied only to the pope (who used silk shoes), and after CVII it disappeared

Latin bishops have silk shoes for celebrating Liturgy as well, I thought?

Alexis

They're generally called "pontifical sandals".

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13434a.htm

The information in the New Advent Encyclopedia is not entirely accurate. As I have already remarked, the Armenian Liturgy knows the use of the slippers. The buskins (stockings) and the slippers themselves are originally Imperial vestments - some other vestments presently used in the Church are also originally Imperial.

Fr. Serge

Thank you for pointing out the inaccurancy. I was, however, recommending the article for the information on the Latin Rite since Alexis asked about that in particular.

Someone really does need to come out with an updated (and revised) version of that wonderful resource.

I bookmarked this particular thread so I could come back to it.

It appears that both the Syrian orthodox and the Armenians are using a non-leavened altar bread that will be consecrated in the Liturgy/Badarak. Or is it just the way they look in the photos?

The altar breads don't look like the leavened breads used in the Byzantine tradition.

BOB

The Armenians definitely use a non-leavened bread in the Badarak, the Syriac Orthodox use the leaven from the previous loaf (tradition says, all the way back to Christ), although it does not include extra yeast.

Well, that's only somewhat correct. That is the Syriac practice in India, but I'm told by a Syriac deacon from Aleppo with whom I studied that they don't keep that practice (anymore?) in Syria. It's a tricky thing to master IMO, baking the eucharistic bread with holy leaven. I have my own, and I've successfully done it once (the other times, I thanked God that the bread was at least "valid"). :P

Deacon, that surprises me because the Assyrians (Church of the East) in Iraq, Iran, India, etc claim to still have the practice of previous leaven - when did the Syriac Orthodox in the Mideast stop the practice, and why?

Michael Thoma:

I asked this question because the breads looked so similar in the photos posted. The Armenian priest has them lying where he can select one; the Syrian Orthodox priest seems to have a number in a plastic sleeve.

In Christ,

BOB

Dear Michael Thoma,

I'm not 100% sure that a) they ever had it and/or b) that they have lost the practice in all quarters; my deacon friend from Aleppo simply told me that they didn't do that. This came up when another Indian seminarian and myself had an "argument" about the holy leaven (specifically, whether one is allowed to "add" new leaven to the holy leaven), and I asked the deacon from Aleppo for another perspective, since he served in the Cathedral of that city. He told me that they didn't have the practice of using holy leaven to make the eucharistic bread. When I asked him what they do, he told me they buy a quantity of dough from the local baker, form dough balls in the church and then stamp them with the seal, and then bake them in an oven.

We know it is an East Syriac custom to use the holy leaven when making the eucharistic bread, and when West Syriac influence entered the Church in India, this custom naturally would've continued, as it is what the people were used to, and there's nothing contrary to the faith in it. In fact, it is a beautiful custom full of meaning, even if it practically eliminates "antidoron". But I'm not sure if it was practiced by the Syrian Orthodox in the Middle East. If it was, I'm unaware of when it ceased.

Dear Bob,

If you look carefully at the pictures, I believe you will be able to see that the Syrian breads are a bit thicker than the Armenian breads. While they are not as thick as Byzantine breads, they are definitely leavened.

This Communiqu� [cired.org] seems to be appropriate for this thread.

Actually, I will include this is in the "Oriental Orthodox" thread as well!

Mor Ephrem:

Thanks for the explanation. Actually with my eyes not being as good as they used to be, I probably missed that.

BOB