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I know there are different versions of communion depending on what Church one belongs to. The Roman Catholics use the unleavened bread, the Byzantine Catholics use leavened bread. I heard the Melkites use some sort of pita for the host. Is this correct? If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Also, does anyone know what the Coptics, Maronites, and Armenians use for the host? I would really appreciate it if someone could enlighten me on the variations, I'm pretty curious.

As the resident Lutheran, let me say that there is great variety of practice between congregations and, sometimes, within a congregation. Some use a whole leavened loaf, some use unleavened wafers, some use variations of pitas.

My own practice is to use a leavened loaf for Sunday liturgies (the loaf might be homemade, or bought from a bakery depending on which folks have sacristan duty); unleavened wafers for weekday liturgies; and pitas for the better attended weekdays such as Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Ascension Day.

Melkites use leavened bread like all other Greek Catholics.

Among the other Eastern Catholics, Armenians alone by canon are to use unleavened bread and all other are to use leavened. In practice in my experience, however, Maronites, Chaldeans, and Malabars use unleavened hosts as well.

As Fr. Deacon Lance said the Melkites use the leavened bread. Also, they give Communion with the fingers and not the spoon.

Dearest Fr. Deacon Lance,

Among Oriental Catholics, not just the Armenians, but also the Ethiopian Catholics use unleavened bread for communion according to the Tradition of the Mother Church. Use of unleavened bread for communion in other Oriental Catholic Churches would problably be a Latinization.

Humbly,
Marduk

Yes the Chaldeans use unleavened bread. The one I attended used the same kind of hosts the RCs use (and they share the parish building with an RC parish as well).

At the Assyrian Qurbono I attended, the bread was typical Prosphora.

Hm, so from what varience there is, it not only varies from particular church, but just from what individual church you're at. I'm just wondering because I forgot to tell my Roman Catholic relatives how we in the Byzantine Church do communion and they were caught off guard when it came time for communion. I'm just trying to become more informed. Thanks for the aid.

Are you sure this is correct? I don't believe the Ethiopian Orthodox Church uses leavened bread for its Divine Liturgies. I know there is a Wikipedia entry [en.wikipedia.org] that currently states that the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox use unleavened bread, but in all the years of knowing about the Oriental Orthodox churches this is the first time I read about this.

There is an Ethiopian Orthodox website [ethiopianorthodox.org] that states leavened bread is used in the liturgy. Other sources also say leavened bread is used.

Therefore, the use of unleavened bread by Ethiopian/Eritrean Catholic is a latinization.

Correction:

It should say:

Are you sure this is correct? I don't believe the Ethiopian Orthodox Church uses unleavened bread for its Divine Liturgies. I know there is a Wikipedia entry [en.wikipedia.org] that currently states that the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox use unleavened bread, but in all the years of knowing about the Oriental Orthodox churches this is the first time I read about this.

There is an Ethiopian Orthodox website [ethiopianorthodox.org] that states leavened bread is used in the liturgy. Other sources also say leavened bread is used.

Therefore, the use of unleavened bread by Ethiopian/Eritrean Catholics is a latinization.

Unleavened bread is used during Pascha. Sorry I wasn't specific enough.

Blessings,
Marduk

It kind of fits in with this thread, so I have a question I have that I can't tell the answer of from pictures I've seen.

When Ruthenians used pre-cut bread, is the lamb part in 4 pre cut squares already or is it one lamb that the priest cuts up at the time of communion?

On a related matter, I have heard that on occasions Ruthenians used unleavened pre-cuts; can anyone confirm?

Thanks.

The bread is leavened with a bit of yeast; approximately 1/4 tsp to 2 cups flour. If I am understanding your question properly; is the lamb pre-cut as it sits on the discos?

The Ruthenians used to (maybe some still do, but it is on the way out) have a box of triangular and square shaped pieces (I asume with stamps where appropriate) that they would arrange on the diskos without cutting at all.

I know the form of the normal prosphora (I'm Russian Orthodox) but I haven't been able to track down any pictures that tell me whether the Ruthenian pre cut lambs were in four pieces or one.

On a somewhat related matter:

If you scroll down to the very bottom of this page (http://mymartyrdom.com/c.htm) you will see two images of the sign of the cross and the way that the Old Rite and New Rite lamb and commemoration particles are arranged. Can anyone tell me whether it matters which portion of the old rite lamb is put in the chalice and who communes from which bit? Are the dividing lines the cross?

Whether the use of unleavened altar bread among the Maronites is really a latinization is debatable. While I don't have references or resources at hand, there is evidence that both leavened and unleavened altar bread was used by the Maronites well before the 15th century. I could be wrong, but I believe something similar is true for the Chaldeans.

Now, OTOH, the form it takes (i.e. the Latin-style host), is most definitely a latinization, but I consider it minor and it's one that even I can live with. AFAIK, and from what I have seen, the Syriac CC uses similar style hosts (both large & small), albeit leavened, which points to a minor latinization there as well.