Azyma
Azyma (Gr. Ἄζυμα, unleavened , without yeast , singular: Azymon) is a name for unleavened bread , which is used in the Eucharistic celebrations of the Armenian and Latin churches.
The term Greek bread was derogatory used by the Elkesaiten for the leavened wheat bread that Greek-speaking Christians used for the Eucharist. The Elkesaiten also used unleavened bread like Jewish Christians and other oriental Christians , but also the Roman Catholic Church since 9/10. Century.
The purpose of the “Greek bread ” was originally to distinguish it from the matzo (also unleavened bread) of the Jews; the leaven was a symbol of Christ .
history
The use of unleavened bread in religious activities has its origins in the Jewish Chametz ban. In the Old Testament cult, the flat bread called azyma in the Septuagint was an offering and food for the Passover festival.
The use of azyma in the first four centuries is only documented in Greek polemics against Judaizing sects. Since Justin , Greek church fathers demanded leavened bread in the Eucharist, in contrast to Jewish Christian practices.
The use of azyma has been documented in the Armenian Church since the 6th century, but the custom may be older. From the 9th century onwards, the Latin church also preferred Azyma, and since the 14th century hosts . In the Byzantine rite , however, leavened bread was and is used. When Emperor Maurikios invited the Armenian Catholicos Moses II to a council in 591, the latter replied that he would “never cross the Azat river to eat the baked bread of the Greeks”. In the case of the Trullanum in 692, the Armenian custom of giving azyma was not objected to, nor did Photios object to the Latin one.
The rejection of azyma in the Latin rite is a result of the so-called azymastreite in the 11th century. Michael I. Kerullarios , Patriarch of Constantinople , and Leo von Ohrid , Archbishop of Ohrid , criticized in a circular "to the Franks" in 1054 the Latin practices of giving azyma and Saturday fasting as heretical. Cardinal Humbert von Silva Candida then excommunicated Michael and Leo as “prozymitic heretics”, with which the Oriental Schism in 1054 began.
A popular argument against Azyma in the Byzantine Church is the parable of the leaven in the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 13:33 EU ), in which it says, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven". Furthermore, it is stated in the Byzantine literature that Jesus celebrated his Lord's Supper before the beginning of the Jewish Passover and that the scriptures say: "Jesus took bread" (Greek artos ). Azyma (Gr. Sing. Azymon ) are not bread. Only leaven gives the bread "life" and corresponds to Christ's human nature with body and nous . The rejection of the sourdough is therefore an expression of the Apollinian heresy.
literature
- Hans-Joachim Schulz : Azyma . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1318 f.
- John Meyendorff : Azymes . In: Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium , Vol. I, p. 241. New York / Oxford 1991.
- Georgij Avvakumov: The emergence of the idea of union. The Latin theology of the High Middle Ages in dealing with the rite of the Eastern Church. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2002, pp. 29–159 (Chapter A: The Azymenstreit ).
- Axel Bayer: Division of Christianity. The so-called Oriental Schism of 1054 (= Archive for Cultural History, Appendix 53). Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2002, 2nd edition 2004, pp. 214–221.
- James Loughlin: Azymites . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 2, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1907.
