Eulogy
Eulogy ( Gr. Εὐλογία , literally: "good word", transferred meaning: " blessing ") is a theological term that is used both in New Testament science and in liturgy.
New Testament
In the New Testament interpretation , the eulogy as a literary form is part of the early Christian letter prescript. The letters handed down in the New Testament mostly adhere to the ancient letter form, i. H. The beginning and the end of a letter follow a fixed form. The beginning of the letter is formed by the prescript , which contains the name of the sender ( superscriptio ), the name of the addressee ( adscriptio ) and a greeting ( salutatio ) in the form "X says Y: Hello!" In the New Testament letters follows the Proömium , a thanksgiving to the addressee congregation, or a eulogy. The eulogy comes from the Jewish blessing formulas ( Bracha ), which begin with baruch haSchem , translated in Greek as eulogetós ho theós , hence the name.
In contrast to the Proömium, which addresses the addressees directly (and sometimes also woos their benevolence), the eulogy is shaped by the liturgical language and does not focus on the recipient of the letter, but on God.
Liturgy
In the liturgy under eulogy - in contrast to the consecrated bread of communion - after the celebration of the Eucharist to the believers present (also to the catechumens, as Augustine of Hippo reports), the blessed bread is to be understood as a symbol of the unity and love of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Over the centuries this custom fell more and more out of use, but has survived in some places, especially in the area of the Eastern Churches (see Antidoron ).