Leavened Bread

[christs4life]

 Besides their view on the Greek definition of "artos" why does the Orthodox Church use this type of bread? What does the leaven symbolize to you guys?

[trifecta]

Yes, we use leavened bread.  Personally, I think an argument for both can be made.  The big argument for unleavened bread is that the last supper was during Passover and this is what Christ would have done.

However, Jesus was trying to separate--in a sense--from the Passover since he said "Do this in remembrance [not of Passover but] of me." So, it is certainly possible that he used leavened bread that terrible night.

One explanation I read is that the leaven is the work of the people. To me, leaven is alive and Jesus is alive, although ancients probably didn't see yeast in that way.

Astute question!

[Norton]

That the Eastern Church uses leavened bread was news to me until a year or so ago. I came across an article about some very old historical church documents in which some priests complained that Rome was insisting that they change the Eucharist to have unleavened bread. The charge was that Rome wanted the Eucharist to be more mysterious. Since reading that I have learned that the kind of bread used was one of the points of contention between East and West.