Materia Eucharystii w Kościele pierwszych wieków

Abstract

The use of wheaten bread and wine of grape as the matter of the Eucharist is common among Christians and almost unanimously confi rmed since apostolic times. Evidence about the use of other products for the celebration of the Eucharist are extremely rare and typical of minor Christian sects that did not survive the confrontation with the common practice of the Church. The purpose of this paper was to show the existence of the particular Eucharistic practices in the ancient Christianity that have not been accepted by the great tradition. In the fi rst part of this article is discussed the problem of the products used by Jesus at the Last Supper and by the fi rst Christian communities. The second part presents the practice of some small Christian communities to use for the Eucharist products other than those confi rmed in the NT (additional cups of milk or honey, cheese, blood). At the end it appears that recourse to arguments from tradition to justify any possible changes of the matter is unfounded.