CLEVELAND — The Eastern Christian Formation students from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, St. Mary Parish and Holy Spirit Parish had a hands-on experience of making prosphora, the bread used for Communion, and an up-close presentation of the rite of preparation.
Father Marek Visnovsky, pastor and administrator of the three parishes, brought all the ingredients for the prosphora recipe and a batch of dough that was already rising to a Saturday morning class, held at the cathedral. Students received the prosphora prayers, which they prayed together. He pointed out the correlation between Jesus being referred to as the “Bread of Life” and his birth in Bethlehem, a name that means “house of bread.”
Father Visnovsky spoke of the rising dough as a symbol of the transformation that should happen in each Christian’s life. The students kneaded the dough, rolled it to a half-inch in thickness and cut out three-inch circles of dough using an inverted drinking goblet.
Using a bit of water, Father Visnovsky showed them how to fuse one circle on top of the other to represent the two natures of Christ. Lastly, the students stamped the top of each two-layered loaf with a special seal that represents Jesus Christ the victor.
The students then gathered in church around the tetrapod, which was set up like the preparation table located behind the icon screen. Using ready-made prosphora, Father Visnovsky went through the steps in cutting the bread, called a “lamb,” and explained the commemoration of each particle, beginning with the Mother of God, ranks of angelic powers, prophets, apostles, holy hierarchs, holy martyrs, venerable fathers, charitable wonderworkers, ancestors of God, saint of the day, the living, including bishops, monastics, brothers and sisters, the dead, including founders and benefactors of the church, and the special intention of the Divine Liturgy.
Father Visnovsky then related the three parts of the Divine Liturgy to the life of Jesus: the rite of preparation, performed privately before the priest says, “Blessed is the Kingdom,” represents the private life of Jesus before his public ministry; the Liturgy of the Word, with its petitions, praises, troparia, readings and the sermon, represent the public life of Jesus; the Liturgy of the Sacrifice, which begins with the Nicene Creed, represents the sacrifice, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
Caption:
Father Marek Visnovsky, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, explains how to make prosphora to the children in Eastern Christian Formation. (Photo: John Trompak)
As published in Horizons, May 12, 2019. Sign up for Horizons’ digital newsletter.