Sacramental bread, also called Communion bread, Communion wafer, Eucharistic bread, the Lamb or simply the host (), is the bread used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. Along with sacramental wine, it is one of two elements of the Eucharist. The bread may be either leavened or unleavened, depending on tradition.
Catholic theology generally teaches that at the Words of Institution the bread's substance is changed into the Body of Christ (transubstantiation), whereas Eastern Christian theology generally views the epiclesis as the point at which the change occurs. Bread was also used in Jewish Temple ritual as well as in the religious rituals of Mandaeism, Mithraism, and other pagan cultures similar to that of ancient Egypt.
Christianity
Etymology of host
The word host is derived from the Latin , which means 'sacrificial victim'. The term can be used to describe the bread both before and after consecration, although it is more correct to use it after consecration.
Eastern traditions
With the exception of Churches of the Armenian Rite, the Maronite Church, and the Syro-Malabar Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches use leavened bread for the Eucharist. Thus, the sacramental bread symbolizes the Resurrected Christ. The host, known as or a (, 'offering') may be made out of only four ingredients: fine (white) wheat flour, pure water, yeast, and salt. Sometimes holy water will be either sprinkled into the dough or on the kneading trough at the beginning of the process.
Armenian rite
Because leaven is symbolic of sin, the Armenian Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church traditionally offer unleavened bread (although it is distinctively different from the kind used by the Catholic Church) to symbolize the sinlessness of Christ.
Eastern Orthodox Churches
The baking may only be performed by a believing Orthodox Christian in good standing, having preferably been recently to Confession, and is accompanied by prayer and fasting. Before baking, each loaf is formed by placing two disks of dough, one on top of the other, and stamping it with a special liturgical seal. The prosphora should be fresh and not stale or moldy when presented at the altar for use in the Divine Liturgy.
Often several prosphora will be baked and offered by the faithful, and the priest chooses the best one for the Lamb (Host) that will be consecrated. The remaining loaves are blessed and offered back to the congregation after the end of the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist); this bread is called the (, ), i.e. a 'gift returned', or 'in place of the gifts'.
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches (like the Eastern Orthodox Church) use leavened bread for prosphora (the Greek word for Eucharistic altar bread).
The Maronite Church has adopted the use of unleavened bread due to liturgical Latinisation. The Syro-Malabar Church uses both unleavened bread as well as leavened bread in which Holy Malka is added.
Western traditions
Catholic Church
A host is a portion of bread used for Holy Communion in many Christian churches. In Western Christianity the host is often thin, round, unleavened hosts.
In the Roman Rite, unleavened bread is used as in the Jewish Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Code of Canon Law requires that the hosts be made from wheat flour and water only, and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling.
Hosts are often made by nuns as a means of supporting their religious communities. However, in New Zealand, the St Vincent de Paul Society hires individuals with intellectual disabilities to bake, cut out, and sort the bread, thereby offering paid employment to those who would not otherwise have that option.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal §321 recommends that "the eucharistic bread ... be made in such a way that the priest at Mass with a congregation is able in practice to break it into parts for distribution to at least some of the faithful. ... The action of the fraction (breaking of bread), which gave its name to the Eucharist in apostolic times, will bring out more clearly the force and importance of the sign of unity of all in the one bread, and of the sign of charity by the fact that the one bread is distributed among the brothers and sisters."