Bread and the Liturgy: The Symbolism of Early Christian and Byzantine Bread Stamps by

George Galavaris
Review by: John P. Cavarnos
The American Historical Review, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Apr., 1971), p. 490
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
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490 Reviews of Books
pocket at the end of a book is much better
than a dozen small ones buried in the pages;
it can show the relations between the elements
-geophysical features, settlemnents, roads, po-
litical boundaries, military mnovemients-that
the little maps present in isolation and there-
fore fail to explain. For the history of a
Roman province, a good road map with ap-
proximate dates of constructiorn is essential,
and this book has none. Floor plans should,
when possible, show doorways. This volume is
a clumsy, leavy hulk with long lines of print
that are tiring to read. It could have been
made lighter and more readable and could
also have had larger maps and pictures, had it
been designed as a small quarto with two col-
umns of smaller type per page.
MORTON SMITH
Columbia University
MEDIEVAL
GEORGE GALAVARIS.Bread and the Liturgy: The
Symbolism of Early Christian and Byzantine
Bread Stamnps.Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press. 1970. Pp. Xvii, 235. $10.00.
As the title indicates, this book deals with the
bread stamps and the bread used in the rites of
the Greek Orthodox Church. The work con-
sists of a helpful introduction to the subject
and four chapters entitled "From Pagan to
Christian Bread Stamps," "The Eucharistic
Bread," "The Eulogia Bread," and "Bread
Stamps and Byzantine Liturgy." The final
chapter constitutes the synthesis, "where the
stamps and the bread they represent are dis-
cussed in the setting of the Byzantine liturgy."
Professor Galavaris made his fine synthiesis
with the coordination of several diverse dis-
ciplines-iconography, archeology, paleogra-
phy, littirgics, theology, history, and literature.
However, iconography, paleography, aind con-
temporary usages were the primary means and
tools used "to reach logical solutions to the
various problems." Ninety-five illustrations,
most of which are dated prior to the tenth
century, help give the treatise clarity and
precision.
Galavaris starts his discussion of the svm-
bolism of bread stamps from the very begin-
nings of the Church and goes beyond 1453 to
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
include some post-Byzantine and modern ex-
amples and thus give a more complete picture
of the development of the use of bread in the
Byzantine rite. But no Latin stamps were in-
cluded, for these must by their very nature
be studied separately.
Of particular interest to the ecumenists
should be the statement made on the types of
bread. "The same baking method and ovens
were used by the Christians for both their daily
bread and that which was to be used in wor-
ship. It must be made clear that . . . in the
Early Christian centuries and in all eastern rites
through the ages, except in the Armenian
church, the bread used for the Church did not
differ fromnordinary bread in substance. From
the beginning leavened bread was uised" (p.
13).
The broadness of spirit in the Church is seen
in the kinds of liturgical bread used and in
the symbolism of the stamps. For example, the
pagan hyg;ieta bread survived in the form of
the liturgical bread called antidoron. Insofar
as the design of the bread stamps is concerned,
although Canon 82 of the Trullan Council
forbade the representation of the Lamb in
iconography, to this very day one can see
eucharistic stamnpsmarked with the Lamb only.
Professor Galavaris has succeeded in making
the bread stamps yield valuable information
and also in making mute literary texts speak
with the help of these stamps. His book should
prove very useful and informative especially
to students of art and liturgics. It is well writ-
ten and carefully printed.
JOHN P. CAVARNOS
Portland State University
RUPERT VON DEUTZ. De Victoria Verbi Dei. Edited
by RHABAN HAACKE. (Monumenta Germaniae
Historica. Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des
Mittelalters, Number 5.) Weimar: Hermann
Bohlaus Nachfolger. 1970. Pp. lix, 474. DM 58.
In this new edition of De Victoria Verbi Dei,
the third work of the author to appear in the
series, Rupert of Deutz's masterpiece is pub-
lished at last in a worthy version. Most of his
writing is too prolix to make easy reading, but
this work, written in 1124 when he was at the
height of his powers, is his clearest and most
systematic. It provides the student of intellec-