MATERIA EUCHARYSTII W KOŚCIELE PIERWSZYCH WIEKÓW
MATTER OF THE EUCHARIST IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH

Summary/Abstract: The use of wheaten bread and wine of grape as the matter of the Eucharist is common among Christians and almost unanimously confirmed 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 first part of this article is discussed the problem of the products used by Jesus at the Last Supper and by the first Christian communities. The second part presents the practice of some small Christian communities to use for the Eucharist products other than those confirmed 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.

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