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Sacramental bread, also called Communion bread, Communion wafer, Sacred host, Eucharistic bread, the Lamb or simply the host (Latin: hostia, lit. 'sacrificial victim'), is the bread used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. Along with sacramental wine, it is one of two elements of the Eucharist.
Eucharist (Koinē Greek: εὐχαριστία, romanized: eucharistía, lit. 'thanksgiving') [1] is the name that Catholic Christians give to the sacrament by which, according to their belief, the body and blood of Christ are present in the bread and wine consecrated during the Catholic eucharistic liturgy, generally known as the Mass. [2]
The Eucharist (/ ˈ juː k ər ɪ s t / YOO-kər-ist; from Koinē Greek: εὐχαριστία, romanized: evcharistía, lit. ' thanksgiving '), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others.
Some Christian denominations [1] [2] [3] place the origin of the Eucharist in the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, at which he is believed [4] to have taken bread and given it to his disciples, telling them to eat of it, because it was his body, and to have taken a cup and given it to his disciples, telling them to drink of it because it was the cup of the covenant in his blood.
Eastern Orthodox practice with regard to the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts has varied historically and geographically. At this Liturgy, which is customarily used only on weekdays of Great Lent, no prayers of consecration take place but communion is distributed with bread with wine poured into it that were consecrated and reserved at the Divine Liturgy the Sunday before.
More frequently, the term used is either Holy Communion, Holy Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper. Occasionally the term used in Eastern churches, the Divine Liturgy, is also used. [44] In the English-speaking Anglican world, the term used often identifies the Eucharistic theology of the person using it. "Mass" is frequently used by Anglo-Catholics.
In Catholic teaching, the holy sacrifice of the Mass is the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant, the one sacrifice on the altar of Calvary is revisited during every Catholic Mass. Jesus Christ merited all graces and blessings for us by His death on the Cross.
When the exposition and adoration of the Eucharist is constant (twenty-four hours a day), it is called perpetual adoration. In a monastery or convent , it is done by resident monks or nuns and, in a parish , by volunteer parishioners since the 20th century.