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Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center

Recipe for Qurban for Holy Eucharist and the Antidoron
Recipe Number 2 from A Guide for the Domestic Church by Eparchy of Newton, Office of Educational Services, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States.

Recipe as a Microsoft Word .doc
Recipe as a Adobe .pdf
Recipe as an ASCII text .txt.

A basic bread dough recipe is used in preparing the holy bread. The most distinctive sign that this is bread meant for the Eucharist is that before baking it is marked with the seal or stamp on which the divine name is inscribed. This seal consists of a cross, around which is written the Greek inscription IC KC NlKA (Jesus Christ is victorious). Some of these seals contain only one such inscription; others contain several (meant to be used in larger celebrations) as well as indications for the other particles cut during the prothesis or preparation rite. Usually made of wood (but increasingly of plastic or ceramic as well), these seals are available from the liturgical suppliers listed in the appendix and often from ethnic grocers as well.

There are many variations to the recipe for prosphora and these are often found in ethnic cook books. One handy guide is Father Anthony Coniaris' leaflet Preparing the Bread Offering (Prosphora)for the Liturgy, available from Light and Life (see appendix).

One popular recipe used in many of our churches is the following:

Holy Bread

1 pkg. compressed dry yeast
2 1/2 cups water
2 tsps. salt
6 3/4 to 7 cups unbleached flour (Crutchfield is a good brand)

Dilute yeast in warm water. Add salt, then half of the flour and stir. Mix the remainder of the flour by hand until dough is firm. Knead until dough is smooth. Divide dough and place in 8", 9" or 10" cake pans that have been floured only: do not grease pan. Keep in mind that the dough should be smoothed out to cover the bottom half of the depth of the pan.

Take the Eucharistic seal and dip into flour. Shake off the excess flour, then press firmly and evenly in the center of the dough. Remove the seal and let dough rise, covered, until almost doubled in bulk. As the dough will also rise in the oven, take care that it does not rise so much that the seal will be erased.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Before baking, take kitchen scissors and cut the dough at an angle around the perimeter of the bread midway between the edge of the pan and the seal, taking care not to cut through to the bottom. Then take a toothpick and prick the outer edge of the seal. Do not pierce the center section of the seal.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until done. Bread should be golden in color.

Immediately after taking the bread from the oven, wipe the face of the bread with a clean, damp cloth which has been soaked in cold water. Cover the bread with a dry cloth and allow to cool. Place bread in a plastic bag when cool.

While mixing, kneading and waiting for the bread to rise or bake, family members can pray for the intentions they wish to commemorate during the Liturgy. In some parishes the priest sings these names aloud during the Great Entrance, so when you bring the Bread to church, include a list of the intentions you wish commemorated.

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Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center is dedicated to my cousins: Bucky (Richard C. Liles) and Shirley (Shirley Jean Liles Buck). Bucky fell asleep in the Lord on Dec. 12, 2000 and Shirley fell asleep in the Lord on Nov. 8, 2001.
O God of all spirits and of all flesh, who have destroyed death, overcome the devil, and given life to the world: grant, O Lord, to the souls of your servants Bucky and Shirley, who has departed from this life, that it may rest in a place of light, in a place of happiness, in a place of peace, where there is no pain, no grief, no sighing. And since You are a gracious God and the Lover of Mankind, forgive him/her every sin he/she has committed by thought, or word, or deed, for there is not a man who lives and does not sin : You alone are without sin, your righteousness is everlasting, and your word is true. You are the Resurrection and the Life, and the repose of your departed servants Bucky and Shirley. O Christ our God, and we send up glory to You, together with your eternal Father and your all-holy, good and life-givng Spirit, now and always and for ages upon ages. Amen.

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