Stamping Bread

Bread is present in scripture as physical sustenance, theological symbol, sacramental vehicle, and more. The theme of bread is a through-line from Genesis (By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return. 3:19) through Paul (I Corinthians 11.28: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread...)

The Greek Orthodox liturgy uses a particular bread which is made solely for liturgical use. Prosphoron (plural: prosphora), which literally means offering, is made by members of the congregation from four ingredients: flour, salt, water, and yeast, though some streams in the Orthodox tradition omit the salt. The leavened dough is shaped into two round pieces which are stacked on top of one another and baked. The two pieces of dough symbolize Christ's two natures: human and divine.

In the Greek tradition, one large loaf is used in the liturgy. In the Slav tradition, there are five loaves, remembering the loaves that fed five thousand people.

Before baking, the bread is stamped with a seal called a sphragis or Panagiari. The stamp's design usually includes the abbreviation IC XC NIKA (Jesus Christ conquers) and the shape of a cross. The stamp below was available for purchase at the time of this post's publication.

Antique Wood Bread Stamp.

One additional ingredient not mentioned above is prayer. The process of baking prosphora is a prayerful process. When preparing to bake, kneading the dough, stamping the loaf, and putting the loaves in the oven, the baker prays. Scripture reading is encouraged while the bread is baking. The tools and utensils for baking prosphora are often kept separate from other kitchen tools so that they are used only for prosphora.

An internet search will yield a number of recipes for Prosphora.