- Oct 4, 2016
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Hi there! Years ago, I was a member of a church that had it's apostolic succession from the Church of the East (Nestorian Church). I had learned of a curious idiosyncratic belief from the Assyrian Church known as "the Leaven from Heaven". There was a book written in the middle ages called the Margenetha (The Pearl in Syriac) which is a kind of book of doctrine, a kind of catechism etc. In that book, it mentions that the Seven Sacraments of the Assyrian Church and one of them is "the Leaven from Heaven". The Assyrians not only have Communion as a Sacrament like all of the other Churches, but they have a kind of tradition itself about the Communion bread (The leaven from heaven was actually listed as another sacrament).
The tradition itself is a kind of an Apostolic Succession of the Communion bread. (When the bread is made, they pinch of a piece of it, and store it in a cool secure place, then use that piece when making a new loaf to add yeast etc.) And presumably this process has gone on, for ages to the times of the Early Church... (So much that it is an official teaching in the Assyrian Church).
Anyway, I was curious if there was anything like this in the Eastern Orthodox Church? Officially or unofficially.
(I sort of suspect some of the reason they have this as a Sacrament is also to pad out the list to make 7 items since that is the number of perfection and fits what the other Churches were doing naming 7 sacraments on their lists etc.) Interesting enough, marriage is not listed as a Sacrament by them (the reason being is the Church is suppose to recognize non-Christian marriages as per the NT, so they see that as an institution that the Church recognizes).
The tradition itself is a kind of an Apostolic Succession of the Communion bread. (When the bread is made, they pinch of a piece of it, and store it in a cool secure place, then use that piece when making a new loaf to add yeast etc.) And presumably this process has gone on, for ages to the times of the Early Church... (So much that it is an official teaching in the Assyrian Church).
Anyway, I was curious if there was anything like this in the Eastern Orthodox Church? Officially or unofficially.
(I sort of suspect some of the reason they have this as a Sacrament is also to pad out the list to make 7 items since that is the number of perfection and fits what the other Churches were doing naming 7 sacraments on their lists etc.) Interesting enough, marriage is not listed as a Sacrament by them (the reason being is the Church is suppose to recognize non-Christian marriages as per the NT, so they see that as an institution that the Church recognizes).
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