Prosfora means “offering” and is made by members of the Orthodox faith as altar bread for celebrations of the Divine Liturgy. Read more about the significance of this bread below the schedule.  Anyone is welcome to join our baker rotation.  Recipe will be provided.  If you are interested, contact info@stmatthewoca.org

A very meaningful project for the Orthodox Christian is to bake a loaf of altar bread (prosfora) and bring it to church for the liturgy. The significance of the bread may be explained as follows. The offering bread represents Jesus Who is the Bread of Life. It is baked by someone in the congregation and brought to the priest for each liturgy.

A special seal is stamped on top of the loaf before it is baked. The middle part of the seal contains a square piece of bread with the words IC, XC, NIKA. This is a Greek abbreviation for JESUS CHRIST CONQUERS. Since this is the piece that will be changed into the Body of Christ, it is called the Lamb of God. A large triangular piece is removed from the left of the Lamb of God and placed on the paten. This represents the Virgin Mary. Then nine smaller triangular pieces are removed from the seal to commemorate the angels, prophets, apostles and saints of the Church. These are placed on the paten to the right of the Lamb of God. Following this, the priest prays for the living members of the congregation, especially for those whose names have been submitted to him. As he prays for each name he cuts a small piece of bread, representing the person prayed for, and places it immediately below Jesus, the Lamb of God. Finally, he removes a piece of bread for each deceased person for whom we have requested prayers. Thus, around the Lamb of God on the paten is gathered the entire Church consisting of the angels, saints and loved ones in heaven together with members of the local congregation. ALL are alive in God's presence and all constitute the one living Body of Christ.