Bread blessed - not consecrated - to be distributed at the end of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy as a sacramental of spiritual communion.
Documented history and memory received
In the Byzantine Rite Churches (Eastern and Orthodox Catholic), the Eastern mentality does not draw a rigid border between sacraments and sacramentals: it sees all the cosmos and blessed objects as a channel of the Holy Spirit. The "antidoron" (which means "instead of the gift") are the pieces of the liturgical bread (prosperous) that were not consecrated as the Eucharist but received a special blessing. At the end of the Divine Liturgy they are distributed to the faithful, who receive them with reverence; many take them home and consume them in fasting during the week as sacramental of spiritual communion, comfort and healing, especially those who have not communicated. It's a very ancient tradition of the East.
Who venerates the memory
The look is directed to Jesus Christ and to the mystery of his Incarnation, Passion, Death, Resurrection or Reign. The image, relic, monument or custom does not act by its own power: it serves the memory of the Gospel and leads to prayer, sacraments, conversion and charity.
History, tradition and discernment
The antidoron is blessed and unconsecrated bread; it is expressly distinguished from the Eucharist. The customs of reception vary according to the Church and pastoral blessing. The tab retains the memory received without turning legend, witness or believing interpretation into a historically demonstrated fact.
Celebration and devotional life
Festivity or main time: without own liturgical date documented in the main source.
No particular promises are documented. The rite, sacramental, image or monument refers to Christ and does not act as an amulet or guarantee protection, healing or favors.
Location on the map
The marker points to Saint Vladimir Orthodox Theological Seminary · Yonkers, representative training marker (United States). Its approximate or representative character is declared not to pretend an exclusive point.
Main source
Orthodox Church in America. Contrast lettering with OpenStreetMap/Nominatim.
Para orar
Blessed be God, who feeds the world from his youth.
Image credit
Church of the Holy Cross of Nin, a free thematic image that does not reproduce the antidoron even a prosperous one. Photo: Paula Borkovic, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.