What Is Prosphora? The Bread That Begins Every Liturgy

Long​‍​‌‍​‍‌ before the first hymn is sung and the believers gather in the church, a humble yet sacred thing is already taking place in the kitchen making of the bread.

Prosphora is a type of bread offered during the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church. After carefully examining several sources, it is clear that the word itself comes from the Greek prospherō, meaning "to bring forth" or "to offer". It is not regular bread.

Each loaf is imprinted with a seal that displays the letters IC XC NIKA - "Jesus Christ conquers" - a symbol that distinguishes it from the time the flour gets mixed until it completes baking in the oven.

The preparation takes place through fasting before and praying, as well as through kneading the dough simultaneously.

Archangel Michael Orthodox Church's Prosphora Bakers ministry is a ministry of dedicated service.

During the Liturgy, the priest makes a cut on the prosphora in such a way that the resulting piece is called Lamb.

This is the piece that is consecrated as the body of Jesus Christ. Other pieces are taken out in order to honor the Mother of God, the saints and also to remember the living and the dead by name.

Every person mentioned in a parish prayer request has their name breaded along with them.

It is one of those where the physical and the spiritual are combined and unseparated, where flour, water, and faith are turned into something that the Church has always called holy.

Such Orthodox ministry programs are the epitome of working together in God service carrying out sacred work week after week but mostly unrecognized by others.