Antidoron

At the preparation before the Liturgy, the priest cuts from the offered loaves of prosphora the square portion called the Lamb — the bread that will be consecrated — together with small particles for the saints and the faithful. What remains of those loaves is not discarded and never becomes ordinary again. It is cut into small pieces, and at the end of the Liturgy it is given out to the congregation, most commonly as each person comes forward to venerate the cross the priest holds at the dismissal. In Greek parishes it is usually received from the priest's hand with a small bow; in Slavic parishes it often waits in a bowl or tray beside the cross.

This is the antidoron: bread that was offered but not consecrated. It is holy — it belongs to the offering and carries the Church's blessing — but it is not the Body of Christ, and the Church is careful about the difference. Receiving Communion requires the preparation of prayer, fasting, and confession; receiving antidoron requires only reverence and open hands.

The name explains the custom. Antidoron means "instead of the gifts" — the blessed bread given in place of the Eucharistic Gifts to those who did not receive them. In centuries when most of the faithful communed only a few times a year, the antidoron kept everyone at the table in some real sense: whoever could not or did not approach the chalice still went home carrying bread from the offering. Today, when frequent Communion has widely returned, the antidoron remains — now received by communicants and non-communicants alike, a last taste of the Liturgy on the way into the week.

Because it is blessed bread, it is treated with care. It is eaten on the spot or carried home in a napkin, crumbs are guarded, and by widespread custom it is best received fasting — though practice varies and no one polices a visitor. Its close relatives are the loaves of the artoklasia blessed at festal Vespers, and the zapivka — the morsel of bread with wine and warm water taken by communicants right after the chalice.

Here an honest hedge is needed, because practice genuinely differs. In most parishes, especially in North America, antidoron is offered to everyone present — non-Orthodox visitors included — precisely because it is not Communion: it is the Church's way of sending no one away empty. In some jurisdictions and monasteries, however, the older strictness holds and the antidoron is reserved to Orthodox Christians. Neither custom is discourtesy; they are two ways of honoring the same holiness.

For the visitor the counsel is simple: watch, or ask. If the parish invites you forward, come with cupped hands — right over left is the common gesture — receive the bread, and eat it there or carry it respectfully home. For the inquirer standing at the edge of Orthodox worship, that small piece of bread often turns out to be memorable out of all proportion to its size: the chalice may still be far off, but the Church has already fed you something from her table.