''Fermentum'' is a practice of the

Early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

Church whereby

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s affirmed their communion with one another, or with their own local subordinate priests. The custom of the ''fermentum'' was first practiced as early as 120 AD. A particle of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

ic bread was carried by a minister of the Church from the bishop of one

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

to the bishop of another diocese. The receiving bishop would then consume the species at his next celebration of the Eucharist as a sign of the communion between the churches. The term ''fermentum'' was probably a reference to the Eucharist as the leaven of the Christian life, and as the instrument by which Christians spread throughout the world were united in the one

Body of Christ In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ () has two main but separate meanings: it may refer to Jesus' words over the bread at the celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover that "This is my body" in (see Last Supper), or it may refer ...

as a leaven to the world. In the 2nd century,

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

s sent the Eucharist to other bishops as a pledge of unity of faith, this being the origin of the expression to be ''in communion'' with each other, and such communion already considered essential to Christianity in the 2nd-century writings of St.

Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius of Antioch (; Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, ''Ignátios Antiokheías''; died c. 108/140 AD), also known as Ignatius Theophorus (, ''Ignátios ho Theophóros'', lit. "the God-bearing"), was an early Christian writer ...

and St.

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the de ...

. On occasion, bishops also sent out ''fermenti'' to their priests. John Zizioulas, the Metropolitan of Pergamon, in his 1964 doctoral thesis (at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

), takes the position that by the mid-3rd century the Bishops were exercising ''fermentum'' with the (local to the Metropolitan) parishes that did have a presiding Bishop in order to communicate/retain the unity of the Church under the Bishop. While this was due to the growth of the Christian church it is also due to extensive persecution of the Church, especially aimed at the Bishops. Another usage, often termed ''sancta'' or also (confused with) ''fermentum,'' was to use previously (locally) consecrated host to signify temporal continuity. At papal masses around 700 AD Klausen states: "Saying the salutation 'Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum' – he peace of the Lord be always with you– the Pope immersed the particle which came from the previous day's mass in the chalice and at the same time broke off a piece of bread which he had consecrated, and which was to serve as a fermentum at the next service".

References

External links

History of Eucharistic Adoration
{{Catholic Mass Eucharist in the Catholic Church Eucharist

See also

References

External links