Bread and the Liturgy: The Symbolism of Early Christian and Byzantine Bread Stamps byGeorge GalavarisReview by: John P. CavarnosThe American Historical Review, Vol. 76, No. 2 (Apr., 1971), p. 490Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1858727 .

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490 Reviews of Books

pocket at the end of a book is much better than a dozen small ones buried in the pages; it can show the relations between the elements -geophysical features, settlemnents, roads, po- litical boundaries, military mnovemients-that the little maps present in isolation and there- fore fail to explain. For the history of a Roman province, a good road map with ap- proximate dates of constructiorn is essential, and this book has none. Floor plans should, when possible, show doorways. This volume is a clumsy, leavy hulk with long lines of print that are tiring to read. It could have been made lighter and more readable and could also have had larger maps and pictures, had it been designed as a small quarto with two col- umns of smaller type per page.

MORTON SMITH

Columbia University

MEDIEVAL

GEORGE GALAVARIS. Bread and the Liturgy: The Symbolism of Early Christian and Byzantine Bread Stamnps. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1970. Pp. Xvii, 235. $10.00.

As the title indicates, this book deals with the bread stamps and the bread used in the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church. The work con- sists of a helpful introduction to the subject and four chapters entitled "From Pagan to Christian Bread Stamps," "The Eucharistic Bread," "The Eulogia Bread," and "Bread Stamps and Byzantine Liturgy." The final chapter constitutes the synthesis, "where the stamps and the bread they represent are dis- cussed in the setting of the Byzantine liturgy."

Professor Galavaris made his fine synthiesis with the coordination of several diverse dis- ciplines-iconography, archeology, paleogra- phy, littirgics, theology, history, and literature. However, iconography, paleography, aind con- temporary usages were the primary means and tools used "to reach logical solutions to the various problems." Ninety-five illustrations, most of which are dated prior to the tenth century, help give the treatise clarity and precision.

Galavaris starts his discussion of the svm- bolism of bread stamps from the very begin- nings of the Church and goes beyond 1453 to

include some post-Byzantine and modern ex- amples and thus give a more complete picture of the development of the use of bread in the Byzantine rite. But no Latin stamps were in- cluded, for these must by their very nature be studied separately.

Of particular interest to the ecumenists should be the statement made on the types of bread. "The same baking method and ovens were used by the Christians for both their daily bread and that which was to be used in wor- ship. It must be made clear that . . . in the

Early Christian centuries and in all eastern rites through the ages, except in the Armenian church, the bread used for the Church did not differ fromn ordinary bread in substance. From the beginning leavened bread was uised" (p. 13).

The broadness of spirit in the Church is seen in the kinds of liturgical bread used and in the symbolism of the stamps. For example, the pagan hyg;ieta bread survived in the form of the liturgical bread called antidoron. Insofar as the design of the bread stamps is concerned, although Canon 82 of the Trullan Council forbade the representation of the Lamb in iconography, to this very day one can see eucharistic stamnps marked with the Lamb only.

Professor Galavaris has succeeded in making the bread stamps yield valuable information and also in making mute literary texts speak with the help of these stamps. His book should prove very useful and informative especially to students of art and liturgics. It is well writ- ten and carefully printed.

JOHN P. CAVARNOS

Portland State University

RUPERT VON DEUTZ. De Victoria Verbi Dei. Edited by RHABAN HAACKE. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, Number 5.) Weimar: Hermann Bohlaus Nachfolger. 1970. Pp. lix, 474. DM 58.

In this new edition of De Victoria Verbi Dei, the third work of the author to appear in the series, Rupert of Deutz's masterpiece is pub- lished at last in a worthy version. Most of his writing is too prolix to make easy reading, but this work, written in 1124 when he was at the height of his powers, is his clearest and most systematic. It provides the student of intellec-

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