The polemic about unleavened bread: The history, meaning and the peculiarities of the interpretation

The article reveals the history of the polemic of the Eastern and Western Church concerning the liturgical practice of using unleavened bread («azymes») in the sacrament of the Eucharist. In order to explain the advanced the opinions that the Catholic Church allows the use of leavened bread by Orthodox Christians due to its symbolic meaning, a short excursus into the history of the unleavened bread controversy was made. This dispute began during the time of Patriarch Michael Cerularius and preceded the appearance of the «Great Schism». Each of the parties for many centuries defended the rightness of only its liturgical tradition. The publication deals with the content of the first polemical works of the Greeks against the Latins and their response. In particular, the details of the controversy are revealed and the biblical foundation of the Eucharistic practice is given of Leo Achridanus («De azymis et sabbatis»), Nicetas Pectoratus («Libellus contra latinos») and Cardinal of the Roman Church Humbertus («Adversus Graecorum calumnias», «Responsio sive contradictio in eumdem libellum»).