Dossier: Unleavened Bread

Azymes: Unleavened Bread between Biblical Symbolism and Mariology

Unleavened bread holds a singular place in the history of salvation. Azymes are bread made without leaven, and they point to the Hebrew Passover and to the purity of the Eucharistic mystery. Understanding unleavened bread in a Mariological key means rediscovering Mary as the Immaculate One, the living sign of the purity of the heavenly unleavened bread.

In this dossier we bring together contributions on unleavened bread in the Old and New Testaments, in the liturgy, and in the Marian tradition. The purity of unleavened bread is a figure of the immaculate purity of the Virgin who carries the Bread of Life. Read more about its paschal meaning in Ecclesia de Eucharistia.

Unleavened bread opens the way to a Marian theology of Eucharistic purity. Mary is the place where the unleavened bread of the Old Covenant finds its fulfillment in the incarnate Word. May this dossier on unleavened bread be a doorway into Marian contemplation.