L’iconophagie byzantine : aspects du ritual eucharistique dans le christianisme oriental

Abstract

In a letter of Louis le Pieux, dated 842, Emperor Michel II is accusing the “iconophils” to confuse during the Eucharistic rite the holy images with the consecrated substances of bread and wine, by blending the “body and blood of Christ” with ink dust which was scraped off the holy icons and then offered to the believers. By doing this, the “iconophils” attributed to the icon the virtues of the consecrated bread and wine, thus rendering the mysterium of transubstantiation more comprehensible. Besides the icon dust, other substances also enter the Eucharist celebration, such as vinegar, honey, grapes and even meat, which led, of course, to an increasing entanglement of sacred and profane food. These practices of superstitious and biblical origins are questioning the link between the incarnation and the act of eating by a series of gestures, like scraping, blending, distributing, swallowing and finally receiving communion. In other words, these practices represent an alternative theology of Eucharist which ...