Archaeologists at Topraktepe, A mound in
southern Turkey identified with the early Byzantine city of Irenopolis,
unearthed five carbonized bread loaves dating to the seventh or eighth
century CE. One loaf carried an image of Christ portrayed as a sower
scattering grain above the Greek phrase With our gratitude to Blessed
Jesus. The remaining four showed Maltese-cross impressions, a motif
often stamped on Eucharistic bread.
Researchers said the objects likely
served as communion loaves for a rural Anatolian congregation that
depended on its crops. “These 1,300-year-old breads shed new light on a
fascinating chapter of early Byzantine life. They prove that piety
extended beyond prayers and ceremonies, materializing in objects that
carried spiritual significance to the most basic human need: bread,”
said a member of the excavation team.
The
loaves survived because an abrupt fire carbonized them, locking in
their form and decoration. Provincial authorities called them “among the
best-preserved examples identified in Anatolia to date,” according to a
communiqué relayed byPosta.
Material
culture at Topraktepe already included necropolises, rock-cut chambers,
and fortifications, but few artifacts spoke so directly to everyday
devotion. “This is evaluated as indicating the symbolic importance of
abundance and labor in the religious understanding of the period,” the
statement added,Star
reported. Officials also noted that such provincial evidence differed
from urban practice in Constantinople, emphasizing how rural worship
remained intertwined with agriculture.
Irenopolis
sat on trade routes yet relied on sowing, harvesting, and herding.
Depicting Christ as a farm worker therefore echoed the community’s
livelihood, researchers told La Vanguardia. LadBible connected the
inscription to John 6:35, “I am the bread of life,” arguing that the
discovery offered fresh archaeological context for the metaphor.
Archaeologists
plan chemical and botanical analyses to learn which grains and
leavening agents the bakers employed and to determine whether the loaves
were leavened prosphora or served another liturgical purpose such as
antidoron. They also hope to locate a nearby chapel that might have
stored the bread.
“The survival of Eucharistic bread from
the seventh and eighth centuries is extremely rare, making the loaves
from Topraktepe a unique window into primitive Christian worship,”
concluded the research team.
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