The Bakery
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread,
and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples
and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
(Gospel of Matthew 26:26)
The sun goes down, cares of the day are retreating, the silence comes - this is the best time to pray: monks, novices and employees gather in the temple to read the monastic rules.
After evening rule the monks having obedience in the bakery begin to bake hosts. Host in Greek means "offering" is liturgical bread, used in the Orthodox Church for the sacrament of the Eucharist and for the remembrance during Liturgy of Preparation of the living and the dead.
Hosts consist of two parts, and these two parts represent divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ.
Division of hosts into two parts visibly represents the division of human nature into the flesh (flour and water) and soul (yeast and holy water) that are in an unbroken, but not joint unity, that is why the upper and lower parts of the host are made separately from one another, but then combined so that they become a single entity.
Print on top of the host means the invisible printing of the image of God, penetrating all the nature of a person and being the supreme principle.
A host therefore is also a sign of the Lord Jesus Christ, who united in himself a divine and human nature.
A host is made round as a sign of eternity of Christ and humanity in Christ, in general as a sign of the fact that man is created for eternal life. It is easy to see that a host also expresses the creation of God in the unity of the celestial and terrestrial areas of life and the fullness of the heavenly and earthly Church of Christ.
For divine service, in fact, one host is needed, the one from which part for the Holy Lamb is removed, but according to the custom of ancient times, when five hosts were consumed, this is actually the lowest for the fulfillment of Liturgy of Preparation. In the Charter of the Church the following is said about the bread brought to the sacrament: it should be made "of pure wheat flour, mixed with fresh, natural water and well baked, leavened, not salted, fresh and clean."
Therefore, the monks having obedience in the bakery during work read the midnight and the Psalms. The tradition of baking bread in the monasteries in Russia existed in ancient times, when monasteries always had a bakery.
In our monastery the bakery is consecrated in the name of Saint-Prochor Lebyadnik. In the days of famine and hardship this Pecherskiy Holy baked bread from bitter quinoa and never lose heart, he also fed the starving people of Kiev, who turned to him for help. Bread from Prochor-Lebyadnik was not only sweet and nutritious, but also healed the suffering from many diseases.
In the monastery of St. John not only hosts are planned to be baked but also bread for the monks and laymen.
The monastery bread is baked according to ancient recipes, has no harmful chemical additives.
At the moment, the building of bakery is constructed, but it is still necessary to equip it in order to increase the production of bread.
We invite all willing to help the cause of Charities and work together for the organization of baking tasty and healthy bread for the Glory of God.
