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De azymis

John of Damascus · khazarzar

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machine-draft · no human review 2 passages · 410 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

The treatise 'De azymis' argues against the use of unleavened bread (azyma) in the Eucharist, defending leavened bread as the sole valid matter. It is a polemical work directed at Latin practice, traditionally attributed to John of Damascus (c. 675–749), though its authenticity is questioned. The work may date from the later iconoclast or post-iconoclast period, possibly 8th–9th century. It was cited in later Byzantine anti-Latin polemics, especially during the 11th–13th centuries, and appears in collections of patristic testimonies against the filioque and azyma. The text uses scriptural and patristic citations, including Matthew 26:26 and Cyril of Jerusalem, but does not always identify them precisely.

The treatise is a significant witness to the Byzantine polemic against Latin liturgical practices, particularly the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. It reflects the theological and cultural tensions that contributed to the East-West Schism. The work's attribution to John of Damascus, even if disputed, lent authority to later anti-Latin arguments. Its use of scriptural and patristic citations illustrates the exegetical and historical arguments employed in medieval Christian controversies.

Historical context

The treatise is rooted in the Byzantine theological and liturgical tradition, likely composed in a Greek-speaking monastic or ecclesiastical setting, possibly in Palestine or Constantinople. Its attribution to John of Damascus is traditional but uncertain; the work may have been produced in the 8th–9th centuries, during or after the iconoclast controversy, when debates over liturgical practices intensified. The text was transmitted through Byzantine manuscript collections and later printed editions, but its stemmatic basis is unknown. The Khazarzar edition provides no critical apparatus or manuscript witnesses. The work engages in the East-West controversy over the use of azymes, which became a key issue in the schism between the Greek and Latin churches, especially from the 11th century onward.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

12 commentary units 4 scripture2 background2 dating1 sense1 reception1 structure1 caution 0 derived notes 3 open questions 2 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: other in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 2 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: khazarzar — Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-azymis:1 · narrativehigh
Source
ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΖΥΜΩΝ Ἰστέον, ὅτι οἱ τὰ ἄζυμα προσκομίζοντες, νεκρὰν σάρκα, καὶ οὐχὶ ζῶσαν προσφέρουσιν. Ἡ γὰρ ζύμη ἀντὶ ψυχῆς τῷ φυράματι γίνεται, καὶ τὸ ἅλας ἀντὶ τοῦ νοός· ὁ γὰρ Κύριος σῶμα ἔμψυχόν τε καὶ ἔννουν ἐκ τῆς Ἀειπαρθένου προσλαβόμενος, διὰ τελείου ἄρτου εἰκότως παρέδωκε τὸ τῆς Καινῆς Διαθήκης μυστήριον· εὐλογήσας αὐτὸν, καὶ κλάσας, καὶ εἰπών· «Λάβετε, φάγετε· τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σῶμά μου.» Καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς ἐν ἁγίῳ Εὐαγγελίῳ αὐτοῦ, «Καὶ λαβὼν ἄρτον, φησὶν, εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν.» Ἰδοὺ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἄρτον εἶπε λαβεῖν τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἄζυμον. Οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἦν, πέμπτης οὔσης τηνικαῦτα ἡμέρας· δεκακαιτρίτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ σελήνη τότε, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄζυμον διὰ τὸ μήπω γενέσθαι. Τῇ ιεʹ γὰρ τῆς σελήνης νενομοθετημένον ἦν ἐσθίειν ταῦτα. Τῇ δὲ ιδʹ τὸν ἀμνὸν καὶ μόνον ἤσθιον· διὸ καὶ τὴν δεκακαιτετάρτην τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς τῆς σελήνης, Πάσχα προσαγορεύει ὁ νόμος· τὴν δὲ ιεʹ αὐτὴν καὶ Σάββατον ὀνομάζει. Εἰ οὖν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐτύθη κατὰ τὴν δεκακαιτετάρτην τῆς σελήνης, ἡμέρᾳ Παρασκευῇ· τὸ δὲ Σάββατον ἦν τῶν ἀζύμων ἑορτὴ, ὅτε τὰ ἄζυμα ἤσθιον, πότε ταῦτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις παρέδωκεν, ὅτι λέγουσιν παρὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ταῦτα λαβεῖν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ Πάσχα τὸ νόμιμον κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἔφαγεν ὁ Χριστός. Καὶ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι, παρέδωκε διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἄρτου κλάσεως, τὸ τῆς Καινῆς Διαθήκης μυστήριον κατὰ τὴν πέμπτην ἡμέραν. Ὅτε δὲ ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἀζύμων ἦν ἐν τῷ Σαββάτῳ κατὰ τὴν ιεʹ ἡμέραν τοῦ μηνὸς, ἐν τῷ τάφῳ ἔκειτο ὁ Κύριος.
English
Of Saint John of Damascus, On the Azymes. It is to be known that those who offer azymes offer dead flesh, and not living flesh. For leaven serves as soul to the dough, and salt as mind; for the Lord, having assumed a living and intelligent body from the Ever-Virgin, fittingly handed down the mystery of the New Testament through complete bread, having blessed it, and broken it, and said: "Take, eat; this is my body." And Luke in his holy Gospel says, "And taking bread, having given thanks, he broke it." Behold, he too said that Christ took bread, and not azyme. For it was not yet the time, since it was then the fifth day; for the moon was then the thirteenth, and there was no azyme because it had not yet come to be. For on the fifteenth of the moon it was ordained to eat these. On the fourteenth they ate only the lamb; wherefore the law calls the fourteenth of the same month of the moon Passover, and the fifteenth itself it also calls Sabbath. If then Christ was sacrificed on the fourteenth of the moon, on the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was the feast of the Azymes, when they ate azymes, when did he hand these down to the apostles, that they say they received these from the apostles? For Christ did not even eat the legal Passover at that time. For after supping, he handed down the mystery of the New Testament through the breaking of bread on the fifth day. But when the feast of the Azymes was on the Sabbath, on the fifteenth day of the month, the Lord lay in the tomb.
khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-azymis:2 · narrativehigh
Source
Ἀζύμων οὖν μὴ ὄντων πρὸ τῆς ἑορτῆς τῶν Ἀζύμων ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ, ποῦ εὑρέθησαν τότε τὰ ἄζυμα, ὅτε μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν τὸ δεῖπνον ἔφαγεν ὁ Χριστός; Παύσασθε οἱ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἀντιμαχόμενοι. Καὶ τὸ, «Ἦν δὲ Παρασκευὴ τοῦ Πάσχα,» οὕτω νοεῖται. Ἡτοίμαζον γὰρ, οἷον καὶ παρεσκεύαζον τὰ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ Πάσχα· καὶ τὸ, «Αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον, ἵνα μὴ μιανθῶσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα φάγωσι τὸ Πάσχα,» πῶς νοήσεις, εἰ τῇ πέμπτῃ ἦν τὸ Πάσχα; πῶς τῇ Παρασκευῇ πρὸς τὸ πραιτώριον οὐκ εἰσῆλθον, ἀλλ' εὐλαβοῦντο προκαθαιρόμενοί πως διὰ τὴν τοῦ Πάσχα μετάληψιν;
English
Since azymes do not exist before the feast of the Azymes throughout the entire year, where were the azymes found at that time, when Christ ate the supper with his disciples? Cease, you who fight against the truth. And the phrase, "It was the Preparation of the Passover," is understood thus. For they were preparing, that is, making ready the things of the feast of the Passover. And the phrase, "They themselves did not enter the praetorium, lest they be defiled, but in order to eat the Passover," how will you understand it, if the Passover was on the fifth day? How on the Preparation did they not enter the praetorium, but were scrupulous, purifying themselves in some way beforehand for the partaking of the Passover?
Citation. Tergwame, “De azymis”, khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-azymis:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-azymis#s1
Colophon. Source: khazarzar · licence: Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0016 · generated 2026-11-15.