Sacramental bread

The host, known as prosphorá or a πρόσφορον (prósphoron, 'offering') may be made out of only four ingredients: fine (white) wheat flour, pure water, yeast, and salt.

[citation needed] The baking may only be performed by a believing Orthodox Christian in good standing, having preferably been recently to Confession, and is accompanied by prayer and fasting.

[citation needed] The remaining loaves are blessed and offered back to the congregation after the end of the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist); this bread is called the antidoron (αντίδωρον, antídōron), i.e. a 'gift returned', or 'in place of the gifts'.

However, in New Zealand, the St Vincent de Paul Society hires individuals with intellectual disabilities to bake, cut out, and sort the bread, thereby offering paid employment to those who would not otherwise have that option.

[3] The General Instruction of the Roman Missal §321 recommends that "the eucharistic bread [...] be made in such a way that the priest at Mass with a congregation is able in practice to break it into parts for distribution to at least some of the faithful. [...]

"[4] In 1995 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote a letter to the Episcopal Conferences in which he expanded the Code of Canon Law, stating that low-gluten bread would be considered "valid matter" for hosts as long as no additional substances "alter[ed] the nature of the substance of the bread".

[5] People with celiac disease must follow a strict gluten-free diet[6] and maintain it for life to allow the recovery of the intestinal mucosa and reduce the risk of developing severe health complications.

[10] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has no strict rules on the type of bread used for sacramental purposes.