Koliva, also spelled, depending on the language, kollyva, kollyba, kolyvo, or colivă,[a] is a dish based on boiled wheat that is used liturgically in the Eastern Orthodox Church for commemorations of the dead.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, koliva is blessed during funerals, as well as during the memorial service (mnemosyno) that is performed at various intervals after a person's death and on special occasions, such as the Saturday of Souls (ψυχοσάββατο, Psychosavvato).
A similar food item is widely popular in Lebanon where it is known as snuniye and, more commonly, as berbara as it is prepared for Saint Barbara's feast day, December 4, which is celebrated with Halloween-like festivities.
In the Hellenistic period, the neuter plural form of the latter word, i.e. κόλλυβα, kollyba, took the meaning of small pies made of boiled wheat.
While recipes may vary widely, the primary ingredient is wheat kernels which have been boiled until they are soft, they are drained very well and spread on a cloth to be just moist, and then sweetened with honey or sugar.
The practice of offering koliva is traditional in Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Russia and parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and among Christians in the Middle East.
[5] The 12th century canonist Theodore Balsamon maintained that koliva as a ritual food practice was originated by Athanasius of Alexandria during the reign of the Emperor Julian the Apostate.
However, St. Theodore Tyro appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius and advised him that the people should not eat food bought at the marketplace that day, but only boiled wheat mixed with honey.