Azymites
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
(from Ἀ Negative and Ζύμη Leaven), a title applied by the Greeks to the Western Church, because it uses unleavened bread in the Eucharist. The Greek Church has always maintained the use of leavened bread (Conf. Ecc. Orient. c. 9). The practice in the Latin Church of consecrating with unleavened bread was one of the charges brought against that Church by the Greeks in the middle of the eleventh century, and there does not appear to have been any dispute on the subject between the two churches much before that period. Indeed Sirmondus maintains that the use of unleavened bread in the holy Eucharist was unknown to the Latin Church before the tenth century, and his opinion has the support of Cardinal Bona (Per. Litur. 1, 23), Schelstrat, and Pagi. — Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. 15, ch. 2, § 5.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
The name given to a party in the Church who insisted that only unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist, and the controversy hinged on the question whether the Lord's Supper was instituted before the Passover season was finished, or after, as in the former case the bread must have been unleavened, and in the latter leavened.
B
