Lamb (liturgy)

the Lamb placed on the diskos during the Proskomedie. To the left are other prosphora which will be used during the service.

The Lamb (Greek: άμνος, romanized: amnos; Church Slavonic: Агнецъ, romanized: agnets) is the square portion of bread cut from the prosphora in the Liturgy of Preparation at the Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. The Lamb is cut from a specially prepared loaf of leavened bread and placed in the center of the diskos. The loaf, called a prosphoron, has had stamped in the top of its dough the seal of the Greek letters IC, XC, and NIKA, "Jesus Christ conquers", divided by a Greek cross, and the portion by the seal is cutout as the Lamb. The loaf must be made only from the finest flour, yeast, salt and water. It is formed in two layers to symbolize the hypostatic union.