205 ON JESUS’ LAST WEEK(S) is the fine flour offering brought along by a leper after his cleansing (Lev 14,10). This analogy is all the more striking because he had just stated that the Passover sacrifice was Christ, adding the following quote from Isaiah: “Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter ” (Isa 53,7). So, in spite of a context of Passover interpre- tation, he ignores the unleavened bread, thus proving that he did not attach any Eucharistic significance to it. In the IVth century, bishop Ambrose of Milan (De sacramentis, IV:4) refers to normal bread for the Eucharist (panis usitatus). Unleavened bread was introduced later, but only in the Western Church and mainly for practical reasons: it is whiter, purer, and easier to store. It was first mentioned by Alcuin of York (ca. 740-804), during the age of the Carolingian empire. Later, this led to the worship of the Holy Sac- rament. The introduction of unleavened bread in the Eucharist was supported by the text of 1 Cor 5,7, where Paul holds the traditional Jewish view that leaven is a symbol of evil. Such a custom was never accepted in the Eastern Churches, for the azymo (unleav- ¶ ened) bread was deemed to be an insult, making Christ acyxo ¶ “ without a soul”. Only when this became a serious issue between the Churches was the Passover context of the Last Supper noticed and used as an argument in favor of unleavened bread. It was eventually one of the causes of the East-West Schism in 1054, after which the use of unleavened bread became general in Latin Chris- tendom 2. At this point, a methodological rule should be stated. Given the importance of such a ritual detail, one cannot imagine that the Eu- charistic use of unleavened bread could have disappeared without any discussion, if it was an element of the original Eucharist. An addition can therefore be made to A. Jaubert’s historical hypo- thesis on Jesus’ last Passover: it is necessary to separate the institu- tion of the Eucharist from the days of Unleavened Bread, which include Passover. So the last Supper of the Synoptics should be See J.A. JUNGMANN, Missarum solemnia. The Mass of the Roman Rite. 2 Its Origins and Development (Westminster 1986) II, 305-306. The Armenians, too, have used unleavened bread since ancient times, but this Church may have been close to the Quartodecimans from its very origin, see S. SZYSZMAN, “Une Pâque chrétienne célébrée le mercredi au XIIIe siècle ? ”, Tradition of the Text. Studies Offered to Dominique Barthélemy in Celebration of his 70th Birthday (eds. G.J. NORTON – S. PISANO) (OBO 109; Göttingen 1991) 309-310.