BREAD IN THE EUCHARIST. Whether leav- ened or unleavened bread should be used in the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper has been the subject of a spirited dispute between the Greek and Latin churches. The former contended for the use of leavened, the lat- ter for that of unleavened bread. See Azymites. In the Romish Church bread is called the host, Iwstia. It consists of cakes of meal and water, made small, cir- cular, and thin like wafers, and by this name it is fre- quently called. This form seems to have been adopt- ed at the time of the controversy with the Greek Church in 1053. One of the ceremonies used in the consecration of the elements was breaking the bread. This was done in conformity with our Lord's example. Man}' ancient authors have alluded to this custom. In times of superstition the Greeks began to break it into four parts, the Latins into three. The Mosarabic Liturgy directs that it be broken into nine parts. — Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. xv, ch. ii, § 5-34.
Breakfast. See Meal.
Breast (prop. Td, shad, or li£, shod, the female teat; occasionally the cognate t'^'l'l, dadda'yim, the two paps, Ezek. xxiii, 3, 8, 21; Prov. v, 19; but HTH, chazeh', the breast or front part of an animal, as first seen, Exod. xxix, 26, 27 ; Lev. vii, 30, 31 ; ix, 20, 21). See Bosom. Females in the East are more desirous than those of colder climates to have a full and swell- ing breast, and study embonpoint to a degree unusual among northern nations. This was also the case among the ancient Hebrews (Cant, viii, 10). See Beauty. In Nah. ii, 7, it is said that the women of Nineveh shall be led into captivity " tabering upon their breasts" — that is, beating their breasts in token of anguish, as if they were playing on the tabret. Sec Geief. The waving of the breast of the animal offered in sacrifice (Lev. vii, 30) is supposed to be typical of giving up to God the heart and the affections. See Sacrifice.
Breastplate, a term applied in the Auth. Vers. to two very different pieces of equipment.
I. Sacerdotal. — The official pectoral of the Jewish high-priest is called "J'^Jn, ckofshen, prop, ornament, 1 ic- ing a gorget adorned on the outside with twelve gems, and hollow within, where were deposited the sacred lots "Urim and Thummim" (q. v.) ; hence more fully called the breastplate, of judgment (Exod. xxviii, 15 sq. ; Lev. viii, 8; Sept. \oytlov; Philo, \6ywv\ I rat fully \oyi~inv tcpiaewc in Ecclus. xl, 10). See Ephod. It was a piece of very rich embroidered work, about ten inches square, and made double with a front and lining, so as to answer for a pouch or bag, in which, according to the rabbins, the Urim and Thummim were
Supposed Style of the High-priest's Breastplate.
enclosed. The front of it was occupied by the twelve precious stones, on each of which was engraved the name of one of the tribes. They were placed in four rows, and divided from each other by the little golden squares or partitions in which they were set. The two upper corners of the breastplate were fastened to the ephod, from which it was never to be loosed (Exod. xxviii, 28), and the two lower corners to the girdle. The rings, chains, and other fastenings were of gold or rich lace. It was called the memorial (Exod. xxviii, 12, 29), inasmuch as it reminded the priest of his rep- resentative character in relation to the twelve tribes. Josephus repeats the description (Ant. iii, 7, 5), Gra;- cizing the Heb. term by taaiji'i]^, and translating it by ^oytov. A full discussion of the subject may lie found in Braunii Vestilus Sacerdotum Hebrmorum, pt. ii, ch. vii. — Calmet. See High-pkiest.
II. Military.— As a piece of defensive armor "breast- plate" is the rendering in the Auth. Vers, only of|"-,r, shiryan' ', prob. gleaming (Isa. lix, 17; ''harness," 1 Kings xxii, 34; 2 Chron. xviii, 33), apparently a full coat <if mail (q. v.), but according to the Sept. (&wpa£, which is the term thus rendered in Eph. vi, 11; 1 Thess. v, 8 ; Rev. ix, 9), a breastplate. Kindred and probably equivalent are the terms "jl'^'lttj, shiryon ('.'coat of mail," 1 Sam. xvii, 5, 38; "habergeon," 2 Chron. xxvi, 14; Neh. iv, 10 [10]), and STniO, shir- yah' (" habergeon," Job xli, 28 [16]). The* full form occurs in the description of the arms of Goliath — diTBjSiBg "■P'l 123, a "coat of mail," literally a " breast- plate of scales" (1 Sam. xvii, 5; comp. ver. 88). See MAIL. It may be noticed that this passage contains the most complete inventory of the furniture of a war- rior to be found in the whole of the sacred history. Goliath was a Philistine, and the minuteness of the de- scription of his equipment may be due either to the
BRECHIN"
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BREMEN
fact that the Philistines were usually better armed than the Hebrews, or to the impression produced by the contrast on this particular occasion between this fully-armed champion and the wretchedly appointed soldiers of the Israelite host, stripped as they had been virv shortly before both of arms and of the means of supplying them so completely that no smith could be found in the country, nor any weapons seen among the people, and that even the ordinary implements of husbandry had to be repaired and sharpened at the forges of the conquerors (1 Sam. xiv, 19-22). The passage in 2 Chron. xviii, 33 is very obscure ; the A. A", follows the Syriac translation, but the real meaning is probably " between the joints and the breastplate." Ewald reads " between the loins and the chest;" Sept. and "Vulgate, "between the lungs and the breastbone." This word has furnished one of the names of Blount Hermon (see Deut. iii, 9; Stanley, Palest, p. 403), a parallel to which is found in the name Owpni; given to Mount Sipylus in Lydia. It is thought by some that in Deut. iv, 48, Sion ("jSt"1^) is a corruption of Shir- yon. See Armor.