"The Orthodox Church has two pulls going on inside it – one towards exclusivity and the other towards inclusivity. Eucharist is regarded very highly – only Orthodox believers who have fasted and prepared properly may receive it. But not all the loaf is consecrated: the largest portion is set aside as Blessed Bread, or Antidoron, to be shared among all the Orthodox. Churches that have a lot of non-Orthodox attendance have even-less-consecrated-Blessed-Bread which any Christian can share. Years go I took part in this Blessed-Bread sharing at a service with a Russian Orthodox community in Bath. It was a beautiful experience. First the priest would break off a large lump of bread, break it in half, bless it with the words “May the blessing and the mercy of the Lord be with you” and share it with the person next to him. Then that person would eat a small fragment of it, break the rest in two, and themselves bless it: “May the blessing and the mercy of the Lord be with you” and share it with the people next to them. Before long the whole room was a melee of people blessing bread and sharing it."