AFIQOMEN (Heb. rabbinic 'afiqimōn "food after the meal"; perhaps from 'afaq in the hifil form: "strengthening"). - A special unleavened bread (v.) and its related rite in the present-day Passover supper of the Jews.
Three unleavened breads prepared separately (called shimūrim), of a more compact and whiter dough, pricked as if with pinpricks, are placed before the supper in the middle of the table, set in the basket in which, among the herbs, lies the raw leg of lamb (which is not eaten); each shimūr ("custody") has a name: Kohen, Levi, Israel. At the fourth section of the Seder (v.) the head of the family uncovers the basket, takes in silence the middle shimūr (Levi) and divides it (this is the rite iahaz, "fractio") into two pieces, of which he hides the larger, which is the a., under the tablecloth. The Hagadā is then read, after which the herbs and some pieces of shimūr (the first, Kohen, and part of the half of Levi) are eaten with haroseth (v.). After supper, when the table has been cleared, before the hallel (v.) or final hymn, the head of the family takes the a., lifts it without saying the blessing, breaks it and gives a fragment of it (saying: "in memory of the paschal lamb") to each of those at table, who consumes it in silence and may not eat anything else until the next day.
The Jew R. Eisler derives a. from the Greek ἀφιούμενος "he who has come," but then, contradicting himself, interprets it in the future tense: "the bread that will come" (that is, "of the world to come"), attributing to the rite a messianic-eschatological meaning. According to Eisler, Jesus pronounced "This is my body" over the a., intending to signify: "The Messiah who has already come but is not recognized, is I (ὁ ἀφιούμενος ἐγώ εἰμι)."
The external analogy between the rite performed by Jesus and the rite of the a. is undeniable. But R. Eisler inverts the relationship. The Jewish rite seems to be later than A.D. 70. The Talmūd itself does not speak of it, limiting itself to mentioning a single unleavened bread (maṣṣāḥ) for the end of the paschal supper. The a. and the iahaz are spoken of only in the late ritual Haggadah šel pēsaḥ. Moreover, Jesus added to it, "after supper" (Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25), the consecration of the cup.
The rite of the a. thus represents "the mysterious presence of the Messiah hidden in the world," as Eisler attests, but it seems to have been introduced by the rabbis (Tannaim?) as a participation (communion) in that presence. The a. is a "strengthening" hidden in a "custody." The converted Jew Rocca d'Adria (Algranati) maintains that it is an attempt, by way of magic, to take possession of the Redemption of Jesus, "that is, taking the blood of a creature redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and feeding on that blood: the blood that is hidden in the a. is human blood, Christian blood."
Bibliography6 works
Antonino Romeo