Communion token

Supper brands (French Méreaux, English communion tokens, Dutch avondmaalsloodje ) were tokens of lead, brass or copper, the legitimate Communion to participate in the ( reformed ).

History

Supper marks for admission have been reported worldwide in Reformed churches used the Lord's Supper to the 19th century. Jean Calvin and Pierre Viret 1560 had initially tried in vain in Geneva to introduce the Lord's Supper brands. In the context of church discipline measures they should unworthy parishioners of the celebration of the Lord's Supper according to exclude (1 Cor 11:28 NIV ): "The man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup."

But as early as 1561 there was the brands in many French- Reformed congregations in Geneva and in the south of France. Also in the Netherlands, England, Ireland, and particularly in Scotland they came into use. As a means of discipline they were indispensable and belonged to binding Christianity. They spread around the world and came, including by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

The Huguenot refugees ( Réfugiés ) used Supper brands when, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ( 1685) were among others in German territories. In the newly established French-reformed refugee communities they belonged to the binding Supper practice. The Last Supper brands used were also to ward off strangers.

Supper brands in the French Reformed churches in Germany

In the German Refuge of Huguenots and Waldenses sacrament brands also helped count the communicants, as it was provided by the Church Order.

The reformed Supper was usually four times a year, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and on the first Sunday in September instead. Previously, the eligibility of church members has been found at Supper at home visits by pastors or church elders. Before the celebration of the Eucharist the anciens ( church elders ) distributed the sacrament brands and they gathered after receiving the bread and wine again. With the issue of the Lord's Supper marks a donation was connected to the zugutekam the arms of municipalities.

After the Age of Enlightenment in philosophy and theology of the sacrament and the associated strict church discipline in the Reformed churches lost their original meaning. Therefore, it could be henceforth dispense with the use of the marks. Remaining copies have been preserved in some communities, for example in Angermuende, Berlin, Dresden, Erlangen, Halberstadt, Königsberg, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Schwedt.

Supper brands in the German Reformed and Lutheran churches in Germany

In some German Reformed and German Lutheran congregations in a few of the use of the Lord's Supper marks could be detected. Relatively widespread they were in the German Reformed communities of the Rhineland, where they became known as " Loodjes " in reference to the Dutch language. They were, inter alia, in Cologne, Dusseldorf and in the region around Kleve part of the Lord's Supper practice. Supper brands were also in East German communities in Wroclaw and particularly numerous in Gdansk.

Design of the Lord's Supper brands

The Last Supper marks were usually cast in a tin -lead alloy or stamped from thin brass or copper sheet. Molds are known from the French-reformed communities in Erlangen and Leipzig. Sheet brands with debossed on one side were in Berlin and in the Huguenot communities in Uckermark in use.

They showed as transcription often the name of the community. As emblem are occasionally elements of the community seal or symbols from the iconography of the Last Supper as bread and cup or vine leaves and grapes. A dove with the olive leaf in Erlangen and Magdeburg accompanies the reconciliation character of the Lord's Supper. The lamb with the flag of victory in Göttingen and Danzig reminiscent of the Last Supper in the currently believed risen Christ. In Berlin and in other French-reformed communities octagonal brass brands only had the marking " admissible " ( allowed).

Supper brands in German museums

Supper trademarks are the German Huguenot Museum in Bad Karl harbor and in the Huguenot Museum in Berlin. Individual brands are kept in local museums, eg in Ehm- Welk and Folk Museum Angermuende and in the Cultural History Museum in Prenzlau.