Paten

File:Paten MET DP366853.jpg

Paten, 13th century, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Ensemble for the celebration of the Eucharist

A paten or diskos is a small plate used for the celebration of the Eucharist (as in a mass). It is generally used during the liturgy itself, while the reserved sacraments are stored in the tabernacle in a ciborium.

Western usage

In many Western liturgical denominations, the paten is typically either a simple saucer-like plate or a low bowl. A smaller style paten will often have a depression that allows it to securely sit on top of the chalice, as shown in the illustration on the left here.

Roman rite

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal lays down rules for patens:

Sacred vessels should be made from precious metal. If they are made from metal that rusts or from a metal less precious than gold, they should generally be gilded on the inside.

However, provisions for vessels made from non-precious metals are made as well, provided they are "made from other solid materials which in the common estimation in each region are considered precious or noble."

Some call the communion-plate a "paten", but the English translation of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal approved by the English-speaking episcopal conferences and confirmed by the Holy See uses "communion-plate" to speak of this object (numbers 118 and 187) and reserves the term "paten" for the other object (numbers 84, 117, 141, etc.). The two corresponding Latin terms are patina (communion-plate) and patena (paten).

Protestant rites

Patens are also used among Anglicans and Lutherans.

In the United Methodist Church, during the Order for the Ordination of Elders, each elder receives a stole, along with a chalice and paten, from the bishop after the part of the liturgy in which the bishop lays his hands and prays over the ministerial candidates. This is because the newly ordained elders are now able to celebrate the Sacraments, such as Holy Communion. In the Methodist service of the Holy Communion, the bread is placed upon a paten during the offertory and once again after it consecrated, specifically following the fraction. The paten, along with the chalice, lies on the altar during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

Eastern usage

Byzantine Rite

In the Byzantine Rite Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, the paten is called a diskos and is elevated by a stand (or "foot") permanently attached underneath. The diskos is usually more ornate than its Latin counterpart, and must always be made of gold or at least be gold-plated. The diskos may be engraved with an icon of Jesus Christ, the Nativity of Christ, the Cross, or most frequently the Theotokos.

When a diskos is made, it is usually accompanied by a matching asterisk (small, folding metal stand used to keep the Aër from disturbing the particles on the diskos), a spoon (for distributing Holy Communion to the faithful), and a spear (used to cut the Lamb during the Liturgy of Preparation).

For Christians of historically Eastern church families, the diskos symbolises the Ever-virgin Mary, who received God the Word into her womb and gave birth to him, as well as the Tomb of Christ, which received his body after the Crucifixion and from which he resurrected.

Divine Liturgy

During the Divine Liturgy it is not only the Lamb (Host) that is placed on the diskos, but also particles to commemorate the Theotokos, the Saints, the living and the departed. Thus, on the diskos is represented the entire Church: the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, arrayed around Christ. At the Great Entrance the deacon carries the Diskos, holding the foot of the diskos at his forehead. He then kneels at the side of the Holy Table, and the priest takes the diskos from him and places it on the Antimension. During the Anaphora, only the Lamb is consecrated.

At Holy Communion, the clergy partake of their portions of the Lamb directly from the diskos, but for the Communion of the faithful, the remainder of the Lamb is cut into small portions and placed in the chalice, from which the priest distributes Communion using the spoon. After Communion, the Deacon holds the diskos above the holy chalice and recites hymns of the Resurrection. Then he wipes the remaining particles (for the saints, living and departed) into the chalices saying the words:

"Wash away, O Lord, the sins of all those here commemorated, by Thy precious Blood, through the prayers of all Thy saints."

Sometimes, when a bishop celebrates the Liturgy, a smaller diskos is prepared for him with a small prosphoron from which he takes particles to commemorate the living and the departed before the Great Entrance.

Other uses

During the Consecration of a Church, a diskos is used to hold the relics of the saints which will be sealed in the Holy Table and antimension by the bishop.

When a priest is ordained, a portion of the Lamb will be placed on a small diskos and given to him, as a sign of the Sacred Mysteries which are being entrusted to his care.

Blessing and handling

In the Russian tradition, there is a special liturgy of blessing used to sanctify a diskos before its first use at Liturgy. The diskos may be blessed separately or together in a set with the other sacred vessels. The blessing is normally done immediately before beginning of the Liturgy of Preparation, after which the priest carries the diskos into the sanctuary and begins the liturgy, using the newly blessed vessel in that Liturgy.

Up until the first time a diskos is used in the Divine Liturgy it is considered to be an ordinary vessel, and may be touched by anyone. However, after having been used in the Divine Liturgy, a diskos may be touched only by a deacon, priest or bishop. A subdeacon may touch the sacred vessels, but only if they are securely wrapped in cloth.

When not in use, the chalice, diskos, and all the sacred vessels should remain on the Table of Oblation (prothesis), wrapped in their cloth bags—either sitting on top and covered with a cloth, or stored securely in a cabinet built into the prothesis.

Alexandrian Rite

In the usage of the Alexandrian Rite, the diskos usually has a flat bottom with no foot. Additionally, it has a raised edge, forming a relatively high rim, preventing particles of the offered elements from falling to the floor.

See also

• Altar cruet
• Aspergillum
• Ciborium (container)
• Pyx
• Stole (vestment)

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

The eucharistic vessel known as the Paten is a small shallow plate or disc of precious metal upon which the element of bread is offered to God at the Offertory of the Mass, and upon which the consecrated Host is again placed after the Fraction. The word paten comes from a Latin form patina or patena, evidently imitated from the Greek patane. It seems from the beginning to have been used to denote a flat open vessel of the nature of a plate or dish. Such vessels in the first centuries were used in the service of the altar, and probably served to collect the offerings of bread made by the faithful and also to distribute the consecrated fragments which, after the loaf had been broken by the celebrant, were brought down to the communicants, who in their own hands received each a portion from the patina. It should be noted, however, that Duchesne, arguing from the language of the earliest Ordines Romani (q.v.), believes that at Rome white linen bags were used for this purpose (Duchesne, "Lib. Pont., I, introduct., p. cxliv). We have, however, positive evidence that silver dishes were in use, which were called patinæ ministeriales, and which seem to be closely connected with the calices ministeriales in which the consecrated wine was brought to the people. Some of these patinæ, as we learn from the inventories of church plate in the "Liber Pontificalis" (I, pp. 202, 271 etc.), weighed twenty or thirty pounds and must have been of large size. In the earliest times the patens, like the chalices, were probably constructed of glass, wood, and copper, as well as of gold and silver; in fact the "Liber Pontificalis" (I, 61 and 139) speaks of glass patens in its notice of Pope Zephyrinus (A.D. 198-217).

When towards the ninth century the zeal of the faithful regarding the frequent reception of Holy Communion very much declined, the system of consecrating the bread offered by the faithful and of distributing Communion from the patinæ seems gradually to have changed, and the use of the large and proportionately deep patinæ ministeriales fell into abeyance. It was probably about the same time that the custom grew up for the priest himself to use a paten at the altar to contain the sacred Host, and obviate the danger of scattered particles after the Fraction. This paten, however, was of much smaller size and resembled those with which we are now familiar. Some rather doubtful specimens of the old ministerial patens are preserved in modern times. The best authenticated seems to be one discovered in Siberia, in 1867 (see de Rossi in "Boll. di Archeol. Crist.", 1871, 153), but this measures less than seven inches in diameter. Another, of gold, of oblong form was found at Gourdon. There is also what is believed to be a Byzantine of alabaster in the treasury of St. Mark's at Venice. Some of these patens are highly decorated, and this is what we should expect from the accounts preserved in the "Liber Pontificalis". In the altar patens of the medieval period we usually find a more marked central depression than is now customary. This well or depression is usually set round with ornamental lobes, seven, tcn, or more in number. At the present day hardly any ornament is used or permitted.

The paten, like the bowl of the chalice must be of gold or silver gilt, and it cannot be used before it has been consecrated with chrism by a bishop. The formula employed speaks of the vessel as blessed "for the administration of the Eucharist of Jesus Christ, that the Body of our Lord may be broken upon it." and also as "the new sepulchre of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ". In the Oriental liturgies there is placed upon the altar a vessel called the discus, analogous to the paten, but it is of considerably larger size.

KRULL in KRAUS, Realencyclopädie fr. christ. Alt.; DE FLEURY, La Messe, IV (Paris, 1887), 155-67, with the plates thereto belonging, which supply the best available collection of illustrations; OTTE, Handb. da Kirch. Kunst-Archäologie, I (Leipzig, 1883), 231; ALDENKIRCHEN, Drei Liturg. Schüsseln. M.A. (Bonn, 1883); KAUFMANN, Handb. d. c. Archäol. (Paderborn, 1901) 563 sq.; KLEINSCHMIDT in Theol. Prak. Quartalschrift (1901), 32, (1902), 289.