It is a spoon with which the priest administers the Eucharist, or the Holy Communion, to the Christians. In the early Christian years, the Eucharist was distributed using the priest’s fingers, hence the Greek name λαβίδα which literally means tongs. The utensil appeared after the 8th century AD. It is said to symbolize the tongs with which the Angelic Emissary of the Christian God took a coal from the heavenly altar and touched it to the lips of the prophet Isaiah to cleanse him of his sins. This particular one is made of silver and dates back to the 19th century.