Evangelical Miscellanies

Note: Click here for a list of the abbreviations used in the bibliographical citations.

Outline:

1. The Patristic Understanding of the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel According to John as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal.

2. The Medieval Continuation of the Patristic Understanding of John 6.

3.1. Excursus: All Historical-Confessional Protestant Denominations Believe that Christ is Really Present in the Lord’s Supper.

3.2. Objection: Transubstantiation, a Eucharistic Miracle?

4. Appendix: The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Gives Life—Historical Testimony.

5. The Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” was Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal.

5.1. The Medieval Continuation of the Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal.

6. Appendix: The Origin of the Pagan Accusation that Christians “Ate Actual Flesh.”

6.1. The Unanimous Christian Response to the Pagan Claim that they “Ate Actual Flesh.”

7. Appendix: “Eating” and “Drinking” in Jewish Literature.

8. Appendix: The OT Saints Ate the Same Flesh and Drank the Same Blood as the NT Saints—Historical Testimony.

9. Appendix: Only “Believers” Eat the Body (Flesh) of Christ—Historical Testimony.

10. Endnotes (Alternate Translations and Additional Testimony).

i. Prolegomena. Return to Outline.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (c. 106-46 B.C.):

When we speak of corn as Ceres and wine as Liber, we employ a familiar figure of speech, but do you suppose that anybody can be so insane as to believe that the food he eats is a god?

(Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 3.16.41; trans. LCL, 268:325.) See also: loebclassics.com. [1.]

1. The Patristic Understanding of the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel According to John as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal. Return to Outline.

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

You, therefore, must arm yourselves with gentleness and regain your strength in faith (which is [ἐστιν] the flesh of the Lord) and in love (which is [ἐστιν] the blood of Jesus Christ).

(Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians, 8; PG, 5:681; trans. Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007], p. 221. Cf. ANF, 1:69.) [2.]

Cf. Luke 22:19:

Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is [ἐστιν] my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”

(New American Bible.)

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

Elsewhere the Lord, in the Gospel according to John, brought this out by symbols [συμβολων], when He said: “Eat ye my flesh, and drink my blood;” describing distinctly by metaphor [ἀλληγορῶν] the drinkable properties of faith and the promise, by means of which the Church, like a human being consisting of many members, is refreshed and grows, is welded together and compacted of both,—of faith, which is the body, and of hope, which is the soul; as also the Lord of flesh and blood. For in reality the blood of faith is hope, in which faith is held as by a vital principle.

(Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Pædagogi), 1.6; PG, 8:296; trans. ANF, 2:219.) See also: ccel.org. [3.]

Theodotus of Byzantium (c. 2nd Century A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

He is “heavenly bread” and “spiritual food” furnishing life by food and knowledge, “the light of men,” that is, of the Church. Therefore those who ate the heavenly bread died, but he who eats the true bread of the Spirit shall not die. The Son is the living bread which was given by the Father to those who wish to eat. “And my flesh is the bread which I will give,” he says, that is, to him whose flesh is nourished by the Eucharist [εὐχαριστίας, lit. thanksgiving]; or better still [ὅπερ καὶ μᾶλλον], the flesh is his body, “which is the Church,” “heavenly bread,” a blessed Assembly.

(Clemens Alexandrinus, Excerpta: Ex Scriptis Theodoti et Doctrina Quæ Orientalis Vocatur: Ad Valentini Tempora Spectantia, n. XIII; PG, 9:664; trans. Clement of Alexandria, The Excerpta ex Theodoto of Clement of Alexandria, trans. Robert Pierce Casey, [London: Christophers, 1934], p. 51.) [4.]

Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-220 A.D.):

(Tertullian of Carthage, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 37; trans. ANF, 3:572.) See also: ccel.org. [5.]

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

Acknowledge that they are figures, which are written in the sacred volumes; therefore as spiritual, not carnal, examine and understand what is said. For, if as carnal you receive them, they hurt, not nourish you. Not only in the old Testament is there a letter which killeth; but also in the new there is a letter which killeth him who does not spiritually consider it. For, if according to the letter you receive this saying, Except ye eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, that letter killeth.

(Origenis, In Leviticum, Homilia VII, §. 5; PG, 12:487; trans. Edward Harold Browne, An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles: Historical and Doctrinal: The Tenth Edition, [London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, 1874], p. 691. Cf. FC, 83:146.) [6.]

Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea (c. 260/5-339/40 A.D.):

Do you, receiving the Scriptures of the Gospels, perceive the whole teaching of our Saviour, that He did not speak concerning the flesh which He had taken, but concerning His mystic body and blood. . . . He instructed them to understand spiritually (πνευματικῶς) the words which He had spoken concerning His flesh and His blood; for, He says, you must not consider Me to speak of the flesh which I wear (ἣν περίκειμαι), as if you were able to eat that, nor suppose that I command you to drink perceptible and corporal (σωματικὸν) blood. . . . These things profit nothing, if they are understood according to sense (αἰσθητῶς); but the Spirit is the Life, given to those who are able to understand spiritually.

(Eusebii Cæsariensis, De Ecclesiastica Theologia, Lib. III, Cap. XII; PG, 24:1021, 1024; trans. Lucius Waterman, The Primitive Tradition of the Eucharistic Body and Blood, [New York: Longmans, Green and Co, 1919], p. 99. Cf. FC, 135:319-320.) [7.]

Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 296/8-373 A.D.):

Our Lord made a difference betwixt the flesh and the spirit, that we might understand that what He said was not carnal, but spiritual [ὅτι καὶ ἃ λέγει οὐκ ἔστι σαρκικὰ, ἀλλὰ πνευματικά]. For how many men could His body have fed, that the whole world should be nourished by it? But therefore He mentioned His ascension into heaven, that they might not take what He said in a corporal sense, but might understand that His flesh whereof He spake is a spiritual and heavenly food, given by Himself from on high; for the words that I spake unto you, they are spirit and they are life; as if he should say, My body which is shewn and given for the world shall be given in food, that it might be distributed spiritually to everyone, and preserve them all to the resurrection to eternal life.

(S. Athanasii, Epistola ad Serapionem (Epistola IV: Eiusdem ad Eumdem Serapionem Εpistola Item de Sancto Spiritu), §. 19; PG, 26:665, 668; trans. John Cosin, The History of Popish Transubstantiation, ed. John Sherren Brewer, [London: J. Leslie, 1840], pp. 90-91.) [8.]

Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea Mazaca (c. 329/30-379 A.D.):

“He that eateth me,” He says, “he also shall live because of me;” for we eat His flesh, and drink His blood, being made through His incarnation and His visible life partakers of His Word and of His Wisdom. For all His mystic sojourn among us He called flesh and blood, and set forth the teaching consisting of practical science, of physics, and of theology, whereby our soul is nourished and is meanwhile trained for the contemplation of actual realities. This is perhaps the intended meaning of what He says.

(Basil the Great, Letter 8.4 [To the Cæsareans. A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith]; PG, 32:253; trans. NPNF2, 8:118.) See also: ccel.org. [9.]

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 313-386 A.D.):

Christ on a certain occasion discoursing with the Jews said, Except ye eat My flesh and drink My blood, ye have no life in you. They not having heard His saying in a spiritual sense were offended, and went back, supposing that He was inviting them to eat flesh.

(Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 22.4; PG, 33:1100; trans. NPNF2, 7:151-152.) See also: ccel.org.

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Let us have a guess as to who these eagles may be, and then we might arrive at discovering what is meant by “the body.” …Having identified the “eagles” we should have no difficulty in discovering who is meant by the “body.” All the more so when we recall how Joseph was given Christ’s body by Pilate (cf. Jn 19:38). …We can consider “body” in another sense. Remember how the Lord said “My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink” (Jn 6:56). …The Church, too, is a body.

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. VIII, §. 55-56; PL, 15:1781-1782; trans. Commentary of Saint Ambrose on the Gospel According to Saint Luke, trans. Íde M. Ní Riain, [Dublin: Halcyon Press, 2001], 8.55-56, on Luke 17:37, pp. 288-289.)

Note: According to Ambrose, the body Joseph was given by Pilate was not the same body Christ spoke of in John 6.

Cf. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

For we have the true bread, that bread which came down from heaven. He eats that bread who keeps those things which have been written [Panem illum manducat, qui ea quæ scripta sunt servat].

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. VII, §. 3; PL, 15:1699; trans. John Harrison, An Answer to Dr. Pusey’s Challenge Respecting the Doctrine of the Real Presence: In Two Volumes: Vol. II, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1871], p. 76.) [10.]

Macarius, Bishop of Magnesia (fl. 403 A.D.):

Now the flesh and blood of Christ, or of Wisdom (for Christ and Wisdom are the same), are the words of the Old and New Testaments spoken with allegorical meaning, which men must devour with care and digest by calling them to mind with the understanding, and win from them not temporal but eternal life. Thus did Jeremiah eat when he received the words from the hand of Wisdom, and by eating he had life; thus did Ezekiel feel sweetness when he ate the roll of the words (Ezek. iii. 3), and the bitterness of this present life was cast away. Thus did the saints one by one, once long ago, and again and again, by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Wisdom, that is, by receiving in themselves the knowledge and revelation of her, live for aye with a life that will never cease. It was not only to the disciples that He gave His own flesh to eat and likewise His own blood to drink (for He would not have done right in thus offering the life eternal to some at a certain season, but not supplying it to others); but it was to all men alike in whom was holiness and the spirit of prophecy, that He gave allegorically this supply of food.

(Macarius Magnes, Apocriticus, 3.23; trans. Translations of Christian Literature: Series I, Greek Texts: The Apocriticus of Macarius Magnes, trans. T. W. Crafer, [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919], 3.23, p. 82.) See also: earlychristianwritings.com.

John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 349-407 A.D.):

“It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.” His meaning is, “Ye must hear spiritually what relateth to Me, for he who heareth carnally is not profited, nor gathereth any advantage.” It was carnal to question how He came down from heaven, to deem that He was the son of Joseph, to ask, “How can he give us His flesh to eat?” All this was carnal, when they ought to have understood the matter in a mystical and spiritual sense. …“The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” That is, they are divine and spiritual, have nothing carnal about them… How then doth “the flesh profit nothing,” if without it we cannot live? Seest thou that the words, “the flesh profiteth nothing,” are spoken not of His own flesh, but of carnal hearing?

(John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 47 [on John 6:63]; trans. NPNF1, 14:169-170.) See also: ccel.org. [11.]

Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia (c. ?-410 A.D.):

For a figure is not the truth, but an imitation of the truth [Figura etenim non est veritas, sed imitatio veritatis]. …For the bread which came down from heaven, said: The bread which I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world. For properly, by the species of wine His blood also is expressed, because when He says in the Gospel: I am the true vine: He sufficiently declared that all wine which is offered in a figure of His passion, is His blood.

(S. Gaudentii Brixiæ Episcopi, Sermo II. De Exodi Lectione Secundus; PL, 20:855; trans. JHT-TCF, 218, 181.) [12.]

Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

We read the Holy Scriptures. I believe that the Gospel is the body of Christ. I believe the Holy Scriptures to be his doctrine, and when he says, He who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood, although this may be understood of the mystery, yet the word of the Scriptures and the divine doctrine is more truly the body of Christ and his blood [tamen verius corpus Christi, et sanguis ejus, sermo Scripturarum est, doctrina divina est]. If at any time we go to the mystery, whoever is faithful understands that if he falls into sin he is in danger; so if at any time we hear the word of God, and the word of God, and the flesh of Christ, and his blood poured into our ears, and we are thinking of something else, how great is the danger we incur.

(S. Hieronymi, Breviarium in Psalmos, Psalmus CXLVII; PL, 26:1258-1259; trans. George Finch, A Sketch of the Romish Controversy, [London: G. Norman, 1831], p. 170. Cf. FC, 48:410.) [13.]

Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428 A.D.):

…the Jews argued again with each other, saying, [6:52] How can this man give us his flesh to eat? when nature itself does not allow this. And they opposed what he was saying as something difficult and sinful as though he were asking them to really eat human flesh.

(Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Gospel of John, on John 6:52; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Commentary on the Gospel of John: Theodore of Mopsuestia, trans. Marco Conti, ed. Joel C. Elowsky, [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010], on John 6:52, p. 69.) [14.]

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

It seemed unto them hard that He said, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you:” they received it foolishly, they thought of it carnally, and imagined that the Lord would cut off parts from His body, and give unto them; …But He instructed them, and saith unto them, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Understand spiritually what I have said; ye are not to eat this body which ye see; nor to drink that blood which they who will crucify Me shall pour forth. I have commended unto you a certain mystery; spiritually understood, it will quicken. Although it is needful that this be visibly celebrated, yet it must be spiritually understood.

(Augustine, On the Psalms, Psalm 99.8 [98.9 in Migne, PL, 37:1264-1265]; trans. NPNF1, 8:485-486. Cf. WSA, III/18:475.) See also: ccel.org. [15.]

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

But the apostle says, and says what is true, “To be carnally-minded is death.” The Lord gives us His flesh to eat, and yet to understand it according to the flesh is death; while yet He says of His flesh, that therein is eternal life. Therefore we ought not to understand the flesh carnally. …What means “are spirit and life”? They are to be understood spiritually. Hast thou understood spiritually? “They are spirit and life.” Hast thou understood carnally? So also “are they spirit and life,” but are not so to thee.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 27.1, 6; trans. NPNF1, 7:174, 176.) See also: ccel.org. [16.]

Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (c. 378-444 A.D.):

From an exceedingly great ignorance, some of those taught by Christ the Savior were offended by this statement of his. When they heard him saying, “Truely, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” they understood themselves to be invited to some savage cruelty, as though they were being told inhumanly to eat flesh and gulp blood and were being compelled to commit acts that are horrible even to hear.

(Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, 4.3 [on John 6:62]; PG, 73:600; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Commentary on John: Cyril of Alexandria: Volume 1, trans. David Maxwell, ed. Joel C. Elowsky, [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013], 4.3, on John 6:61-62, p. 245.) [17.]

Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 386-451 A.D.):

Yea, I will speak those words of offence: The Lord Christ was speaking with them of His Own Flesh, ‘Except ye eat,’ He saith, ‘the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you;’ they who heard could not bear the loftiness of the saying, they thought, in their folly, that He was bringing in cannibalism [ἀνθρωποφαγίαν, lit. man-eating].

(S. Cyrilli, Alexandrie Archiepiscopi, Adversus Nestorii Blasphemias, Lib. IV, Cap. IV; PG, 76:189; trans. Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Doctrine of the Real Presence, [Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1855], pp. 654-655.) [18.]

Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus (c. 393-458/66 A.D.):

For He, we know, who spoke of his natural body as corn and bread, and, again, called Himself a vine, dignified the visible symbols [σύμβολα] by the appellation of the body and blood, not because He had changed their nature [φύσιν], but because to their nature He had added grace. …of what do you understand the Holy Food to be a symbol and type? Of the godhead of the Lord Christ, or of His body and His blood? …You have spoken as a lover of truth should speak, for when the Lord had taken the symbol, He did not say “this is my godhead,” but “this is my body;” and again “this is my blood” and in another place “the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.”

(Theodoret of Cyrus, Dialogue I.—The Immutable. Orthodoxos and Eranistes; PG, 83:56; trans. NPNF2, 3:168.) See also: ccel.org. [19.]

2. The Medieval Continuation of the Patristic Understanding of John 6. Return to Outline.

Anastasius, Abbot of Sinai [Anastasius Sinaita] (c. 7th Century A.D.):

For an incorruptible nature is not cut or wounded in the side and hands or divided or put to death or eaten or at all held or handled…

(S. Anastasii Sinaitæ, Viæ Dux Adversus Acephalos, Cap. XXIII; PG, 89:297; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], p. 138.)

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

Moses gave you not the bread from heaven, but my Father gave you the bread from heaven… That manna, therefore, was significant of the imperishable meat, and all those were signs of me. My signs ye loved; what was signified thereby ye despise [Signa mea dilexistis; quod significabatur, contemnitis]. …And the bread which I will give is my flesh: Whosoever will live, let him believe in Christ; let him eat spiritually the spiritual food [manducet spiritualiter spiritualem cibum], and become incorporated with the body of Christ; and let him not be a corrupt member, meriting excision, but let him be fair and sound, fit for his Head.

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:713, 718; trans. Samuel Hulbeart Turner, Essay on Our Lord’s Discourse at Capernaum: Recorded in the Sixth Chapter of St. John, [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851], p. 152.)

Cf. Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

But those who were present, many were scandalized not understanding. They thought only of the flesh, which is what they were. The Apostle says, and he says the truth: To be carnally minded is death (Romans 8). The Lord gives us to eat His flesh, and yet to be carnally minded is death, because in His flesh is eternal life. Therefore, we should not be carnally minded according to the flesh, as in these words. . . . they understood it as they wished, and like those men who did not have Jesus as their head, they thought Jesus was arranging to distribute, as if in pieces, the flesh in which the Word was clothed, to those who believed in Him.

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:719-720.) [20.]

Alcuin of York [Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus], Abbot of Marmoutier Abbey (c. 735-804 A.D.):

Whoso will live, let him believe in Christ, let him spiritually eat the spiritual food. …Anon He explains more diffusely what is the difference between spirit and flesh, and how to will to eat Christ carnally differs from receiving Him spiritually; for He says, It is the spirit which quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. …And now He says: ‘The flesh profiteth nothing’; that is, if you wish to receive carnally what I say, the flesh profiteth nothing; if you understand My flesh is to be thus eaten as other food, as meat which is bought in the markets. It is the spirit, therefore, that quickeneth; by the spirit the flesh profiteth, which by itself profiteth not, because the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth.

(B. F. Albini Seu Alcuini, Commentaria in S. Joannis Evangelium, Lib. III, Cap. XV, Vers. 52, 63; PL, 100:834, 837, 838; trans. JHT-TCF, 204.)

Walafridus Strabo of Fulda (c. 808-849 A.D.):

As if to say: Then ye will understand that I do not give my body in the same manner in which you think, and that this grace is not consumed by the teeth, but by a spiritual grace in giving myself to them, I convert them into My body.

(Walfridi Strabi Fuld., Glossa Ordinaria: Evangelium Secundum Joannem, Cap. VI, Vers. 63; PL, 114:384; trans. JHT-TCF, 204-205.)

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

“But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured at it,”—for they so said these things with themselves that they might not be heard by Him: but He who knew them in themselves, hearing within Himself,—answered and said, “This offends you;” because I said, I give you my flesh to eat, and my blood to drink, this forsooth offends you. “Then what if ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before?” What is this? Did He hereby solve the question that perplexed them? Did He hereby uncover the source of their offense? He did clearly, if only they understood. For they supposed that He was going to deal out His body to them; but He said that He was to ascend into heaven, of course, whole: “When ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before;” certainly then, at least, you will see that not in the manner you suppose does He dispense His body; certainly then, at least, you will understand that His grace is not consumed by tooth-biting.

(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 27.3; trans. NPNF1, 7:174.) See also: ccel.org.

Amalar of Triers (c. 775-850 A.D.):

It is called the mystery of faith because those who believe they have been redeemed by His blood and become imitators of His Passion, benefit from it for their salvation and eternal life. Hence, the Lord says: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:54). This means, unless you are partakers of My Passion and believe that I died for your salvation, you will not have life in you. The term ‘mystery’ in Greek, which translates to ‘secret’ in Latin, refers to the fact that this faith is hidden in the hearts of the elect; thus, it is called the secret of faith.

(Symphosii Amalarii (Metensis Presbyteri et Chorepiscopi), Epistolæ, Epistola IV: Amalarii ad Rantgarium Episcopum; PL, 105:1334.) [20.5]

Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz (c. 780-856 A.D.):

With respect to your interrogation, Whether the Eucharist, after it has been consumed and in the manner of other food has passed into the draught, returns again into his pristine nature which it had before its consecration upon the altar: a question of this description is superfluous, since in the Gospel the Saviour himself hath said; Every thing, that enters into the mouth, goes into the belly, and passes away into the draught. The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord is composed of things visible and corporeal: but it produces an invisible sanctification both of the body and of the soul. Why need we, then, on the part of that which is digested in the stomach and which has passed away into the draught, talk of a return to its pristine state when no person ever asserted the occurrence of any such return? Lately, indeed, some individuals, not thinking rightly concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, have said that That very body and blood of the Lord, which was born from the Virgin Mary, in which the Lord himself suffered on the cross, and in which he rose again from the sepulchre, is the same as that which is received from the altar. In opposition to which error as far as lay in our power, writing to the Abbot Egilus, we propounded what ought truly to be believed concerning the body itself. For, respecting his body and blood, the Lord says in the Gospel: I, who descended from heaven, am the living bread. If any person shall eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. For my flesh is truly meat, and my blood is truly drink. He, who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. The person, therefore, who eats not that bread and who drinks not that blood, has not the life here intended for mere temporal life, indeed, without any such manducation, may in this world be enjoyed by men, who are not in his body through faith: but eternal life, which is promised to the saints, can never be enjoyed by such individuals. Lest, however, they should fancy, that, in that meat and drink which they receive carnally and understand not spiritually, life eternal is promised in faith; so that they, who receive it, should die neither in soul nor in body he condescended to meet and to anticipate any such cogitation. For, when he had said; He, who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life: he immediately subjoined; I will raise him up at the last day; that, meanwhile, he may have eternal life according to the spirit.

(B. Rabani Mauri Archiep. Mogunt., Incipit Pœnitentiale, Caput XXXIII; PL, 110:492-493; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], pp. 160-165.) [21.]

Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

29. Here also we must consider the proper interpretation of his words: “Unless you shall eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.” For he does not say that his flesh which hung on the cross would have to be cut to bits and eaten by his disciples, or that his blood which was to be shed for the redemption of the world would have to be given to his disciples to drink. This would have been a crime if, in accordance with what men outside the faith then understood, his blood were to be drunk or his flesh to be eaten by his disciples.

30. For this reason a little later in the same passage he says to his disciples who were receiving Christ’s words, not as unbelievers but as believers, though hitherto it did not enter into their thoughts how those words would have to be understood: “Do you take offense at this? What if you should see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?” This is as if he were to say: “Do not think that you must eat in a bodily sense [corporaliter] my flesh or drink my blood, distributed to you in pieces or having to be so distributed, since after the resurrection you will see me ascending into the heavens with the fullness of my entire body and of my blood. Then you will understand that my flesh does not have to be eaten by believers, as men without faith suppose, but the bread and wine, by the mystery [per mysterium, i.e. sacramentally] truly changed into the substance of my body and blood, must be taken by believers.”

31. And he goes on to say: “It is the Spirit which gives life; the flesh is of no avail.” He says that the flesh is of no avail in the sense in which those without faith understood. In some other way it bestows life as it is taken through the mystery by those with faith. And this, as he makes it clear by saying: “It is the Spirit which gives life.” So in this mystery the effect of the body and blood is spiritual. It gives life, and without its effect the mysteries are of no avail, since they, indeed, feed the body but cannot feed the soul.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. XXIX-XXXI; PL, 121:140; trans. LCC, 9:126-127.) [22.]

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

34. We see that that doctor says that the mysteries of Christ’s body and blood are celebrated in a figurative [figura] sense by the faithful. For he says that to take his flesh and his blood in a fleshly sense involves, not religion, but crime. This was the view held by those who, understanding the Lord’s statement in the Gospel not in a spiritual but in a fleshly sense, departed from him, and were already not going with him.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §. XXXIV; PL, 121:141; trans. LCC, 9:127.) [23.]

Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims (c. 806-882 A.D.):

A spiritual understanding makes the believer another person, for ‘the letter killeth, it is the spirit that vivifieth.’ For His disciples who followed Him were afraid and terrified, not understanding His discourse, and thinking that our Lord Jesus Christ said I know not what hard thing, that they were to eat His flesh Whom they saw, and were to drink His blood, and they could not endure it. But when He commended His very body and His blood, He took into His hands what the faithful know, and He bore Himself in a certain sense [quodammodo] when He said: This is My body.

(Hincmari Rhem. Archiep., De Cavendis Vitiis et Virtutibus Exercendis, Cap. X; PL, 125:920, 921; trans. JHT-TCF, 205.)

Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres (c. 952/70-1028 A.D.):

Unless ye shall eat, He said, the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you. He seems to enjoin a crime or wicked act. It is a figure, therefore (a heretic will say*), commanding us to partake of the Lord’s Passion only…

(S. Fulberti Carnotensis Episcopi, Sermones ad Populum, Sermo VIII (Fragmentum); PL, 141:334; trans. JHT-TCF, 245-246.)

Cf. Jacques Paul Migne:

*NOTE. — The interpretation is mystical, and observe that these two words, ‘a heretic will say,’ are not found in the MS. of Dionysius Petavius.

(PL, 141:334, n. 54; trans. JHT-TCF, 246.)

Cf. John Harvey Treat:

Carolus de Villiers, a Parisian Theologian, published an edition of the works of Fulbert at Paris in 1608. Immediately after the words “Figura ergo est” he inserted in the text “dicet haereticus,” to destroy the force of the passage. Some one informed him that the whole passage was cited from St. Augustine, De doct. Christ., L. 3, c. 16, n. 24, col. 75, and that by the insertion of these words he had made that eminent Saint a heretic. In his next edition, accordingly, he placed these words among the errata and confessed that they were not to be found in the MSS. Such pious frauds and corruptions of texts are of common occurrence in the Church of Rome, as the easiest way to destroy the force of a passage.

(JHT-TCF, 245.) [24.]

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

If the sentence is one of command, either forbidding a crime or vice, or enjoining an act of prudence or benevolence, it is not figurative. If, however, it seems to enjoin a crime or vice, or to forbid an act of prudence or benevolence, it is figurative. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,” says Christ, “and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” This seems to enjoin a crime or a vice; it is therefore a figure [figura], enjoining that we should have a share in the sufferings of our Lord, and that we should retain a sweet and profitable memory of the fact that His flesh was wounded and crucified for us.

(Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 3.16.24; PL, 34:74-75; trans. NPNF1, 2:563.) See also: ccel.org. [25.]

Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. Not so as your fathers ate the heavenly meat in the wilderness, and afterwards died; he who eateth this bread shall live to eternity. …He is called bread typically, and lamb, and lion, and whatever else. He is called bread, because he is the life of us and of angels… Great is the difference between the body in which Christ suffered, and the body which is hallowed for housel. The body verily in which Christ suffered was born of Mary’s flesh, with blood and with bones, with skin and with sinews, with human limbs, quickened by a rational soul; and his ghostly body, which we call housel, is gathered of many corns, without blood and bone, limbless and soulless, and there is, therefore, nothing therein to be understood bodily, but all is to be understood spiritually. Whatsoever there is in the housel which gives us the substance of life, that is from its ghostly power and invisible efficacy…

(Ælfric of Eynsham, Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae (A Sermon on the Sacrifice on Easter-Day); trans. The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric: In the Original Anglo-Saxon, With an English Version: Vol. II, trans. Benjamin Thorpe, [London: Printed for the Ælfric Society, 1846], pp. 267, 269, 271. Cf. JHT-TCF, 252-253.) [26.]

Theophylact, Archbishop of Ohrid (c. 1050-1107 A.D.):

Behold the foolishness of these people. For it had been their duty to ask and to learn those things which they knew not. But they ran back, and expounded nothing spiritually, but all things as they appeared. For when they heard of flesh, they imagined that he would compel them to become devourers of flesh and blood. But forasmuch as we understand of it spiritually, we are no devourers of flesh, and moreover we are sanctified by such meat.

(Theophylacti Bulgariæ Archiep., Enarratio In Evangelium Joannis, Cap. VI, Vers. 60-63, PG, 123:1313; trans. Thomas Becon, The Catechism of Thomas Becon, S.T.P., Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, Prebendary of Canterbury, &c., ed. John Ayre, [Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, 1844], p. 289.)

Cf. Theophylact, Archbishop of Ohrid (c. 1050-1107 A.D.):

Forasmuch as we have oftentimes said, they expounding carnally those things which Christ spake were offended, he saith: When the things which I speak are spiritually understanded, then do they profit. For the flesh, that is to say, carnally and fleshly to expound those things, profit nothing, but is made an occasion of offence, &c. The words therefore that I speak are spirit; that is to say, they are spiritual, and life, having in them no carnal and fleshly thing, and bringing everlasting life.

(Theophylacti Bulgariæ Archiep., Enarratio In Evangelium Joannis, Cap. VI, Vers. 64, 65; PG, 123:1313, 1316; trans. Thomas Becon, The Catechism of Thomas Becon, S.T.P., Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, Prebendary of Canterbury, &c., ed. John Ayre, [Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, 1844], p. 289.)

Hugh of Saint Victor (c. 1096-1141):

…a three-fold reception of the body and blood of the Lord. The first is both sacramental and spiritual, of which the Lord says, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And again: He that eateth me shall live on account of me. The second, which is only spiritual, as the Lord himself says again, The flesh profiteth nothing, it is the spirit that quickeneth. As if he had said, If ye understand a carnal reception only without grace, it is of no use, but rather injurious: but the spiritual without the carnal quickeneth thee [spiritualis vero absque carnali te vivificat]. Of the third, which is only sacramental, the apostle speaks when he says, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body; that is to say, not distinguishing it from other food.

([Hugh of Saint Victor], Instructio Sacerdotis Seu Tractatus de Præcipuis Mysterijs Nostre Religionis, Caput XII, §. 31; PL, 184:789-790; trans. Samuel Hulbeart Turner, Essay on Our Lord’s Discourse at Capernaum: Recorded in the Sixth Chapter of St. John, [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851], pp. 153-154.) [27.]

Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153 A.D.):

In that day we shall not escape the dreadful sentence of condemnation, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire’ (Matt. 25.41). O dreadful sentence indeed, O hard saying! How much harder to bear than that other saying which we repeat daily in church, in memory of the Passion: ‘Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life’ (John 6.44). That signifies, whoso honours My death and after My example mortifies his members which are upon the earth (Col. 3.5) shall have eternal life; even as the apostle says, ‘If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him’ (II Tim. 2.12). And yet many even today recoil from these words and go away, saying by their action if not with their lips, ‘This is a hard saying; who can hear it?’ (John 6.60).

(Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God, 4; trans. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God: And Selections from Sermons, ed. Hugh Martin, [London: SCM Press Ltd., 1959], p. 28.) [28.]

Arnold, Abbot of Bonneval (c. 12th Century A.D.):

…when the Lord said, Except ye shall eat the flesh of the Son of man and shall drink his blood, ye shall not have life in you, the auditors were astonished. Because some believed not this, nor were able to understand it, they went back: for they thought it a horrible and nefarious thing to eat human flesh; fancying, that they were taught to eat his flesh boiled or roasted or cut asunder, when yet his personal flesh, if divided into portions, would not be sufficient for the whole human race: so that, if that were once consumed, religion itself might seem to have perished, inasmuch as no victim would ulteriorly have remained to it. But, in thoughts of this description, flesh and blood profit nothing: for, as the Master himself taught us, the words are spirit and life…

(Ernaldi Bonævallis Abbatis, Liber De Cardinalibus Operibus Christi, VI, PL, 189:1643; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], p. 115.) [29.]

Cf. Arnold, Abbot of Bonneval (c. 12th Century A.D.):

The Master, who handed down this doctrine, had said; that, unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have not life in us: thus instructing us by spiritual teaching, and thus opening our intellect to a matter so hidden, that we might know, that the Eating is Our abiding in him, and that the Drinking is a Certain incorporation with him, by a subjection of obedience, by a junction of will, by an union of affection. Therefore the Eating of his flesh is a Certain avidity and a certain eager desire of abiding in him: by which we so impress upon ourselves the sweetness of charity, that the infused savour of love adheres to our palate and bowels, penetrating and imbuing all the recesses both of soul and of body. Eating and drinking appertain to the same purpose: for, as by them the bodily substance is nourished and lives and perseveres in a condition of soundness; so the life of the spirit is nourished by this its proper aliment: and, what food is to the flesh, that very same thing faith is to the soul; and, what meat is to the body, that very same thing the word is to the spirit: for, by a more excellent virtue, it effects eternally, what carnal aliments effect temporally and impermanently.

(Ernaldi Bonævallis Abbatis, Liber De Cardinalibus Operibus Christi, VI, PL, 189:1645; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], pp. 120-121.)

Unknown Author of Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi (c. 12th Century A.D.):

Therefore, whoever wishes to receive the body of Christ should first strive to remain in the faith and love of Christ. Hence, the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever eats my flesh, remains in me and I in him” (John 6:57). As if to say: “He remains in me who fulfills my will in good works.” Otherwise, unless he first remains in me through faith and performs the work, and I in him, he cannot eat my flesh or drink my blood. What, then, do people eat? Behold, all frequently receive the Sacraments of the altar plainly; but one eats the flesh of Christ spiritually and drinks the blood, while another does not, but only the Sacrament, that is, the body of Christ under the Sacrament, and not the reality of the Sacrament. This Sacrament is called the body of Christ, born of the virgin, while the reality is the spiritual flesh of Christ. Therefore, the good person receives both the Sacrament and the reality of the Sacrament; the evil person, however, because he eats unworthily, as the Apostle says, eats and drinks judgment upon himself, not examining himself beforehand nor discerning the body of the Lord.

(Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi, Cap. XXVIII, §. 85; PL, 184:1251-1252.) [30.]

Note: “Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi” is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux.

3. Conclusions. Return to Outline.

Compare the Patristic understanding of the sixth chapter of John (see testimony above, §§. 1-2) with the typical (popular) modern Roman Catholic understanding of the same (quoted below). [31.]

Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman (Roman Catholic Theologian and Cardinal):

Thus far, then, we have the strongest testimony we can require, to our Saviour’s having passed, in his discourse, to the literal eating of his flesh. One thing now only remains to decide the question finally: were the Jews right in so understanding him, or were they wrong? If they were right, then so are the Catholics, who likewise take his words literally; if wrong, then Protestants are right, when they understand him figuratively.

(Cardinal Wiseman, The Real Presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in The Blessed Eucharist: Proved From Scripture, [New York: P. O’Shea, 1836], p. 110.) [32.]

George Leo Haydock (Roman Catholic Theologian):

We may also observe with divers interpreters, that if Christians are not to believe that Jesus Christ is one and the same God with the eternal Father, and that he is truly and really present in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, it will be hard to deny but that Christ himself led men into these errors, which is blasphemy. For it is evident, and past all dispute, that the Jews murmured, complained, and understood that Christ several times made himself God, and equal to the Father of all. 2ndly, When, in this chapter, he told them he would give them his flesh to eat, &c. they were shocked to the highest degree: they cried out, this could not be, that these words and this speech was hard and harsh, and on this very account many that had been his disciples till that time, withdrew themselves from him, and left him and his doctrine. Was it not then at least high time to set his complaining hearers right, to prevent the blasphemous and idolatrous opinions of the following ages, nay even of all Christian Churches, by telling his disciples at least, that he was only a nominal God, in a metaphorical and improper sense; that he spoke only of his body being present in a figurative and metaphorical sense in the holy Eucharist? If we are deceived, who was it that deceived us but Christ himself, who so often repeated the same points of our belief?

(The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate: With the Hebrew, Greek, and Other Editions in Divers Languages: With Useful Notes, Critical, Historical, Controversial, and Explanatory, ed. Geo. Leo Haydock, [New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1852], on John 6:52, pp. 1405-1406. Cf. Annotations on the New Testament of Jesus Christ: The First Volume, [1733], on John 6:52, p. 342.) See also: studylight.org and archive.org.

Cf. Robert Sungenis (Roman Catholic Apologist):

Probably the most notable Catholic biblical evidence leading to the doctrine of Transubstantiation is the entire chapter of John 6. …John 6 is in a strange way the most sacramental of all the Eucharistic accounts. Not surprisingly, therefore, the passage has become one of the most controversial between Catholics and Protestants. …Beginning in vr. 48, Jesus now sets the stage for the second section of His discourse — the non-symbolic section. Despite the Jews’ objections, He reiterates: “I am the bread of life,” the same words he had uttered in vr. 35. In vr. 51, however, He begins, for the first time in the discourse, to speak about actually eating this bread. Jesus thus begins the transition from mere spiritual belief to actually partaking of Him physically. In the next verse he adds that He is “living” bread and that this bread is His “flesh.” As noted above, Jesus has not used the words, “eat” and “flesh” in His opening dialogue (vrs. 25-47). The Jews catch Jesus’ shift in expression and immediately object to His demand that they not only believe in Him, but actually eat His flesh.

(Robert A. Sungenis, Not by Bread Alone: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Catholic Mass: Second Edition, [Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2009], pp. 141, 141-142, 145-146.)

Cf. Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch (Roman Catholic Theologians):

The second half of the discourse likewise opens with the statement “I am the bread of life” (6:48). This is followed by a string of invitations to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. Here the literal import of Jesus’ teaching is so obvious that it, too, stands out in the response of the Jews, who ask how it is possible to consume his flesh (6:52). . . . eat the flesh . . . drink his blood: Jesus is speaking literally and sacramentally.

(Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch, The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of John, [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003], p. 30.)

Cf. Brant Pitre (Roman Catholic Theologian):

First and foremost, we must emphasize the negative reaction of many of Jesus’ disciples to his Eucharistic words. It is very hard to overestimate the importance of their response. Like the other Jews in the synagogue, Jesus’ disciples took him literally. They “took offense” at his words, decided to leave his company, and he let them go. …Moreover, notice exactly what the disciples’ dilemma was, and what it wasn’t. The difficulty was not that they misunderstood Jesus by taking him too literally. This had happened before, and when it did, Jesus would clarify or explain himself. …Contrast this response with Jesus’ Eucharistic discourse. After the disciples objected to the bread of life sermon, Jesus did not say to them, “Do you not perceive or understand?” (Mark 8:17). What he said was, “Do you take offense at this?” (John 6:61). In other words, with regard to Jesus’ Eucharistic teaching, his disciples’ primary problem was not that they didn’t understand him. Their problem was that they didn’t believe him. Because of this, something shocking happens. In the wake of his bread of life sermon, many of Jesus’ followers abandoned him, and he let them go. As the Gospel tells us, “After this, many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him,” meaning that they stopped being his followers (John 6:66). This is extraordinary; it’s the only time in all four Gospels that Jesus was ever abandoned by his own followers because of something he taught. And why did they leave? Because they took his Eucharistic teaching literally. But did he back down? No.

(Brant Pitre, Jesus And The Jewish Roots of The Eucharist: Unlocking The Secrets of The Last Supper, [New York: Doubleday, 2011], pp. 105, 106, 106-107.)

3.1. Excursus: All Historical-Confessional Protestant Denominations Believe that Christ is Really Present in the Lord’s Supper. Return to Outline.

Gavin Ortlund:

Most of the Reformers affirmed the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and opposed transubstantiation on the grounds that it represented a departure not only from Scripture but also from patristic testimony. For example, early Protestants like Peter Martyr Vermigli and Thomas Cranmer argued that for church fathers like Augustine and Theodoret, the bread and wine remained bread and wine in substance while also becoming Christ’s body and blood. The whole appeal of their Eucharistic theology was a return to catholicity, against the changes introduced by the substance-accidents distinction in the medieval development. It is true that many modern-day evangelicals have adopted more of a symbolic view, but that is by no means representative of Protestantism wholesale.

Third and most egregiously, the idea that the Reformers were intending to replace the Eucharist with a pulpit is quite nearly the opposite of the case. The Protestant effort was to reclaim the Eucharist, not replace it. Lay Christians in the late medieval West hardly ever partook of the Eucharist. For most it would have been only once a year, if that, and even then, it was generally in one kind only (the bread, not the wine). For many the Eucharist had become more of a spectacle, and its celebration was plagued by superstitious beliefs. One of the central, animating concerns of the Protestant Reformation was to reestablish for lay Christians a meaningful and frequent participation with the Eucharist in both kinds.

(Gavin Ortlund, What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Reflective, 2024], pp. xvi-xvii.) Preview.

Note: See further: Thomas Cranmer, A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ; Peter Martyr Vermigli, The Oxford Treatise and Disputation On the Eucharist; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.17.

E.g. The Westminster Confession of Faith:

VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are, to their outward senses.

(The Westminster Confession of Faith, A.D. 1647. Ch. XXIX, §. VII; In: Philip Schaff, Bibliotheca Symbolica Ecclesiæ Universalis: The Creeds of Christendom: With a History and Critical Notes: Fourth Edition—Revised and Enlarged: Volume III, [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1905], p. 666.) See also: ccel.org.

Note: See further: The Question of the “Real Presence.”

Note: See further: The “Real” Presence: Four Interpretations of the Lord’s Supper. See especially: “Confessional Examples.”

3.2. Objection: Transubstantiation, a Eucharistic Miracle? Return to Outline.

Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-220 A.D.):

Well, but “with God nothing is impossible.” True enough; who can be ignorant of it? Who also can be unaware that “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God?” “The foolish things also of the world hath God chosen to confound the things which are wise.” We have read it all. Therefore, they argue, it was not difficult for God to make Himself both a Father and a Son, contrary to the condition of things among men. For a barren woman to have a child against nature was no difficulty with God; nor was it for a virgin to conceive. Of course nothing is “too hard for the Lord.” But if we choose to apply this principle so extravagantly and harshly in our capricious imaginations, we may then make out God to have done anything we please, on the ground that it was not impossible for Him to do it. We must not, however, because He is able to do all things suppose that He has actually done what He has not done. But we must inquire whether He has really done it. God could, if He had liked, have furnished man with wings to fly with, just as He gave wings to kites. We must not, however, run to the conclusion that He did this because He was able to do it.

(Tertullian of Carthage, Against Praxeas, 10; trans. ANF, 3:604-605.) See also: ccel.org. [33.]

4. Appendix: The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Gives Life—Historical Testimony. Return to Outline.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

…we must beware of taking a figurative expression literally. For the saying of the apostle applies in this case too: “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” For when what is said figuratively is taken as if it were said literally, it is understood in a carnal manner. And nothing is more fittingly called the death of the soul than when that in it which raises it above the brutes, the intelligence namely, is put in subjection to the flesh by a blind adherence to the letter. For he who follows the letter takes figurative words as if they were proper, and does not carry out what is indicated by a proper word into its secondary signification; but, if he hears of the Sabbath, for example, thinks of nothing but the one day out of seven which recurs in constant succession; and when he hears of a sacrifice, does not carry his thoughts beyond the customary offerings of victims from the flock, and of the fruits of the earth. Now it is surely a miserable slavery of the soul to take signs for things, and to be unable to lift the eye of the mind above what is corporeal and created, that it may drink in eternal light.

(Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 3.5.9; PL, 34:68-69; trans. NPNF1, 2:559.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

(Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 3.16.24; PL, 34:74-75; trans. NPNF1, 2:563.) See also: ccel.org.

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

The Spirit is the one who gives life; the flesh is of no use. A little earlier, He said: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; and now He says: The flesh is of no use, that is, if you wish to understand what I am saying in a carnal way, the flesh is of no use. If you understand it carnally, as if it were to be eaten like other food, like meats bought in the marketplace, the Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh is beneficial through the Spirit, which it does not have by itself; because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3). For the flesh, which was an instrument used by the Spirit for our salvation, acted as a vessel through which the Spirit saved us, using the organ of the flesh for the salvation of humankind, just as the devil used the serpent, as an instrument, to bring about the downfall of our first parents (Gen. 3). The Spirit is the one who gives life, but the flesh is of no use. Just as they understood the flesh in a carnal way, I do not give my flesh to be eaten in that manner.

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:721.) [34.]

Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims (c. 806-882 A.D.):

(Hincmari Rhem. Archiep., De Cavendis Vitiis et Virtutibus Exercendis, Cap. X; PL, 125:920, 921; trans. JHT-TCF, 205.)

5. The Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” was Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal. Return to Outline.

Note: In addition to the following quotations see all of the quotations in §§. 1-2 (above) and the corresponding endnotes.

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

I take no pleasure in corruptible food or the pleasures of this life. I want the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ who is of the seed of David; and for drink I want his blood, which is [ἐστιν] incorruptible love.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, 7.3; PG, 5:693; trans. Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007], p. 233. Cf. ANF, 1:77.) [35.]

Cf. Luke 22:19:

Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is [ἐστιν] my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”

(New American Bible.)

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

And the blood of the Lord is twofold. For there is the blood of His flesh, by which we are redeemed from corruption; and the spiritual, that by which we are anointed. And to drink the blood of Jesus, is to become partaker of the Lord’s immortality; the Spirit being the energetic principle of the Word, as blood is of flesh.

Accordingly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. And the one, the mixture of wine and water, nourishes to faith; while the other, the Spirit, conducts to immortality.

And the mixture of both—of the water and of the Word—is called Eucharist [εὐχαριστία, thanksgiving], renowned and glorious grace; and they who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul.

(Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Pædagogi), 2.2; PG, 8:409, 412; trans. ANF, 2:242.) See also: ccel.org. [36.]

Irenæus, Bishop of Lyon [Lugdunum] (c. 130-202 A.D.):

And therefore the oblation [προσφορὰ, offering] of the Eucharist is not a carnal one, but a spiritual; and in this respect it is pure [Διότι καὶ ἡ προσφορὰ τῆς εὐχαριστίας οὐκ ἔστι σαρκικὴ, ἀλλὰ πνευματικὴ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ καθαρά]. …in order that the receivers of these antitypes [ἀντιτύπων] may obtain remission of sins and life eternal. Those persons, then, who perform these oblations [προσφορὰς, offerings] in remembrance of the Lord, do not fall in with Jewish views, but, performing the service after a spiritual manner, they shall be called sons of wisdom.

(Irenæus of Lyon, Fragments, 37 [38 in PG, 7:1253]; trans. ANF, 1:574-575.) See also: ccel.org.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

So also the bread is the word of Christ made of that corn of wheat which falling into the ground yields much fruit. For not that visible bread which He held in His hands did God the Word call His body, but the word in the mystery of which that bread was to be broken. Nor did He call that visible drink His blood, but the word in the mystery of which that drink was to be poured out. For what else can the body of God the Word, or His blood, be but the word which nourishes and the word which gladdens the heart? Why then did He not say, This is the bread of the new covenant, as He said, ‘This is the blood of the new covenant’? Because the bread is the word of righteousness, by eating which souls are nourished, while the drink is the word of the knowledge of Christ according to the mystery of His birth and passion.

(Origenis, In Matthæum Commentariorum Series, §. 85; PG, 13:1734-1735; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], pp. 27-28.) [37.]

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 313-386 A.D.):

In the Old Testament also there was shew-bread; but this, as it belonged to the Old Testament, has come to an end; but in the New Testament there is Bread of heaven, and a Cup of salvation, sanctifying soul and body; for as the Bread corresponds to our body, so is the Word [ὁ Λόγος] appropriate to our soul. …Also the blessed David shall advise thee the meaning of this, saying, Thou hast prepared a table before me in the presence of them that afflict me. What he says, is to this effect: Before Thy coming, the evil spirits prepared a table for men, polluted and defiled and full of devilish influence; but since Thy coming. O Lord, Thou hast prepared a table before me. When the man says to God, Thou hast prepared before me a table, what other does he indicate but that mystical and spiritual Table, which God hath prepared for us over against, that is, contrary and in opposition to the evil spirits? And very truly; for that had communion with devils, but this, with God. …Therefore Solomon also, hinting at this grace, says in Ecclesiastes, Come hither, eat thy bread with joy (that is, the spiritual bread; Come hither, he calls with the call to salvation and blessing), and drink thy wine with a merry heart (that is, the spiritual wine) . . . “strengthen thou thine heart,” by partaking thereof as spiritual, and “make the face of thy soul to shine.”

(Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 22.4-5, 7, 8, 9; PG, 33:1100, 1101, 1104; trans. NPNF2, 7:151-152.) See also: ccel.org.

Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 329-390 A.D.):

Now we will partake of a Passover which is still typical; though it is plainer than the old one. For that is ever new which is now becoming known. It is ours to learn what is that drinking and that enjoyment, and His to teach and communicate the Word to His disciples. For teaching is food, even to the Giver of food. Come hither then, and let us partake of the Law, but in a Gospel manner, not a literal one…

(Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 45.23; PG, 36:653, 656; trans. NPNF2, 7:431.) See also: ccel.org.

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391 A.D.):

…and that in the church bread and wine should be offered, the symbol [ἀντίτυπον] of His flesh and blood, and that those who partake of the visible bread eat spiritually [πνευματικῶς] the flesh of the Lord, and that the apostles’ and Christians receive the Paraclete, and are endued with power from on high, and are filled with the Godhead, and their souls mingled with the Holy Ghost.

(S. Marcarii Ægyptii, Homiliæ Spirituales, Hom. XXVII, §. XVII; PG, 34:705; trans. Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian, trans. Arthur James Mason, [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921], 27.17, p. 209.)

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Whence also the Church seeing so great grace, bids her sons, bids her neighbours come together to the sacraments, saying, Eat, O my neighbours; and drink and be inebriated, my brethren. What we are to eat, what we are to drink, the Holy Spirit hath made clear to thee elsewhere by the Prophet, saying, Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Christ is in that sacrament, because it is the body of Christ; therefore it is not bodily food, but spiritual [non ergo corporalis esca, sed spiritalis est]. Whence also the Apostle says of the type of it that our fathers ate spiritual meat, and drank spiritual drink. For the body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of a divine Spirit, because Christ is Spirit as we read, The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.

(S. Ambrosii, De Mysteriis, Cap. IX, §. 58; PL, 16:408-409; trans. St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries and the Treatise on the Sacraments, trans. T. Thompson, ed. J. H. Strawley, [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919], On the Mysteries, 9.58, p. 72. Cf. FC, 44:27.) [38.]

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

58. Likewise, in the following passage: “What we are to eat, what we are to drink, the Holy Spirit has elsewhere expressed to you by the prophets when he says: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who hopes in him.’” That bread, corporeally tasted, or that wine when drunk, did not show how good the Lord is, did it? For whatever affects the taste is corporeal and gives pleasure to the tongue. To taste the Lord is that to have a sense experience of something corporeal? Therefore he invites us to try the savor of a spiritual taste, and in that drink and bread nothing is thought of corporeally but all is felt spiritually, since God is a Spirit, and “blessed is the man who hopes in him.”

59. Likewise he goes on to say: “Christ is in that sacrament because it is the body of Christ. It is therefore not corporeal food but spiritual.” What is more obvious, more clear, more divine? For he says, “Christ is in that sacrament.” He does not say, “Christ is that bread, that wine.” Were he to say this, he would be preaching that Christ is corruptible (which God forbid!) and subject to mortality, for whatever in that food is seen or tasted in a corporeal sense is liable, surely, to be corruptible.

60. He adds, “Because it is the body of Christ.” You get up and say: “Look here, he clearly confesses that that bread and that drink is Christ’s body. But see how he adds, ‘It is therefore not corporeal food but spiritual.’ Do not use the sense of the flesh, for here there is no suggestion of that. It is, indeed, Christ’s body, though not corporeal but spiritual. It is Christ’s blood, though not corporeal but spiritual. Nothing, therefore, is here to be taken in the corporeal but in the spiritual sense. It is the body of Christ but not corporeally; and it is the blood Christ but not corporeally.”

61. Likewise he continues: “The apostle for this reason says of His symbol, ‘Our fathers ate a spiritual food and drank a spiritual drink.’ For the body of God is spiritual. The body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit because Christ is spirit as we read: ‘The Lord Christ is spirit before our face.’”

62. Most splendidly he has taught us how we ought to understand the mystery of Christ’s blood and body. For having said that our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink, and yet no one doubts that that manna which they ate and that water which they drank were corporeal, he adds with reference to the mystery now enacted in the church, defining the sense in which it is Christ’s body: “For the body of God,” he says, “is a spiritual body.” God is surely Christ, and the body which he assumed from Mary, which suffered, which was buried, which rose again, was surely the true body, that is, one which remained visible and could be touched. But the body which is called the mystery of God is not corporeal but spiritual. If it be spiritual, it is now not visible or capable of being touched. Hence blessed Ambrose adds, “The body of Christ is the body of the divine Spirit.” For the divine Spirit exists as nothing which is corporeal, nothing corruptible, nothing capable of being touched. But this body which is celebrated in the church with respect to its visible appearance is both corruptible and capable of being touched.

63. How, therefore, is it called the body of the divine Spirit? With respect to the fact that it is surely spiritual, that is, with respect to the fact that it is invisible and not capable of being touched, and on this account incorruptible.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. LVIII-LXIII; PL, 121:151-153; trans. LCC, 9:134-136.) [39.]

Note: Ratramnus is commenting on the above passage by Ambrose.

Jerome, of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

But the blood of Christ and the flesh of Christ are to be understood in two ways. There is that spiritual and divine flesh and blood of which He said, ‘My flesh is truly food, and my blood is truely drink,’ and ‘Except ye shall have eaten my flesh and drunk my blood, ye shall not have eternal life.’ There is also the flesh which was crucified and the blood which flowed forth from the wound made by the soldier’s lance. According to this distinction a difference of blood and flesh is understood also in the case of His saints, so that there is one flesh which will see the salvation of God, and there is another flesh and blood which cannot possess the kingdom of God.

(S. Eusebii Hieronymi, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Ephesios, Lib. I, Cap. I, Vers. 7; PL, 26:451; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], pp. 97-98.)

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

But so far as relates to that death, concerning which the Lord warns us by fear, and in which their fathers died: Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, Phinehas ate manna, and many ate manna, who were pleasing to the Lord, and they are not dead. Why? Because they understood the visible food spiritually, hungered spiritually, tasted spiritually, that they might be filled spiritually. For even we at this day receive visible food: but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue [virtus, power] of the sacrament another. How many do receive at the altar and die, and die indeed by receiving? Whence the apostle saith, “Eateth and drinketh judgment to himself.” For it was not the mouthful given by the Lord that was the poison to Judas. And yet he took it; and when he took it, the enemy entered into him: not because he received an evil thing, but because he being evil received a good thing in an evil way. See ye then, brethren, that ye eat the heavenly bread in a spiritual sense; bring innocence to the altar.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.11; PL, 35:1611; trans. NPNF1, 7:171.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

…the sacraments are one thing and that the things of which they are sacraments are another. …It is one thing, however, which is outwardly done, but another which through faith is believed. What pertains to the sense of the body is corruptible, but what faith believes is incorruptible. Therefore, what appears outwardly is not the thing itself but the image of the thing, but what is felt and understood in the soul is the truth of the thing.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. XXXVI, LXXVII; PL, 121:142-143, 160; trans. LCC, 9:128, 140.)

Vigilius, Bishop of Thapsus (c. 5th Century A.D.):

To believe on the Son of God, therefore, this is to see, this is to hear, this is to adore, this is to taste, this is to handle Him [Credere ergo in Filium Dei, hoc est videre, hoc est audire, hoc est adorari, hoc est gustare, hoc est contrectare eum].

(Vigilii Tapsensis, Contra Eutychetem, Lib. IV, §. XXII; PL, 62:133; trans. JHT-TCF, 204.)

Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus [Senator] (c. 485-585 A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

“And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son,” he says, “cleanses us.” For the doctrine of the Lord, which is very powerful, is called His blood.

(Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus: From The Latin Translation of Cassiodorus: Comments on the First Epistle of John, on 1Jhn. 1:7; trans. ANF, 2:575.) See also: ccel.org. [40.]

Cf. Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus [Senator] (c. 485-585 A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

“For there are three that bear witness, the spirit,” which is life, “and the water,” which is regeneration and faith, “and the blood,” which is knowledge; “and these three are one.” For in the Saviour are those saving virtues, and life itself exists in His own Son.

(Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus: From The Latin Translation of Cassiodorus: Comments on the First Epistle of John, on 1Jhn. 3:8; trans. ANF, 2:576.) See also: ccel.org.

5.1. The Medieval Continuation of the Patristic Understanding of the “Real Presence” as Spiritual not Carnal/Corporeal. Return to Outline.

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

The poor eat and shall be filled eternally, because they shall understand in the bread and wine, visibly set before them, something invisible; namely, the true body and true blood of the Lord, which are true food and drink, whereby not the belly is distended, but the mind feasted [quo non venter distenditur, sed mens saginatur].

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In Psalmorum Librum Exegesis, In Psalmum XXI; PL, 93:597; trans. JHT-TCF, 195.) [41.]

Christian [Druthmar] of Stavelot (c. 9th Century A.D.):

Our Lord gave to his disciples the sacrament of his body for the remission of sins and for the preservation of charity, that, being mindful of that fact, they might alway[s] in a figure do that, which he not forgetfully was about to do for them. This is my body: that is, in a sacrament. And, taking the cup, he gave thanks and gave unto them. Because, among all the nourishments of life, bread and wine avail to strengthen and refresh our infirmity, he was rightly pleased through these two to confirm the ministry of his sacrament. For wine both exhilarates and increases the blood. Therefore, not inconveniently, the blood of Christ is figured by this: since, whatsoever comes to us from him, makes us joyful with true joy, and increases all our good. As if any person, departing on a journey, leaves to his friends some bond of love, in the tenour that they should do this, every day, for the purpose of not forgetting him: so God commanded it to be done by us, spiritually transferring his body into the bread and the wine into his blood [transferens spiritaliter Corpus in panem, vinum in sanguinem], that by these two we may commemorate what he has done for us from his body and his blood, and may not be ungrateful to such most loving charity.

(Christiani Druthmari Corbeiensis Monachi, Expositio in Matthæum, Cap. LVI (Matth. xxvi. 26); PL, 106:1476-1477; trans. George Stanley Faber, The Difficulties of Romanism in Respect to Evidence: The Third Edition, Revised and Remoulded, [London: Thomas Bosworth, 1853], pp. 259-260.)

Florus of Lyon [Florus Magister] (c. 9th Century A.D.):

Truly, that bread is the body of Christ in the most sacred offering, not in matter or visible species [non materie vel specie visibili], but by spiritual virtue and power. For neither is the body of Christ generated in the field, nor is His blood produced in the vineyard, nor pressed out in the winepress. The bread is simply made from grains, the wine is simply drawn from grapes; to these are added the faith of the offering Church, the consecration of mystical prayer, and the infusion of divine power; thus, in a wondrous and ineffable way, what is naturally bread and wine from earthly seed becomes spiritually [spiritualiter] the body of Christ, that is, the mystery of our life and salvation, in which we see one thing with bodily eyes and another with the eyes of faith; and not only what we receive with the mouth but what we believe with the mind, we honor [sed quod mente credimus, libamus].

(Flori Diaconi Lugdunensis, Opuscula Adversus Amalarium, Cap. I, §. 9; PL, 119:77.) [41.5]

Walafridus Strabo of Fulda (c. 808-849 A.D.):

Therefore, when He came in the flesh, He established greater things for mankind: He taught the transformation from carnal things to spiritual, from earthly to heavenly, from temporal to eternal, from imperfect to perfect, from semblance to substantive, from replicas to reality.

Therefore, when the Son of God says, “For My flesh is meat indeed: and My blood is drink indeed”, we must understand that those very sacraments of our redemption are truly the body and blood of the Lord, so that we may trust the pledges of that perfect unity which we shall have with our Head, now in hope, hereafter in reality [nostro iam spe, postea re tenebimus, pignora credere debeamus].

(Walfridi Strabi Fuld., De Rebus Ecclesiasticis, Cap. XVI-XVII; PL, 114:937; trans. Walahfrid Strabo’s Libellus de Exordiis et Incrementis Quarundam in Observationibus Ecclesiasticis Rerum, trans. Alice L. Harting-Correa, [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996], p. 105.)

Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz (c. 780-856 A.D.):

Our blessed Saviour would have the sacrament of His body and blood to be received by the mouth of the faithful, and to become their nourishment, that by the visible body the effects of the invisible might be known for as the material food feeds the body outwardly and makes it to grow, so the word of God doth inwardly nourish and strengthen the soul. …He would have the sacramental elements to be made of the fruits of the earth, that as He, who is God invisible, appeared visible in our flesh, and mortal to save us mortals, so He might by a thing visible fitly represent to us a thing invisible. …Some receive the sacred sign at the Lord’s table to their salvation, and some to their ruin; but the thing signified is life to every man, and death to none. Whoever receives it, is united as a member to Christ the Head in the kingdom of heaven; for the sacrament is one thing, and the efficacy of it another [quia aliud est sacramentum, aliud virtus sacramenti]; for the sacrament is received with the mouth, but the grace thereof feeds the inward man. …And as the first is turned into our substance when we eat it and drink it, so are we made the body of Christ when we live piously and obediently [Sicut ergo in nos id convertitur cum id manducamus et bibimus, sic et nos in corpus Christi convertimur dum obedienter et pie vivimus]. …Therefore the faithful do well and truly receive the body of Christ, if they neglect not to be His members; and they are made the body of Christ, if they will live of His Spirit.

(B. Rabani Mauri Archiep. Mogunt., De Clericorum Institutione, Lib. I, Cap. XXXIV; PL, 107:316-318; trans. John Cosin, The History of Popish Transubstantiation, ed. John Sherren Brewer, [London: J. Leslie, 1840], pp. 121-122.)

Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

89. And so it appears that they are separated from each other by as great a difference as exists between the pledge and the thing on behalf of which the pledge is handed down, and as exists between appearance and truth. Thus we see that a great difference separates the mystery of Christ’s blood and body which now is taken by the faithful in the church from that which was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, died, rose again, ascended to the heavens, sits on the right hand of the Father. For what is done on the way must be accepted spiritually, because faith, which does not see, believes and spiritually feeds the soul and gladdens the heart and provides life and incorruption, provided what feeds the body, what is pressed by the teeth, what is broken into bits, is not considered, but what is in faith received spiritually. But that body in which Christ suffered and rose again exists as his own body, assumed from the body of the Virgin Mary, capable of being touched or visible even after the resurrection, as he himself said to his disciples: “Touch and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bones such as you see I have.”

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §. LXXXIX; PL, 121:165; trans. LCC, 9:143. Cf. JHT-TCF, 241.) [42.]

John Scotus Eriugena (c. 800-877 A.D.):

For we also, who, after the accomplishment of His Incarnation, and Passion, and Resurrection, believe in Him, and understand His mysteries, so far as it is allowed us, both spiritually immolate Him, and intellectually eat Him with the mind, not with the teeth.

(Joannis Scoti, Commentarius in S. Evangelium Secundum Joannem, Fragmentum I, Cap. I; PL, 122:311; trans. JHT-TCF, 244.)

Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

This mystery is a pledge and a symbol; Christ’s body is truth. This pledge we hold mystically until we come to the truth, and then will this pledge be ended. But it is, as we before said, Christ’s body and his blood, not bodily but spiritually. Ye are not to inquire how it is done, but to hold in your belief that it is so done.

Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153 A.D.):

The flesh of Christ even at this present day is exhibited and given to us, notwithstanding spiritually, not carnally [sed spiritualiter utique, non carnaliter exhibeatur].

(S. Bernardi Abbatis Claræ-Vallensis, In Festo S. Martini Episcopi Sermo (De exemplis obedientiæ), §. 10; PL, 183:495; trans. Thomas Becon, The Catechism of Thomas Becon, S.T.P., Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, Prebendary of Canterbury, &c., ed. John Ayre, [Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, 1844], p. 286.) [44.]

Arnold, Abbot of Bonneval (c. 12th Century A.D.):

Therefore this unleavened bread, the true and sincere food, through species and sacrament, sanctifies us by touch, illuminates us by faith, and by truth conforms us to Christ. And, as the common bread, which we daily eat, is the life of the body so that supersubstantial bread is the life of the soul and the health of the mind. From the understanding of such great things carnal sense altogether repels us: and, as the Lord himself says, in the perception of such great mysteries flesh and blood profit nothing; because these words are spirit and life, and this magnificent virtue is judged of by spiritual men alone.

(Ernaldi Bonævallis Abbatis, Liber De Cardinalibus Operibus Christi, VI, PL, 189:1644; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], p. 120.)

Unknown Author of Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi (c. 12th Century A.D.):

Therefore, if you do all these things as I have said, you will be able to approach the living fountain, that is, Christ, who is the source of all good things. He Himself also says of Himself: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven” (John 6:51). Concerning this bread, David says in the Psalms: “Man ate the bread of angels” (Psalm 77:25). Otherwise, although that food came from heaven and was a drink, because it was bodily, it did not befit the angels; but certainly that bread and drink were prefigured by it. Christ, however, is the bread of angels, and this sacrament is truly His flesh and true blood: which sacrament a man spiritually eats and drinks. And thus, just as the angels live in heaven by what is spiritual and divine, so man lives on earth by what he receives spiritually [Ac per hoc unde vivunt Angeli in cælis, inde vivit homo in terris: quia totum spirituale et divinum in eo quod percipit homo].

(Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi, Cap. XXVIII, §. 85; PL, 184:1252.) [45.]

Note: “Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi” is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux.

6. Appendix: The Origin of the Pagan Accusation that Christians “Ate Actual Flesh.” Return to Outline.

Irenæus, Bishop of Lyon [Lugdunum] (c. 130-202 A.D.):

For when the Greeks, having arrested the slaves of Christian catechumens, then used force against them, in order to learn from them some secret thing [practised] among Christians, these slaves, having nothing to say that would meet the wishes of their tormentors, except that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the body and blood of Christ, and imagining that it was actually flesh and blood, gave their inquisitors answer to that effect.

(Irenæus, Fragments, 13; PG, 7:1236; trans. ANF, 1:570.) See also: ccel.org.

6.1. The Unanimous Christian Response to the Pagan Claim that they “Ate Actual Flesh.” Return to Outline.

Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 A.D.):

For what sensual or intemperate man, or who that counts it good to feast on human flesh, could welcome death that he might be deprived of his enjoyments… For having put some to death on account of the accusations falsely brought against us, they also dragged to the torture our domestics, either children or weak women, and by dreadful torments forced them to admit those fabulous actions which they themselves openly perpetrate; about which we are the less concerned, because none of these actions are really ours…

(Justin Martyr, The Second Apology, 12; trans. ANF, 1:192.) See also: ccel.org. [46.]

Tatian the Assyrian (c. 120-180 A.D.):

It is not we who eat human flesh—they among you who assert such a thing have been suborned as false witnesses…

(Tatian the Assyrian, Address to the Greeks, 25; trans. ANF, 2:76.) See also: ccel.org.

Theophilus, Patriarch of Antioch (c. ?-183/5 A.D.):

…wherewith godless lips falsely accuse us…alleging…what is most impious and barbarous of all, that we eat human flesh.

(Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, 3.4; trans. ANF, 2:112.) See also: ccel.org. [47.]

Athenagoras of Athens (c. 133-190 A.D.):

…for men to partake of the flesh of men is a thing most hateful and abominable, and more detestable than any other unlawful and unnatural food or act…

(Athenagoras of Athens, On the Resurrection of the Dead, 8; trans. ANF, 2:153.) See also: ccel.org. [48.]

Minucius Felix (fl. c. 150-270 A.D.):

To us it is not lawful either to see or to hear of homicide; and so much do we shrink from human blood, that we do not use the blood even of eatable animals in our food.

(Minucius Felix, The Octavius, 30; trans. ANF, 4:192.) See also: ccel.org.

7. Appendix: “Eating” and “Drinking” in Jewish Literature. Return to Outline.

John Lightfoot:

As to this whole passage of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ, it will be necessary to premise that of Mark iv. 11, 12: “I speak by parables; and all these things are done in parables; that seeing they may see, and not perceive,” &c. Ver. 34: “Without a parable spake he not unto them and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.”

And what can we suppose in this place but parable wholly?

I. There was nothing more common in the schools of the Jews than the phrases of ‘eating and drinking’ in a metaphorical sense. And surely it would sound very harsh, if not to be understood here metaphorically, but literally. What! to drink blood? a thing so severely interdicted the Jews once and again. What! to eat man’s flesh? a thing abhorrent to human nature; but above all abhorrent to the Jews, to whom it was not lawful to eat אבר מן החי a member of a living beast, nor touch אבר מן המת the member of a dead man.

כל אכילה ושתיה וגו [Midras Coheleth, fol. 88. 4.]“Every eating and drinking of which we find mention in the book of Ecclesiastes is to be understood of the Law and good works,” i. e. by way of parable and metaphor. By the Capernaite’s leave, therefore, and the Romanist’s too, we will understand the eating and drinking in this place figuratively and parabolically.

II. Bread is very frequently used in the Jewish writers for doctrine. So that when Christ talks of eating his flesh, he might perhaps hint to them that he would feed his followers not only with his doctrines, but with himself too.

כָּל־מִשְׁעַן לֶחֶם [Chagigah, fol. 14. 1.]The whole stay of bread, Isa. iii. 1. אילו בעלי תלמוד “These are the masters of doctrine; as it is written, ‘Come, eat of my bread,’ Prov. ix. 5.” האכילהו לחם [Gloss. in Succah, fol. 52.]“Feed him with bread, that is, Make him take pains in the warfare of the Law, as it is written, ‘Come, eat of my bread.’”

Moses fed you with doctrine and manna, but I feed you with doctrine and my flesh.

III. There is mention, even amongst the Talmudists themselves, of eating the Messiah. “Rabh saith,[Sanhedr. fol. 98. 2.] עתידין ישראל דאכלי שני משיח Israel shall eat the years of Messiah.” [The Gloss is, “The plenty and satiety that shall be in the days of the Messiah shall belong to the Israelites.”] “Rabh Joseph saith, ‘True, indeed: but who shall eat thereof? חילק ובילק אכלי לה Shall Chillek and Billek [two judges in Sodom] eat of it?’ We must except against that of R. Hillel, who saith, אין משיח להם לישראל שכבר אכלוהו בימי חזקיה Messiah is not likely to come to Israel, for they have already devoured him in the days of Hezekiah.” Those words of Hillel are repeated, fol. 99. 1.

Behold, here is mention of eating the Messiah, and none quarrel the phraseology. They excepted against Hillel, indeed, that he should say that the Messiah was so eaten in the days of Hezekiah, that he was not like to appear again in Israel; but they made no scruple of the scheme and manner of speech at all. For they plainly enough understood what was meant by eating the Messiah; that is, that in the days of Hezekiah they so much partook of the Messiah, they received him so greedily, embraced him so gladly, and in a manner devoured him, that they must look for him no more in the ages to come. Gloss upon the place; “Messiah will come no more to Israel, for Hezekiah was the Messiah.”

IV. But the expression seems very harsh, when he speaks of “eating his flesh” and “drinking his blood.” He tells us, therefore, that these things must be taken in a spiritual sense: “Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” That is, “When you shall have seen me ascending into heaven, you will then find how impossible a thing it is to eat my flesh and drink my blood bodily: for how can you eat the flesh of one that is in heaven? You may know, therefore, that I mean eating me spiritually: ‘for the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.’”

V. But what sense did they take it in that did understand it? Not in a sacramental sense surely, unless they were then instructed in the death and passion of our Saviour; for the sacrament hath a relation to his death: but it sufficiently appears elsewhere that they knew or expected nothing of that. Much less did they take it in a Jewish sense; for the Jewish conceits were about the mighty advantages that should accrue to them from the Messiah, and those merely earthly and sensual. But to partake of the Messiah truly is to partake of himself, his pure nature, his righteousness, his spirit; and to live and grow and receive nourishment from that participation of him. Things which the Jewish schools heard little of, did not believe, did not think; but things which our blessed Saviour expresseth lively and comprehensively enough, by that of eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

(John Lightfoot, Horæ Hebraicæ et Talmudicæ: Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations: In Four Volumes: Vol. III, [Oxford: At The University Press, 1859], pp. 307-309.)

Note: Cf. Mark 4:11-12, 34; cf. Luke 8:10; Matthew 13:10-11.

Cf. Sirach 24:1, 19-22:

Wisdom sings her own praises, before her own people she proclaims her glory; . . . Come to me, all you that yearn for me, and be filled with my fruits; You will remember me as sweeter than honey, better to have than the honeycomb. He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more; He who obeys me will not be put to shame, he who serves me will never fail.” All this is true of the book of the Most High’s covenant, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the community of Jacob.

(New American Bible.) [49.]

Note:

(1.) “Eating” and “drinking” are common Biblical metaphors used to convey the concept of participation, partaking of, sharing in, etc. either for good (2 Samuel 12:3; Psalm 16:5; 23:5; 116:13) or for bad (Jeremiah 16:7; Psalm 11:6; 73:10; 75:8; Isaiah 51:17, 22; 25:15-17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 23:31-33; Habakkuk 2:16; Zechariah 12:2; Revelation 14:10; 16:19; 17:4; 18:6; John 18:11; Matthew 20:22-23; 26:39, 42; cf. Mark 10:38-39; 14:36; Luke 22:42). [50.]

Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-18, 20-21 (Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26):

The cup [ποτήριον] of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation [κοινωνία] in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation [κοινωνία] in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake [μετέχομεν] of the one loaf [ἄρτου]. Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices participants [κοινωνοὶ] in the altar? So what am I saying? That meat sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No, I mean that what they sacrifice, (they sacrifice) to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to become participants [κοινωνοὺς] with demons. You cannot drink the cup [ποτήριον] of the Lord and also the cup [ποτήριον] of demons. You cannot partake [μετέχειν] of the table [τραπέζης] of the Lord and of the table [τραπέζης] of demons.

(New American Bible. Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26.)

Notice the clear parallel between participating in Christ through the bread and wine (cup) of the Lord’s table and the pagan participation with demons though similar sacrifices (in which no carnal/corporeal transubstantiation occurs). [51.]

(2.) The concept of “tasting” is similarly used to convey the idea of participation, partaking of, sharing in, etc. (1 Peter 2:3; Psalm 34:8; Hebrews 6:4-5: Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; John 8:52).

(3.) “Drinking” (lit. cup) is used metaphorically to denote covenants (Luke 22:20) as well as individuals (Matthew 23:25-26; Luke 11:39).

(4.) “Eating” is used to denote the appropriation and internalization of the Word of God (Ezekiel 2:8-9; 3:1-4; Jeremiah 15:16; Revelation 10:8-10).

(5.) “Eating” and “drinking” are used to convey the idea of obtaining wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 9:1-6; cf. Sirach 24:19-22).

(6.) “Eating” and “drinking” are used metaphorically of “enjoying” (Ecclesiastes 5:19; 6:2; Exodus 24:9-11). [52.]

(7.) “Eating” and “drinking” are common metaphors for spiritual contentment (1 Corinthians 10:1-4; 12:13; Matthew 8:11: 26:29; Luke 14:15; 22:30; Revelation 2:17; 7:15-17).

(8.) “Eating” and “drinking” are common metaphors for life (Deuteronomy 8:3; Jeremiah 17:13; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; John 4:13-14, 31-34; 6:27-29, 35; 7:37-39; Revelation 2:7; 21:6-8).

(9.) Similarly, there is a strong Biblical connection between the concepts of “blood” and “life” (Leviticus 17:11, 14; Genesis 3:21; 9:4; 37:26; Deuteronomy 12:23; 19:10; 21:7; Numbers 35:19ff; 2 Samuel 14:11; 23:17; 2 Kings 24:4; 1 Chronicles 11:19; 28:3; Deuteronomy 32:42; Ezekiel 39:17-18; Psalm 9:12; 30:9; 72:14; Isaiah 59:7; Jeremiah 22:17; Hebrews 9:22). [53.]

Cf. 1 Chronicles 11:16-19 (Cf. 2 Samuel 23:14-17):

David was then in the stronghold, and a Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. David expressed a desire: “Oh, that someone would give me a drink from the cistern that is by the gate at Bethlehem!” Thereupon the Three broke through the encampment of the Philistines, drew water from the cistern by the gate at Bethlehem, and carried it back to David. But David refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as a libation to the LORD, saying, “God forbid that I should do such a thing! Could I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives?” For at the risk of their lives they brought it; and so he refused to drink it. Such deeds as these the Three warriors performed.

(New American Bible. Cf. Deuteronomy 32:42; Ezekiel 39:17-18) [53.5]

(10.) The Old Covenant, which forbade the drinking of blood, was still in effect (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-14; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-24; 15:23; 1 Samuel 14:32-34; Ezekiel 33:25).

(11.) The New Covenant also forbids the consumption of blood (Acts 15:29). [54.]

8. Appendix: The OT Saints Ate the Same Flesh and Drank the Same Blood as the NT Saints—Historical Testimony. Return to Outline.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.

(New American Bible.)

Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. LXII; PL, 121:152-153; trans. LCC, 9:136.)

Note: Ratramnus is commenting on the above passage by Ambrose.

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

“This is the bread which cometh down from heaven.” Manna signified this bread; God’s altar signified this bread. Those were sacraments. In the signs they were diverse; in the thing which was signified they were alike. Hear the apostle: “For I would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren,” saith he, “that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat.” Of course, the same spiritual meat; for corporally it was another: since they ate manna, we eat another thing; but the spiritual was the same as that which we eat. But “our” fathers, not the fathers of those Jews; those to whom we are like, not those to whom they were like. Moreover he adds: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink.” They one kind of drink, we another, but only in the visible form, which, however, signified the same thing in its spiritual virtue. For how was it that they drank the “same drink”? “They drank,” saith he “of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” Thence the bread, thence the drink. The rock was Christ in sign; the real Christ is in the Word and in flesh. And how did they drink? The rock was smitten twice with a rod; the double smiting signified the two wooden beams of the cross. “This, then, is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he shall not die.” But this is what belongs to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; he that eateth within, not without; who eateth in his heart, not who presses with his teeth.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.12; PL, 35:1612; trans. NPNF1, 7:171-172. Cf. WSA, I/12:459-460.) See also: ccel.org.

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

This is the bread which came down from heaven. This bread was symbolized by the manna; and this bread was symbolized by the altar of God. Those sacraments were different in signs but equal in the reality they signify [Sacramenta illa fuerunt in signis diversa sunt in re, quæ significantur paria sunt]. Listen to the Apostle: “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food” (1 Corinthians 10:1-3). Indeed, spiritual, not physical. They had a different type because it was manna, while we have something else; but spiritually, it is the same as ours [spiritualem vero eamdem quam nos]. However, our ancestors were not like the ancestors of those who are like us, but rather those who were like them. Therefore, this is the bread that came down from heaven, so that anyone who eats of it shall not die. But what pertains to the power of the sacrament is not what pertains to the visible sacrament: one who eats inwardly, not outwardly; one who eats with the heart, not with the teeth. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Therefore, living because I came down from heaven. Manna came down from heaven too; but manna was a shadow, this is the truth.

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:717.) [55.]

Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):

20. The apostle also, writing to the Corinthians, says, “Do you not know that our fathers were all under a cloud, and they all passed over the sea, and all in Moses were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink? For they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” We notice that the sea and the cloud bore the appearance of baptism, and in them, that is, in the cloud or the sea, the fathers of the older covenant were baptized. Could the sea, in so far as it appeared to be an element, have the power of baptism? Or could the cloud, in that it revealed a condensation of air, make the people holy? Yet we dare not say that the apostle did not truly speak in Christ when he said that our fathers were baptized in the cloud and the sea.

21. And although that baptism did not bear the form of the Baptism of Christ which today is practiced in the church, that it really was, nevertheless, a baptism and in it our fathers were baptized, no one in his right mind will dare to deny, unless mad enough to presume to contradict the apostle’s words. And therefore the sea and the cloud granted the purification of sanctification not with respect to what they were as body, but they contained the sanctification of the Holy Spirit with respect to what they were invisibly. For in them was a visible form which appeared to the bodily senses, not in a representation but in truth, and from within spiritual power shone forth, which appeared not to the eyes of the flesh but to the lights of the soul.

22. Likewise the manna given the people from heaven, and the water flowing from a rock were really corporeal, and they fed and watered the people in a corporeal sense, yet the apostle calls both that manna and that water spiritual food and spiritual drink. Why does he? Because the power of the spiritual word inhered in these bodily substances which fed and watered the souls rather than the bodies of the believers. And since that food or drink foreshadowed the mystery of Christ’s body and blood, which the church celebrates, Saint Paul maintains that our fathers ate that same spiritual food and drank that same spiritual drink.

23. You ask, perhaps, what is the same? That very thing, surely, which today the believing people in the church eat and drink. For it cannot be thought otherwise than that He is that one and the same Christ who then in the desert fed with his flesh the people who had been baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and gave them to drink of his blood, and now in the church feeds the people who believe with the bread of his body and gives them to drink of the stream of his blood.

24. This is what the apostle wished to suggest, when, after he said that our fathers ate this same spiritual food, and drank this same spiritual drink, then added, “For they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” He wished us to understand that in the desert Christ stood in the spiritual rock, and gave the people to drink of the stream of his blood, who afterward has showed to our times the body assumed from the Virgin, which for the salvation of believers hung upon the cross, and from it has shed the stream of his blood, by which we might not only be redeemed but even might drink of it.

25. Marvelous, surely, because incomprehensible and inestimable! Not yet had He assumed the form of man, not yet for the salvation of the world had he tasted death, not yet had he redeemed us by his blood, and already in the desert our fathers through spiritual food and invisible drink were eating his body and drinking his blood. So the apostle stands as witness, crying out that our fathers ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink. One must not inquire by what method this could be done, but exercise the faith that it was done. For the very One who now in the church, with omnipotent power, spiritually changes the bread and wine into the flesh of his body and the stream of his blood, then also invisibly made the manna given from heaven to be his body and the water which had been poured forth from the rock to be his very blood.

(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §§. XX-XXV; PL, 121:136-139; trans. LCC, 9:124-125.)

Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):

Paul the Apostle said of the old people of Israel, thus writing in his epistle to believing men: “All our forefathers were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and they all ate the same ghostly meat, and they all drank the same ghostly drink. Verily they drank from the stone that followed after them, and the stone was Christ.” The stone from which the water then flowed was not Christ bodily, but it betokened Christ, who thus cried to all believing men, “Whosoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, and from his inside shall flow living water.” This he said of the Holy Ghost, whom they received who believed in him. The apostle Paul said, that the people of Israel ate the same ghostly meat, and drank the same ghostly drink, because the heavenly meat which fed them forty years, and the water which flowed from the stone, were a type of Christ’s body and his blood, which are now offered daily in God’s church. They were the same which we now offer, not bodily but spiritually.

We have said to you a little before, that Christ hallowed bread and wine, before his passion, for housel, and said, “This is my body and my blood.” He had not yet suffered, but, nevertheless, he changed, through invisible might, the bread to his own body, and the wine to his blood, as he had before done in the wilderness, before he was born as man, when he changed the heavenly meat to his flesh, and the flowing water from the stone to his own blood. Many men ate of the heavenly meat in the wilderness, and drank the ghostly drink, and, nevertheless, became dead, as Christ said. Christ meant not the death which no man may avoid, but he meant the eternal death, which some of the people had merited for their unbelief. Moses and Aaron, and many others of the people who were pleasing to God ate the heavenly bread, but they died not the eternal death, although they departed by the common death. They saw that the heavenly meat was visible and corruptible, but they understood spiritually concerning the visible thing, and partook of it spiritually. Jesus said, “He who eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, shall have everlasting life.” He did not command the body with which he was invested to be eaten, nor the blood to be drunk which he shed for us; but he meant by that speech the holy housel, which is spiritually his body and his blood and he who tastes that with believing heart shall have everlasting life.

Cf. George Stanley Faber:

Such a line of exposition speaks for itself. They, who adopted it as the received sense of the Primitive Church from the beginning, could, by no possibility, have held the doctrine of Transubstantiation. For, if that doctrine be the mind of Scripture, the fathers under the Old Dispensation certainly could not have partaken of the body and blood of Christ, in the same manner as believers partake of them, by the hypothesis, under the New Dispensation. And yet our witnesses are explicit in assuring us that, in the judgment of the Primitive Church, believers, under each Dispensation alike, equally and in the very same sense or manner, did eat the flesh of Christ and did drink his blood. . . . Thus the early interpretation of the Discourse at Capernaum is, in itself alone, absolutely fatal to the Romish Doctrine of Transubstantiation. At every step, the interpretation proleptically condemns the doctrine: insomuch that, by no possibility, can the two be made to consist together.

(George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], pp. 176-177, 180.)

9. Appendix: Only “Believers” Eat the Body (Flesh) of Christ—Historical Testimony. Return to Outline.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

But many things might be said about the Word Himself who became flesh, and true meat of which he that eateth shall assuredly live for ever, no worthless person being able to eat it [οὐδενὸς δυναμένου φαύλου ἐσθίειν αὐτήν]; for if it were possible for one who continues worthless to eat of Him who became flesh, who was the Word and the living bread, it would not have been written, that “every one who eats of this bread shall live for ever.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org. [56.]

Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

All who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God,—while they are not holy in body and spirit, neither eat the flesh of Jesus nor drink his blood: concerning which, he himself says: He, that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. For Christ our passover is sacrificed for us and he is eaten, not out of doors, but in one house and within.

(S. Eusebii Hieronymi, Commentariorum in Isaiam Prophetam, Lib. XVIII, Cap. LXVI, Vers. 17; PL, 24:666; trans. George Stanley Faber, Christ’s Discourse at Capernaum: Fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, [London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1840], p. 125. Cf. JHT-TCF, 233.)

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

Finally, he explains how what he is talking about happens and what it means to eat his body and to drink his blood. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him (Jn 6:56). This, therefore, is eating that food and drinking that drink: abiding in Christ and having him abide in oneself. [Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere.] And thus if someone does not abide in Christ and Christ does not abide in him, there can be no doubt that he does not eat his flesh or drink his blood, but rather he is eating and drinking the sacrament of such a great reality to his own condemnation, because he had the presumption to approach the sacraments of Christ in an unclean state…

(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614; trans. WSA, I/12:464. Cf. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

All this that the Lord spoke concerning His flesh and blood;—and in the grace of that distribution He promised us eternal life, and that He meant those that eat His flesh and drink His blood to be understood, from the fact of their abiding in Him and He in them; and that they understood not who believed not; and that they were offended through their understanding spiritual things in a carnal sense; and that, while these were offended and perished, the Lord was present for the consolation of the disciples who remained, for proving whom He asked, “Will ye also go away?” that the reply of their steadfastness might be known to us, for He knew that they remained with Him;—let all this, then, avail us to this end, most beloved, that we eat not the flesh and blood of Christ merely in the sacrament, as many evil men do, but that we eat and drink to the participation of the Spirit, that we abide as members in the Lord’s body, to be quickened by His Spirit, and that we be not offended, even if many do now with us eat and drink the sacraments in a temporal manner, who shall in the end have eternal torments.

(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 27.11; trans. NPNF1, 7:177-178.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

In fine, He Himself, when He says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,”[John vi. 56.] shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], to eat His body and drink His blood; for this is to dwell in Christ, that He also may dwell in us. So that it is as if He said, He that dwelleth not in me, and in whom I do not dwell, let him not say or think that he eateth my body or drinketh my blood.

(Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. NPNF1, 2:473.) See also: ccel.org. [57.]

Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 390-455 A.D.):

He receives the food of life, and drinks the cup of eternity, who abides in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells. For whoso is at variance with Christ, neither eats His flesh nor drinks His blood [Nam qui discordat a Christo, nec carnem ejus manducat, nec sanguinem bibit]: although he indifferently receive the Sacrament of so great a thing to the judgment of His own presumption.

(Prosperi Aquitani, Sententiæ ex Augustino Delibatæ, 341; PL, 45:1890; trans. JHT-TCF, 234. Cf. Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614; trans. WSA, I/12:464. Cf. NPNF1, 7:173.)

Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

No infidel eats the flesh of Christ [Omnis infidelis non vescitur carne Christi].

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In Pentateuchum Commentarii: Exodus, Cap. XI, XII; PL, 91:308; trans. JHT-TCF, 235.)

Cf. Bede the Venerable (c. 672/3-735 A.D.):

And whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Therefore, to eat that food and to drink that drink is to remain in Christ and to have Christ remaining in oneself. Thus, those who do not remain in Christ, and in whom Christ does not remain, undoubtedly do not eat His flesh spiritually, even though they physically and visibly press the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ with their teeth. Instead, they more so eat and drink the sacrament of such a great thing to their judgment, because the impure presumes to approach the sacraments of Christ, which another does not worthily receive unless he is pure; of whom it is said: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5).

(Bedæ Venerabilis, In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio, Caput VI; PL, 92:719.) [58.]

Alcuin of York [Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus], Abbot of Marmoutier Abbey (c. 735-804 A.D.):

Such is the power of this sacrifice, that it is the body and blood of Christ to the just alone, not to sinners [Tanta est virtus hujus sacrificii, ut solis justis peccatoribus corpus sit et sanguis Christi].

(B. F. Albini Seu Alcuini, Confessio Fidei, Pars Iv: De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, Ac de Proprius Delictis, §. VII; PL, 100:1091; trans. JHT-TCF, 235.)

Walafridus Strabo of Fulda (c. 808-849 A.D.):

But there are two ways of eating: one sacramental, whereby the wicked eat, as well as the good; the other spiritual, whereby the good alone eat. …For he eats spiritually who abides in the unity of the Church, which the Sacrament itself signifies. For if he is at variance with Christ, he neither eats the flesh of Christ nor drinks His blood, though he daily take the Sacrament of so great a thing to judgment.

(Walafridi Strabi, Glossa Ordinaria: Epistola I Ad Corinthios, Caput XI, Ver. 29; PL, 114:539; trans. JHT-TCF, 236.)

Paschasius Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie (c. 785-865 A.D.):

‘Whoso eats My flesh and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him’; otherwise, unless he first abide in Me and I in him, he cannot eat My flesh nor drink My blood [alioquin nisi prius in me maneat et ego in illo, carnem meam manducare non potest, neque sanguinem bibere]. And what is it that men eat? Behold how often men receive indifferently the Sacraments of the altar. They receive, plainly, but the one spiritually eats the flesh of Christ, and drinks His blood; but the other does not, although he appears to receive a morsel from the hand of the priest [Percipiunt plane, sed alius carnen Christi spiritaliter manducat et sanguinem bibit, alius vero non, quamvis buccellam de manu sacerdotis videatur percipere].

(Paschasii Radberti Abbatis Corbeiensis, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, Caput VI, §§. 1-2; PL, 120:1282; trans. JHT-TCF, 236. Cf. LCC, 9:106.)

Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims (c. 806-882 A.D.):

But whoso is at variance with Christ, neither eats the flesh of Christ nor drinks His blood to life, even though he daily indifferently receive the Sacrament of so great a thing to the judgment of his own presumption [Qui autem a Christo discordat, nec carnem Christi manducat, nec sanguinem bibit ad vitam, etiam si tantæ rei sacramentum ad judicium suæ præsumptionis quotidie indifferenter accipiat].

(Hincmari Rhem. Archiep., De Cavendis Vitiis et Virtutibus Exercendis, Cap. X; PL, 125:928; trans. JHT-TCF, 236.)

Unknown Author of Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi (c. 12th Century A.D.):

(Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi, Cap. XXVIII, §. 85; PL, 184:1251-1252.) [59.]

Note: “Liber de Modo Bene Vivendi” is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux.

10. Endnotes (Alternate Translations and Additional Testimony). Return to Outline.

[1.] Alt. Trans. Marcus Tullius Cicero (c. 106-46 B.C.):

When we speak of corn as Ceres, and of wine as Liber, we use, it is true, a customary mode of speech, but do you think that any one is so senseless as to believe that what he is eating is the divine substance?

(Marci Tullii Ciceronis, Opera Philosopha et Politica: Vol. II, recognovit J. G. Baiter, [Lipsiae: Ex Officina Bernhardi Tauchnitz, 1864], “De Natura Deorum,” 3.16.41, p. 104; trans. Marci Tullii Ciceronis, De Natura Deorum, trans. Francis Brooks, [London: Methuen & Co., 1896], 3.16, p. 180. Cf. LCL, 268:325.)

Cf. Francis Turretin:

XII. Sixth, from the absurdity and impiety of the doctrine, by which a necessity is imposed of adoring what is eaten and carried into the stomach and of eating what is adored. There is nothing in the whole Roman religion (from the time that this worship gained a footing among them) which has excited in philosophers and infidels a greater contempt for Christianity than this; or which they have more immoderately ridiculed and more persistently assailed. The words of Averroes, the philosopher, quoted by Perronius, are known: “He found no sect worse or more foolish than the Christian, the members of which rend asunder and devour with their teeth the God whom they worship” (Traite de sainct sacrament de l’Euchariste 3.29 [1633], p. 973). And that this very thing is commonly objected against even by the Turks in our day as a most base infamous action, many testify who have given an account of their eastern travels, since they call them “God-eaters” (theophagous). As indeed what can be imagined more abhorrent to the common sense and reason of mortals than that man should adore (and I do not say a thing that is mute and lifeless, which is weak and exposed to the injuries of all animals, even the most helpless, but what either he or another equally mortal is about to eat and swallow)—should adore, I say, that very thing and think it to be his God? Balbus, the Stoic in Cicero, was not ignorant of this: “Do you suppose,” says he, “that anyone is so senseless as to believe that which he eats to be a god?” (De Natura Deorum 3*.16.41 [Loeb, 19:324–25]).

(Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology: Volume Three, trans. George M. Giger, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr., [Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 1997], 19.30.12, pp. 543-544.) Return to Article.

[2.] Alt. Trans. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

Wherefore, clothing yourselves with meekness, be ye renewed in faith, that is the flesh of the Lord, and in love, that is the blood of Jesus Christ.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Trallians (Shorter), 8; PG, 5:681; trans. ANF, 1:69.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

Alt. Trans. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Romans (Shorter), 7; PG, 5:693; trans. ANF, 1:77.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

My brothers and sisters, I am overflowing with love for you, and greatly rejoice as I watch out for your safety—yet not I, but Jesus Christ. Though I am in chains for his sake, I am all the more afraid, because I am still imperfect. But your prayer to God will make me perfect, so that I may attain the fate by which I have received mercy, since I have taken refuge in the gospel as the flesh of Jesus [τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὡς σαρκὶ Ἰησοῦ] and in the apostles as the council of presbyters of the church.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians, 5.1; PG, 5:828; trans. Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings, [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007], pp. 239, 241. Cf. ANF, 1:82.)

Alt. Trans. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (c. 35-108/40 A.D.):

My brethren, I am greatly enlarged in loving you; and rejoicing exceedingly [over you], I seek to secure your safety. Yet it is not I, but Jesus Christ, for whose sake being bound I fear the more, inasmuch as I am not yet perfect. But your prayer to God shall make me perfect, that I may attain to that portion which through mercy has been allotted me, while I flee to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus, and to the apostles as to the presbytery of the Church.

(Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Shorter), 5; PG, 5:828; trans. ANF, 1:82.) See also: ccel.org. Return to Article.

[3.] Cf. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

Accordingly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. And the one, the mixture of wine and water, nourishes to faith; while the other, the Spirit, conducts to immortality.

(Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Pædagogi), 2.2; PG, 8:409, 412; trans. ANF, 2:242.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. John Henry Hopkins:

Here, all is simple and consistent. The elements are spoken of as consecrated symbols, and the sacred effects are spiritual, the operation of Christ and the Spirit upon the faithful and worthy recipient.

(John Henry Hopkins, The Novelties which Disturb Our Peace: Letters Addressed to the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church, [Philadelphia: Herman Hooker, 1844], p. 55.) Return to Article.

[4.] Cf. Everett Ferguson:

The technical use of Eucharist seems clear. There is once more the double reference to food that nourishes the flesh and to knowledge, the “true bread of the Spirit,” that gives life to the church, the real body of the Son of God. Later in the document (82.1), bread and oil are cited as analogies to the water of baptism that has a material effect and by the Spirit an immaterial effect:

(Everett Ferguson, “A Response To Robin Darling Young On: The Eucharist as Sacrifice according to Clement of Alexandria;” In: Rediscovering the Eucharist: Ecumenical Conversations, ed. Roch A. Kereszty, O. Cist., [New York / Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2003], p. 110.)

Cf. Theodotus of Byzantium (c. 2nd Century A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

And the bread and the oil are sanctified by the power of the Name, not being, as they appear, the same as they were taken, but by power they are changed into a spiritual power [δυνάμει εἰς δύναμιν πνευματικὴν μεταβέβληται]. In like manner, the water, too, both that which is exorcised, and that which becometh Baptism, not only contains what is inferior, but also acquires sanctifying.

(Clemens Alexandrinus, Excerpta: Ex Scriptis Theodoti et Doctrina Quæ Orientalis Vocatur: Ad Valentini Tempora Spectantia, n. LXXXII; PG, 9:696; trans. Lucius Waterman, The Primitive Tradition of the Eucharistic Body and Blood, [New York: Longmans, Green and Co, 1919], p. 66.)

Alt. Trans. Theodotus of Byzantium (c. 2nd Century A.D.) / Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 A.D.):

And the bread and the oil are sanctified by the power of the Name, and they are not the same as they appeared to be when they were received, but they have been transformed by power into spiritual power. Thus, the water, also, both in exorcism and baptism, not only keeps off evil, but gives sanctification as well.

(Clemens Alexandrinus, Excerpta: Ex Scriptis Theodoti et Doctrina Quæ Orientalis Vocatur: Ad Valentini Tempora Spectantia, n. LXXXII; PG, 9:696; trans. Clement of Alexandria, The Excerpta ex Theodoto of Clement of Alexandria, trans. Robert Pierce Casey, [London: Christophers, 1934], pp. 89, 91.)

Cf. Lucius Waterman:

I follow Dr. Pusey in adding here a quotation from a heretical writer, Theodotus, who was a contemporary of Clement of Alexandria. His doctrine of the Eucharist would seem to have been just that of the Catholic Church. This passage is noteworthy as bringing together, as if they were quite analogous, three sacramental consecrations, — that of the bread of the Eucharist, that of the oil of Confirmation, and that of the water of Baptism.

(Lucius Waterman, The Primitive Tradition of the Eucharistic Body and Blood, [New York: Longmans, Green and Co, 1919], p. 66. Cf. Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Doctrine of the Real Presence, [Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1855], pp. 177-178.) Return to Article.

[5.] Full Text. Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-220 A.D.):

He says, it is true, that “the flesh profiteth nothing;” but then, as in the former case, the meaning must be regulated by the subject which is spoken of. Now, because they thought His discourse was harsh and intolerable, supposing that He had really and literally enjoined on them to eat his flesh, He, with the view of ordering the state of salvation as a spiritual thing, set out with the principle, “It is the spirit that quickeneth;” and then added, “The flesh profiteth nothing,”—meaning, of course, to the giving of life. He also goes on to explain what He would have us to understand by spirit: “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” In a like sense He had previously said: “He that heareth my words, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but shall pass from death unto life.” Constituting, therefore, His word as the life-giving principle, because that word is spirit and life, He likewise called His flesh by the same appellation; because, too, the Word had become flesh, we ought therefore to desire Him in order that we may have life, and to devour Him with the ear, and to ruminate on Him with the understanding, and to digest Him by faith. Now, just before (the passage in hand), He had declared His flesh to be “the bread which cometh down from heaven,” impressing on (His hearers) constantly under the figure of necessary food the memory of their forefathers, who had preferred the bread and flesh of Egypt to their divine calling. Then, turning His subject to their reflections, because He perceived that they were going to be scattered from Him, He says: “The flesh profiteth nothing.”

(Tertullian of Carthage, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 37; trans. ANF, 3:572.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-220 A.D.):

For the Lord had withal issued His edict, “Seek ye first the kingdom, and then even these shall be added:” albeit we may rather understand, “Give us this day our daily bread,” spiritually [spiritaliter]. For Christ is our Bread; because Christ is Life, and bread is life. “I am,” saith He, “the Bread of Life;” and, a little above, “The Bread is the Word of the living God, who came down from the heavens.” Then we find, too, that His body is reckoned in bread: “This is my body.” And so, in petitioning for “daily bread,” we ask for perpetuity in Christ, and indivisibility from His body.

(Tertullian, On Prayer, 6; PL, 1:1160-1161; trans. ANF, 3:683.) See also: ccel.org. Return to Article.

[6.] Alt. Trans. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

Know that they are figures written in the divine volumes and, for that reason, examine and understand what is said as spiritual and not as carnal. For if you receive those things as carnal, they wound you and do not sustain you. For even in the Gospels, it is “the letter” that “kills.” Not only in the Old Testament is “the letter that kills” found; there is also in the New Testament “the letter that kills” that one who does not spiritually perceive what is said. For, if you follow according to the letter that which is said, “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood,” this “letter kills.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Leviticus, Homily 7.5.4-5; PG, 12:487; trans. FC, 83:146.)

Cf. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

As another example, take the Lord’s words, “The bread that I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” When “the Jews strove with one another saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” we showed that the hearers were not so foolish as to suppose that the speaker was inviting the hearers to approach him and eat of his flesh.

(Origen, Commentary on John, 20.387; trans. FC, 89:285.)

Cf. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

“He will not sleep, until he eats the prey. and drinks the blood of the wounded.” In these words, who will be such a contentious defender of the historical narrative, or rather, who will be found so dull, that he would not take refuge by sheer necessity in the sweetness of allegory and shrink back from the sound of the letter? For how will that people, who are so praiseworthy and magnificent, of whom the word lists so many praiseworthy things, come to the point of drinking the blood of the wounded? For God forbids the consumption of blood by so many forceful commands that even we who are called from the Gentiles are necessarily commanded to abstain “both from things sacrificed to idols and from blood.”

So let them tell us who this people are who are accustomed to drink blood. These were the things that those Jews in the Gospel who were following the Lord were scandalized about and said: “Who can eat flesh and drink blood?” But the Christian people, the faithful people, hear these things and embrace them and follow him who says: “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in yourselves; for my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink.” And surely, the one who said these things was wounded for men; for “he was wounded for our sins,” as Isaiah says. But we are said to drink the blood of Christ not only in the rite of the sacraments, but also when we receive his words, in which are life, as he himself says: “The words that I have spoken are spirit and life.” Thus, he himself was wounded, whose blood we drink, that is, we receive the words of his teaching. Moreover, they are no less wounded who have preached his word to us. For when we read their words, that is, the words of his apostles, and when we attain to life from them, we are “drinking the blood of the wounded.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Homilies in Numbers, Homily 16.9; PG, 12:701; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Homilies on Numbers: Origen, trans. Thomas P. Scheck, [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009], p. 101.) Preview.

Cf. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

The solemnity of the Passover is placed fourth among the feasts of God, during which feast a lamb is killed. But you should look to the true lamb, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” and say that “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” Let the Jews eat lamb’s flesh in a carnal sense, but let us eat the flesh of the Word of God; for he himself said: “Unless you eat my flesh, you will not have life in yourselves.”

What we are now saying is the flesh of the Word of God, but only if we set it forth not as “vegetables” for the weak or as the nourishment of “milk” for children. If we speak what is perfect, robust and strong, we are setting out the flesh of the Word of God for you to eat. For where there are mystical words, where there are doctrinal and solid words that are brought forth in a way that is filled with faith in the Trinity, when the mysteries of the spiritual law of the age to come are expanded on, once the “veil of the letter has been removed”; when the soul’s hope is torn away from the earth and cast toward heaven and is located in those things that “eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have they ascended into the heart of man.” All these things are the flesh of the Word of God. The one who is able to consume these things with a perfect understanding and with a purified heart truly offers the sacrifice of the Passover feast and celebrates the feast day with God and his angels.

(Origen of Alexandria, Homilies in Numbers, Homily 23.6; PG, 12:751-752; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Homilies on Numbers: Origen, trans. Thomas P. Scheck, [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009], p. 144.) Preview.

Cf. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

Now, it may very well be that some one not versed in the various aspects of the Saviour may stumble at the interpretation given above of the Jordan; because John says, “I baptize with water, but He that cometh after me is stronger than I; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” To this we reply that, as the Word of God in His character as something to be drunk is to one set of men water, and to another wine, making glad the heart of man, and to others blood, since it is said, “Except ye drink My blood, ye have no life in you,” and as in His character as food He is variously conceived as living bread or as flesh, so also He, the same person, is baptism of water, and baptism of Holy Spirit and of fire, and to some, also, of blood.

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 6.26; trans. ANF, 9:372.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

“And the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.” Again, we eat the flesh of the Lamb, with bitter herbs, and unleavened bread, when we repent of our sins and grieve with the sorrow which is according to God, a repentance which operates for our salvation, and is not to be repented of; or when, on account of our trials, we turn to the speculations which are found to be those of truth, and are nourished by them. We are not, however, to eat the flesh of the Lamb raw, as those do who are slaves of the letter, like irrational animals, and those who are enraged at men truly reasonable, because they desire to understand spiritual things; truly, they share the nature of savage beasts. But we must strive to convert the rawness of Scripture into well-cooked food, not letting what is written grow flabby and wet and thin, as those do who have itching ears, and turn away their ears from the truth; their methods tend to a loose and flabby conduct of life. But let us be of a fervent spirit and keep hold of the fiery words given to us of God, such as Jeremiah received from Him who spoke to him, “Behold, I have made My words in thy mouth like fire,” and let us see that the flesh of the Lamb be well cooked, so that those who partake of it may say, as Christ speaks in us, “Our heart burned by the way, as He opened to us the Scriptures.” Further, if it is our duty to enquire into such a point as the roasting of the flesh of the Lamb with fire, we must not forget the parallel of what Jeremiah suffered on account of the words of God, as he says: “And it was as a glowing fire, burning in my bones, and I am without any strength, and I cannot bear it.” But, in this eating, we must begin at the head, that is to say, at the principal and the most essential doctrines about heavenly things, and we must end at the feet, the last branches of learning which enquire as to the final nature in things, or about more material things, or about things under the earth, or about wicked spirits and unclean demons.

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 10.13; trans. ANF, 9:390.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org.

Full Text. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

…nothing is pure to him who is defiled and unbelieving, not in itself, but because of his defilement and unbelief, so that which is sanctified through the word of God and prayer does not, in its own nature, sanctify him who uses it, for, if this were so, it would sanctify even him who eats unworthily of the bread of the Lord, and no one on account of this food would become weak or sickly or asleep for something of this kind Paul represented in saying, “For this cause many among you are weak and sickly and not a few sleep.” And in the case of the bread of the Lord, accordingly, there is advantage to him who uses it, when with undefiled mind and pure conscience he partakes of the bread. And so neither by not eating, I mean by the very fact that we do not eat of the bread which has been sanctified by the word of God and prayer, are we deprived of any good thing, nor by eating are we the better by any good thing; for the cause of our lacking is wickedness and sins, and the cause of our abounding is righteousness and right actions; so that such is the meaning of what is said by Paul, “For neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we eat not are we the worse.” Now, if “everything that entereth into the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the drought,” even the meat which has been sanctified through the word of God and prayer, in accordance with the fact that it is material, goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught, but in respect of the prayer which comes upon it, according to the proportion of the faith, becomes a benefit and is a means of clear vision to the mind which looks to that which is beneficial, and it is not the material of the bread but the word which is said over it which is of advantage to him who eats it not unworthily of the Lord. And these things indeed are said of the typical and symbolical body. But many things might be said about the Word Himself who became flesh, and true meat of which he that eateth shall assuredly live for ever, no worthless person being able to eat it [οὐδενὸς δυναμένου φαύλου ἐσθίειν αὐτήν]; for if it were possible for one who continues worthless to eat of Him who became flesh, who was the Word and the living bread, it would not have been written, that “every one who eats of this bread shall live for ever.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:948-952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. William Goode:

After having spoken of the Eucharist, he proceeds thus:—“And thus much concerning the typical and symbolical body. But many things might be spoken concerning the Word himself, who became flesh and true food, which he who eats shall certainly live for ever, no wicked person being able to eat it. For if it were possible that any one living in sin could eat him who became flesh, being the Word, and living bread, it would not have been written, [John vi. 51.] that every one who eats this bread shall live for ever.” Here he clearly draws a distinction between “the typical and symbolical body,” that is, the Eucharistic elements, and the Word himself, the living bread, spoken of in John vi., of which we are to eat; manifestly referring to a spiritual act, a spiritual feeding upon Christ himself, which, however it may be connected in the case of the faithful with the act of the outward reception of the Eucharistic elements, is distinct from it, and may be independent of it. And it cannot be objected to this, as it has been to the former passages, that he is here giving an allegorical interpretation of the passage.

(William Goode, The Nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist: Vol. I, [London: T. Hatchard, 1856], p. 114.) Return to Article.

[7.] Alt. Trans. Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea (c. 260/5-339/40 A.D.):

But you, having taken up the gospel text, see the whole teaching of our Savior [and] how he did not speak about the flesh that he assumed, but about the mystical body and blood. “…It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Through these remarks he taught them to hear in a spiritual sense what had been said about his flesh and blood. For [he says], “Do not think that I am speaking about the flesh, which I bear, [saying] that it is necessary to eat it, nor suppose that I command [you] to drink sensible and corporeal blood… For these things are ‘of no avail’ when they are heard sensibly, but the Spirit is that which gives life to those who are able to hear spiritually.”

(Eusebius of Cæsarea, Ecclesiastical Theology, 3.12; PG, 24:1021, 1024; trans. FC, 135:319-320.)

Full Text. Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea (c. 260/5-339/40 A.D.):

But you, having taken up the gospel text, see the whole teaching of our Savior [and] how he did not speak about the flesh that he assumed, but about the mystical body and blood. For when he fed the multitudes with the five loaves and provided this great miracle to those who were watching, many Jews, disparaging the deed, said to him, “Then, what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you?” Then they made a comparison with the manna in the desert, saying, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it has been written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (2) To these remarks the Savior answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” Then he continues, “I am the bread of life,” and again, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and again, “The bread which I shall give is my body.” And again he adds, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you (3) have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood (4) is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” And when he had recounted all these sorts of things in a more mystical way, certain of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”—to which the Savior replied, saying, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see (5) the Son of Man ascending where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Through these remarks he taught them to hear in a spiritual sense what had been said about his flesh and blood. For [he says], “Do not think that I am speaking about the flesh, which I bear, [saying] that it is necessary to eat it, nor suppose that I command [you] to drink sensible and corporeal blood, but know well that ‘the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life,’ so that the words themselves and the statements themselves are the flesh and blood; he who partakes of them always, feeding as it were on heavenly bread, (6) will have a share in the life of heaven.” Therefore, he [Christ] says, “Take no offense at what I have said to you about the food of my flesh and the drink of my blood, nor let what I have said about the flesh and blood trouble you when at first you hear it. For these things are ‘of no avail’ when they are heard sensibly, but the Spirit is that which gives life to those (7) who are able to hear spiritually.”

(Eusebius of Cæsarea, Ecclesiastical Theology, 3.12; PG, 24:1021, 1024; trans. FC, 135:319-320.)

Cf. Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea (c. 260/5-339/40 A.D.):

When we are nourished by the rational flesh of this sacrificial Savior, who rescued the entire human race by his own blood—that is, when we are nourished by his teachings and discourses, which announce the kingdom of heaven—then we are rightly luxuriating with the luxury that is in accordance with God. [Τούτου δὴ τοῦ σωτηρίου θύματος τοῦ τῷ ἰδίῳ αἵματι τὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων γένος ἀνασωσαμένου ταῖς λογικαῖς σαρξὶ τρεφόμενοι, μαθήμασι δηλαδὴ καὶ λόγοις βασιλείας οὐρανῶν καταγγελτικοῖς, τὴν κατὰ Θεὸν εἰκότως τρυφῶμεν τρυφήν.]

(Eusebii Cæsariensis, De Solemnitate Paschali, §. 2; PG, 24:696; trans. Andrew Eastbourne.) See also: tertullian.org.

Alt. Trans. Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea (c. 260/5-339/40 A.D.):

This saving sacrifice, indeed, having by its own blood saved the race of all men, we nourished by the reasonable flesh, manifestly by instruction and words that declare the Kingdom of Heaven, feed richly, as it is likely, on its dainties according to God’s way.

(Eusebii Cæsariensis, De Solemnitate Paschali, §. 2; PG, 24:696; trans. Charles Hebert, The Lord’s Supper: Uninspired Teaching: The First Volume, From Clement of Rome to Photius, And the Fathers of Toledo (From A.D. 74 to A.D. 891.), [London: Seeley, Jackson and Halliday, 1879], p. 168.)

Alt. Trans. Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea (c. 260/5-339/40 A.D.):

Hujus ergo victimæ, id est Servatoris qui proprio sanguine humanum genus salvavit, intellectualibus pasti carnibus, videlicet dogmatibus atque doctrinis cælorum regnum nuntiantibus, deliciis merito divinis deliciamur.

(Eusebii Cæsariensis, De Solemnitate Paschali, §. 2; PG, 24:696; trans. Migne, PG, 24:695.) Return to Article.

[8.] Alt. Trans. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 296/8-373 A.D.):

Here also He has used both terms about Himself, namely flesh and spirit; and He distinguished the spirit from what relates to the flesh in order that they might believe not only in what was visible in Him but also in what was invisible, and might thereby learn that what He says is not fleshly but spiritual. For how many would the body suffice for eating, that it should become the food of the whole world? But for this reason He made mention of the ascension of the Son of man into heaven, in order that He might draw them away from the bodily notion, and that from henceforth they might learn that the aforesaid flesh was heavenly eating from above and spiritual food given by Him. For, He says, what I have spoken unto you is spirit and life, as much as to say, That which is manifested, and is given for the salvation of the world, is the flesh which I wear. But this and its blood shall be given to you by Me spiritually as food, so that this may be imparted spiritually to each one, and may become to all a preservative for resurrection to eternal life.

(S. Athanasii, Epistola Ad Serapionem (Epistola IV: Eiusdem ad Eumdem Serapionem Εpistola Item de Sancto Spiritu), §. 19; PG, 26:665, 668; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], p. 90.)

Cf. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 296/8-373 A.D.):

Such was the case with our Lord, who said, ‘My meat is to do the will of My Father which is in heaven.’ But if it is not thus with the soul, and it inclines downwards, it is then nourished by nothing but sin. For thus the Holy Ghost, describing sinners and their food, referred to the devil when He said, ‘I have given him to be meat to the people of Æthiopia.’ For this is the food of sinners. And as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, being heavenly bread, is the food of the saints, according to this; ‘Except ye eat My flesh, and drink My blood;’ so is the devil the food of the impure, and of those who do nothing which is of the light, but work the deeds of darkness. Therefore, in order to withdraw and turn them from vices, He commands them to be nourished with the food of virtue; namely, humbleness of mind, lowliness to endure humiliations, the acknowledgment of God.

(Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letters, 1.5; trans. NPNF2, 4:508.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 296/8-373 A.D.):

Since these things are so, my brethren, let us mortify our members which are on the earth, and be nourished with living bread, by faith and love to God, knowing that without faith it is impossible to be partakers of such bread as this. For our Saviour, when He called all men to him, and said, ‘If any man thirst, let him [come] to Me and drink,’ immediately spoke of the faith without which a man cannot receive such food; ‘He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ To this end He continually nourished His believing disciples with His words, and gave them life by the nearness of His divinity, but to the Canaanitish woman, because she was not yet a believer, He deigned not even a reply, although she stood greatly in need of food from Him. He did this not from scorn, far from it (for the Lord is loving to men and good, and on that account He went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon); but because of her unbelief, and because she was of those who had not the word.

(Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letters, 7.7; trans. NPNF2, 4:525-526.) See also: cceo.org.

Cf. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 296/8-373 A.D.):

The Apostle exhorts his beloved son Timothy, in his first Epistle, ‘to be nourished with the word of faith, and the good doctrine whereto he had attained.’ And in the second, ‘Preserve thou the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.’ And not only here, my brethren, is this bread the food of the righteous, neither are the saints on earth alone nourished by such bread and such blood; but we also eat them in heaven, for the Lord is the food even of the exalted spirits, and the angels, and He is the joy of all the heavenly host. And to all He is everything, and He has pity upon all according to His loving-kindness. Already hath the Lord given us angels’ food, and He promises to those who continue with Him in His trials, saying, ‘And I promise to you a kingdom, as My Father hath promised to Me; that ye shall eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ O what a banquet is this, my brethren, and how great is the harmony and gladness of those who eat at this heavenly table! For they delight themselves not with that food which is cast out, but with that which produces life everlasting.

(Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letters, 7.8; trans. NPNF2, 4:526.) See also: cceo.org. Return to Article.

[9.] Alt. Trans. Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea Mazaca (c. 329/30-379 A.D.):

We eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood, if we, through His incarnation and human life, become partakers of the Logos and of wisdom [Τρώγομεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνομεν αὐτοῦ τὸ αἷμα, κοινωνοὶ γινόμενοι διὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως καὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς ζωῆς τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς σοφίας].

(S. Basilii, Epistola VIII, §. 4; PG, 32:253; trans. Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church: Vol. III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity, [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1960; copyright, 1910, by Charles Scribner’s Sons], §. 95: The Sacrament of the Eucharist, p. 497.) See also: ccel.org. Return to Article.

[10.] Alt. Trans. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

But what is it to taste death? Unless, perhaps, bread may be death, just as bread is life? For there are those who eat the bread of sorrow; there are also the Ethiopian peoples who received the dragon as food. May it be far from us to devour the dragon’s poison, for we have the true Bread, that Bread which came down from heaven. He who keeps what is written eats that Bread. Thus there are those who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. VII, §. 3; PL, 15:1699; trans. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament III: Luke, ed. Arthur A. Just Jr., [Downers Grove: InterVarsity-Press, 2003], Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.3, p. 157.)

Cf. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Be not alarmed because the cup of Babylon is a golden cup, for you drink out of the cup of wisdom, which is more precious than gold and silver. Drink of each cup, therefore, of the Old and New Testament, because you drink of Christ from each. Drink Christ, that you may drink the blood with which you are redeemed: drink Christ, that you may drink his discourses. His discourse is the Old Testament; his discourse is the New Testament. The Holy Scripture is drunk and devoured, when the juice of the eternal Word descends into the veins and energies of the mind. Lastly, man lives not by bread alone, but by every word of God. Drink this word, but drink it in its right order. First drink it in the Old Testament, and make haste to drink it in the New Testament.

(Sancti Ambrosii, Enarrationes in XII Psalmos Davidicos, In Psalmum Primum Enarratio, §. 33; PL, 14:939-940; trans. George Finch, A Sketch of the Romish Controversy, [London: G. Norman, 1831], pp. 220, 222.)

Cf. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Christ is touched by faith, Christ is seen by faith; he is not touched by the body, he is not comprehended by the eyes…

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. VI, §. 57; PL, 15:1683; trans. William Goode, The Nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist: Vol. I, [London: T. Hatchard, 1856], p. 420.)

Cf. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

…we touch not Christ with bodily touch, but with faith.

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. X, §. 155; PL, 15:1843; trans. JHT-TCF, 208.)

Cf. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Thou didst indeed descend, O Son of man, nor when thou descendest wast thou absent from the Father: but Thou descendest to us, that we might see Thee with our eyes and minds, that we might believe in Thee. Therefore Thou hast ascended from us also, that we might likewise follow Thee with our minds, whom we cannot see with our eyes.

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. X, §. 159; PL, 15:1843; trans. JHT-TCF, 208.)

Cf. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 340-397 A.D.):

Therefore, not upon earth, nor in the earth, nor after the flesh ought we to seek Thee, if we would find Thee: for now we know Christ no longer after the flesh.

(Sancti Ambrosii, Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam, Lib. X, §. 160; PL, 15:1844; trans. JHT-TCF, 208. Cf. William Goode, The Nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist: Vol. I, [London: T. Hatchard, 1856], p. 307.) Return to Article.

[11.] Full Text. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 349-407 A.D.):

Ver. 63. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.”

His meaning is, “Ye must hear spiritually what relateth to Me, for he who heareth carnally is not profited, nor gathereth any advantage.” It was carnal to question how He came down from heaven, to deem that He was the son of Joseph, to ask, “How can he give us His flesh to eat?” All this was carnal, when they ought to have understood the matter in a mystical and spiritual sense. “But,” saith some one, “how could they understand what the ‘eating flesh’ might mean?” Then it was their duty to wait for the proper time and enquire, and not to abandon Him.

“The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”

That is, they are divine and spiritual, have nothing carnal about them, are not subject to the laws of physical consequence, but are free from any such necessity, are even set above the laws appointed for this world, and have also another and a different meaning. Now as in this passage He said “spirit,” instead of “spiritual,” so when He speaketh of “flesh,” He meant not “carnal things,” but “carnally hearing,” and alluding at the same time to them, because they ever desired carnal things when they ought to have desired spiritual. For if a man receives them carnally, he profits nothing. “What then, is not His flesh, flesh?” Most certainly. “How then saith He, that the flesh profiteth nothing?” He speaketh not of His own flesh, (God forbid!) but of those who received His words in a carnal manner. But what is “understanding carnally”? It is looking merely to what is before our eyes, without imagining anything beyond. This is understanding carnally. But we must not judge thus by sight, but must look into all mysteries with the eyes within. This is seeing spiritually. He that eateth not His flesh, and drinketh not His blood, hath no life in him. How then doth “the flesh profit nothing,” if without it we cannot live? Seest thou that the words, “the flesh profiteth nothing,” are spoken not of His own flesh, but of carnal hearing?

(John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 47 [on John 6:63]; trans. NPNF1, 14:169-170.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 349-407 A.D.):

They, when they heard this, replied, “Give us this bread to eat”; for they yet thought that it was something material, they yet expected to gratify their appetites, and so hastily ran to Him.

(John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 45 [on John 6:32]; trans. NPNF1, 14:160.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 349-407 A.D.):

“Give us this bread.” Then He, to rebuke them, because while they supposed that the food was material they ran to Him, but not when they learned that it was a spiritual kind…

(John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 45 [on John 6:34]; trans. NPNF1, 14:160.) See also: ccel.org. Return to Article.

[12.] Alt. Trans. Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia (c. ?-410 A.D.):

In the shadow of that legal Passover not one lamb was slain, but many. For one was slain in every house, since one was not sufficient for all. But a figure is not the reality of the Lord’s passion. For a figure is not the truth, but an imitation of the truth. For man too was made in the image of God, but was not therefore God. …For the bread which came down from heaven saith “the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” Rightly to is His blood expressed by the kind of wine, in that he saith in the Gospel, I am the true vine. He Himself plainly declares all which is offered in the figure of His Passion to be, in one, His blood.

(S. Gaudentii Brixiæ Episcopi, Sermo II. De Exodi Lectione Secundus; PL, 20:854-855; trans. John Harrison, An Answer to Dr. Pusey’s Challenge Respecting the Doctrine of the Real Presence: In Two Volumes: Vol. II, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1871], pp. 100-101, 101.) Return to Article.

[13.] Cf. Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428 A.D.):

This teaching is difficult; who can accept it? Since they had understood in a human sense that flesh had to be eaten, they thought that is was sacrilegious and certainly too difficult.

(Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Gospel of John, on John 6:60; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Commentary on the Gospel of John: Theodore of Mopsuestia, trans. Marco Conti, ed. Joel C. Elowsky, [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010], on John 6:60, p. 70.)

Cf. Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428 A.D.):

The words that I have spoken to you are siprit and life. “Therefore,” he says, “the things I am saying to you must also be understood in a spiritual way, and then you will be able to believe that they are eternal life.”

(Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Gospel of John, on John 6:63; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Commentary on the Gospel of John: Theodore of Mopsuestia, trans. Marco Conti, ed. Joel C. Elowsky, [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010], on John 6:63, p. 71.) Return to Article.

[14.] Alt. Trans. Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

I think the Gospel is the body of Christ; Holy Writ, His teaching. When He says: ‘He who does not eat my flesh and drink my blood,’ although the words may be understood in their mystical sense, nevertheless, I say the word of Scripture is truly the body of Christ and His blood; it is divine doctrine. If at any time we approach the Sacrament—the faithful understand what I mean—and a tiny crumb should fall, we are appalled. Even so, if at any time we hear the word of God, through which the body and blood of Christ is poured into our ears, and we yield carelessly to distraction, how responsible are we not for our failing?

(Jerome of Stridon, Homily 57 [on Psalm 147 (147b)]; PL, 26:1258-1259; trans. FC, 48:410.)

Cf. Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

Cf. Jerome, of Stridon (c. 347-420 A.D.):

Moreover, forasmuch as the flesh of the Lord is true meat, and his blood is true drink anagogically [αναγωγην], we have only this good in this life, if we eat his flesh and drink his blood not only in the mystery, but also in the reading of the Scriptures.

(S. Eusebii Hieronymi, Commentarius in Ecclesiasten, Cap. III; PL, 23:1039; trans. George Finch, A Sketch of the Romish Controversy, [London: G. Norman, 1831], p. 170.)

Note: “Anagogically,” i.e. spiritually or mystically—not carnally or corporeally. Return to Article.

[15.] Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

What he said seemed hard to them: Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you. It seemed to them a stupid idea, for they took it in a carnal sense, supposing that the Lord meant to hack off small pieces of his body to give them; so they objected. This is a hard saying. …But the Lord insisted: It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life (Jn 6:54). “Understand what I have told you in a spiritual way. You are not asked to eat this body that you can see, nor to drink the blood that will be shed by those who will crucify me. What I have revealed to you is something mysterious, something which when understood spiritually will mean life for you. Although it is to be celebrated in a visible manner, you must understand it in a way that transcends bodily sight.”

(Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms, Psalm 98.9; PL, 37:1264-1265; trans. WSA, III/18:475.)

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

When therefore commending such Meat and such Drink He said, “Except ye shall eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, ye shall have no life in you;” (and this that He said concerning life, who else said it but the Life Itself? But that man shall have death, not life, who shall think that the Life is false), His disciples were offended, not all of them indeed, but very many, saying within themselves, “This is an hard saying, who can hear it?” But when the Lord knew this in Himself, and heard the murmurings of their thought, He answered them, thinking though uttering nothing, that they might understand that they were heard, and might cease to entertain such thoughts. What then did He answer? “Doth this offend you?” “What then if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?” What meaneth this? “Doth this offend you?” “Do ye imagine that I am about to make divisions of this My Body which ye see; and to cut up My Members, and give them to you? ‘What then if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?’” Assuredly, He who could ascend Whole could not be consumed. So then He both gave us of His Body and Blood a healthful refreshment, and briefly solved so great a question as to His Own Entireness. Let them then who eat, eat on, and them that drink, drink; let them hunger and thirst; eat Life, drink Life. That eating, is to be refreshed; but thou art in such wise refreshed, as that that whereby thou art refreshed, faileth not. That drinking, what is it but to live? Eat Life, drink Life; thou shalt have life, and the Life is Entire. But then this shall be, that is, the Body and the Blood of Christ shall be each man’s Life; if what is taken in the Sacrament visibly is in the truth itself eaten spiritually, drunk spiritually. For we have heard the Lord Himself saying, “It is the Spirit That quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken unto you, are Spirit and Life. But there are some of you,” saith He, “that believe not.” Such were they who said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” It is hard, but only to the hard; that is, it is incredible, but only to the incredulous.

(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 81.1 [131.1 in Migne, PL.]; trans. NPNF1, 6:501.) See also: ccel.org.

Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

So when in proposing such food and such drink, he said, Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you (Jn 6:53)—and who else but Life itself could say this about life? But it will be death, not life to anyone who thinks that Life was lying—his disciples were shocked, not all of them to be sure, but most of them, and they said to themselves, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? (Jn 6:60). But when the Lord perceived this in himself, and heard their grumbling thoughts, he answered the thoughts they had not spoken out loud, to show them that they had been heard and stop them thinking such things. So how did he answer? Does this shock you? So what if you see the Son of man going up to where he was before? (Jn 6:61-62).

What did he mean by Does this shock you? “Do you imagine that of this body of mine which you can see, I am going to make portions, and carve up my limbs, and give them to you? So, what if you see the Son of man going up to where he was before? Certainly one who could go up entire and complete could hardly be eaten up.” So as well as giving us his body and blood as the restorative of our salvation, he also solved in a few words the difficult problem of his own complete preservation.

So let those who eat, eat, and those who drink, drink; let them feel hunger and thirst; let them eat life, drink life. To eat that is to be nourished; but nourished in such a way that what you are nourished by is not diminished. And what can it be to drink that, but to live? Eat life, drink life; you will have life, and the life is complete and entire. However, this will be the case, that is to say, the body and blood of Christ will be life for anyone, if what is taken visibly in the sacrament is spiritually eaten, spiritually drunk in very truth. After all, we heard the Lord himself saying, It is the Spirit which gives life, while the flesh is of no use at all. The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some, he said, who do not believe (Jn 6:63-64). They had been saying, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? Yes, it is hard, but for those who are hard; which means that it is unbelievable, but for those who won’t believe.

(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 131.1; trans. WSA, III/4:316-317.) Return to Article.

[16.] Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

And He explained the mode of this bestowal and gift of His, in what manner He gave His flesh to eat, saying, “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” The proof that a man has eaten and drank is this, if he abides and is abode in, if he dwells and is dwelt in, if he adheres so as not to be deserted. This, then, He has taught us, and admonished us in mystical words that we may be in His body, in His members under Himself as head, eating His flesh, not abandoning our unity with Him. But most of those who were present, by not understanding Him, were offended; for in hearing these things, they thought only of flesh, that which themselves were. But the apostle says, and says what is true, “To be carnally-minded is death.” The Lord gives us His flesh to eat, and yet to understand it according to the flesh is death; while yet He says of His flesh, that therein is eternal life. Therefore we ought not to understand the flesh carnally.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 27.1; trans. NPNF1, 7:174.) See also: ccel.org.

Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

Hence “the words,” saith He, “which I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” For we have said, brethren, that this is what the Lord had taught us by the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, that we should abide in Him and He in us. But we abide in Him when we are His members, and He abides in us when we are His temple. . . . “It is the Spirit,” then, “that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” What means “are spirit and life”? They are to be understood spiritually. Hast thou understood spiritually? “They are spirit and life.” Hast thou understood carnally? So also “are they spirit and life,” but are not so to thee.

(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 27.6; trans. NPNF1, 7:175, 176.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He has sent.” This is then to eat the meat, not that which perisheth, but that which endureth unto eternal life. To what purpose dost thou make ready teeth and stomach? Believe, and thou hast eaten already. Faith is indeed distinguished from works, even as the apostle says, “that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law:”...

(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 25.12; trans. NPNF1, 7:164.) See also: ccel.org.

Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

So they said to him then, What shall we do, to work the works of God? For he had said to them, Work not for the food which perishes but for that which abides to eternal life. What shall we do? they say. “What observances must we keep, if we are to comply with this instruction?” Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, to believe in the one whom he has sent. (Jn 6:27-29) So this is to eat the food which does not perish, but which abides to eternal life. Why are you getting your teeth and stomachs ready? Believe and you have eaten. [Utquid paras dentes et ventrem? crede, et manducasti.]

(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 25.12; PL, 35:1602; trans. WSA, I/12:439. Cf. NPNF1, 7:164.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

And, consequently, he that hungers after this bread, hungers after righteousness,—that righteousness however which cometh down from heaven, the righteousness that God gives, not that which man works for himself. For if man were not making a righteousness for himself, the same apostle would not have said of the Jews: “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, they are not subject to the righteousness of God.” Of such were these who understood not the bread that cometh down from heaven; because being satisfied with their own righteousness, they hungered not after the righteousness of God. What is this, God’s righteousness and man’s righteousness? God’s righteousness here means, not that wherein God is righteous, but that which God bestows on man, that man may be righteous through God. But again, what was the righteousness of those Jews? A righteousness wrought of their own strength on which they presumed, and so declared themselves as if they were fulfillers of the law by their own virtue. But no man fulfills the law but he whom grace assists, that is, whom the bread that cometh down from heaven assists. “For the fulfilling of the law,” as the apostle says in brief, “is charity.” Charity, that is, love, not of money, but of God; love, not of earth nor of heaven, but of Him who made Heaven and earth. Whence can man have that love? Let us hear the same: “The love of God,” saith he, “is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” Wherefore, the Lord, about to give the Holy Spirit, said that Himself was the bread that came down from heaven, exhorting us to believe on Him. For to believe on Him is to eat the living bread. He that believes eats; he is sated invisibly, because invisibly is he born again. A babe within, a new man within. Where he is made new, there he is satisfied with food.

(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 26.1; trans. NPNF1, 7:168.) See also: ccel.org.

Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

Let us listen to him: The charity of God, he says, has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). So then, the Lord, who was going to give the Holy Spirit, said he was himself the bread who came down from heaven, urging us to believe in him. To believe in him, in fact, is to eat the living bread. The one who believes, eats; he is invisibly filled, because he is invisibly reborn; [Credere enim in eum, hoc est manducare panem vivum. Qui credit, manducat: invisibiliter saginatur, quia invisibiliter renascitur.] inside, he is an infant; inside he is new; where he is newly planted, that is where he is filled up.

(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.1; PL, 35:1607; trans. WSA, I/12:450. Cf. NPNF1, 7:168.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):

Evangelical Miscellanies

Monday, September 9, 2024

Transubstantiation and John 6: A Comprehensive Historical Refutation