ACC ~ John 6 v11
BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY
ROMANUS MELODUS:
Christ had brought to Him[1]the five loaves of bread,
And straightway, lifting His eyes to the Father, He said:[2]
âI am doing Thy deeds; for I am Thy Son;
For in the beginning, I created the whole world
Together with Thee and the Holy Spirit; for I am
The heavenly bread of immortality.â
Behold how the masters, the servants of Christ, were arranged and attended
The Servant, Jesus; and they found Him at once.
For the Lord blessed the five loaves of bread,
Speaking to them as follows in spiritual fashion:
âGrow and multiply perceptibly,[3]
And nourish now all who are assembled here.â
And immediately the loaves obeyed the Lord;
They multiplied invisibly
As Christ spoke to them, for He is
The heavenly bread of immortality.
KONTAKION ON THE MULTIPLICATION OF LOAVES 13.19-20.[4]
THANKSGIVING BEFORE THE MEAL
CHRYSOSTOM: But why did he not pray when he was about to restore the paralytic, nor when he was raising the dead, or bridling the sea, while he does so here over the loaves? It was to show that when we begin our meals, we ought to give thanks to God. He does not do this because he needs to, but to show in both lesser and greater things it is fitting. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 42.3. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:153*.
MIRACLE NOT EVIDENT WHILE HAPPENING
HILARY OF POITIERS: Five loaves are then set before the multitude, and broken. While the apostles are dividing them, a succession of newly created portions passesâ they cannot tell howâthrough their hands. The loaf which they are dividing does not grow smaller and yet their hands are continually full of the pieces. The speed of the process baffles the sight. You follow with the eye a hand full of portions, and in the meantime you see that the contents of the other hand are not diminished. And all the while the heap of pieces grows. The carvers are busy at their task, the eaters hard at work at theirs. The hungry are satisfied and the fragments fill twelve baskets. Neither sight nor any of the other senses can discover how such an amazing miracle happened. What did not exist was created; what we see passes our understanding. It only remains for us to believe that God can do all things. ON THE TRINITY 3.6. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 9:63**.
GOING BEYOND THE FIVE SENSES
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: So very mystically the five loaves are broken by the Savior, and fill the crowd of the listeners. For great is the crowd that keep to the things of the senses, as if they were the only things in existence. âCast your eyes round, and see,â says Plato, âthat none of the uninitiated listen.â [1] Such are they who think that nothing else exists but what they can hold firmly with their hands; but do not admit as in the department of existence, actions and processes of generation, and the whole of the unseen. For such are those who keep by the five senses. But the knowledge of God is a thing inaccessible to the ears and other organs of the senses with this kind of people. STROMATEIS 5.6. [2]
[1] Plato Theaetetus 155.
[2] ANF 2:452*.
THE CREATOR OF GRAIN MULTIPLIES IT
AUGUSTINE: He therefore created as God creates. For, just as he multiplies the produce of the fields from a few grains, from that same source of power he multiplied in his hands the five loaves. There was power, indeed, in the hands of Christ. And those five loaves were like seeds, not indeed committed to the earth, but multiplied by him who made the earth. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 24.1. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 7:158*.
IN BREAKING, LOAVES ARE MULTIPLIED
AUGUSTINE: And he who was signified through them [i.e., the loaves] in mystery now came at last. He came now at last who was shown by the kernel of the barley but was hidden by the husk of the barley. He came, himself, one person carrying both personages in himself, priest and king. He is priest through the victim which he offered for us to Godâhimself. He is king because we are ruled by him. And those things that were being carried concealed [i.e., barley husks] are opened. Thanks be to him. He fulfilled through himself what was promised in the Old Testament. And he ordered the loaves [1] to be broken; by breaking they were multiplied.
Nothing is truer. For those five books of Moses, how many books have they made when they are explained, as if by breaking [them], that is, by discussing [them]? TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 24.5.3-4. [2]
[1] The five loaves symbolize the five books of Moses.
[2] FC 79:235**.
Jn
[1]I.e., the Father.
[2]Not as a prayer for power but as an acknowledgement of his relationship to the Father and the Spirit. Basil of Seleucia takes a similar approach. See PG 85:360B-365C.
[3]By recalling Godâs promises to Adam and Noah,âBe fruitful and multiply,â Romanus underlines the power of God to generate life.
[4]KRBM 1:135*.