ACC ~ John 6 v50

CHRIST IS THE BREAD OF THE SACRAMENT

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: There remained yet another act that would abolish that Passover and would become the Passover of the Gentiles, a source of life until the end. Our Lord Jesus took bread [1] in his hands, plain bread at the beginning, and blessed it, made the sign of the cross over it and sanctified it in the name of the Father and in the name of the Spirit, and he broke and distributed it in morsels to his disciples in his kindness. He called the bread his living body, and he filled it with himself and with his Spirit. He stretched forth his hand and gave them the bread that his right hand had sanctified: “Take, eat, all of you [2] of this bread that my word has sanctified. Do not regard as bread what I have given you now… eat it, and do not disdain its crumbs. For this bread that I have sanctified is my body. Its least crumb sanctifies thousands of thousands, and it is capable of giving life to all who eat it. Take, eat in faith, doubting not at all that this is my body. And he who eats it in faith eats in it fire and the Spirit. [3] If anyone doubts and eats it, it is plain bread to him. He who believes and eats the bread sanctified in my name, if he is pure, it will keep him pure; if he is a sinner, he will be forgiven. He, however, who despises it or spurns it, he may be sure that he is insulting the Son, who has called the bread his body and truly made it so. Receive of it, eat of it, all of you, and eat in it the Holy Spirit, for it is truly my body, and he who eats it will live forever. This is the heavenly bread that has come down from on high onto the earth. This is the bread that the Israelites ate in the wilderness and did not esteem. The manna that they gathered, which came down to them, was a figure of this spiritual bread that you have now received. Take and eat of it, all of you. In this bread you are eating my body. It is the true source of forgiveness. MEMRA FOR THE FIFTH DAY OF GREAT WEEK (HOLY THURSDAY), SERMON 4. [4]

[1] Mt 26:26.

[2] Mt 26:26.

[3] Mt 3:11.

[4] MFC 7:139-40.

WORTHILY EATING OF THE BODY

AUGUSTINE: But are we, who eat the bread that comes down from heaven, relieved from death? From visible and carnal death, the death of the body, we are not: we shall die, even as they died. But from spiritual death, which their fathers suffered, we are delivered. Moses and… many who were acceptable to God ate the manna and did not die because they understood that visible food in a spiritual sense, spiritually tasted it and were spiritually filled with it. And we too on this day receive the visible food. But the sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the sacrament another. Many a one receives from the altar and perishes in receiving; eating and drinking his own damnation, as the apostle said. [1] … To eat the heavenly bread spiritually then is to bring innocence to the altar. Though your sins are daily, at least let them not be deadly. Before you go to the altar, attend to the prayer you repeat, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” If you forgive, you are forgiven: approach confidently; it is bread, not poison…. None then that eat of this bread shall die. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.11-12. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 11:29.

[2] NPNF 1 7:171-72**.

THIS BREAD IS THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

AMBROSE: I [Jesus] was not speaking previously about temporal life or death. Even if someone dies such a death, if he has taken my bread he will live forever. For he who proves himself, takes it. [1] But he who takes it will not die the death of a sinner because this bread is the forgiveness of sins. ON THE PATRIARCHS 9.39. [2]

[1] See 1 Cor 11:28.

[2] FC 65:264*.