From here the evangelist passes to the account of the miracle of the bread, which all the other evangelists related as well. However John reports this episode because of the doctrine that was drawn by our Lord from it and that was omitted by the others. He believed that this (doctrine) needed especially to be related in his narrative.

[If] our enemies persecute us, it is possible for us to behave well towards them by leaving them for a time, even when there is no harm in remaining. By evading their attacks and avoiding their rage, we may find that their anger abates and thus we may undercut the boldness of their arrogance…. To do the work of love then is not necessarily enduring those who wish us evil, nor to remain among one’s enemies, causing them to become even more bitter and angry because they are unable to soften our opposition. Love then, as Paul says, does not insist on its own way,^[1] and this was [certainly true] in Christ.

Though favored with such teaching as Jesus had done, they were influenced less by this than by the miracles—a sign of the low level of faith they had. For miracles, it says, are not for believers but for unbelievers.^[1] Those described by Matthew did not act this way; rather, he says, they were astonished at his doctrine because he taught as one having authority.^[2]

Observe, in a whole year, the evangelist has told us of no miracles of Christ, except of his healing of the paralytic and the nobleman’s son. His purpose was not to enumerate them all (which would have been impossible), but to record the great principal acts of our Lord.

He went up onto the mountain because of the miracle he was going to do. The disciples alone ascended with him which implies that the people who stayed behind were at fault for not following. He went up to the mountain too as a lesson to us to retire from the tumult and confusion of the world. For solitude is appropriate for the study of wisdom. Jesus often went up alone onto a mountain in order to pray, even spending the night there. He did this in order to teach us that the one who will come most near to God must be free from all disturbance and must seek times and places away from all the confusion.

Matthew and Mark make mention of the murder of John [the Baptist] in connection with the miracle of the bread while John here mentions it was near the day of the festival of Pascha of the Jews. It is evident that the festival of the Passover here coincides with the beheading of John the Baptist, and that a year later [the evangelist] returns again to the time of the Pascha when the mystery of the Lord’s passion was completed.

Why doesn’t he go up to the feast, some might ask, especially when everyone else is pressing towards Jerusalem? Why instead does he go into Galilee, and even at that, he does not go alone but takes his disciples with him and proceeds to Capernaum? He did this because he was quietly annulling the law, taking occasion from the wickedness of the Jews.

If our Lord, according to the narrative of John, on seeing the multitude, asked Philip (having in view to test him), where they could buy food for them, it is difficult at first to see how it can be true, according to the other account, that the disciples first told our Lord to send away the multitude.^[1]… There is also the fact that our Lord replied, They need not depart; you give them something to eat.^[2]… We must understand then it was after saying this that our Lord saw the multitude and said to Philip what John had related, which has been omitted by the rest.

[Or], the two are entirely different accounts.

Jesus spoke the same way to Moses in the Old Testament, for he did not bring about a sign until he had asked him, What is that in your hand? Because things that happen unexpectedly and all at once are liable to throw us into forgetfulness of what happened previously, Jesus first involved Philip in a confession of the present circumstances. In this way, when the astonishment comes upon him, afterwards he might be unable to drive away the memory of what he had confessed, and thus might learn by comparison the greatness of the miracle, which in fact takes place in this instance.

Through his question to Philip, he intended to expose his disciples to doubt, so that they might observe more clearly the miracle he would do. Even though he appears to speak to one disciple only, his words concerned all for the common benefit. By explaining the purpose of that question the evangelist added: He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. To test him, he says, but he means, rather, to provide the proof. Indeed, he first kept Philip in doubt and difficulty because of the shortage of food, but then, when Philip would see the miracle accomplished, he would learn that everything must always be committed to God and that he should never feel embarrassed because of any shortage.

Smallness of faith is the worst sickness and surpasses all evil. If God works or promises to do anything, then let it be believed in simple faith. Just because we are powerless to accomplish anything, we should not let God be accused by our inability to understand how he will accomplish things beyond our understanding…. What is then beyond our comprehension is received by faith and not by investigation. Therefore, just as one who believes is admired, so also one who doubts is not free from blame. The Savior himself testifies about this when he says, He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already.^[1]

Master, we can find only five barley loaves;

No one of us brought anything into the desert,

But a child is here who has them.

O Lover of man, no other resource is possible for us.

For an enormous and boundless number of people, O Man of pity,

How can these five loaves be sufficient?

In addition, he has two fishes.

But hurry and nourish them, since Thou art

The heavenly bread of immortality.

When Christ heard these words of His disciples,

He answered them in this way: You are mistaken if you do not know

That I am the Creator of the universe; I provide for the world;

I now know clearly what these people need;

I see the desert and that the sun is setting;

Indeed I arranged the setting of the sun;

I understand the distress of the crowd which is here;

I know what I have in mind to do for them.

I myself shall cure their hunger, for I am

The heavenly bread of immortality….

Even though you consider carefully, can you as mere men secure nourishment,

Or can you, though you are worried, feed the people?

Or, then, if you cannot feed them, have you the power to keep silent?

I, alone, as Creator take thought for all.

I exist as good, God before the centuries.

And I provide every kind of food for all people;^[1]

But you, on beholding the multitude, are worried,

And you do not consider the One who provides abundantly,

As I am set before all, offering

The heavenly bread of immortality.

I know in advance what you are thinking and what you are saying to each other,

As you see the people, the means of provision, and the hour.

You are reasoning, ‘Who will feed the entire crowd in the desert?’

Well, know clearly, friends, who I am.

I fed Israel in the desert;^[2]

I gave them bread from Heaven;

In a region without water, I made water to flow from a rock;^[3]…

Since I am

The heavenly bread of immortality. KONTAKION ^[1]

The five barley loaves signify the five books of Moses, that is, the whole law which gives as it were a coarser type of food…. But the fish signify good food attained through the fishermen, that is, the more delicate books of Christ’s disciples. Within the latter, there are two distinct types, the preaching of the apostles and the proclamation of the evangelists, which shine forth among us.

To provide a brief explanation: the five loaves are understood as the five books of Moses; rightly they are not wheat but barley because they belong to the Old Testament. For you know that barley was created in such a way that one can scarcely get to its kernel. For this kernel is clothed with a covering of husk, and this husk is tenacious and adhering, so that it is stripped off with effort. Such is the letter of the Old Testament, clothed with the coverings of carnal mysteries; but if one gets to its kernel, it feeds and satisfies.

And so a boy was carrying five loaves and two fishes. If we should seek to know who this boy was, perhaps he was the people of Israel, carrying the loaves and fish with a childlike understanding and not eating of them itself. For those things that it was carrying, when kept shut, were a burden, but when opened, were food. Moreover, the two fish seem to us to signify those two sublime personages in the Old Testament who were anointed to make holy and rule the people, the priest and king.

Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, and therefore the place where they sat down was pleasing, and the weather was good. It was Nisan (more or less April), when the earth usually becomes adorned with growing weeds, especially in those regions with hotter weather. He also had indicated this above by saying, Now the Passover was near.

And so, taking the loaves and fishes, the Lord looked up to heaven, then blessed and broke them, giving thanks to the Father that, after the law and the prophets, he has himself become the evangelical bread. And when he had commanded the people to sit down on the grass, not to lie prone on the earth, but to sit upheld by the law, each one spread his own good works, like the grass of the earth, under him. The bread is also given to the apostles, because it is through them the gifts of the divine grace are to be given. Then the people ate of the five loaves and two fishes and were filled. And of the fragments of the bread and of the fishes, after all who had sat down were satisfied, there remained over enough to fill twelve baskets: that is, the hunger of the multitude is satisfied by the word of God coming to them from the teaching of the law and the prophets. And the abundance of the divine goodness, kept in reserve for the people of the Gentiles, has overflowed from the source of eternal food unto the filling of the twelve apostles.

And the number of those who ate is, we find, the same as that of those who were to believe. For, as we learn from the book of the Acts, out of the numbers of the people of Israel five thousand believed.^[1] For, the miracle of these things extends even to the measure of the reason that underlies them. The bread together with the fishes broken for the feeding of the people increased to the need of the number of people who believed, and to the number of apostles chosen to be filled with heavenly graces. The quantity conformed to the number, and the number to the quantity.

Christ had brought to Him^[1] the five loaves of bread,

And straightway, lifting His eyes to the Father, He said:^[2]

I 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.

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:

Grow and multiply perceptibly,^[3]

And nourish now all who are assembled here.

And immediately the loaves obeyed the Lord;

They multiplied invisibly

As Christ spoke to them, for He is

The heavenly bread of immortality. KONTAKION ^[1]

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.

Five loaves are then set before the multitude, and broken. While the apostles are dividing them, a succession of newly created portions passes— they cannot tell how—through 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.

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. Cast your eyes round, and see, says Plato, that none of the uninitiated listen.^[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.

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.

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 God—himself. 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]?

Now concerning the Eucharist, give thanks as follows…. concerning the broken bread: We give you thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you have made known to us through Jesus, your servant; to you be the glory forever. Just as this broken bread was scattered upon the mountain and then was gathered together and became one, so may your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom; for yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.

But it was not because he had the ability to multiply it [the loaves of bread and the fish] that he did thus multiply them, but rather because there would then be enough food for those who would eat them. His miracle, therefore, was not in proportion to his own power, but rather in proportion to the hunger of those who were hungry. For if his miracle were to be proportional to his power, there would be no way to measure how much his power overcame. Rather, his miracle was in proportion to the hunger of thousands, and it surpassed the number of the twelve baskets. In the case of all artisans, the desire of those who seek their services is greater that the ability of the artisans, for the artisans are unable to work in line with the desires of those who need them. For God, however, his activity surpasses [the desires of] those who need him. [He said], Gather up the pieces so that absolutely nothing may be lost, so that it not seem concerning him that he had made use of an apparition; but when a remainder for a day or two was left, they might believe that he had truly acted, and that this was not some vacuous vision.

In the Psalms it is written of Joseph, His hands had served in baskets.^[1] And the disciples of Jesus, the Twelve, I believe, gathered up twelve baskets of the remainder of the broken bread. These baskets were not half filled but full. And with the disciples of Jesus, as the teachers of the multitudes, now and until the end of the world, remain the twelve baskets of fragments of the living Bread that the multitudes could not eat.

Such was the greatness of his miracle that he willed the slender supply of food not only to be enough but even to prove superabundant. Here he followed ancient precedent. For in the same way during the famine in Elijah’s time, the scanty and final meal of the widow of Zarephath was multiplied by the blessing of the prophet through-out the period of the famine…. O Christ, even in your novelties you are old!

Initially the disciples were reluctant to feed the hungry, but seeing this, the Savior gave to them in abundance from the fragments. This teaches us as well, that we, by expending a little for the glory of God, shall receive richer grace according to the saying of Christ, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.^[1] Therefore, we must not be slothful regarding the communion of love toward our brothers and sisters but rather put away from us, as far as possible, the cowardice and fear that lead to inhospitality. Thus we might be confirmed in hope through steadfast faith in the power of God to multiply even our smallest acts of goodness.

Thus, when they were satisfied, they saw that he had fed them in the wilderness, as Moses [had done] with prayer, and they cried out, saying, This is the prophet about whom it was said that he is coming into the world. They were repeating the [prophecy] of Moses that The Lord will raise up a prophet for you, not someone ordinary, but rather like me,^[1] who will fill you with bread in the desert; like me, he walked on the sea,^[2] and appeared in the cloud.^[3] He set his church free from circumcision, and he appointed John, the virgin, in place of Joshua son of Nun. He entrusted Mary, his church, to him,^[4] as Moses his flock to Joshua,^[5] so that this [prophecy] like me would be fulfilled.

The divine substance is not visible to the eye, and the miracles of the divine government of the world and ordering of the whole creation are overlooked because of their constancy. … Because of this, God has reserved for himself acts that are above and beyond the established course and order of nature that he does at suitable times. He does this so that those who overlooked the daily course of nature might be roused to wonder by the sight of what was different from—though not at all greater than—what they were used to. The government of the world is certainly a greater miracle than satisfying the hunger of five thousand with five loaves; and yet no one wonders at this. The miracle excited wonder, not from any real superiority in it but because it was rare…. But it would be wrong to gather no more than this from Christ’s miracles…. Let us understand that the Lord on the mount is the Word on high…. He saw the multitude and knew they were hungry, and so he mercifully fed them not only in virtue of his goodness but also of his power. For what could mere goodness do when there was not even enough bread to feed the hungry crowd? If power had not accompanied goodness, the crowd would have remained fasting and hungry. In short, the disciples, hungry themselves, also wanted to feed the multitudes, but they did not have the wherewithal to feed them.

Wonderful! How great is the tyranny of gluttony, how great the fickleness of people’s minds! No longer do they vindicate the law, no longer do they care for the violation of the sabbath, and no longer are they zealous for God. All such considerations are thrown aside when their bellies have been filled. He was a prophet in their eyes, and they were about to choose him for a king. But Christ flees. Why? To teach us to despise worldly dignities and to show us that he needed nothing on earth. For the one who chose all the ordinary things of life, such as mother, house, city, nurture and clothing, would not afterwards be made illustrious by things on earth.

Yet he who shrank from being made a king, was a king [already]; not made king by people but one who would bestow a kingdom on people…. For he ever reigns with the Father, in that he is the Son of God, the Word of God, the Word by which all things were made. The prophets had foretold his kingdom. Christ, by being made man, made the believers in him Christians. There will consequently be a kingdom of Christians that at present is being gathered together, being prepared and purchased by the blood of Christ. And this kingdom will be made manifest after the judgment when the glory of his saints shall be revealed…. The disciples, however, and the multitude who believed in him thought that he had come to reign immediately, and so they would have taken him by force to make him a king, seeking to anticipate his time, which he kept secret.

When Christ flees from those who want to give him honor and refuses that highest earthly prize of a kingdom,… he teaches us that it is unseemly for those who pursue divine grace and thirst for everlasting glory to seek after worldly greatness. We must then forego the love of glory, the sister and neighbor of arrogance, residing not far from its borders. Let us have nothing to do with illustrious honor in this present life which is hurtful. Let us rather seek after a holy humility giving preference to one another.

Under the Old Testament, imperial power was bestowed by priests, not despotically claimed, and it is commonly said that emperors aspired to the priesthood rather than priests to the imperial power. Christ fled lest he be made a king. We have a power of our own. The power of the priest is weakness. He [Paul] said, When I am weak, then I am strong.^[1]

Indeed our Lord teaches us here that whenever escape is necessary, there is an even greater necessity for prayer.

There is no inconsistency between Matthew and John. Matthew^[1] has told us first how Jesus commanded his disciples to embark in the little ship and to go before him to the other side of the lake until he sent the multitudes away, and then he informs us that after the multitudes were sent away [Jesus] went up into a mountain alone to pray. John mentions first that he departed to a mountain alone and then proceeds to say, And when it became late, his disciples came down to the sea; and when they had entered into a ship, etc. For who will not perceive that in recapitulating the facts, John has spoken of something as actually done at a later point by the disciples that Jesus had already charged them to do before his own departure to the mountain?

This miracle seems to me to be a different one from the one given in Matthew,^[1] and that it is different is clear for many reasons since he often repeats the same miracle in order to impress it on people’s minds and to receive them with great faith…. There they do not receive him into the ship immediately, and here they do. Also, there the storm lasts for some time, whereas here as soon as he speaks, there is a calm.

In order, then, that he might seem to have sailed away and thus diffuse the intensity of those who were looking for him, he orders the disciples to leave before him; but he stays, providing the opportunity for the next miracle. For his primary concern was to use every occasion to confirm the mind of the apostles in their faith toward him…. And so, when evening came and enough time had passed so that those who were seeking him gave up, the choir of holy disciples goes down to the sea and began to sail away immediately, obeying their God and teacher in everything without delay.

The circumstances of their journey drive the disciples to a more intense search for the Savior. For the deep darkness of the night troubles them, hovering like smoke on the raging waves and taking away any ability for navigation. The fierce winds, riding on the waves with a rushing sound that raises the billows high above their heads, had to trouble them more than a little bit. Yes, and through all of this, John records, Jesus was not yet with them. This was the real danger, and Christ’s absence from these voyagers was making their fear grow more and more.

Those who are not with Jesus are in a fierce tempest of a storm. They are cut off from him or at least seem to be absent from him because they have departed from his holy laws. Because of their sin they are separated from the one who is able to save. If then it is overwhelming to be in such spiritual darkness, if it is oppressive to be swamped by the bitter sea of pleasures, let us then receive Jesus. For this is what will deliver us from dangers and from death in sin.

He fled alone to the mountain—the first begotten from the dead—because he has ascended above all the heavens and is interceding for us.^[1]… But while he was above what were the disciples enduring in the ship below? For that ship prefigured the church while he is on high….

While they were sailing to [Capernaum], John tells us what happened to them. It became dark and Jesus had not come to them. It was right that John said it was dark, because the light [Jesus] had not yet come to them. As the end of the world draws near, errors increase, terrors multiply, iniquity abounds and infidelity escalates. Light, again, is love according to John. Whoever hates his brother is in darkness.^[2]… The waves and storms and winds then that agitate the ship, are the clamors of hurtful speech and love waxing cold…. Nevertheless the wind, and storm, and waves, and darkness were not able to stop and sink the vessel. For the one who endures to the end shall be saved….

And how does Jesus come to the disciples? He comes walking upon the waves, keeping all the swellings of the world under his feet, pressing down all of humanity’s pride. And so it continues, so long as time endures, so long as the ages roll. Tribulations increase, all these swell and mount up: Jesus passes on treading upon the waves. And yet, so great are the tribulations that even those who have trusted in Jesus and who strive to persevere to the end greatly fear lest they fail…. But they open the gospel, they open the Scriptures and find all these things there foretold; that this is the Lord’s doing. He tramples down the heights of the world that he may be glorified by the humble.

Like a pilot steering a boat through the waves, one should hold to the course, guided by grace. Keeping his attention fixed within himself, he should commune with God in stillness, guarding his thoughts from distraction and his intellect from curiosity.

In storms and squalls we need a pilot, and in this present life we need prayer, for we are susceptible to the provocations of our thoughts, both good and bad. If our thought is full of devotion and love of God, it rules over the passions.

Christ does not appear to those in the boat immediately after they set sail or at the onset of danger but only when they are far away from the shore. For the grace of our Savior does not come to us when our tribulations begin but when our fear is at its height and the danger shows itself to be great— when we are found, so to say, in the midst of the waves of affliction. Then, Christ appears unexpectedly and removes our fear and frees us from all danger. By his ineffable power he changes horror into joy, and as it were, calms the storm. … When Christ appears and looks on us, we shall effortlessly succeed even against our hope. And we who are in danger because of our distance from Christ shall no longer have to labor to accomplish what is helpful for us when he is present. Christ is our deliverance from all danger and the accomplishment of achievements beyond hope to those who receive him.

He says only I am. He trusts that they will easily recognize his voice, which was so familiar to them. Or, more probably, he shows that he was the same who said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, the one who is has sent me to you.

In order to increase the miracle before their eyes, he walked on the water and did not get into the boat. But the Evangelist says, Then they wanted to take him into the boat,^[1] and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going. He records this in order to demonstrate that they did not take him but that, while they tried to bring him in, both the boat and the Lord reached land at an awesome speed.^[2] They could not doubt what the Lord had done or consider him a ghost when they saw that the boat had reached the land toward which they were going at such a speed, coupled with the fact that the Lord was with them.

Why didn’t he enter the ship? Because his intention was to make the miracle greater and more openly reveal to them his Godhead…. The day following, the people who had stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except the one that his disciples entered. They also saw that Jesus had not gone with his disciples into the boat but that his disciples were alone when they left. And why is John so exact about this? Why didn’t he simply say that the multitude had crossed over on the next day? He wants to teach us that Jesus allowed the multitudes, if not openly, at least indirectly to infer what had taken place…. What else could they do but suspect that he had crossed the sea on foot? For he could not have gone over in a ship since there was only one ship there— that in which his disciples had entered.

The Jews, guided by Moses, passed over the Red Sea, but that case is widely different. Moses did everything with prayer and as a servant. Christ does this with absolute power. There when the south wind blew, the water yielded so as to allow them to pass over on dry land,^[1] but here the miracle is greater. For the sea retained its proper nature and in this way carried its Lord upon its surface, thus testifying to the Scripture that says, Who walks on the sea as on pavement.^[2]

After such a great miracle, the crowd does not ask Jesus how he had crossed over or how he had arrived there. In fact, they do not seem to be concerned about it at all. They ask him, Rabbi, when did you get here? but what they are really asking is How did you get here? And see how shallow they are. After noting that he was that prophet and trying to take him by force to make him king, they do nothing of the sort when they finally do find him.

So he who had fled to the mountain mixes and converses with the multitude. Only a little while before they would have kept him and made him king…. But after the sacrament of the miracle, he begins to teach… and fills their souls with his word whose bodies he had just satisfied with bread—provided they take it in. And if they do not, let that be taken up which they do not receive so that the fragments may not be lost.

And when he was about to enter into stubborn and disobedient Capernaum, he worked the miracle of the loaves because he wanted to soften their disobedience, not only by what took place within the city but also by those [miracles] done outside the city. For this should have been enough to soften even the hardest [heart] of stone, as is evidenced in the multitudes who flocked to that city [because of the miracles]. And yet their hearts are calloused, looking again for food for the body, which is why Jesus reproaches them.

It is as if he said, You seek me to satisfy the flesh, not the Spirit. How many seek Jesus for no other objective than to get some kind of temporal benefit! One has a business that has run into problems, and he seeks the intercession of the clergy; another is oppressed by someone more powerful than himself, and he flies to the church. Another desires intervention with someone over whom he has little influence. One person wants this, and another person wants that. The church is filled with these kinds of people! Jesus is scarcely sought after for his own sake…. Here too he says, you seek me for something else; seek me for my own sake. He insinuates the truth that he himself is that food… that endures to eternal life.

To take no thought does not mean not to work^[1] but not to be nailed to the things of this life. In other words, do not worry about tomorrow’s comfort; in fact, consider it superfluous. There are those who do no work and yet lay up treasures for tomorrow. There are also others who do work and yet are careful for nothing. Carefulness and work are not the same thing. People do not work because they trust in their work but so that they may give to the person who is in need.

I fed your bodies, he says, so that after this you might seek that other food that endures, which nourishes the soul. But you run right back to that food that is temporal. Therefore you do not understand that I lead you not to this imperfect food but to that which nourishes not the body but the soul.

It is the nature of a seal to exhibit the whole form of the figure graven on it and that an impression taken from it reproduces it in every respect. And since it receives the whole of that which is impressed, it displays also in itself entirely whatever has been impressed on it. Yet this comparison is not adequate to exemplify the divine birth, because seals presuppose matter, difference of nature and an act of impression where the likeness of stronger natures is impressed on things of a more yielding nature…. What God had sealed should display in itself none other than the form of the God who sealed it…. As far as his being in the form of God by virtue of God’s seal on him, he still remained God. But inasmuch as he was to take the form of a servant and become obedient unto death, not grasping at his equality with God, he emptied himself through obedience to take the form of a slave. And he emptied himself of the form of God, that is, of that in which he was equal with God—not that he regarded his equality with God as any encroachment—although he was in the form of God and equal with God and sealed by God as God.^[1]

The countenance of God the Father is the Son who is the imprint of God. But the light of God is the grace that passes into creation through the Spirit, by which we are refashioned to God through faith. We receive through God, as with a seal, the being conformed to his Son.

[Christ] is our seal, which is the mark of perfection and of love because the Father, loving the Son, set his seal on him.

In setting forth the mystery of his incarnation and his Godhead, our Lord has also uttered the teaching of our faith and hope that we should work not for that food that perishes but that which abides for ever; that we should remember that this food of eternity is given to us by the Son of man as sealed by God the Father; that we should know that this is the work of God: even faith in him whom he has sent. And who is it whom the Father has sent? Even he whom the Father has sealed. And who is he whom the Father has sealed? In truth, the Son of man, even he who gives the food of eternal life.

Why do you make ready your teeth and stomach? Believe, and you have eaten. Faith is, indeed, distinguished from works, as the apostle says, that a person is justified by faith without works.^[1] And there are works that seem to be good… because they are not referred to that end from which they are good. For the end of the law is Christ, unto justice to everyone who believes.^[2] Therefore, he did not wish to separate faith from work, but he said that faith itself is a work. For this is the faith that works by love.^[3] He did not say, This is your work but This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent, so that he who takes glory may take glory in the Lord.^[4]

There is nothing worse, nothing more shameful, than gluttony, which clouds the judgment and reduces the soul to satisfying appetites…. For instance, nothing can be more unreasonable than their asking for another miracle, as if none had been given already. And they do not even leave the choice of the miracle to our Lord but would oblige him to give them just that sign that was given to their ancestors: Our fathers ate manna in the desert.… There were many miracles performed in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the desert, and yet they remembered this one the best of any. Such is the force of appetite…. They do not mention this miracle as the work either of God or of Moses, in order to avoid raising Jesus on the one hand to an equality with God or lowering him on the other by a comparison with Moses. Rather, they take the middle ground, only saying, Our fathers ate manna in the desert.

He calls this the true bread, not because the miracle of the manna was false but because it was a type and not the very truth itself. But in mentioning Moses, Jesus does not compare himself with him, for the Jews did not as yet prefer him to Moses, of whom they still had a higher opinion. So that after saying, Moses did not give, he does not say I give but says that the Father, and not Moses, gives. When they heard this, the people replied, Give us this bread to eat. They still thought that it was something material, and they yet expected to satisfy their appetites, and so they quickly ran to him. And what does Christ do? Leading them on little by little, he says, The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

From a little bread, our Lord made an abundance of bread in the midst of the desert, and in Cana he turned water into wine. At first he set out to give instruction to their mouths about his bread and wine, until the time came for him to give them his blood and his body also. He gave them the taste of a superabundance of transitory bread and wine in order to give them an eager desire for the superabundance of his living body and blood. He gave them these lesser things without price, so that they might know that this gift of his, of highest value, was free. He gave to them freely those things that they were able to purchase from him at a price. He therefore did not sell to them anything that they were able to buy, so that they might know that there was no fee he required from them for that which they did not have; for they were able to pay the price of his bread and wine, but they could not pay the price of his body and blood. It was in this way that he not only gave to us freely, but he was even enticing us as well; for he gave these lesser things freely to captivate us to come and receive this of highest value, which is without price. These lesser things that he gave of bread and wine delighted the mouth; that [highest gift] of body and blood brings aid to the mind. He captivated us with these things, which bring pleasure to the palate, in order to draw us to that which brings life to [our] souls. For this reason, he hid the sweetness in the wine he made, so that they might know what treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.

For Christ is our Bread because Christ is Life, and bread is life. I am, says he, the Bread of life.^[1] And, a little above he says, The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven. Then we find, too, that his body is reckoned in bread: This is my body.^[2] And so, in petitioning for daily bread, we ask for perpetuity in Christ and indivisibility from his body. But, because bread is admissible in a carnal sense too, it cannot be so used without the religious remembrance of spiritual discipline. For the Lord commands that bread be prayed for which is the only food necessary for believers.

Imagine Christ saying something like this: You foolishly suppose that the manna is ‘the bread from heaven,’ since it merely fed the people of Israel in the wilderness while there were countless other nations throughout the world. You suppose that God wanted to demonstrate his loving kindness so narrowly as to give food to only one people?… Let no one think, says Christ, that the manna was truly the bread from heaven; but one should rather choose that which is clearly able to feed and to completely give life to the whole world. … The only begotten of God the Father is the true manna, the bread from heaven, given to all rational creatures by God the Father.

He would be born nowhere else but in the place at Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, in the spot that is even now pointed out.^[1] For no one is witnessed to by all the inhabitants as having been born there—in accordance with the Gospel story, no one remarkable or famous among all people, except Jesus Christ. Bethlehem is translated House of Bread, bearing the name of him who came forth from it, our Savior, the true Word of God, and nourisher of spiritual souls, which he himself shows by saying, I am the Bread that came down from heaven.

As the Samaritan woman, to whom it was said, Whoever drinks of this water shall never thirst, thought he meant natural water and said, Sir, give me this water, thinking she might never be in want again; in the same way these people say, O Lord, give us this bread that refreshes and sustains us and yet never fails.