The Instructor 1.6.41
Summary: Milk, prepared by God for the newborn like the manna for Israel, pictures the spiritual food of the Word, whom the Father rained down to nourish the faithful.
Greek text · Stählin 1:114–115
πάντῃ δὲ ἔοικεν τούτῳ ἡ πνευματικὴ τροφή, γλυκεῖα μὲν διὰ τὴν χάριν ὑπάρχουσα, τρόφιμος δὲ ὡς ζωή, λευκὴ δὲ ὡς ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ λόγου πεφανέρωται ὡς γάλα. ταύτῃ τοίνυν περὶ τὴν ἀποκύησιν οἰκονομούμενον τῷ βρέφει τὸ γάλα χορηγεῖται, καὶ οἱ μαστοί, οἱ τέως τὸν ἄνδρα περιβλεπόμενοι ὀρθοί, ἤδη κατανεύουσι πρὸς τὸ παιδίον, τὴν ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως πεπονημένην εὔληπτον παρέχειν διδασκόμενοι τροφὴν εἰς ἀνατροφὴν σωτηρίας· οὐ γὰρ ὡς αἱ πηγαὶ πλήρεις εἰσὶν οἱ μαστοὶ ἐπεισρέοντος ἑτοίμου γάλακτος, ἀλλὰ μεταβάλλοντες τὴν τροφὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐργάζονται γάλα καὶ διαπνέουσιν. ἡ τροφὴ δὲ ἡ κατάλληλος αὕτη καὶ πρόσφορος νεοπαγεῖ καὶ νεοφυεῖ παιδίῳ πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τροφέως καὶ πατρὸς τῶν γεννωμένων καὶ ἀναγεννωμένων πονουμένη, οἷον τὸ μάννα οὐρανόθεν ἐπερρέετο τοῖς παλαιοῖς Ἑβραίοις, ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐπουράνιος τροφή. ἀμέλει καὶ νῦν αἱ τίτθαι τὸ πρωτόχυτον τοῦ γάλακτος πόμα ὁμωνύμως ἐκείνῃ τῇ τροφῇ μάννα κεκλήκασιν. ἀλλʼ αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες αἱ κυοῦσαι μητέρες γενόμεναι πηγάζουσι γάλα· ὁ δὲ κύριος ὁ Χριστὸς τῆς παρθένου καρπὸς οὐκ ἐμακάρισεν τοὺς γυναικείους μαστοὺς οὐδὲ ἔκρινεν αὐτοὺς τροφεῖς, ἀλλὰ τοῦ φιλοστόργου καὶ φιλανθρώπου πατρὸς ἐπομβρήσαντος τὸν λόγον αὐτὸς ἤδη τροφὴ γέγονεν πνευματικὴ τοῖς σώφροσιν.
English · Claude translation
The spiritual food is like it in every way: sweet through grace, nourishing as life, white as the day of Christ; and the blood of the Word has been shown to be like milk. In this way milk is provided at birth for the infant by God's plan; and the breasts, which until then stood upright looking toward the husband, now bend toward the child, taught to supply the easily digested food prepared by nature for the nurture of salvation. For the breasts are not full like springs, with milk ready-made flowing into them; they change the food within themselves, make milk, and send it out. This food, suited and fitting for the newly formed and newborn child, is prepared by God, the nourisher and Father of those born and born again, just as the manna flowed from heaven for the Hebrews of old, the heavenly food of angels. Indeed, even now nurses call the first-flowing drink of milk by the same name as that food, “manna.” But women who conceive and become mothers pour forth milk; the Lord Christ, the fruit of the Virgin, did not bless women's breasts nor judge them to be nourishers, but, since the loving and kind Father rained down the Word, he himself has become spiritual food for the self-controlled.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Exod 16:4, 14–15; Ps 78:24–25 (77:24–25 LXX, “bread of angels”); and Luke 11:27–28, where Jesus answers the blessing on his mother's breasts by blessing those who hear the word of God.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/41/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/41/).
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