The Instructor 1.6.43
Summary: Christ gives his flesh and blood as food; Clement explains flesh as the Spirit and blood as the Word, and Christ, who shed his blood for us, as the Father's milk.
Greek text · Stählin 1:115–116
ταύτας ἡμῖν οἰκείας τροφὰς ὁ κύριος χορηγεῖ καὶ σάρκα ὀρέγει καὶ αἷμα ἐκχεῖ· καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς αὔξησιν τοῖς παιδίοις ἐνδεῖ. ὢ τοῦ παραδόξου μυστηρίου· ἀποδύσασθαι ἡμῖν τὴν παλαιὰν καὶ σαρκικὴν ἐγκελεύεται φθοράν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν τροφήν, καινῆς δὲ ἄλλης τῆς Χριστοῦ διαίτης μεταλαμβάνοντας, ἐκεῖνον, εἰ δυνατόν, ἀναλαμβάνοντας ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀποτίθεσθαι καὶ τὸν σωτῆρα ἐνστερνίσασθαι, ἵνα καταργήσωμεν τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν τὰ πάθη. ἀλλʼ οὐ ταύτῃ νοεῖν ἐθέλεις, κοινότερον δὲ ἴσως. ἄκουε καὶ ταύτῃ· σάρκα ἡμῖν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἀλληγορεῖ, καὶ γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ δεδημιούργηται ἡ σάρξ· αἷμα ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον αἰνίττεται, καὶ γὰρ ὡς αἷμα πλούσιον ὁ λόγος ἐπικέχυται τῷ βίῳ· ἡ κρᾶσις δὲ ἡ ἀμφοῖν ὁ κύριος, ἡ τροφὴ τῶν νηπίων· ὁ κύριος πνεῦμα καὶ λόγος. ἡ τροφή, τουτέστιν ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς, τουτέστιν ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, πνεῦμα σαρκούμενον, ἁγιαζομένη σὰρξ οὐράνιος. ἡ τροφὴ τὸ γάλα τοῦ πατρός, ᾧ μόνῳ τιτθευόμεθα οἱ νήπιοι. αὐτὸς γοῦν ὁ »ἠγαπημένος« καὶ τροφεὺς ἡμῶν λόγος τὸ αὑτοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐξέχεεν αἷμα, σῴζων τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα· διʼ οὗ πεπιστευκότες εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐπὶ τὸν »λαθικηδέα μαζὸν« τοῦ πατρός, τὸν λόγον, καταφεύγομεν, ὃ δέ, ὡς ἔοικεν, μόνος ἡμῖν τοῖς νηπίοις τὸ γάλα τῆς ἀγάπης χορηγεῖ, καὶ οὗτοι ὡς ἀληθῶς
English · Claude translation
These are the proper foods the Lord supplies to us: he holds out his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking to the children for their growth. O paradoxical mystery! He commands us to strip off the old corruption of the flesh, as also the old food, and, partaking of another, new diet, that of Christ, to receive him, if possible, and store him up within ourselves, and to take the Savior into our breasts, so that we may put an end to the passions of our flesh. But you do not wish to understand it in this way, but perhaps more commonly. Hear it in this way too: the Holy Spirit is figuratively called flesh for us, for the flesh was fashioned by him; and blood points to the Word, for the Word has been poured out on our life like rich blood. The mingling of both is the Lord, the food of the infants: the Lord is Spirit and Word. The food, that is, the Lord Jesus, that is, the Word of God, Spirit made flesh, holy heavenly flesh. The food is the Father's milk, by which alone we infants are nursed. The “beloved” Word himself, our nourisher, poured out his own blood for us, saving humanity; through him, having believed in God, we flee to the “care-forgetting breast” of the Father, the Word; and he alone, it seems, supplies us infants with the milk of love; and truly
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement offers more than one figurative explanation of John 6. The equation “flesh = Spirit, blood = Word” is his own allegory, not a denial of the Eucharist, which he mentions in 2.2.19–20.
- “Care-forgetting breast” is Homeric (Iliad 22.83). The allusions are Eph 4:22 and Mark 1:11.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/43/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/43/).
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