The Instructor 1.6.46
Summary: Christ's food was doing the Father's will; ours is Christ himself, the bread from heaven, whose flesh, like grain and baked bread, rises and gladdens the church.
Greek text · Stählin 1:117–118
ὁρᾶτε ἄλλο βρῶμα, ἀλληγορούμενον παραπλησίως γάλακτι, τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν συμπλήρωσιν τοῦ ἰδίου πάθους »ποτήριον« κέκληκεν καταχρηστικῶς, ὅτι ἐκπιεῖν καὶ ἐκτελέσαι μόνον ἐχρῆν αὐτό. οὕτως Χριστῷ μὲν ἡ τροφὴ τῆς πατρικῆς βουλῆς ἡ τελείωσις ἦν, ἡμῖν δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς ἡ τροφὴ τοῖς νηπίοις, τοῖς ἀμέλγουσιν τὸν λόγον τῶν οὐρανῶν· ἐντεῦθεν τὸ ζητῆσαι μαστεῦσαι καλεῖται, ὅτι τοῖς ζητοῦσιν νηπίοις τὸν λόγον αἱ πατρικαὶ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας θηλαὶ χορηγοῦσι τὸ γάλα. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἄρτον αὑτὸν οὐρανῶν ὁμολογεῖ ὁ λόγος. »οὐ γὰρ Μωσῆς«, φησίν, »ἔδωκεν ὑμῖν τὸν ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἀλλʼ ὁ πατήρ μου δίδωσιν ὑμῖν τὸν ἄρτον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸν ἀληθινόν· ὁ γὰρ ἄρτος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβαίνων καὶ ζωὴν διδοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ. καὶ ὁ ἄρτος, ὃν ἐγὼ δώσω, ἡ σάρξ μού ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς.« ἐνταῦθα τὸ μυστικὸν τοῦ ἄρτου παρασημειωτέον, ὅτι σάρκα αὐτὸν λέγει καὶ ὡς ἀνισταμένην δῆθεν [διὰ πυρός], καθάπερ ἐκ φθορᾶς καὶ σπορᾶς ὁ πυρὸς ἀνίσταται, καὶ μέντοι διὰ πυρὸς συνισταμένην εἰς εὐφροσύνην ἐκκλησίας ὡς ἄρτον πεπτόμενον.
English · Claude translation
You see another food, spoken of figuratively like milk: the will of God. He also called the completion of his own passion a “cup,” by extension of the word, because he had only to drink it and finish it. So for Christ the food was the fulfilling of the Father's will; but for us infants, who milk the Word of heaven, the food is Christ himself. That is why seeking is called mastheuein (from mastos, “breast”): because to the infants who seek the Word, the Father's breasts of love for humankind supply milk. Further, the Word also confesses himself to be the bread of heaven: “For it was not Moses,” he says, “who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” Here the mystery of the bread should be noted: he calls it flesh, as rising, supposedly [through fire], just as wheat rises from decay and sowing, and also as formed by fire for the joy of the church, like bread that is baked.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are John 6:32–33 and 6:51; the allusions are John 4:34 and Matt 20:22 (26:39). The bracketed words are marked by the editor as a gloss. The play is on πυρός (“wheat”) and πυρός (genitive of “fire”); the image of the grain rising recalls John 12:24 and points to the resurrection.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on τροφὴ before a following word): ἡ τροφή τοῖς νηπίοις → ἡ τροφὴ τοῖς νηπίοις.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.46 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/46/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.46 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/46/).
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