The Instructor 1.6.38
Summary: Milk may be the preaching and solid food faith; Christ's words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood speak symbolically of faith and hope, which sustain the church.
Greek text · Stählin 1:112–113
γάλα ἢ πεπηγὼς καὶ συνεστραμμένος ὡς βρῶμα. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇδε ἐκλαμβάνουσιν ἡμῖν γάλα νοεῖσθαι τὸ κήρυγμα δύναται τὸ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον κεχυμένον, βρῶμα δὲ ἡ πίστις εἰς θεμέλιον ἐκ κατηχήσεως συνεστραμμένη, ἣ δὴ στερεμνιωτέρα τῆς ἀκοῆς ὑπάρχουσα βρώματι ἀπεικάζεται, ἐν αὐτῇ σωματοποιουμένη τῇ ψυχῇ. τὴν τοιάνδε τροφὴν ἀλλαχόθι [δὲ] καὶ ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγελίῳ ἑτέρως ἐξήνεγκεν διὰ συμβόλων »φάγεσθέ μου τὰς σάρκας« εἰπὼν »καὶ πίεσθέ μου τὸ αἷμα«, τὸ ἐναργὲς τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸ βρώσιμον καὶ τὸ πότιμον ἀλληγορῶν· διʼ ὧν ἡ ἐκκλησία, καθάπερ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ πολλῶν συνεστηκυῖα μελῶν, ἄρδεταί τε καὶ αὔξεται συγκροτεῖταί τε καὶ συμπήγνυται ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, σώματος μὲν τῆς πίστεως, ψυχῆς δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ κύριος ἐκ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος. τῷ γὰρ ὄντι αἷμα τῆς πίστεως ἡ ἐλπίς, ὑφʼ ἧς συνέχεται, καθάπερ ὑπὸ ψυχῆς, ἡ πίστις. διαπνευσάσης δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος δίκην ἐκρυέντος αἵματος τὸ ζωτικὸν τῆς πίστεως ὑπεκλύεται.
English · Claude translation
milk, or set and thickened like solid food. Moreover, taking it in this way, we may understand milk as the proclamation, poured out most widely, and solid food as faith, compacted by instruction into a foundation; faith, being more solid than hearing, is likened to food, being given body in the soul itself. The Lord also expressed this kind of food in another way, by symbols, in the Gospel according to John, when he said, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” speaking figuratively of the evident drink and food of faith and of the promise. By these the church, like a human being composed of many members, is watered and grows, is knit together and made firm from both: from the body, which is faith, and from the soul, which is hope; just as the Lord too is of flesh and blood. For hope is truly the blood of faith, by which faith is held together as by a soul; and when hope breathes its last, like blood that has drained away, the vital force of faith is dissolved.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is a free form of John 6:53–56. Clement here gives an allegorical reading (faith and hope) alongside his eucharistic references elsewhere (e.g. 2.2.19–20); the passage is often discussed in debates on early Eucharistic teaching.
- The allusions are 1 Cor 12:12 and Eph 4:16.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.38 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/38/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.38 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/38/).
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