Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
ο τρωγων μου την σαρκα και πινων μου το αιμα εχει ζωην αιωνιον και εγω αναστησω αυτον τη εν τη εσχατη ημερα
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse
See v. 53. His words, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will never die,” could easily have seemed strange to them. So too they later said, “Abraham died, and the prophets died. How do You say, He shall not taste death?” (Jn 8:52). Therefore, to resolve such perplexity and show that he truly will not die forever, He mentioned the resurrection. He often speaks of the mystery of Communion to show how necessary it is, and that it must certainly be so.
Therefore, wishing to show that this is not impossible, but most necessary, and that life cannot be had otherwise, He says, "Unless you eat the Flesh," and so forth.
So also Nicodemus, from unbelief, said, "How can a man enter his mother's womb?" (Jn 3:4). Therefore, when we hear that without eating the Flesh of the Son we cannot have life, we must have undoubting faith when receiving the Divine Mysteries.
We must not ask, "How?" For the psychic man, that is, one who follows human, psychic, or natural thoughts, does not receive what is supernatural and spiritual (1 Cor 2:14).
So also he does not understand the spiritual food, the Flesh of the Lord. Meanwhile, those who do not partake of it will have no share in eternal life, because they have not received Jesus, Who is the true Life.
For what is eaten is the Flesh not of a mere man, but of God. It is able to make divine, because it is united with the Godhead.
It is truly food, because it satisfies not for a short time and does not perish like passing food, but contributes to eternal life.
Likewise, the drinking of the Lord's Blood is truly drink, because it quenches thirst not for a time, but preserves the one who drinks from thirst and need forever.
So the Lord also said to the Samaritan woman: "Whoever drinks the water that I shall give will not thirst" (Jn 4:14). For whoever receives the grace of the Holy Spirit through communion in the Divine Mysteries will not feel spiritual hunger or thirst like unbelievers.
Here also one must especially marvel at the holy Evangelist, because he clearly cried out, "And the Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14). He did not hesitate and say that "It became manifest in flesh," but precisely that It "became flesh," to show the union with the flesh.
We in no way assert that God the Word, Who is from the Father, was changed into the nature of flesh. Nor do we assert that the flesh passed over into the Word. Each remains what it is by nature, and from both there is one Christ.
Yet ineffably, beyond human understanding, the Word united Himself with His own flesh. By a power able to give life to what needs life, He carried it wholly, as it were, into Himself.
Thus He drove corruption out of our nature and removed death, which from the beginning had gained power over us because of sin.
Therefore he who "eats" the holy "Flesh" of Christ "has eternal life," for that Flesh has within itself the Word, Who is Life by nature. For this reason He says, "I will raise him up at the last day."
Instead of saying that My Body will raise him, that is, the one who eats, He used the word "I." He is not other than His own Body, and certainly not other by nature.
After the union, He in no way allows division into a duality of sons. Thus He says: I, Who have appeared in him, clearly through My Flesh, "will raise up" the one who eats "at the last day."
Indeed, it was utterly impossible that He Who is Life by nature should not conquer corruption and overcome death. Therefore, although death, which appeared through transgression, compels the human body toward corruption, we shall certainly rise.
For Christ appears in us through His Flesh. It is incredible, indeed impossible, that Life should not give life to those in whom it will be.
So also someone who takes a spark heaps much chaff upon it, to preserve the seed of fire. In this way our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Flesh, hides life in us and places immortality there like a seed, utterly destroying corruption in us.
Since men seek this as food and drink, so as not to hunger or thirst, it truly appears to them as nothing other than food and drink. These make those who receive them immortal and incorruptible.
This is the communion of the saints, where there will be peace and complete and perfect unity. Therefore, as men of God understood before us, our Lord Jesus Christ transformed His Body and Blood into that which becomes one out of many.
For one thing, bread, becomes one from many grains. The other, wine, flows together from many grapes.
Finally He explains how the thing of which He speaks comes about, and what it means to eat His Body and drink His Blood. "He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him" (Jn 6:56).
Therefore, to eat this food and drink this drink means to abide in Christ and to have Him abiding in oneself.
Thus whoever does not abide in Christ, and in whom Christ does not abide, certainly neither eats His Flesh nor drinks His Blood. Rather, he dares to approach Christ's Mysteries while unclean.
No one receives them worthily except the one who is clean, of whom it is said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8).
For when men seek through food and drink not to hunger or thirst, in truth only this food and this drink grant that. They make those who receive them immortal and incorruptible.
That is, they create the fellowship of the saints, where there will be peace and complete and perfect unity. Therefore, as men of God understood even before us, our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted His Body and Blood in things made one from many things.
Indeed, that bread became one from many grains. So too that wine became one from many grapes.
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.” He constantly returns to the discourse about the Mysteries, showing the necessity of this work, namely, that it must certainly be so. “And I will raise him up on the last day.” He often repeats the word about life and resurrection, wishing to impress it on the mind of His hearers. What we have already said in various places we shall now repeat briefly. Since all people will rise and all will live forever, we must understand the resurrection of the righteous as being unto blessedness, and that of sinners unto punishment. Likewise, the eternal life of the righteous will be in blessedness, and that of sinners in punishment.
Especially if the Lord should reveal to me that all of you, man by man, are united together in grace by name, in one faith, and in Jesus Christ according to the flesh, of the seed of David (Rom 1:3), the Son of Man and the Son of God... breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the medicine that we should not die, but live forever in Jesus Christ.
Labors are accepted, and virtues are profitable, when they are done according to the will of God. The will of God is that we do as our Lord commands us, for He says: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (Jn 6:54). This is not simply a commandment, but the head of all the commandments. It is their perfecting power and an inseparable constituent part of the other commandments.
The scribes and Pharisees continued to dispute. But the Lord, wishing to end this dispute, said to them, confirming the truth of His words twice, "Verily, verily": "Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him ... and I will raise him up at the last day."
The words "abides in Me, and I in him" leave no doubt that the Body and Blood of Christ, given by Him for the salvation of men, are the necessary means of communion for all believers with Christ, and of their union in Christ.
It is not enough merely to believe in Jesus as the God-man. One must be united with Him and abide in Him, so that He also may abide in us.
In Him, as the God-man, the complete union of His human will with the will of God was expressed. We too must strive for a like union of our will with God's will.
With the whole strength of our will, with all our thoughts and desires, we must abide in Christ. We must desire what He desired and act in all things as He taught.
Then He, guiding our will and our actions, will abide in us. Only then, under these conditions, will He raise us at the last day to eternal blessed life. All will be raised, but not all to blessed life.
For such union Jesus established the Mystery of receiving His Body and Blood. "As ... I live by the Father, so he who eats Me will live by Me," and he will not live as your fathers did, who ate manna and died. No, he will live forever.
Sin: many years of absence from Confession and Holy Communion.
The threat pronounced against those who avoid Holy Communion is still stronger: "Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in yourselves."
Sin: lack of zeal in approaching Holy Communion more often, or more than once a year.
That an Orthodox Christian must confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries more often, and not only once a year, rests chiefly on the following grounds.
First, there is the direct commandment of the Savior: "Take, eat..." There is also the special commandment of the Church, which urges communion during all four fasts of the year, and even proposes monthly communion for zealous Christians.
There is also the zeal of the first Christians, who "continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42). Then there is the example of all holy people in later times, who likewise communed often.
Finally, no one can attain perfection in the spiritual life without frequently sanctifying himself by the Mystery of the Eucharist. Thus, among sins of omission, the most serious is when someone confesses no more than once a year, though he could approach more often.
Sin: keeping the fast for Confession only because of some external demand of law or elders, accepted custom, entrance into marriage, illness, or fear of obstacles to burial in the event of death.
In this case, what is first imputed as guilt is pretense and coldness of feeling, with which a person approaches Confession and Holy Communion.
Furthermore, can it be approved if such lofty Mysteries are used as a means for attaining ordinary and external aims?
Even when someone receives these Mysteries as preparation for death because of special need, such as illness, he may decide to replace by this the fasting preparation he should have fulfilled together with others.
He should have done this during the fast, with the preparation appointed by the rule. Even in that case, there is not full sincerity or a fully free resolve to fulfill a Christian duty.
It is written: "that your good deed might not be by compulsion, but of your own will" (Phlm 1:14). But here it is as though only an external necessity were awaited.
"They will not record me in the church confession books. I have fallen ill. Without keeping the fast they will not marry me. Without the last rites they will not bury me." Such necessity is what brings one to Confession and Holy Communion.
Christ confirmed this truth in still more expressive words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
"He who eats My Flesh," and so forth: the same thought as in the preceding verse is expressed, but in positive form, as a promise.
"And I will raise him up" (cf. the note on Jn 6:39-40): the Lord turns the gaze of believers to the final goal. This is the goal to which the promise of eternal life, given through eating His Flesh and Blood, must extend: the resurrection.
After the resurrection there will be eternal, that is, blessed life. The relation of the words "I will raise him up," and so forth, to what precedes is this: he who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life in himself.
By virtue of that life, I will not destroy him (Jn 6:39), but will raise him up at the last day.
“He who eats My flesh... has eternal life.” What had been expressed negatively is now expressed as an affirmation. It is clearly and directly stated that he who eats His flesh and drinks His blood receives life into himself. To understand this as the reception of spiritual food by faith would mean not hearing what the Lord says.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 19 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS