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Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
It seemed unto them hard that He said, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you:” they received it foolishly, they thought of it carnally, and imagined that the Lord would cut off parts from His body, and give unto them; …But He instructed them, and saith unto them, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Understand spiritually what I have said; ye are not to eat this body which ye see; nor to drink that blood which they who will crucify Me shall pour forth. I have commended unto you a certain mystery; spiritually understood, it will quicken. Although it is needful that this be visibly celebrated, yet it must be spiritually understood.
(Augustine, On the Psalms, Psalm 99.8 [98.9 in Migne, PL, 37:1264-1265]; trans. NPNF1, 8:485-486. Cf. WSA, III/18:475.) See also: ccel.org.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
What he said seemed hard to them: Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you. It seemed to them a stupid idea, for they took it in a carnal sense, supposing that the Lord meant to hack off small pieces of his body to give them; so they objected. This is a hard saying. …But the Lord insisted: It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life (Jn 6:54). “Understand what I have told you in a spiritual way. You are not asked to eat this body that you can see, nor to drink the blood that will be shed by those who will crucify me. What I have revealed to you is something mysterious, something which when understood spiritually will mean life for you. Although it is to be celebrated in a visible manner, you must understand it in a way that transcends bodily sight.”
(Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms, Psalm 98.9; PL, 37:1264-1265; trans. WSA, III/18:475.)
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
When therefore commending such Meat and such Drink He said, “Except ye shall eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, ye shall have no life in you;” (and this that He said concerning life, who else said it but the Life Itself? But that man shall have death, not life, who shall think that the Life is false), His disciples were offended, not all of them indeed, but very many, saying within themselves, “This is an hard saying, who can hear it?” But when the Lord knew this in Himself, and heard the murmurings of their thought, He answered them, thinking though uttering nothing, that they might understand that they were heard, and might cease to entertain such thoughts. What then did He answer? “Doth this offend you?” “What then if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?” What meaneth this? “Doth this offend you?” “Do ye imagine that I am about to make divisions of this My Body which ye see; and to cut up My Members, and give them to you? ‘What then if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?’” Assuredly, He who could ascend Whole could not be consumed. So then He both gave us of His Body and Blood a healthful refreshment, and briefly solved so great a question as to His Own Entireness. Let them then who eat, eat on, and them that drink, drink; let them hunger and thirst; eat Life, drink Life. That eating, is to be refreshed; but thou art in such wise refreshed, as that that whereby thou art refreshed, faileth not. That drinking, what is it but to live? Eat Life, drink Life; thou shalt have life, and the Life is Entire. But then this shall be, that is, the Body and the Blood of Christ shall be each man’s Life; if what is taken in the Sacrament visibly is in the truth itself eaten spiritually, drunk spiritually. For we have heard the Lord Himself saying, “It is the Spirit That quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken unto you, are Spirit and Life. But there are some of you,” saith He, “that believe not.” Such were they who said, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?” It is hard, but only to the hard; that is, it is incredible, but only to the incredulous.
(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 81.1 [131.1 in Migne, PL.]; trans. NPNF1, 6:501.) See also: ccel.org.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
So when in proposing such food and such drink, he said, Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you (Jn 6:53)—and who else but Life itself could say this about life? But it will be death, not life to anyone who thinks that Life was lying—his disciples were shocked, not all of them to be sure, but most of them, and they said to themselves, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? (Jn 6:60). But when the Lord perceived this in himself, and heard their grumbling thoughts, he answered the thoughts they had not spoken out loud, to show them that they had been heard and stop them thinking such things. So how did he answer? Does this shock you? So what if you see the Son of man going up to where he was before? (Jn 6:61-62).
What did he mean by Does this shock you? “Do you imagine that of this body of mine which you can see, I am going to make portions, and carve up my limbs, and give them to you? So, what if you see the Son of man going up to where he was before? Certainly one who could go up entire and complete could hardly be eaten up.” So as well as giving us his body and blood as the restorative of our salvation, he also solved in a few words the difficult problem of his own complete preservation.
So let those who eat, eat, and those who drink, drink; let them feel hunger and thirst; let them eat life, drink life. To eat that is to be nourished; but nourished in such a way that what you are nourished by is not diminished. And what can it be to drink that, but to live? Eat life, drink life; you will have life, and the life is complete and entire. However, this will be the case, that is to say, the body and blood of Christ will be life for anyone, if what is taken visibly in the sacrament is spiritually eaten, spiritually drunk in very truth. After all, we heard the Lord himself saying, It is the Spirit which gives life, while the flesh is of no use at all. The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some, he said, who do not believe (Jn 6:63-64). They had been saying, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? Yes, it is hard, but for those who are hard; which means that it is unbelievable, but for those who won’t believe.
(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 131.1; trans. WSA, III/4:316-317.)
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
But the apostle says, and says what is true, “To be carnally-minded is death.” The Lord gives us His flesh to eat, and yet to understand it according to the flesh is death; while yet He says of His flesh, that therein is eternal life. Therefore we ought not to understand the flesh carnally. …What means “are spirit and life”? They are to be understood spiritually. Hast thou understood spiritually? “They are spirit and life.” Hast thou understood carnally? So also “are they spirit and life,” but are not so to thee.
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 27.1, 6; trans. NPNF1, 7:174, 176.) See also: ccel.org.
Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
And He explained the mode of this bestowal and gift of His, in what manner He gave His flesh to eat, saying, “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” The proof that a man has eaten and drank is this, if he abides and is abode in, if he dwells and is dwelt in, if he adheres so as not to be deserted. This, then, He has taught us, and admonished us in mystical words that we may be in His body, in His members under Himself as head, eating His flesh, not abandoning our unity with Him. But most of those who were present, by not understanding Him, were offended; for in hearing these things, they thought only of flesh, that which themselves were. But the apostle says, and says what is true, “To be carnally-minded is death.” The Lord gives us His flesh to eat, and yet to understand it according to the flesh is death; while yet He says of His flesh, that therein is eternal life. Therefore we ought not to understand the flesh carnally.
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 27.1; trans. NPNF1, 7:174.) See also: ccel.org.
Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Hence “the words,” saith He, “which I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” For we have said, brethren, that this is what the Lord had taught us by the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, that we should abide in Him and He in us. But we abide in Him when we are His members, and He abides in us when we are His temple. . . . “It is the Spirit,” then, “that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” What means “are spirit and life”? They are to be understood spiritually. Hast thou understood spiritually? “They are spirit and life.” Hast thou understood carnally? So also “are they spirit and life,” but are not so to thee.
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 27.6; trans. NPNF1, 7:175, 176.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“They drank,” saith he “of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” Thence the bread, thence the drink. The rock was Christ in sign; the real Christ is in the Word and in flesh. And how did they drink? The rock was smitten twice with a rod; the double smiting signified the two wooden beams of the cross. “This, then, is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he shall not die.” But this is what belongs to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; he that eateth within, not without; who eateth in his heart, not who presses with his teeth.
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.12; trans. NPNF1, 7:172.) See also: ccel.org.
Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“This is the bread which cometh down from heaven.” Manna signified this bread; God’s altar signified this bread. Those were sacraments. In the signs they were diverse; in the thing which was signified they were alike. Hear the apostle: “For I would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren,” saith he, “that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat.” Of course, the same spiritual meat; for corporally it was another: since they ate manna, we eat another thing; but the spiritual was the same as that which we eat. But “our” fathers, not the fathers of those Jews; those to whom we are like, not those to whom they were like. Moreover he adds: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink.” They one kind of drink, we another, but only in the visible form, which, however, signified the same thing in its spiritual virtue. For how was it that they drank the “same drink”? “They drank,” saith he “of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” Thence the bread, thence the drink. The rock was Christ in sign; the real Christ is in the Word and in flesh. And how did they drink? The rock was smitten twice with a rod; the double smiting signified the two wooden beams of the cross. “This, then, is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he shall not die.” But this is what belongs to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; he that eateth within, not without; who eateth in his heart, not who presses with his teeth.
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.12; PL, 35:1612; trans. NPNF1, 7:171-172. Cf. WSA, I/12:459-460.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He has sent.” This is then to eat the meat, not that which perisheth, but that which endureth unto eternal life. To what purpose dost thou make ready teeth and stomach? Believe, and thou hast eaten already. Faith is indeed distinguished from works, even as the apostle says, “that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law:”...
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 25.12; trans. NPNF1, 7:164.) See also: ccel.org.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
So they said to him then, What shall we do, to work the works of God? For he had said to them, Work not for the food which perishes but for that which abides to eternal life. What shall we do? they say. “What observances must we keep, if we are to comply with this instruction?” Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, to believe in the one whom he has sent. (Jn 6:27-29) So this is to eat the food which does not perish, but which abides to eternal life. Why are you getting your teeth and stomachs ready? Believe and you have eaten. [Utquid paras dentes et ventrem? crede, et manducasti.]
(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 25.12; PL, 35:1602; trans. WSA, I/12:439. Cf. NPNF1, 7:164.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” “He that cometh to me;” this is the same thing as “He that believeth on me;” and “shall never hunger” is to be understood to mean the same thing as “shall never thirst.” For by both is signified that eternal sufficiency in which there is no want. You desire bread from heaven; you have it before you, and yet you do not eat. “But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and ye believed not.”
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 25.14; trans. NPNF1, 7:165.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
And, consequently, he that hungers after this bread, hungers after righteousness,—that righteousness however which cometh down from heaven, the righteousness that God gives, not that which man works for himself. For if man were not making a righteousness for himself, the same apostle would not have said of the Jews: “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, they are not subject to the righteousness of God.” Of such were these who understood not the bread that cometh down from heaven; because being satisfied with their own righteousness, they hungered not after the righteousness of God. What is this, God’s righteousness and man’s righteousness? God’s righteousness here means, not that wherein God is righteous, but that which God bestows on man, that man may be righteous through God. But again, what was the righteousness of those Jews? A righteousness wrought of their own strength on which they presumed, and so declared themselves as if they were fulfillers of the law by their own virtue. But no man fulfills the law but he whom grace assists, that is, whom the bread that cometh down from heaven assists. “For the fulfilling of the law,” as the apostle says in brief, “is charity.” Charity, that is, love, not of money, but of God; love, not of earth nor of heaven, but of Him who made Heaven and earth. Whence can man have that love? Let us hear the same: “The love of God,” saith he, “is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” Wherefore, the Lord, about to give the Holy Spirit, said that Himself was the bread that came down from heaven, exhorting us to believe on Him. For to believe on Him is to eat the living bread. He that believes eats; he is sated invisibly, because invisibly is he born again. A babe within, a new man within. Where he is made new, there he is satisfied with food.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 26.1; trans. NPNF1, 7:168.) See also: ccel.org.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Let us listen to him: The charity of God, he says, has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). So then, the Lord, who was going to give the Holy Spirit, said he was himself the bread who came down from heaven, urging us to believe in him. To believe in him, in fact, is to eat the living bread. The one who believes, eats; he is invisibly filled, because he is invisibly reborn; [Credere enim in eum, hoc est manducare panem vivum. Qui credit, manducat: invisibiliter saginatur, quia invisibiliter renascitur.] inside, he is an infant; inside he is new; where he is newly planted, that is where he is filled up.
(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.1; PL, 35:1607; trans. WSA, I/12:450. Cf. NPNF1, 7:168.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
But so far as relates to that death, concerning which the Lord warns us by fear, and in which their fathers died: Moses ate manna, Aaron ate manna, Phinehas ate manna, and many ate manna, who were pleasing to the Lord, and they are not dead. Why? Because they understood the visible food spiritually, hungered spiritually, tasted spiritually, that they might be filled spiritually. For even we at this day receive visible food: but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue [virtus, power] of the sacrament another. How many do receive at the altar and die, and die indeed by receiving? Whence the apostle saith, “Eateth and drinketh judgment to himself.” For it was not the mouthful given by the Lord that was the poison to Judas. And yet he took it; and when he took it, the enemy entered into him: not because he received an evil thing, but because he being evil received a good thing in an evil way. See ye then, brethren, that ye eat the heavenly bread in a spiritual sense; bring innocence to the altar.
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 26.11; PL, 35:1611; trans. NPNF1, 7:171.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.” For that reason “living,” because I came down from heaven. The manna also came down from heaven; but the manna was only a shadow, this is the truth. “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” When did flesh comprehend this flesh which He called bread? That is called flesh which flesh does not comprehend, and for that reason all the more flesh does not comprehend it, that it is called flesh. For they were terrified at this: they said it was too much for them; they thought it impossible. “Is my flesh,” saith He, “for the life of the world.” Believers know the body of Christ, if they neglect not to be the body of Christ. Let them become the body of Christ, if they wish to live by the Spirit of Christ. None lives by the Spirit of Christ but the body of Christ.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 26.13; trans. NPNF1, 7:172.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“For my flesh,” saith He, “is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” For whilst by meat and drink men seek to attain to this, neither to hunger nor thirst, there is nothing that truly affords this, except this meat and drink, which doth render them by whom it is taken immortal and incorruptible; that is, the very fellowship of the saints, where will be peace and unity, full and perfect. Therefore, indeed, it is, even as men of God understood this before us, that our Lord Jesus Christ has pointed our minds to His body and blood in those things, which from being many are reduced to some one thing. For a unity is formed by many grains forming together; and another unity is effected by the clustering together of many berries.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 26.17; trans. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
In a word, He now explains how that which He speaks of comes to pass, and what it is to eat His body and to drink His blood. “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” This it is, therefore, for a man to eat that meat and to drink that drink, to dwell in Christ, and to have Christ dwelling in him. Consequently, he that dwelleth not in Christ, and in whom Christ dwelleth not, doubtless neither eateth His flesh [spiritually] [spiritualiter] nor drinketh His blood [although he may press the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ carnally and visibly with his teeth] [licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat dentibus Sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi], but rather doth he eat and drink the sacrament of so great a thing to his own judgment, because he, being unclean, has presumed to come to the sacraments of Christ, which no man taketh worthily except he that is pure: of such it is said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614-1615; trans. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.
Note: The bracketed portions of the text are thought by some to be a scribal interpolation.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Finally, he explains how what he is talking about happens and what it means to eat his body and to drink his blood. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him (Jn 6:56). This, therefore, is eating that food and drinking that drink: abiding in Christ and having him abide in oneself. [Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere.] And thus if someone does not abide in Christ and Christ does not abide in him, there can be no doubt that he does not eat his flesh or drink his blood, but rather he is eating and drinking the sacrament of such a great reality to his own condemnation, because he had the presumption to approach the sacraments of Christ in an unclean state…
(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614; trans. WSA, I/12:464. Cf. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
For the Son, who was begotten equal, does not become better by participation of the Father; just as we are made better by participation of the Son, through the unity of His body and blood, which thing that eating and drinking signifies. We live then by Him, by eating Him; that is, by receiving Himself as the eternal life, which we did not have from ourselves.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 26.19; trans. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“Many therefore,” not of His enemies, but “of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” If His disciples accounted this saying hard, what must His enemies have thought? And yet so it behoved that to be said which should not be understood by all. The secret of God ought to make men eagerly attentive, not hostile. But these men quickly departed from Him, while the Lord said such things: they did not believe Him to be saying something great, and covering some grace by these words; they understood just according to their wishes, and in the manner of men, that Jesus was able, or was determined upon this, namely, to distribute the flesh with which the Word was clothed, piecemeal, as it were, to those that believe on Him. “This,” say they, “is a hard saying; who can hear it?”
“But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured at it,”—for they so said these things with themselves that they might not be heard by Him: but He who knew them in themselves, hearing within Himself,—answered and said, “This offends you;” because I said, I give you my flesh to eat, and my blood to drink, this forsooth offends you. “Then what if ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before?” What is this? Did He hereby solve the question that perplexed them? Did He hereby uncover the source of their offense? He did clearly, if only they understood. For they supposed that He was going to deal out His body to them; but He said that He was to ascend into heaven, of course, whole: “When ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before;” certainly then, at least, you will see that not in the manner you suppose does He dispense His body; certainly then, at least, you will understand that His grace is not consumed by tooth-biting [certe vel tunc intelligetis quia gratia ejus non consumitur morsibus].
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 27.2-3; PL, 35:1616; trans. NPNF1, 7:174.) See also: ccel.org.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Many of those who were listening, therefore, not of his enemies but of his disciples, said, This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? (Jn 6:60) If his disciples considered this a hard saying, what about his enemies? And yet it was right for it to be said in such a way that it would not be understood by everyone. The mysteriousness of God should make us keen, not hostile. These disciples, though, quickly fell away, when the Lord Jesus said such things; they did not believe the one speaking of a great matter whose words contained a hidden gift of grace; they understood what they wanted and, in a merely human way, took them to mean that Jesus was able, or even that he was preparing, to slice up the flesh with which the Word was clothed, and distribute it to those who believed in him. This is a hard saying, they said; who can listen to it?
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were murmuring about this. They said this among themselves, you see, in such a way as not to be overheard by him; but he who knew them within himself, also heard them within himself, and said in reply, Does this scandalize you? Because I said I am giving you my flesh to eat and my blood to drink, this evidently scandalizes you. What then if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? (Jn 6:61-62) What is this all about? Is this how he solved the problem that was troubling them? Is this how he cleared up what had scandalized them? Indeed it is—if only they would understand. For they were thinking he was going to give them helpings of his body; but he said that he was going to ascend into heaven—the whole of him, of course. When you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before, then at least you will see that he is not giving you helpings of his body in the way you are thinking; then at least you will understand that his grace is not something finished off in mouthfuls [certe vel tunc intelligetis quia gratia ejus non consumitur morsibus, lit. “certainly, even then you will understand that his grace is not consumed by bites.”].
(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 27.2-3; PL, 35:1616; trans. WSA, I/12:467. Cf. NPNF1, 7:174.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Then what means “the flesh profiteth nothing”? It profiteth nothing, but only in the manner in which they understood it. They indeed understood the flesh, just as when cut to pieces in a carcass, or sold in the shambles… Therefore “it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing,” as they understood the flesh, but not so do I give my flesh to be eaten.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 27.5; trans. NPNF1, 7:175.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
All this that the Lord spoke concerning His flesh and blood;—and in the grace of that distribution He promised us eternal life, and that He meant those that eat His flesh and drink His blood to be understood, from the fact of their abiding in Him and He in them; and that they understood not who believed not; and that they were offended through their understanding spiritual things in a carnal sense; and that, while these were offended and perished, the Lord was present for the consolation of the disciples who remained, for proving whom He asked, “Will ye also go away?” that the reply of their steadfastness might be known to us, for He knew that they remained with Him;—let all this, then, avail us to this end, most beloved, that we eat not the flesh and blood of Christ merely in the sacrament, as many evil men do, but that we eat and drink to the participation of the Spirit, that we abide as members in the Lord’s body, to be quickened by His Spirit, and that we be not offended, even if many do now with us eat and drink the sacraments in a temporal manner, who shall in the end have eternal torments.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 27.11; trans. NPNF1, 7:177-178.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Finally, he explains how what he is talking about happens and what it means to eat his body and to drink his blood. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him (Jn 6:56). This, therefore, is eating that food and drinking that drink: abiding in Christ and having him abide in oneself. [Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere.] And thus if someone does not abide in Christ and Christ does not abide in him, there can be no doubt that he does not eat his flesh or drink his blood, but rather he is eating and drinking the sacrament of such a great reality to his own condemnation, because he had the presumption to approach the sacraments of Christ in an unclean state…
(Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 26.18; PL, 35:1614; trans. WSA, I/12:464. Cf. NPNF1, 7:173.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
In fine, He Himself, when He says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,”[John vi. 56.] shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], to eat His body and drink His blood; for this is to dwell in Christ, that He also may dwell in us. So that it is as if He said, He that dwelleth not in me, and in whom I do not dwell, let him not say or think that he eateth my body or drinketh my blood.
(Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. NPNF1, 2:473.) See also: ccel.org.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Finally, Christ himself says: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” He thus shows what it is to eat the body of Christ and drink His blood, not only in the sacrament, but in reality [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], for to remain in Christ is to have Christ also remaining in him. For this is the same as if he said: “He who does not remain in me, and in whom I do not remain, may not say or think that he is eating my body or drinking my blood.”
(Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. LCL, 417:137. Cf. NPNF1, 2:473; FC, 24:397-398.) See also: ccel.org and loebclassics.com.
Full Text. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
And therefore neither ought such persons as lead an abandoned and damnable life to be confident of salvation, though they persevere to the end in the communion of the Church catholic, and comfort themselves with the words, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” By the iniquity of their life they abandon that very righteousness of life which Christ is to them, whether it be by fornication, or by perpetrating in their body the other uncleannesses which the apostle would not so much as mention, or by a dissolute luxury, or by doing any one of those things of which he says, “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Consequently, they who do such things shall not exist anywhere but in eternal punishment, since they cannot be in the kingdom of God. For, while they continue in such things to the very end of life, they cannot be said to abide in Christ to the end; for to abide in Him is to abide in the faith of Christ. And this faith, according to the apostle’s definition of it, “worketh by love.” And “love,” as he elsewhere says, “worketh no evil.” Neither can these persons be said to eat the body of Christ, for they cannot even be reckoned among His members. For, not to mention other reasons, they cannot be at once the members of Christ and the members of a harlot. In fine, He Himself, when He says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,”[John vi. 56.] shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally [non sacramento tenus, sed re vera], to eat His body and drink His blood; for this is to dwell in Christ, that He also may dwell in us. So that it is as if He said, He that dwelleth not in me, and in whom I do not dwell, let him not say or think that he eateth my body or drinketh my blood.
(Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 21.25; PL, 41:742; trans. NPNF1, 2:473.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who called himself bread, is looking for hungry people. But it is only a healthy mind, that is, the belly of the inner man, which is hungry for this bread. Here’s a comparison with this visible bread. Sick people, whose illness has lost them their appetite, can praise good bread, but can’t eat it. In the same way, when the inner man is ill, he is not inclined to eat this heavenly bread, being afflicted with loss of appetite, and though he may praise it, he takes no pleasure in eating it. But the Lord himself said, as we have just heard, Work for the food which does not perish, but which abides to eternal life (Jn 6:27), distinguishing it from this visible and bodily food, about which he says in another place, Everything that enters the mouth goes down into the belly, and is evacuated into the privy (Mt 15:17)—and so it perishes.
(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon, 130A.1; trans. WSA, III/11:118.)
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
If the sentence is one of command, either forbidding a crime or vice, or enjoining an act of prudence or benevolence, it is not figurative. If, however, it seems to enjoin a crime or vice, or to forbid an act of prudence or benevolence, it is figurative. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,” says Christ, “and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” This seems to enjoin a crime or a vice; it is therefore a figure [figura], enjoining that we should have a share in the sufferings of our Lord, and that we should retain a sweet and profitable memory of the fact that His flesh was wounded and crucified for us.
(Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 3.16.24; PL, 34:74-75; trans. NPNF1, 2:563.) See also: ccel.org.
Cf. Ratramnus [Bertram] of Corbie (c. ?-868 A.D.):
34. We see that that doctor says that the mysteries of Christ’s body and blood are celebrated in a figurative [figura] sense by the faithful. For he says that to take his flesh and his blood in a fleshly sense involves, not religion, but crime. This was the view held by those who, understanding the Lord’s statement in the Gospel not in a spiritual but in a fleshly sense, departed from him, and were already not going with him.
(Ratramni Corbeiensis Monachi, De Corpore et Sanguine Domini, §. XXXIV; PL, 121:141; trans. LCC, 9:127.)
Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
For in the Jewish people was figured the Christian people. There a figure [figura], here the truth [veritas]; there a shadow, here the body: as the apostle says, “Now these things happened to them in a figure.”
(Augustine, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel of John, 11.8; PL, 35:1479; trans. NPNF1, 7:77.) See also: ccel.org.
Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Every figurative and allegorical text or utterance seems to mean one thing materially, and to suggest another thing spiritually.
(Augustine, Sermon 4.23 [Esau and Jacob]; PL, 38:45; trans. WSA, III/1:198.)
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
…we must beware of taking a figurative expression literally. For the saying of the apostle applies in this case too: “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” For when what is said figuratively is taken as if it were said literally, it is understood in a carnal manner. And nothing is more fittingly called the death of the soul than when that in it which raises it above the brutes, the intelligence namely, is put in subjection to the flesh by a blind adherence to the letter. For he who follows the letter takes figurative words as if they were proper, and does not carry out what is indicated by a proper word into its secondary signification; but, if he hears of the Sabbath, for example, thinks of nothing but the one day out of seven which recurs in constant succession; and when he hears of a sacrifice, does not carry his thoughts beyond the customary offerings of victims from the flock, and of the fruits of the earth. Now it is surely a miserable slavery of the soul to take signs for things, and to be unable to lift the eye of the mind above what is corporeal and created, that it may drink in eternal light.
(Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 3.5.9; PL, 34:68-69; trans. NPNF1, 2:559.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
Now the rule in regard to this variation has two forms. For things that signify [significant] now one thing and now another, signify either things that are contrary, or things that are only different. They signify contraries, for example, when they are used metaphorically at one time in a good sense, at another in a bad, as in the case of the leaven mentioned above. Another example of the same is that a lion stands for Christ in the place where it is said, “The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;” and again, stands for the devil where it is written, “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” In the same way the serpent is used in a good sense, “Be wise as serpents;” and again, in a bad sense, “The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty.” Bread is used in a good sense, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven;” in a bad, “Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” And so in a great many other cases. The examples I have adduced are indeed by no means doubtful in their signification, because only plain instances ought to be used as examples [Et hæc quidem quæ commemoravi, minime dubiam significationem gerunt, quia exempli gratia commemorari nonnisi manifesta debuerunt].
(Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 3.25.36; PL, 34:79; trans. NPNF1, 2:566.) See also: ccel.org.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
What you see passes away, but what is invisibly symbolized does not pass away. It perdures. The visible is received, eaten, and digested. But can the body of Christ be digested? Can the church of Christ be digested? Can Christ’s limbs be digested? Of course not.
(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 227; trans. Gary Wills, Why Priests? [New York: Penguin Books, 2014], p. 16.) Preview.
Alt. Trans. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
What you can see passes away, but the invisible reality signified does not pass away, but remains. Look, it’s received, it’s eaten, it’s consumed. Is the body of Christ consumed, is the Church of Christ consumed, are the members of Christ consumed? Perish the thought!
(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 227; trans. WSA, III/6:255.)
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
In this loaf of bread you are given clearly to understand how much you should love unity. I mean, was that loaf made from one grain? Weren’t there many grains of wheat? But before they came into the loaf they were all separate; they were joined together by means of water after a certain amount of pounding and crushing. Unless wheat is ground, after all, and moistened with water, it can’t possibly get into this shape which is called bread. In the same way you too were being ground and pounded, as it were, by the humiliation of fasting and the sacrament of exorcism. Then came baptism, and you were, in a manner of speaking, moistened with water in order to be shaped into bread. But it’s not yet bread without fire to bake it. So what does fire represent? That’s the chrism, the anointing. Oil, the fire-feeder, you see, is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit.
Notice it, when the Acts of the Apostles are read; the reading of that book begins now, you see. Today begins the book which is called the Acts of the Apostles. Anybody who wishes to make progress has the means of doing so. When you assemble in church, put aside silly stories’ and concentrate on the scriptures. We here are your books. So pay attention, and see how the Holy Spirit is going to come at Pentecost. And this is how he will come; he will show himself in tongues of fire. You see, he breathes into us the charity which should set us on fire for God, and have us think lightly of the world, and burn up our straw, and purge and refine our hearts like gold. So the Holy Spirit comes, fire after water, and you are baked into the bread which is the body of Christ. And that’s how unity is signified.
(Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 227; trans. WSA, III/6:254-255.)
Cf. Gary Wills (Roman Catholic Historian):
So insistent was Augustine that the body of Christ—the bread of Christ—was the whole body of believers that he explained to neophytes the whole process of their formation as a baking of Christ’s bread in them…
(Gary Wills, Font of Life: Ambrose, Augustine and the Mystery of Baptism, [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012], p. 156.)
Cf. Gary Wills (Roman Catholic Historian):
Here is his most explicit claim that what is changed in the Mass is not the bread given out but the believers receiving it...
(Garry Wills, Why Priests? [New York: Penguin Books, 2014], p. 55.) Preview.
Cf. Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1010 A.D.):
We have also to consider, that the holy housel is both the body of Christ and of all believing people, by a ghostly mystery, as the wise Augustine said of it, “If ye will understand concerning the body of Christ, hear the apostle Paul, thus saying, Ye are truly Christ’s body and limbs. Now your mystery is laid on God’s table, and ye receive your mystery, for which ye yourselves are. Be that which ye see on the altar, and receive that which ye yourselves are.” Again the apostle Paul said of this, “We many are one bread and one body.” Understand now and rejoice; many are one bread and one body in Christ. He is our head, and we are his limbs. The bread is not of one corn, but of many; nor the wine of one berry, but of many. So we should also have unity in our Lord, as it is written of the faithful company, that they were in so great unity, as if there were for them all one soul and one heart.
(Ælfric of Eynsham, Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae (A Sermon on the Sacrifice on Easter-Day); trans. The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric: In the Original Anglo-Saxon, With an English Version: Vol. II, trans. Benjamin Thorpe, [London: Printed for the Ælfric Society, 1846], p. 277.)
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
For He insinuates the truth, that Himself is that meat: this shines out clearly in the sequel. “Which the Son of man will give you.” Thou didst expect, I believe, again to eat bread, again to sit down, again to be gorged. But He had said, “Not the meat which perisheth, but that which endureth unto eternal life,” in the same manner as it was said to that Samaritan woman: “If thou knewest who it is that asketh of thee drink, thou wouldest perhaps have asked of Him, and He would give thee living water.” When she said, “Whence hast thou, since thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep?” He answered the Samaritan woman: “If thou knewest who it is that asketh of thee drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would give thee water, whereof whoso drinketh shall thirst no more; for whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” And she was glad and would receive, as if no more to suffer thirst of body, being wearied with the labor of drawing water. And so, during a conversation of this kind, He comes to spiritual drink. Entirely in this manner also here.
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 25.10; trans. NPNF1, 7:163.) See also: ccel.org.
Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
The Lord has spoken more openly: “It shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. He that drinketh of this water shall not thirst forever.” What more evident than that it was not visible, but invisible water, that He was promising? What more evident than that He was speaking, not in a carnal, but in a spiritual sense?
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 15.14; trans. NPNF1, 7:102.) See also: ccel.org.
Cf. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (c. 354-430 A.D.):
“And in the meanwhile His disciples besought Him, saying, Master, eat.” For they had gone to buy meat, and had returned. “But He said, I have meat to eat which ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat?” What wonder if that woman did not understand about the water? See; the disciples do not yet understand the meat. But He heard their thoughts, and now as a master instructs them, not in a round-about way, as He did the woman while He still sought her husband, but openly at once: “My meat,” saith He, “is to do the will of Him that sent me.” Therefore, in the case of that woman, it was even His drink to do the will of Him that sent Him. That was the reason why He said, “I thirst, give me to drink;” namely, to work faith in her, and to drink of her faith, and to transplant her into His own body, for His body is the Church. Therefore He saith, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.”
(Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John, 15.31; trans. NPNF1, 7:106-107.) See also: ccel.org.
The Testimony of Roman Catholic Theologians and Historians.
Helmut Hoping (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
Bread and wine are signs of a pneumatic reality, the glorified Christ, who died for us and in his self-surrender gives himself anew for us again and again in his Body and Blood. In this sense, Augustine distinguishes between sacramentum tantum, the mere sign, and the res sacramenti, the reality of the sacrament. Unworthy Communion is manducare tantum in sacramento. What matters, however, is to partake not only according to the mere sign: “To eat Christ’s body and drink his blood . . . in reality it . . . means to abide in Christ in such a way that Christ also abides in us.” For the sign alone (sacramentum tantum) is fleeting.
The sign is not yet regarded by Augustine in its own substantiality but, rather, altogether as a sign and image for the invisible reality given therein. The question about the reality of the sacrament was not fiercely debated until the early Middle Ages. One prerequisite for it was that the understanding of the Eucharist since Isidore of Seville (d. 636) increasingly shifted from the εὐχαριστία as a cultic thanksgiving to which the faithful were called to participate through the gratias agamus to the presence of Christ in the sacramental signs. Gratiarum actio (thanksgiving) became bona gratia (good grace = a literal Latin rendering of eu-charistia). The relation of the sacramental-mystical Body to the ecclesial Body of the Lord, which in Augustine’s writings is still entirely in the foreground, recedes in importance. This was accompanied by a decline in the reception of Communion by the faithful.
(Helmut Hoping, My Body Given for You: History and Theology of the Eucharist, trans. Michael J. Miller, [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2019], p. 117.) Preview.
Pamela Jackson (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
Later sacramental theology would see the sacraments as having the symbol’s quality of being able to represent what it signifies as well as point to it, as having not only sacramentum (outward sign of a more important spiritual reality) and res (invisible reality), but also res et sacramentum; in the Eucharist this res et sacramentum is Christ really present. Since Augustine’s definition of sign, however, contains only sacramentum and res, when he speaks of the consecrated elements in the Eucharist, they cannot be res, by definition an invisible reality, so he must see them as sacramentum, something which points beyond itself to res.
(Pamela Jackson (Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary), “Eucharist;” In: Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, gen. ed., Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A., [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1999], p. 334.)
Edward J. Kilmartin, S.J. (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
In short, Augustine teaches that the Church is the true body of Christ (verum corpus Christi) while the eucharistic elements are the sacrament of the body of Christ (sacramentum corporis Christi). Hence the sacrament of the body of Christ is received in the true body of Christ. ...The visible in the sacrament is the expression and possibility of encounter with the invisible, i.e., Christ and the invisible Church: “These things, brothers, are called sacraments, because in them something is seen, [but] something else is understood.”[fn. 64: “Ista, fratres, ideo dicuntur Sacramenta, quia in eis aliud videtur, aliud intelligitur”—Augustine, Sermo 272 (PL 38.1247); cf. Principia dialecticae 5 (PL. 32.1410-11).]
(Edward J. Kilmartin S.J., The Eucharist in the West: History and Theology, ed. Robert J. Daly, S.J., [Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2004], pp. 28, 26.)
William Harmless, S.J. (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
For Augustine the Body of Christ appeared as a sort of diptych: at once sanctified people and sanctified bread. This double image was at once fact and exhortation, an indicative and an imperative. He encapsulated this in one of his most memorable aphorisms:
Estote quod videtis, Be what you see,
et accipite quod estis. and receive what you are.[S. 272 (PL 38:1247-48)]
Augustine did not conceive of real presence in strictly ritual terms. His thinking admitted no sharp fissure between the real presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and the real presence of Christ within the Christian community.
(William Harmless, S.J., Augustine and the Catechumenate: Revised Edition, forward by Allan Fitzgerald, O.S.A, [Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2014], p. 376.) Preview.
Joseph Martos (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
With regard to the eucharist, Augustine does not seem to have insisted on the sacramental realism that eventually became part of the Latin theological tradition…
(Joseph Martos, Deconstructing Sacramental Theology and Reconstructing Catholic Ritual, [Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2015], p. 140.)
Gary Wills (Roman Catholic Historian):
Augustine repeatedly says that Christ cannot be chewed, digested, and excreted. He says that Christ as bread refers to “the validity of the mystery (virtus sacramenti), not to the visibility of the mystery (visibile sacramentum), given to the one who eats inwardly, not outwardly, one who feeds his heart, not one who chews with his teeth” (In Johannis Evangelium Tractatus 26.12). …For us to be united with Jesus we must be taken into him, not he into us. We must become his members (In Johannis Evangelium Tractatus 27.6).
(Gary Wills, Font of Life: Ambrose, Augustine and the Mystery of Baptism, [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012], p. 155.)
Father Jack A. Bonsor (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
Readers familiar with Catholic theology might wonder about Augustine’s position regarding the real presence. Does he hold the church’s doctrine of transubstantiation?
The question is anachronistic. That is, it takes an issue from later theological disputes and asks it of Augustine’s theology. Augustine never asked the question in this way. He did not focus on what happens to the elements of bread and wine. More, his Neoplatonic perspective never suggested the question of substance.
(Jack A. Bonsor, Athens and Jerusalem: The Role of Philosophy in Theology, [New York: Paulist Press, 1993], p. 43.)
Emmanuel J. Cutrone (Roman Catholic Theologian and Historian):
…a full understanding of Augustine’s theological reflections on sacraments must begin with his treatment of signs. Augustine operates within a Platonic worldview which understands the material, visible world to be a manifestation of a deeper inner reality. What is seen and experienced are reflections of a truer world, in such a way that material reality becomes a sign which both reveals and veils the inner world. Augustine, then, understands all signs to have a revelatory quality, but they are not mirror images of what they signify.
(Emmanuel J. Cutrone, “Sacraments;” In: Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, gen. ed., Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A., [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1999], p. 741.)
Protestant Historians.
Celine S. Yeung:
Diverse approaches to understanding Christ’s presence in the Eucharist have often been categorized into “Augustinian” vs. “Ambrosian” approaches, with the former understood to be inclined towards a symbolic understanding and the latter towards a realist approach, Yet, as Gary Macy argued, this is inaccurate. The symbolist-leaning theologians drew from Ambrose for authority, and the realist-leaning theologians quoted Augustine extensively. Instead of an Augustine-Ambrose divide, a more accurate divide is Platonic vs. Aristotelian. . . . The Plato-Aristotle contrast in the development of sacramental theology may be seen as reflective of the contrast famously depicted in the fresco School of Athens by the Renaissance painter Raphael: while Plato, holding his Timaeus, points upward to heaven, Aristotle, holding his Ethics, points outward to the world.
(Celine S. Yeung, Received by Christ: A Biblical Reworking of the Reformed Theology of the Lord’s Supper, [Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2023], pp. 105, 106.) Preview.
Note: This categorization is helpful, however, it should be noted that Ambrose, like Augustine, was heavily influenced by Platonic thought. His engagement with classical philosophy, like most early Church Fathers, was shaped primarily by the Platonic tradition. This influence is not as overtly pronounced in Ambrose as it is in Augustine, but it is present nonetheless. Therefore, it is unlikely that Ambrose’ Eucharistic views were substantially different from Augustine’s (emphasizing a real spiritual presence not a somatic [carnal/corporeal] presence). Especially if we examine the totality of Ambrose’s extant writings—in which we find numerous statements which strongly militate against a somatic (carnal/corporeal) presence.
John W. Riggs:
On one side, there are passages in Augustine that discuss sacramental and eucharistic signs as pointing to, while participating in, spiritual realities; passages where Augustine says that the bread and cup are the body and blood of Christ in “a certain fashion” (quodam modo); and passages where Augustine says that the appropriation of the Eucharist is to be spiritual. Augustine’s commentaries on the Fourth Gospel are especially notable for comments such as these. By contrast, Augustine has passages in which he talks about holding Christ when the elements are held; or, communicants being offered Christ’s body, or being able to recognize the body of Christ in the bread and the blood that flowed from Christ’s side in the cup. . . Most scholars acknowledge the two different types of passages in Augustine and try to find ways to account for both: realistic and symbolic positions are both present, but not as moderns so conceive the issue; or Augustine’s teaching on signs cannot be fit into the later realistic/symbolic binary categories, because Augustine is “neither realistic nor symbolic but sacramental”, or with reference to the signs Augustine would be “symbolic,” but with reference to the realities signified he would be “realistic”; or the issue of realistic or symbolic misses the larger ecclesial context of sacrifice and community, wherein believers together, as the body of Christ, are united to God; or tensions simply exist in Augustine’s eucharistic thought.
On the trajectory outlined by Geiselmann and Kilmartin, and undergirded by the work of Betz—all three notable Roman Catholic scholars these two options are not sufficiently adequate to describe Augustine, who insisted that believers do indeed participate in Christ’s true body, although for Augustine “we do not so much receive Christ; rather, he receives us and engrafts us more deeply into his body.” Furthermore, once one assumes the (inadequate) alternatives of symbolic or realistic, Augustine can seem symbolic because he does not affirm a localized metabolic or somatic presence, and yet he can seem realistic because he affirms a real communion with Christ. Put slightly differently, the alternatives are not realistic or symbolic, but realistic (metabolic presence), realistic (nonmetabolic presence), and symbolic. Later chapters of this study will argue that because the false alternatives of realistic or symbolic have been applied to Reformed eucharistic theology, centuries of mistakes have been made about Zwingli, Calvin, and the Reformed tradition, even mistakes from within the Reformed tradition in its own self-understanding.
(John W. Riggs, The Lord’s Supper in the Reformed Tradition: An Essay on the Mystical True Presence, Columbia Series in Reformed Theology, [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015], pp. 14-15.)
Cf. Gavin Ortlund:
Most of the Reformers affirmed the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and opposed transubstantiation on the grounds that it represented a departure not only from Scripture but also from patristic testimony. For example, early Protestants like Peter Martyr Vermigli and Thomas Cranmer argued that for church fathers like Augustine and Theodoret, the bread and wine remained bread and wine in substance while also becoming Christ’s body and blood. The whole appeal of their Eucharistic theology was a return to catholicity, against the changes introduced by the substance-accidents distinction in the medieval development. It is true that many modern-day evangelicals have adopted more of a symbolic view, but that is by no means representative of Protestantism wholesale.
Third and most egregiously, the idea that the Reformers were intending to replace the Eucharist with a pulpit is quite nearly the opposite of the case. The Protestant effort was to reclaim the Eucharist, not replace it. Lay Christians in the late medieval West hardly ever partook of the Eucharist. For most it would have been only once a year, if that, and even then, it was generally in one kind only (the bread, not the wine). For many the Eucharist had become more of a spectacle, and its celebration was plagued by superstitious beliefs. One of the central, animating concerns of the Protestant Reformation was to reestablish for lay Christians a meaningful and frequent participation with the Eucharist in both kinds.
(Gavin Ortlund, What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Reflective, 2024], pp. xvi-xvii.) Preview.
Note: See further: Thomas Cranmer, A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ; Peter Martyr Vermigli, The Oxford Treatise and Disputation On the Eucharist; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.17.
καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν ~ Soli Deo Gloria
