Origen of Alexandria on the Sixth Chapter of John

Note: Last Updated 9/12/2024.

Note: Click here for a list of the abbreviations used in the bibliographical citations.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

Acknowledge that they are figures, which are written in the sacred volumes; therefore as spiritual, not carnal, examine and understand what is said. For, if as carnal you receive them, they hurt, not nourish you. Not only in the old Testament is there a letter which killeth; but also in the new there is a letter which killeth him who does not spiritually consider it. For, if according to the letter you receive this saying, Except ye eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, that letter killeth.

(Origenis, In Leviticum, Homilia VII, §. 5; PG, 12:487; trans. Edward Harold Browne, An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles: Historical and Doctrinal: The Tenth Edition, [London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, 1874], p. 691. Cf. FC, 83:146.)

Alt. Trans. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

Know that they are figures written in the divine volumes and, for that reason, examine and understand what is said as spiritual and not as carnal. For if you receive those things as carnal, they wound you and do not sustain you. For even in the Gospels, it is “the letter” that “kills.” Not only in the Old Testament is “the letter that kills” found; there is also in the New Testament “the letter that kills” that one who does not spiritually perceive what is said. For, if you follow according to the letter that which is said, “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood,” this “letter kills.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Leviticus, Homily 7.5.4-5; PG, 12:487; trans. FC, 83:146.)

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.): 

As another example, take the Lord’s words, “The bread that I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” When “the Jews strove with one another saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” we showed that the hearers were not so foolish as to suppose that the speaker was inviting the hearers to approach him and eat of his flesh.

(Origen, Commentary on John, 20.387; trans. FC, 89:285.)

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

     “He will not sleep, until he eats the prey. and drinks the blood of the wounded.” In these words, who will be such a contentious defender of the historical narrative, or rather, who will be found so dull, that he would not take refuge by sheer necessity in the sweetness of allegory and shrink back from the sound of the letter? For how will that people, who are so praiseworthy and magnificent, of whom the word lists so many praiseworthy things, come to the point of drinking the blood of the wounded? For God forbids the consumption of blood by so many forceful commands that even we who are called from the Gentiles are necessarily commanded to abstain “both from things sacrificed to idols and from blood.”

     So let them tell us who this people are who are accustomed to drink blood. These were the things that those Jews in the Gospel who were following the Lord were scandalized about and said: “Who can eat flesh and drink blood?” But the Christian people, the faithful people, hear these things and embrace them and follow him who says: “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in yourselves; for my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink.” And surely, the one who said these things was wounded for men; for “he was wounded for our sins,” as Isaiah says. But we are said to drink the blood of Christ not only in the rite of the sacraments, but also when we receive his words, in which are life, as he himself says: “The words that I have spoken are spirit and life.” Thus, he himself was wounded, whose blood we drink, that is, we receive the words of his teaching. Moreover, they are no less wounded who have preached his word to us. For when we read their words, that is, the words of his apostles, and when we attain to life from them, we are “drinking the blood of the wounded.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Homilies in Numbers, Homily 16.9; PG, 12:701; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Homilies on Numbers: Origen, trans. Thomas P. Scheck, [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009], p. 101.) Preview.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

     The solemnity of the Passover is placed fourth among the feasts of God, during which feast a lamb is killed. But you should look to the true lamb, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” and say that “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” Let the Jews eat lamb’s flesh in a carnal sense, but let us eat the flesh of the Word of God; for he himself said: “Unless you eat my flesh, you will not have life in yourselves.”

     What we are now saying is the flesh of the Word of God, but only if we set it forth not as “vegetables” for the weak or as the nourishment of “milk” for children. If we speak what is perfect, robust and strong, we are setting out the flesh of the Word of God for you to eat. For where there are mystical words, where there are doctrinal and solid words that are brought forth in a way that is filled with faith in the Trinity, when the mysteries of the spiritual law of the age to come are expanded on, once the “veil of the letter has been removed”; when the soul’s hope is torn away from the earth and cast toward heaven and is located in those things that “eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have they ascended into the heart of man.” All these things are the flesh of the Word of God. The one who is able to consume these things with a perfect understanding and with a purified heart truly offers the sacrifice of the Passover feast and celebrates the feast day with God and his angels.

(Origen of Alexandria, Homilies in Numbers, Homily 23.6; PG, 12:751-752; trans. Ancient Christian Texts: Homilies on Numbers: Origen, trans. Thomas P. Scheck, [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009], p. 144.) Preview.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

     Now, it may very well be that some one not versed in the various aspects of the Saviour may stumble at the interpretation given above of the Jordan; because John says, “I baptize with water, but He that cometh after me is stronger than I; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” To this we reply that, as the Word of God in His character as something to be drunk is to one set of men water, and to another wine, making glad the heart of man, and to others blood, since it is said, “Except ye drink My blood, ye have no life in you,” and as in His character as food He is variously conceived as living bread or as flesh, so also He, the same person, is baptism of water, and baptism of Holy Spirit and of fire, and to some, also, of blood.

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 6.26; trans. ANF, 9:372.) See also: ccel.org.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

“And the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.” Again, we eat the flesh of the Lamb, with bitter herbs, and unleavened bread, when we repent of our sins and grieve with the sorrow which is according to God, a repentance which operates for our salvation, and is not to be repented of; or when, on account of our trials, we turn to the speculations which are found to be those of truth, and are nourished by them. We are not, however, to eat the flesh of the Lamb raw, as those do who are slaves of the letter, like irrational animals, and those who are enraged at men truly reasonable, because they desire to understand spiritual things; truly, they share the nature of savage beasts. But we must strive to convert the rawness of Scripture into well-cooked food, not letting what is written grow flabby and wet and thin, as those do who have itching ears, and turn away their ears from the truth; their methods tend to a loose and flabby conduct of life. But let us be of a fervent spirit and keep hold of the fiery words given to us of God, such as Jeremiah received from Him who spoke to him, “Behold, I have made My words in thy mouth like fire,” and let us see that the flesh of the Lamb be well cooked, so that those who partake of it may say, as Christ speaks in us, “Our heart burned by the way, as He opened to us the Scriptures.” Further, if it is our duty to enquire into such a point as the roasting of the flesh of the Lamb with fire, we must not forget the parallel of what Jeremiah suffered on account of the words of God, as he says: “And it was as a glowing fire, burning in my bones, and I am without any strength, and I cannot bear it.” But, in this eating, we must begin at the head, that is to say, at the principal and the most essential doctrines about heavenly things, and we must end at the feet, the last branches of learning which enquire as to the final nature in things, or about more material things, or about things under the earth, or about wicked spirits and unclean demons.

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 10.13; trans. ANF, 9:390.) See also: ccel.org.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

But many things might be said about the Word Himself who became flesh, and true meat of which he that eateth shall assuredly live for ever, no worthless person being able to eat it [οὐδενὸς δυναμένου φαύλου ἐσθίειν αὐτήν]; for if it were possible for one who continues worthless to eat of Him who became flesh, who was the Word and the living bread, it would not have been written, that “every one who eats of this bread shall live for ever.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org.

Full Text. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.):

…nothing is pure to him who is defiled and unbelieving, not in itself, but because of his defilement and unbelief, so that which is sanctified through the word of God and prayer does not, in its own nature, sanctify him who uses it, for, if this were so, it would sanctify even him who eats unworthily of the bread of the Lord, and no one on account of this food would become weak or sickly or asleep for something of this kind Paul represented in saying, “For this cause many among you are weak and sickly and not a few sleep.” And in the case of the bread of the Lord, accordingly, there is advantage to him who uses it, when with undefiled mind and pure conscience he partakes of the bread. And so neither by not eating, I mean by the very fact that we do not eat of the bread which has been sanctified by the word of God and prayer, are we deprived of any good thing, nor by eating are we the better by any good thing; for the cause of our lacking is wickedness and sins, and the cause of our abounding is righteousness and right actions; so that such is the meaning of what is said by Paul, “For neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we eat not are we the worse.” Now, if “everything that entereth into the mouth goes into the belly and is cast out into the drought,” even the meat which has been sanctified through the word of God and prayer, in accordance with the fact that it is material, goes into the belly and is cast out into the draught, but in respect of the prayer which comes upon it, according to the proportion of the faith, becomes a benefit and is a means of clear vision to the mind which looks to that which is beneficial, and it is not the material of the bread but the word which is said over it which is of advantage to him who eats it not unworthily of the Lord. And these things indeed are said of the typical and symbolical body. But many things might be said about the Word Himself who became flesh, and true meat of which he that eateth shall assuredly live for ever, no worthless person being able to eat it [οὐδενὸς δυναμένου φαύλου ἐσθίειν αὐτήν]; for if it were possible for one who continues worthless to eat of Him who became flesh, who was the Word and the living bread, it would not have been written, that “every one who eats of this bread shall live for ever.”

(Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew, 11.14; PG, 13:948-952; trans. ANF, 9:443.) See also: ccel.org.

Cf. William Goode:

After having spoken of the Eucharist, he proceeds thus:—“And thus much concerning the typical and symbolical body. But many things might be spoken concerning the Word himself, who became flesh and true food, which he who eats shall certainly live for ever, no wicked person being able to eat it. For if it were possible that any one living in sin could eat him who became flesh, being the Word, and living bread, it would not have been written, [John vi. 51.] that every one who eats this bread shall live for ever.” Here he clearly draws a distinction between “the typical and symbolical body,” that is, the Eucharistic elements, and the Word himself, the living bread, spoken of in John vi., of which we are to eat; manifestly referring to a spiritual act, a spiritual feeding upon Christ himself, which, however it may be connected in the case of the faithful with the act of the outward reception of the Eucharistic elements, is distinct from it, and may be independent of it. And it cannot be objected to this, as it has been to the former passages, that he is here giving an allegorical interpretation of the passage.

(William Goode, The Nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist: Vol. I, [London: T. Hatchard, 1856], p. 114.)

Implied.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 A.D.): 

So also the bread is the word of Christ made of that corn of wheat which falling into the ground yields much fruit. For not that visible bread which He held in His hands did God the Word call His body, but the word in the mystery of which that bread was to be broken. Nor did He call that visible drink His blood, but the word in the mystery of which that drink was to be poured out. For what else can the body of God the Word, or His blood, be but the word which nourishes and the word which gladdens the heart? Why then did He not say, This is the bread of the new covenant, as He said, ‘This is the blood of the new covenant’? Because the bread is the word of righteousness, by eating which souls are nourished, while the drink is the word of the knowledge of Christ according to the mystery of His birth and passion.

(Origenis, In Matthæum Commentariorum Series, §. 85; PG, 13:1734-1735; trans. Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: In Two Volumes: Vol. I, [London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909], pp. 27-28.)

Cf. Helmut Hoping (Roman Catholic Theologian):

     Origen (d. 254): The second great Alexandrian theologian also distinguishes between sacramental Eucharist and the Eucharist of knowledge. This reinforces the tendency toward a spiritualization of the Eucharist. For Origin, the Eucharist is above all a verbal event; this becomes particularly clear in his commentary on the Last Supper account in Matthew… The actual sacrament (mysterium) is therefore the Word; bread and wine are visible signs which in themselves are neither beneficial nor harmful. For through the word spoken over the bread and wine, the souls of men are supposed to be “eucharistized”. The proclaimed word therefore must not be considered less important than the Eucharistic body. For “the word of God too is bread for us”, is Eucharistic food. For the spiritual man, the word, as opposed to the visible sign, is even the more suitable presence of the divine Logos.

(Helmut Hoping, My Body Given for You: History and Theology of the Eucharist, trans. Michael J. Miller, [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2019], pp. 97, 98.) Preview.

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