Athanasius and Transubstantiation

Q. Did Athanasius advocate the Roman dogma of transubstantiation?

Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 296-298 - 373 A.D.):

The Saviour also, since He was changing the typical for the spiritual, promised them that they should no longer eat the flesh of a lamb, but His own, saying, ‘Take, eat and drink; this is My body, and My blood.’ (Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. IV, Athanasius, Festal Letters, Letter IV.4). Here

 

The Apostle exhorts his beloved son Timothy, in his first Epistle, ‘to be nourished with the word of faith, and the good doctrine whereto he had attained.’ And in the second, ‘Preserve thou the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.’ And not only here, my brethren, is this bread the food of the righteous, neither are the saints on earth alone nourished by such bread and such blood; but we also eat them in heaven, for the Lord is the food even of the exalted spirits, and the angels, and He is the joy of all the heavenly host. And to all He is everything, and He has pity upon all according to His loving-kindness. Already hath the Lord given us angels’ food, and He promises to those who continue with Him in His trials, saying, ‘And I promise to you a kingdom, as My Father hath promised to Me; that ye shall eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ O what a banquet is this, my brethren, and how great is the harmony and gladness of those who eat at this heavenly table! For they delight themselves not with that food which is cast out, but with that which produces life everlasting. (Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. IV, Athanasius, Festal Letters, Letter VII.8). Here

 

"...no longer slaying a material lamb, but that true Lamb that was slain, even our Lord Jesus Christ; ‘Who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and was dumb as a lamb before her shearers;’ being purified by His precious blood…" (Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. IV, Athanasius, Festal Letters, Letter I.9). Here

 

Since these things are so, my brethren, let us mortify our members which are on the earth, and be nourished with living bread, by faith and love to God, knowing that without faith it is impossible to be partakers of such bread as this. For our Saviour, when He called all men to him, and said, ‘If any man thirst, let him [come] to Me and drink,’ immediately spoke of the faith without which a man cannot receive such food; ‘He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ To this end He continually nourished His believing disciples with His words, and gave them life by the nearness of His divinity, but to the Canaanitish woman, because she was not yet a believer, He deigned not even a reply, although she stood greatly in need of food from Him. He did this not from scorn, far from it (for the Lord is loving to men and good, and on that account He went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon); but because of her unbelief, and because she was of those who had not the word. (Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. IV, Athanasius, Festal Letters, Letter VII.7). Here

 

John Ch. 6:

Our Lord made a difference betwixt the flesh and the spirit, that we might understand that what He said was not carnal, but spiritual. For how many men could His body have fed, that the whole world should be nourished by it? But therefore He mentioned His ascension into heaven, that they might not take what He said in a corporal sense, but might understand that His flesh whereof He spake is a spiritual and heavenly food, given by Himself from on high; for the words that I spake unto you, they are spirit and they are life; as if he should say, My body which is shewn and given for the world shall be given in food, that it might be distributed spiritually to everyone, and preserve them all to the resurrection to eternal life. (J. P. Minge, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, [1857], Patrologiæ Græcæ, Tomus XXVI, Epistola IV Ad Serapionem, Col. 665, 668). Here Trans. (John Cosin, The History of Popish Transubstantiation, edited by John Sherren Brewer, [1840], pp. 90-91). Here

Alternate Translation:

Here also He has used both terms about Himself, namely flesh and spirit; and He distinguished the spirit from what relates to the flesh in order that they might believe not only in what was visible in Him but also in what was invisible, and might thereby learn that what He says is not fleshly but spiritual. For how many would the body suffice for eating, that it should become the food of the whole world? But for this reason He made mention of the ascension of the Son of man into heaven, in order that He might draw them away from the bodily notion, and that from henceforth they might learn that the aforesaid flesh was heavenly eating from above and spiritual food given by Him. For, He says, what I have spoken unto you is spirit and life, as much as to say, That which is manifested, and is given for the salvation of the world, is the flesh which I wear. But this and its blood shall be given to you by Me spiritually as food, so that this may be imparted spiritually to each one, and may become to all a preservative for resurrection to eternal life. (J. P. Minge, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, [1857], Patrologiæ Græcæ, Tomus XXVI, Epistola IV Ad Serapionem, Col. 665, 668). Here Trans. (Darwell Stone, A History of the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, [1909], Volume I, p. 90). Here

 

Such was the case with our Lord, who said, ‘My meat is to do the will of My Father which is in heaven.’ But if it is not thus with the soul, and it inclines downwards, it is then nourished by nothing but sin. For thus the Holy Ghost, describing sinners and their food, referred to the devil when He said, ‘I have given him to be meat to the people of Æthiopia.’ For this is the food of sinners. And as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, being heavenly bread, is the food of the saints, according to this; ‘Except ye eat My flesh, and drink My blood;’ so is the devil the food of the impure, and of those who do nothing which is of the light, but work the deeds of darkness. Therefore, in order to withdraw and turn them from vices, He commands them to be nourished with the food of virtue; namely, humbleness of mind, lowliness to endure humiliations, the acknowledgment of God. (Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. IV, Festival Letters, Letter I.5). Here

~ Soli Deo Gloria