"For My Flesh is true Food, and My Blood is true Drink."

-John 6:55

Sources and related sites:

Christ says Himself 5 times in John 6 alone to say you must EAT me to live...

Compare the eat the Flesh of Christ with other verses mentioning "eating flesh." The expression to "eat flesh" in Semetic/ Middle Eastern Cultures can mean.. to calumniate, revile, attack speak of someone not present (as in the Quran) or insult someone unjustly. The follow verses prove the significance of "eating flesh" symbolically:

Psalm 27:1-2: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Isaiah 9:18-21: For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Isaiah 49:26: And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Micah 3:3: Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

Revelation 17:6,16: And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.... And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

A similar verse: Psalm 14:4--Will these evildoers never learn? They devour my people as they devour bread; they do not call upon the LORD.

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How many times does Christ have to repeat Himself????

It took the Jews at least 5 times to really understand He was not kidding...does Christ have to say it for a 6th time for Christians to believe in His word? How many more times must he says AMEN (truly, verily)???

The Greek word for amen is αμην and transliterated, "amhn."

Compare the following verses of the Gospels where Jesus says 'Amen' when starting....how many of them are figurative?

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." -John 6:54

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." -John 8:58

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." - John 1:51

Jesus answered, and said to him,"Amen, amen I say to you, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."--John 3:3

Jesus answered, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit."--John 3:5

"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life."-John 5:24

"Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."- John 5:25

"Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life."- John 6:47

"Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." -Matthew 5:18

"Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny." - Matthew 5:26

"Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy." - John 16:20

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward."--Matthew 6:5

"When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.--Matthew 6:16

"When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one (not even) in Israel have I found such faith."--Matthew 8:10

"Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town (that rejects the Gospel)." -Matthew 10:15

When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. -Matthew 10:23

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple--amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."--Matthew 10:42

To be continued...

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The Punishment of Rejecting the Eucharist (which is the Body and Blood of Christ, the Word of the Lord)

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References in the New Testament to the Eucharist:

Aramaic by Victor Alexander

"and they were steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles and they were fellowshipping in prayer and in the breaking of the Eucharist*"--Acts 2:42

*Lit. Aramaic word retained: "Sacrifice from the Right [of God]" or, the Holy Communion.

And on Sunday, while we were gathered to break the Eucharist, Paul spoke with them, because on the following day he was destined to leave. And his speaking dragged until the middle of the night.--Acts 20:7

"For many years, I have brought to my people righteous offerings and the participation in holy Communion.--Acts 24:17

This last one may or may not be a reference to the Eucharist but Alexander implies it is.

And let your behavior be beautiful before all humanity, so that those who speak evil against you shall see that your works are beautiful and that they glorify God on the Day of the Eucharist.--1 Peter 2:12

*2:12 Lit. Ar. id.: "The Eucharist," also: "Heirdom."

The Didiache tells us this verse spoke of the Eucharist

"But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs."--Didache c AD 50-120

"Do not give what is blessed* to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample on them with their feet, and turn back and rend you."--Matthew 7:6

*possible translations for the word can be...Blessed, holy, earring, flesh, Eucharist, all could work .

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Parallels in Scripture for the Eucharist:

Saint Paul in his Chapter on the Eucharist St Paul speaks of the "Table Of the Lord" a reference to which Jews always understood as a sacrifical altar:

The phrase "do this in rememberance of me" (anamnesis) is evidence both of Jesus' Divinity and His Institution of the Memorial Sacrifice in which He makes Himself present. Luke's Gospel is the only Gospel that includes this clause.

As we see Christ Instituted a "memorial sacrifice" of "ME," instead of "God," thus showing Jesus is God.

In support of the doctrine of ‘transubstantiation,’ the Greek grammar of Mt. 26:26 is laid out very carefully. For example, the clause (touto estin to soma = ‘This is the body of me’) contains the neuter adjective το (to) meaning "this". As a neuter gender, it cannot refer to αρτον (arton) meaning bread, since αρτον (arton) is a masculine noun. Hence, the meaning is not, ‘This bread is my body.’ Rather, since the word σωμα ((soma) meaning ‘body’) is a neuter noun, the neuter ( refer to it, and thus the meaning of Jesus’ words is: ‘This [new substance] is the body of me, ‘ not ‘this bread is the body of me.’

Regarding the blood in Mt. 26:28, in the clause (touto gar estin to aima mou = ‘this is my blood’), (‘this’) is, again, a neuter adjective, corresponding to the neuter (the same neuter gender as – oh my can’t type it). It is showing again that the biblical writers were very careful in making the object of the adjective refer to Christ’s body and blood, not to a symbol or other foreign element.

In fact the word used in the Gospel of Luke, which is quoted in Saint Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians uses a word unique from simply remembering a person. The difference is 2 Greeks words for memorial.

1/ μνημοσυνον (mnemosunon)- used usually for nonsacrifical memories

2/ αναμνησις (anamnesis)- used usually for sacrifical memorials, which were shown above “anamnesis” (remembrance) also refers to a sacrifice which is really or actually made present in time by the power of God, as it reminds God of the actual event as in Hebrews 10:3 and Numbers 10:10

μνημοσυνον (mnemosunon) is used in the bible for non sacrifical memories...(in the New Testament)

These verses make no reference to a sacrifice like that mentioned in the other 3 memorial verse, which refered to a sacrifice.

Furthermore the word anamnesis for sacrifical memorial is in fact used by the bible used and quoted by the Apostles and Christ--the Septuagint (LXX) The LXX translates the Hebrew word "azkarah" which means to actually make present as anamnesis, and not mnemosunon.

Numbers 10:10 for example uses the Greek word anamnesis, which is the word of choice for translating from the Hebrew word lezikaron as we see here

Leviticous 24:7 also in the Greek LXX uses the word anamnesis

Compare with Luke 22:19

This shows that the same concept of "memorial" was made, it was NOT simply for memory, but a sacrifice. "Rememberance" or "commemoration" and "memorial" are the same word in Greek.

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Futhermore, the command of the word "do" which is the Greek word ποιειτε (poiein) ALSO ...

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When Jesus held up the bread, he did not directly refer to it as bread but His body. because the gender in Greek of "this" and "body" are in agreement, while the word for "bread" is not.

σαρκα or σαρξ ( sarka or sarx) -Christ in John 6 uses the word Sarx it is more literal than soma and more likely to literally refer to Flesh. One GREAT example is John 1:14--"The Word was made Flesh(sarx)"

soma, which tends to be very general (more that sarx) and is NOT found in this part of John

τρωγων ( trwgwn or trogo)--meaning to eat or literally to "chew" or "munch" never used figuratively.

φαγη (fagh or phago)- is the word for eat or physically consume, but this is can be figurative. But mostly in the Bible it is literal such as Acts 23:12 "And when day was come, some of the Jews gathered together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying, that they would neither eat, nor drink, till they killed Paul."

Christ in John 6:51 uses the word φαγη (phago) for eat (literal or figurative), but the word sarx for eating.

Then in John 6:52 the people ask (sarx and fagh still)

Then Jesus says in John 6:54

TO be continued

Eucharist is mentioned directly in Acts 2:42

"and they were in the teaching of the Apostles and they were fellowshipping in prayer and in the breaking of the Eucharist*."

The word in the Syriac Aramaic only has one meaning--Eucharist ()eukariysTiya)) n.m. eucharist. Breaking bread is the Eucharist as Paul says in 1 Cor 10/11

OTHER translation from the Aramaic left intact read http://www.v-a.com/bible/acts-2.html see note on Acts 2:42

*2:42 Lit. Aramaic word retained: "Sacrifice from the Right [of God]" or, the Holy Communion.

"And on Sunday, while we were gathered to break the Eucharist, Paul spoke with them, because on the following day he was destined to leave. And his speaking dragged until the middle of the night.--Acts 20:7, Peshitto Text

"For many years, I have brought to my people righteous offerings and the participation in holy Communion.--Acts 24:17

And let your behavior be beautiful before all humanity, so that those who speak evil against you shall see that your works are beautiful and that they glorify God on the Day of Transubstantiation.*--1 Peter 2:12

*2:12 Lit. Ar. id.: "The Eucharist," also: "Heirdom."

Common objections:

John 6: The argument is made that because Jesus spoke figuratively thoughout this chapter therefore when Christ was speaking of His Body and Blood he was speaking figuratively.

Though Christ does speak figuratively throughout this he says:

"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."- Gospel of St John 6:54

In Greek the word used for EAT is "trogo" literally meaning to "gnaw", "chew" etc.. This word was never used symbolically in the Greek language of this time. In fact because of this word it shows that either the write St John or Christ Himself wanted to emphasis and contrast that this is not a metaphor but it is literal. This prove further that Christ wanted to emphasis the real presence.

The New American Bible comments:

Eats: the verb used in these verses is not the classical Greek verb used of human eating, but that of animal eating: "munch," "gnaw." This may be part of John's emphasis on the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus (cf John 6:55), but the same verb eventually became the ordinary verb in Greek meaning "eat."

Most Fundamentalist authors claim that they can prove that Christ was speaking only metaphorically by comparing His words in St. John 6:35 (“I am the bread of life”) to verses such as St. John 10:9 (“I am the door”) andSt. John 15:1 (“I am the true vine”). The problem with such an argument, however, is that there is no connection between St. John 6:35 and these latter verses. Furthermore, St. John 10:9 and 15:1 make sense as metaphors while, as we shall see, St. John 6:35 does not. In addition, Our Lord Himself takes St. John 6:35 beyond symbolism by repeating four times the injunction “to eat my flesh and drink my blood” and saying “for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (v. 55). 

Another Protestant objection revolves around the claim that Christ’s phrase “to eat his flesh and drink his blood” was a figurative way of saying to believe and have faith in Him. There is some truth in the assertion that such a phrase had a figurative meaning. However, in the cultures of the Middle East it meant to calumniate, revile, attack speak of someone not present or insult someone unjustly . It is, therefore, nonsense to argue that Christ would have used this phrase in the popular figurative sense, for that would have been tantamount to Christ asking His followers to sin against Him in order to inherit eternal life! It should also be noted that the Greek word used for “eat” in St. John literally means “to gnaw.” This is not the language of figuration. (see Deut 28:53ff; 32:42; 2 Sam 23:17; Psalm 27:2; Isaiah 9:20; 49:26; Ezek 5:10ff; Bar 2:3; Micah 3:3; also Rev 17:6,16). (Go back to top of my page)

A final Protestant appeal is also made to St. John 6:63: “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” We are told that these words mean that the eating of flesh is of no spiritual value, and only faith can profit one unto eternal life. So, Christ could not have meant to eat His flesh in order to have life. The Catholic response is that Christ was, in reality, making an appeal to His listeners to trust Him on faith rather than try to rationalize His words in order to find their true meaning. In the previous verse (v. 62) Christ infers that His listeners would have had no difficulty accepting His words if they had seen Him in His original glory, that is, as the Son of God equal to the Father, for then His words would obviously be the words of God rather than the words of man––words of “spirit and life.”

To conclude, it is also necessary to examine the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapters 10 and 11. In these chapters he sternly chastises the Corinthians for their idolatry and their poor attitude towards reception of the Eucharist. His language is remarkably literal and blunt:

“I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ (10:1-4) … Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols … The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (10:14-17)… You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons (10:21-22)…”

In verses 1-4, St. Paul is regarding the manna, the water and the rock as types of things to come. This ties in with the words of Christ in St. John, outlined earlier, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die” (vv. 48-50). The early Christians saw the Eucharist as a fulfillment of the promised manna, but unlike those who ate the manna, he who eats the bread of the Eucharist will “live forever” (v. 51). The language of verses 14-17 again is the type that excludes all sense of the figurative or symbolic. St. Paul speaks directly of “participation in the blood and body of Christ.” St. Paul uses even more striking language in chapter 11: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (vv. 23-31).

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Church Fathers and the Eucharist:

Real Presence

Our sin will not be small if we eject from the episcopate those who blamelessly and holily have OFFERED ITS SACRIFICES [obeying Luke 22:19 and 1 Cor 11:24 command to "do this] [or offered the gifts, referring to the Eucharist.,or literally, “presented the offerings.”]. Pope St Clement of Rome (First Letter to Corinthians 44:4)

"They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer [Acts 2:42, John 6:52,60,66], because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ [John 6:54-55, Matt 26:26, etc.], which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes [John 6:54, similar to 1 Cor. 11:30] "--St Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to Smyrnaeans,7,1(c.A.D. 110),in ANF,I:89

"I have no taste for corruptible food [John 6:55] nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ [John 6:51-2], who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible"-St Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).

"For not as common bread and common drink [John 6:32-3,55; 1 Cor. 10:16]do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour,having been made flesh and blood for our salvation [John 1:14, 6:54] ,so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word,and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished [John 6:55 Pesh. text],is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. [John 1:14, 6:54] "
Justin Martyr,First Apology,66(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:185

"We call this food Eucharist [Acts 2:42 of Pesh. text; Matt 26:27 "gave thanks"], and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism, Titus 3:5]] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink [John 6:32-3,55; 1 Cor. 10:16] do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation [John 1:1,14; John 6:55, Matt 26:26] so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him [Matt 26:26-8; Luke 22:19-20, Mark 14:22-24;' 1Cor 11:23-5] , and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured [John 6:55 of Pesh. text], is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus"--St Justin Martyr (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).

"[T]he bread over which thanks have been given is the body of their Lord, and the cup His blood [Matt 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1Cor 11:24]..."--St Irenaeus of Lyons,Against Heresies,IV:18,4(c.A.D. 200),in ANF,I:486

"He acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as his own blood,from which he bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of creation) he affirmed to be his own body,from which he gives increase to our bodies."--St Irenaeus of Lyons,Against Heresies,V:2,2(c.A.D. 189),in NE,119

"But what consistency is there in those who hold that the bread over which thanks have been given is the Body of their Lord,and the cup His Blood,if they do not acknowledge that He is the Son of the Creator of the world..."---St Irenaeus of Lyons,Against Heresies,IV:18,2(c.A.D. 200),in JUR,I:95

"He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?" -- St Irenaeus of Lyons Against Heresies 4:33–32 [A.D. 189]).

"For the blood of the grape--that is, the Word--desired to be mixed with water, as His blood is mingled with salvation. And the blood of the Lord is twofold. For there is the blood of His flesh, by which we are redeemed from corruption; and the spiritual, that by which we are anointed. And to drink the blood of Jesus, is to become partaker of the Lord's immortality; [2 Peter 1:4] the Spirit being the energetic principle of the Word, as blood is of flesh. Accordingly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. And the one, the mixture of wine and water, nourishes to faith; while the other, the Spirit, conducts to immortality. And the mixture of both--of the water and of the Word--is called Eucharist, renowned and glorious grace; and they who by faith partake of it are sanctified both in body and soul."--St Clement of Alexandria,The Instructor,2(ante A.D. 202),in ANF,II:242

"’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children"--St Clement of Alexandria (The Instructor of Children 1:6:43:3 [A.D. 191]).

"Then, having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, 'This is my body,' that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. If, however, (as Marcion might say,) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us. It would contribute very well to the support of Marcion's theory of a phantom body, that bread should have been crucified! But why call His body bread, and not rather (some other edible thing, say) a melon, which Marcion must have had in lieu of a heart! He did not understand how ancient was this figure of the body of Christ, who said Himself by Jeremiah: 'I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter, and I knew not that they devised a device against me, saying, Let us cast the tree upon His bread,' which means, of course, the cross upon His body. And thus, casting light, as He always did, upon the ancient prophecies, He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed 'in His blood,' affirms the reality of His body. For no blood can belong to a body which is not a body of flesh. If any sort of body were presented to our view, which is not one of flesh, not being fleshly, it would not possess blood. Thus, from the evidence of the flesh, we get a proof of the body, and a proof of the flesh from the evidence of the blood. In order, however, that you may discover how anciently wine is used as a figure for blood, turn to Isaiah, who asks, 'Who is this that cometh from Edom, from Bosor with garments dyed in red, so glorious in His apparel, in the greatness of his might? Why are thy garments red, and thy raiment as his who cometh from the treading of the full winepress?' The prophetic Spirit contemplates the Lord as if He were already on His way to His passion, clad in His fleshly nature; and as He was to suffer therein, He represents the bleeding condition of His flesh under the metaphor of garments dyed in red, as if reddened in the treading and crushing process of the wine-press, from which the labourers descend reddened with the wine-juice, like men stained in blood. Much more clearly still does the book of Genesis foretell this, when (in the blessing of Judah, out of whose tribe Christ was to come according to the flesh) it even then delineated Christ in the person of that patriarch, saying, 'He washed His garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes'--in His garments and clothes the prophecy pointed out his flesh, and His blood in the wine. Thus did He now consecrate His blood in wine, who then (by the patriarch) used the figure of wine to describe His blood."
Tertullian,Against Marcion,40(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:418-419

"[T]here is not a soul that can at all procure salvation, except it believe whilst it is in the flesh, so true is it that the flesh is the very condition on which salvation hinges. And since the soul is, in consequence of its salvation, chosen to the service of God, it is the flesh which actually renders it capable of such service. The flesh, indeed, is washed [in baptism], in order that the soul may be cleansed . . . the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of hands [in confirmation], that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit; the flesh feeds [in the Eucharist] on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may be filled with God"--Tertullian (The Resurrection of the Dead 8 [A.D. 210]).

"FEEDS on the richness of the LORD'S BODY, that is, on the Eucharist" --Tertullian "De Orat." c. 6 [c.AD 205]

"‘And she [Wisdom] has furnished her table’ [Prov. 9:2] . . . refers to his [Christ’s] honored and undefiled body and blood, which day by day are administered and offered sacrificially at the spiritual divine table, as a memorial of that first and ever-memorable table of the spiritual divine supper [i.e.,
the Last Supper]"--St Hippolytus (Fragment from Commentary on Proverbs [A.D. 217]).

"Formerly there was baptism in an obscure way . . . now, however, in full view, there is regeneration in water and in the Holy Spirit. Formerly, in an obscure way, there was manna for food; now, however, in full view, there is the true food, the flesh of the Word of God, as he himself says: ‘My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink’ [John 6:55]"--Origen (Homilies on Numbers 7:2 [A.D. 248]).

"For because Christ bore us all, in that He also bore our sins, we see that in the water is understood the people, but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ. But when the water is mingled in the cup with wine, the people is made one with Christ, and the assembly of believers is associated and conjoined with Him on whom it believes; which association and conjunction of water and wine is so mingled in the Lord's cup, that that mixture cannot any more be separated. Whence, moreover, nothing can separate the Church--that is, the people established in the Church, faithfully and firmly persevering in that which they have believed--from Christ, in such a way as to prevent their undivided love from always abiding and adhering. Thus, therefore, in consecrating the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, even as wine alone cannot be offered. For if any one offer wine only, the blood of Christ is dissociated from us; but if the water be alone, the people are dissociated from Christ; but when both are mingled, and are joined with one another by a close union, there is completed a spiritual and heavenly sacrament. Thus the cup of the Lord is not indeed water alone, nor wine alone, unless each be mingled with the other; just as, on the other hand, the body of the Lord cannot be flour alone or water alone, unless both should be united and joined together and compacted in the mass of one bread; in which very sacrament our people are shown to be made one, so that in like manner as many grains, collected, and ground, and mixed together into one mass, make one bread; so in Christ, who is the heavenly bread, we may know that there is one body, with which our number is joined and united."--St Cyprian,To Caeilius,Epistle 62(63):13(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:362

"He [Paul] threatens, moreover, the stubborn and forward, and denounces them, saying, ‘Whosoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. All these warnings being scorned and contemned—[lapsed Christians will often take Communion] before their sin is expiated, before confession has been made of their crime, before their conscience has been purged by sacrifice and by the hand of the priest, before the offense of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, [and so] violence is done to his body and blood; and they sin now against their Lord more with their hand and mouth than when they denied their Lord"--St Cyprian (The Lapsed 15–16 [A.D. 251]).

"It has come to the knowledge of the holy and great synod that, in some districts and cities, the deacons administer the Eucharist to the presbyters [i.e., priests], whereas neither canon nor custom permits that they who have no right to offer [the Eucharistic sacrifice] should give the Body of Christ to them that do offer [it]"-- Council of Nicea Canon 18 [A.D. 325].

"After having spoken thus [at the Last Supper], the Lord rose up from the place where he had made the Passover and had given his body as food and his blood as drink, and he went with his disciples to the place where he was to be arrested. But he ate of his own body and drank of his own blood, while he was pondering on the dead. With his own hands the Lord presented his own body to be eaten, and before he was crucified he gave his blood as drink"--St Aphraates the Persian Sage (Treatises 12:6 [A.D. 340]).

"Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that; for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by the faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the body and blood of Christ. . . . [Since you are] fully convinced that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so, . . . partake of that bread as something spiritual, and put a cheerful face on your soul" --St Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures 22:6, 9

"Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man's heart, to make his face to shine with oil, 'strengthen thou thine heart,' by partaking thereof as spiritual, and "make the face of thy soul to shine." "--St Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXII:8(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:352

"The bread and the wine of the Eucharist before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity were simple bread and wine, but the invocation having been made, the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ"--St Cyril (Catechetical Lectures 19:7 [A.D. 350])

"The words in which we speak of the things of God must be used in no mere human and worldly sense, nor must the perverseness of an alien and impious interpretation be extorted from the soundness of heavenly words by any violent and headstrong preaching. Let us read what is written, let us understand what we read, and then fulfil the demands of a perfect faith. For as to what we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us, unless we have been taught by Him, our words are foolish and impious. For He says Himself, My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me, and I in him. As to the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For now both from the declaration of the Lord Himself and our own faith, it is verily flesh and verily blood. And these when eaten and drunk, bring it to pass that both we are in Christ and Christ in us. Is not this true? Yet they who affirm that Christ Jesus is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He therefore Himself is in us through the flesh and we in Him, whilst together with Him our own selves are in God."--Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,8:14(inter A.D. 356-359),in NPNF2,IX:141

" Let us then in everything believe God, and gainsay Him in nothing, though what is said seem to be contrary to our thoughts and senses, but let His word be of higher authority than both reasonings and sight. Thus let us do in the mysteries also, not looking at the things set before us, but keeping in mind His sayings. For His word cannot deceive, but our senses are easily beguiled. That hath never failed, but this in most things goeth wrong. Since then the word saith, 'This is my body,' let us both be persuaded and believe, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. For Christ hath given nothing sensible, but though in things sensible yet all to be perceived by the mind. So also in baptism, the gift is bestowed by a sensible thing, that is, by water; but that which is done is perceived by the mind, the birth, I mean, and the renewal. For if thou hadst been incorporeal, He would have delivered thee the incorporeal gifts bare; but because the soul hath been locked up in a body, He delivers thee the things that the mind perceives, in things sensible. How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within thee."--St John Chrysostom,Gospel of Matthew,Homily 82(A.D. 370),in NPNF1,X:495

"It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, 'He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.' And who doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold life. I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord's day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint. It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves. All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home. And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he lilies. For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver. And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand. It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time."--St Basil,To Patrician Caesaria,Epistle 93(A.D. 372),in NPNF2,VIII:179

"You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made,it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wonderous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ....When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body."--St Athanasius,Sermon to the Newly Baptized,PG 26,1325(ante A.D. 373),in ECD,442

"If the subsistence of every body depends on nourishment, and this is eating and drinking, and in the case of our eating there is bread and in the case of our drinking water sweetened with wine, and if, as was explained at the beginning, the Word of God, Who is both God and the Word, coalesced with man's nature, and when He came in a body such as ours did not innovate on man's physical constitution so as to make it other than it was, but secured continuance for His own body by the customary and proper means, and controlled its subsistence by meat and drink, the former of which was bread,--just, then, as in the case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also, in a kind of way, looks on a human body, for by the bread being within it the bread becomes it, so also, in that other case, the body into which God entered, by partaking of the nourishment of bread, was, in a certain measure, the same with it; that nourishment, as we have said, changing itself into the nature of the body. For that which is peculiar to all flesh is acknowledged also in the case of that flesh, namely, that that Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to the dignity of Godhead. Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as says the Apostle, 'is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer'; not that it advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, 'This is My Body.' Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by what is moist(for without this combination our earthly part would not continue to live), just as we support by food which is firm and solid the solid part of our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the kindred element; and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed to blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of being transmuted into heat. Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its substance and support of this particular nourishment also, and since the God who was manifested infused Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose, viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might at the same time be deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace, He disseminates Himself in every believer through that flesh, whose substance comes from bread and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, to secure that, by this union with the immortal, man, too, may be a sharer in incorruption. He gives these gifts by virtue of the benediction through which He transelements the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing."--St Gregory of Nyssa,The Great Catechism,37(post A.D. 383),in NPNF2,V:505-506

" Perhaps you will say, 'I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?' And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed...The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: 'This is My Body.' Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks."--St Ambrose,On the Mysteries,9:50(A.D. 390-391),in NPNF2,X:324-325

" 'And was carried in His Own Hands:' how 'carried in His Own Hands'? Because when He commended His Own Body and Blood, He took into His Hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried Himself, when He said, 'This is My Body.' "
Augustine,On the Psalms,33:1,10(A.D. 392-418),in NPNF1,VIII:73

"Dearly-beloved, utter this confession with all your heart and reject the wicked lies of heretics, that your fasting and almsgiving may not be polluted by any contagion with error: for then is our offering of the sacrifice clean and oar gifts of mercy holy, when those who perform them understand that which they do. For when the Lord says, "unless ye have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and drunk His blood, ye will not have life in you,' you ought so to be partakers at the Holy Table, as to have no doubt whatever concerning the reality of Christ's Body and Blood. For that is taken in the mouth which is believed in Faith, and it is vain for them to respond Amend who dispute that which is taken."
Pope Leo the Great,Sermon, 91:3(ante A.D. 461),NPNF2,XII:202

"The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God's body and blood. But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out. But one can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine and the water by the drinking are changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one and the same. Wherefore to those who partake worthily with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life everlasting and for the safeguarding of soul and body; but to those who partake unworthily without faith, it is for chastisement and punishment, just as also the death of the Lord became to those who believe life and incorruption for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, while to those who do not believe and to the murderers of the Lord it is for everlasting chastisement and punishment. The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, 'This is My body,' not, this is a figure of My body: and 'My blood,' not, a figure of My blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed. And again, He that eateth Me, shall live."
John of Damascus,Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,4:13(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:83

Transubstaniation

"For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour,having been made flesh and blood for our salvation,so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word,and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished,is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."
Justin Martyr,First Apology,66(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:185

"He acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as his own blood,from which he bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of creation) he affirmed to be his own body,from which he gives increase to our bodies."
Irenaeus,Against Heresies,V:2,2(c.A.D. 200),in NE,119

"Then, having taken the bread and given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by saying, 'This is my body,' that is, the figure of my body. A figure, however, there could not have been, unless there were first a veritable body. An empty thing, or phantom, is incapable of a figure. If, however, (as Marcion might say,) He pretended the bread was His body, because He lacked the truth of bodily substance, it follows that He must have given bread for us. It would contribute very well to the support of Marcion's theory of a phantom body, that bread should have been crucified! But why call His body bread, and not rather (some other edible thing, say) a melon, which Marcion must have had in lieu of a heart! He did not understand how ancient was this figure of the body of Christ, who said Himself by Jeremiah: 'I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter, and I knew not that they devised a device against me, saying, Let us cast the tree upon His bread,' which means, of course, the cross upon His body. And thus, casting light, as He always did, upon the ancient prophecies, He declared plainly enough what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His own body. He likewise, when mentioning the cup and making the new testament to be sealed 'in His blood,' affirms the reality of His body. For no blood can belong to a body which is not a body of flesh. If any sort of body were presented to our view, which is not one of flesh, not being fleshly, it would not possess blood. Thus, from the evidence of the flesh, we get a proof of the body, and a proof of the flesh from the evidence of the blood. In order, however, that you may discover how anciently wine is used as a figure for blood, turn to Isaiah, who asks, 'Who is this that cometh from Edom, from Bosor with garments dyed in red, so glorious in His apparel, in the greatness of his might? Why are thy garments red, and thy raiment as his who cometh from the treading of the full winepress?' The prophetic Spirit contemplates the Lord as if He were already on His way to His passion, clad in His fleshly nature; and as He was to suffer therein, He represents the bleeding condition of His flesh under the metaphor of garments dyed in red, as if reddened in the treading and crushing process of the wine-press, from which the labourers descend reddened with the wine-juice, like men stained in blood. Much more clearly still does the book of Genesis foretell this, when (in the blessing of Judah, out of whose tribe Christ was to come according to the flesh) it even then delineated Christ in the person of that patriarch, saying, 'He washed His garments in wine, and His clothes in the blood of grapes'--in His garments and clothes the prophecy pointed out his flesh, and His blood in the wine. Thus did He now consecrate His blood in wine, who then (by the patriarch) used the figure of wine to describe His blood."
Tertullian,Against Marcion,40(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:418-419

"He once in Cana of Galilee, turned the water into wine, akin to blood, and is it incredible that He should have turned wine into blood?"
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXII:4(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:152

"Having learn these things, and been fully assured that the seeming bread is not bread, though sensible to taste, but the Body of Christ; and that the seeming wine is not wine, though the taste will have it so, but the Blood of Christ; and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man's heart, to make his face to shine with oil, 'strengthen thou thine heart,' by partaking thereof as spiritual, and "make the face of thy soul to shine." "
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXII:8(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:152

"Then having sanctified ourselves by these spiritual Hymns, we beseech the merciful God to send forth His Holy Spirit upon the gifts lying before Him; that He may make the Bread the Body of Christ, and the Wine the Blood of Christ; for whatsoever the Holy Ghost has touched, is surely sanctified and changed."
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,XXIII:7(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:154

"Let us then in everything believe God, and gainsay Him in nothing, though what is said seem to be contrary to our thoughts and senses, but let His word be of higher authority than both reasonings and sight. Thus let us do in the mysteries also, not looking at the things set before us, but keeping in mind His sayings. For His word cannot deceive, but our senses are easily beguiled. That hath never failed, but this in most things goeth wrong. Since then the word saith, 'This is my body,' let us both be persuaded and believe, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. For Christ hath given nothing sensible, but though in things sensible yet all to be perceived by the mind. So also in baptism, the gift is bestowed by a sensible thing, that is, by water; but that which is done is perceived by the mind, the birth, I mean, and the renewal. For if thou hadst been incorporeal, He would have delivered thee the incorporeal gifts bare; but because the soul hath been locked up in a body, He delivers thee the things that the mind perceives, in things sensible. How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His clothes, His shoes. Lo! thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed desirest to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch and eat and receive within thee."
John Chrysostom,Gospel of Matthew,Homily 82(A.D. 370),in NPNF1,X:495

"You will see the Levites bringing the loaves and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. So long as the prayers and invocations have not yet been made,it is mere bread and a mere cup. But when the great and wonderous prayers have been recited, then the bread becomes the body and the cup the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ....When the great prayers and holy supplications are sent up, the Word descends on the bread and the cup, and it becomes His body."
Athanasius,Sermon to the Newly Baptized,PG 26,1325(ante A.D. 373),in ECD,442

"If the subsistence of every body depends on nourishment, and this is eating and drinking, and in the case of our eating there is bread and in the case of our drinking water sweetened with wine, and if, as was explained at the beginning, the Word of God, Who is both God and the Word, coalesced with man's nature, and when He came in a body such as ours did not innovate on man's physical constitution so as to make it other than it was, but secured continuance for His own body by the customary and proper means, and controlled its subsistence by meat and drink, the former of which was bread,--just, then, as in the case of ourselves, as has been repeatedly said already, if a person sees bread he also, in a kind of way, looks on a human body, for by the bread being within it the bread becomes it, so also, in that other case, the body into which God entered, by partaking of the nourishment of bread, was, in a certain measure, the same with it; that nourishment, as we have said, changing itself into the nature of the body. For that which is peculiar to all flesh is acknowledged also in the case of that flesh, namely, that that Body too was maintained by bread; which Body also by the indwelling of God the Word was transmuted to the dignity of Godhead. Rightly, then, do we believe that now also the bread which is consecrated by the Word of God is changed into the Body of God the Word. For that Body was once, by implication, bread, but has been consecrated by the inhabitation of the Word that tabernacled in the flesh. Therefore, from the same cause as that by which the bread that was transformed in that Body was changed to a Divine potency, a similar result takes place now. For as in that case, too, the grace of the Word used to make holy the Body, the substance of which came of the bread, and in a manner was itself bread, so also in this case the bread, as says the Apostle, 'is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer'; not that it advances by the process of eating to the stage of passing into the body of the Word, but it is at once changed into the body by means of the Word, as the Word itself said, 'This is My Body.' Seeing, too, that all flesh is nourished by what is moist(for without this combination our earthly part would not continue to live), just as we support by food which is firm and solid the solid part of our body, in like manner we supplement the moist part from the kindred element; and this, when within us, by its faculty of being transmitted, is changed to blood, and especially if through the wine it receives the faculty of being transmuted into heat. Since, then, that God-containing flesh partook for its substance and support of this particular nourishment also, and since the God who was manifested infused Himself into perishable humanity for this purpose, viz. that by this communion with Deity mankind might at the same time be deified, for this end it is that, by dispensation of His grace, He disseminates Himself in every believer through that flesh, whose substance comes from bread and wine, blending Himself with the bodies of believers, to secure that, by this union with the immortal, man, too, may be a sharer in incorruption. He gives these gifts by virtue of the benediction through which He transelements the natural quality of these visible things to that immortal thing."
Gregory of Nyssa,The Great Catechism,37(post A.D. 383),in NPNF2,V:505-506

"Then He added: 'For My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink [indeed].' Thou hearest Him speak of His Flesh and of His Blood, thou perceivest the sacred pledges, [conveying to us the merits and power] of the Lord's death, and thou dishonourest His Godhead. Hear His own words: 'A spirit hath not flesh and bones.' Now we, as often as we receive the Sacramental Elements, which by the mysterous efficacy of holy prayer are transformed into the Flesh and the Blood, "do show the Lord's Death.'"
Ambrose,On the Christian Faith,4,10:125(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,X:278

"Perhaps you will say, 'I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?' And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed...The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: 'This is My Body.' Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks."
Ambrose,On the Mysteries,9:50(A.D. 390-391),in NPNF2,X:324-325

" 'And was carried in His Own Hands:' how 'carried in His Own Hands'? Because when He commended His Own Body and Blood, He took into His Hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried Himself, when He said, 'This is My Body.' "
Augustine,On the Psalms,33:1,10(A.D. 392-418),in NPNF1,VIII:73

"He did not say,'This is the symbol of My Body, and this, of My Blood,' but, what is set before us, but that it is transformed by means of the Eucharistic action into Flesh and Blood."
Theodore of Mopsuestia,Commentary on Matthew 26:26(ante A.D. 428),in JUR,II:81

"Eran.--You have opportunely introduced the subject of the divine mysteries for from it I shall be able to show you the change of the Lord's body into another nature. Answer now to my questions.
Orth.--I will answer.
Eran.--What do you call the gift which is offered before the priestly invocation?
Orth.--It were wrong to say openly; perhaps some uninitiated are present.
Eran.--Let your answer be put enigmatically.
Orth.--Food of grain of such a sort.
Eran.--And how name we the other symbol?
Orth.--This name too is common, signifying species of drink.
Eran.--And after the consecration how do you name these?
Orth.--Christ's body and Christ's blood.
Eran.--And do yon believe that you partake of Christ's body and blood?
Orth.--I do."
Theodoret of Cyrus,Eranistes,2(A.D. 451),in NPNF1,III:200

"Dearly-beloved, utter this confession with all your heart and reject the wicked lies of heretics, that your fasting and almsgiving may not be polluted by any contagion with error: for then is our offering of the sacrifice clean and oar gifts of mercy holy, when those who perform them understand that which they do. For when the Lord says, "unless ye have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and drunk His blood, ye will not have life in you,' you ought so to be partakers at the Holy Table, as to have no doubt whatever concerning the reality of Christ's Body and Blood. For that is taken in the mouth which is believed in Faith, and it is vain for them to respond Amend who dispute that which is taken."
Pope Leo the Great,Sermon, 91:3(ante A.D. 461),NPNF2,XII:202

"The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God's body and blood. But if you enquire how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out. But one can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine and the water by the drinking are changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one and the same. Wherefore to those who partake worthily with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life everlasting and for the safeguarding of soul and body; but to those who partake unworthily without faith, it is for chastisement and punishment, just as also the death of the Lord became to those who believe life and incorruption for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, while to those who do not believe and to the murderers of the Lord it is for everlasting chastisement and punishment. The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, 'This is My body,' not, this is a figure of My body: and 'My blood,' not, a figure of My blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed. And again, He that eateth Me, shall live."
John of Damascus,Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,4:13(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:83