Church Fathers Commentary Mark 14:22-25

"And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Verily I say unto you, I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." — Mark 14:22-25 (ASV)

The Venerable Bede: When the rites of the old Passover were finished, He passed to the new, in order to substitute the Sacrament of His own Body and Blood for the flesh and blood of the lamb. Therefore, the text continues: And as they did eat, Jesus took bread. This was to show that He Himself is the one to whom the Lord swore, You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).

The text continues: And blessed, and broke it.

Theophylact of Ohrid: That is, giving thanks, He broke it, which we also do, with the addition of some prayers.

The Venerable Bede: He Himself breaks the bread that He gives to His disciples to show that the breaking of His Body was to take place, not against His will, nor without His involvement.

He also blessed it, because He, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, filled His human nature—which He took upon Himself in order to suffer—with the grace of divine power. He blessed the bread and broke it because He humbled Himself to subject His human nature to death. He did this to show that within it was the power of divine immortality, and to teach them that He would therefore raise it all the more quickly from the dead.

The text continues: And gave to them, and said, "Take, eat: This is My Body."

Theophylact of Ohrid: He means that which I now give and which you take. But the bread is not a mere figure of the Body of Christ; it is changed into the very Body of Christ, for the Lord said, The bread which I give you is My Flesh.

However, the Flesh of Christ is veiled from our eyes because of our weakness. Bread and wine are things to which we are accustomed; if we saw actual flesh and blood, we could not bear to partake of them. For this reason, the Lord, condescending to our weakness, keeps the forms of bread and wine but changes them into the reality of His Body and Blood.

St. John Chrysostom: Even now, Christ is close to us. The One who prepared that table also consecrates it Himself. For it is not a man who makes the offerings become the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ Himself, who was crucified for us.

The words are spoken by the mouth of the priest but are consecrated by the power and grace of God. By this word which He spoke, This is My Body, the offerings are consecrated. Just as the command, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28), was given only once, yet has its effect throughout all time as nature accomplishes the work of generation, so also that voice was spoken once, yet it confirms the Sacrifice on all the tables of the Church, even to this day and until His advent.

Pseudo-Jerome: In a mystical sense, the Lord transfigures His Body—which is the present Church—into bread. This Body is received in faith, blessed in its numbers, broken in its sufferings, given in its examples, and taken in its doctrines. He also forms His Blood in the chalice of mingled water and wine, so that by the water we may be purged from our sins, and by the wine redeemed from their punishment.

For by the blood of the lamb our houses are preserved from the striking of the Angel, and our enemies perish in the waters of the Red Sea, which are the Sacraments of the Church of Christ.

Therefore, the text continues: And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them. For we are saved by the grace of the Lord, not by our own merits.

St. Gregory the Great: As His Passion was approaching, He is said to have taken bread and given thanks. He gave thanks even as He took upon Himself the stripes for other people's wickedness. He who did nothing worthy of being struck humbly gives a blessing in His Passion. He does this to show us what each of us should do when beaten for our own sins, since He Himself calmly bore the stripes due to the sins of others.

Furthermore, it shows us what we, who are subjects of the Father, should do when under correction, since He, who is the Father's equal, gave thanks while under the lash. ¹

The Venerable Bede: The wine of the Lord's cup is mixed with water because we must remain in Christ and Christ in us. For according to the testimony of John, the waters are the people (Revelation 17:15). It is not lawful for anyone to offer either wine alone or water alone. Such an offering would wrongly imply that the head could be severed from the members, suggesting either that Christ could suffer without love for our redemption, or that we could be saved and offered to the Father without His Passion.

The text continues: And they all drank of it.

Pseudo-Jerome: Happy intoxication, saving fullness, which the more we drink gives the greater sobriety of mind!

Theophylact of Ohrid: Some say that Judas did not partake of these Mysteries, but that he went out before the Lord gave the Sacrament. Others say that the Lord also gave the Sacrament to him.

St. John Chrysostom: For Christ offered His Blood even to the one who betrayed Him, so that he might have received remission for his sins, if only he had chosen to turn from his wickedness.

Pseudo-Jerome: Judas therefore drinks and is not satisfied, nor can he quench the thirst of the everlasting fire, because he partakes unworthily of the Mysteries of Christ. There are some in the Church whom the Sacrifice does not cleanse; instead, their foolish thoughts draw them on to sin, for they have plunged themselves into the stinking slough of cruelty.

St. John Chrysostom: Therefore, let there be no Judas at the table of the Lord. This Sacrifice is spiritual food. Just as bodily food is harmful when it works on an unhealthy stomach that is ill-disposed to it, so also this spiritual food, if taken by one polluted with wickedness, brings him to perdition—not by its own nature, but through the fault of the recipient. Therefore, let our minds and our thoughts be pure in all things, for that Sacrifice is pure.

The text continues: And He said to them, "This is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many."

The Venerable Bede: This refers to the different circumstances of the Old Testament, which was consecrated by the blood of calves and goats. The lawgiver, when sprinkling it, said, This is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined upon you (Hebrews 9:19-20; Exodus 24:8).

The text continues: Which is shed for many.

Pseudo-Jerome: For it does not cleanse all.

The text continues: Truly I say to you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Theophylact of Ohrid: It is as if He had said, "I will not drink wine until the Resurrection," for He calls His Resurrection "the kingdom," as He then reigned over death. After His Resurrection, He ate and drank with His disciples, showing that it was He Himself who had suffered. But He drank it "new"—that is, in a new and strange manner, for He did not have a body subject to suffering and requiring food, but one that was immortal and incorruptible.

We may also understand it in this way: The vine is the Lord Himself. The "fruit of the vine" signifies mysteries and the secret understanding that He Himself brings forth, as the one who teaches humanity knowledge. In the kingdom of God, that is, in the world to come, He will drink mysteries and knowledge with His disciples, teaching us new things and revealing what He now hides.

The Venerable Bede: Alternatively, Isaiah testifies that the synagogue is called the vine or the vineyard of the Lord, saying, The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7). Therefore, as the Lord was about to go to His Passion, He says, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine. It is as if He were saying openly, "I will no longer delight in the carnal rites of the synagogue, in which the rites of the Paschal Lamb have held the chief place."

For the time of My Resurrection will come. On that day, in the kingdom of Heaven—that is, raised on high with the glory of immortal life—I will be filled with a new joy, together with you, for the salvation of the same people, now born again from the fountain of spiritual grace.

Pseudo-Jerome: We must consider that here the Lord changes the sacrifice without changing the time, so that we never celebrate the Caena Domini before the fourteenth day of the moon. Anyone who celebrates the Resurrection on the fourteenth day of the moon would be celebrating the Caena Domini on the eleventh, which was never done in either the Old or New Testament.

1. Mor. ii, 37