John Chrysostom on the Lord's Supper
Truly the body and blood, with no account of the mode
For what he says is this: 'This which is in the cup is that which flowed from His side, and of that do we partake.'... For what is the bread? The Body of Christ.
THE POSITION
As realist as patristic language gets, and the cell records that rather than softening it. On 1 Corinthians 10:16 he glosses Paul's "communion of the Blood of Christ" as "This which is in the cup is that which flowed from His side, and of that do we partake," then asks and answers his own question: "For what is the bread? The Body of Christ." What lies on the altar is "not seen only, but also touched; and not only touched, but likewise eaten." He calls it a sacrifice in so many words — instead of the slaughter of irrational creatures, Christ commands "to offer up Himself." He never asks what happens to the bread, and never answers it.
16 Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.
2 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Archbishop of Constantinople and the most prolific preacher of the patristic era — the largest surviving body of Greek expository preaching is his. This entry rests on the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translations of his homilies on Romans, 1 Corinthians, John, Hebrews and 2 Thessalonians, together with the Instructions to Catechumens.
Cite this page
"John Chrysostom on the Lord's Supper", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/chrysostom/lords-supper (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/chrysostom/lords-supper).