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for men to be washed with water and anointed with oil, He joined the grace of the Spirit to the oil and the water and made it a font of regeneration, so, since it is the custom for men to eat bread and drink water and wine, He joined His divinity to them and has made them His body and blood, so that through what is customary and according to nature we might come to be in what is above nature. It is truly a body united with divinity, the body from the holy Virgin, not that the very body that was taken up descends from heaven, but that the bread itself and the wine are changed into the body and blood of God. But if you seek the manner, how it happens, it is enough for you to hear that it is through the Holy Spirit, just as also from the holy Theotokos through the Holy Spirit the Lord constituted flesh for Himself and in Himself; and we know nothing more, except that the word of God is true and effective and all-powerful, but the manner is unsearchable. But it is not amiss to say this as well, that just as naturally through eating, the bread, and the wine and water through drinking, are changed into the body and blood of the one eating and drinking, and do not become a different body from his former body, so the bread of the prothesis and the wine and water through the invocation and coming of the Holy Spirit are supernaturally changed into the body and blood of Christ, and they are not two, but one and the same. Therefore, it becomes for those who partake worthily with faith, for the remission of sins and for eternal life and for the protection of both soul and body, but for those who partake unworthily in unbelief, for chastisement and punishment, just as the death of the Lord became life and incorruption for those who believe, for the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, but for the disobedient and the deicides, for chastisement and eternal punishment. The bread and the wine are not a type of the body and blood of Christ—may it not be so—, but the very deified body of the Lord, as the Lord himself said: "This is My," not a type of the body but "body," and not a type of the blood but "blood," and before this to the Jews, that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, you have no eternal life. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink," and again: "He who eats Me will live." Therefore, let us approach with all fear and a pure conscience and unwavering faith, and it will be for us in every way, as we believe without doubting. Let us honor it with all purity, both of soul and of body; for it is twofold. Let us approach it with burning desire and, having formed our palms in the shape of a cross, let us receive the body of the Crucified One, and placing it to our eyes and lips and foreheads, let us partake of the divine coal, so that the fire of our longing, taking on the heat from the coal, may burn up our sins and enlighten our hearts, and by participation in the divine fire we may be set on fire and deified. Isaiah saw a coal; but a coal is not simple wood, but wood united with fire; so also the bread of communion is not simple bread, but united with divinity; but a body united with divinity is not one nature, but one is of the body, and another of the divinity united to it; so that the combination of both is not one nature, but two. With bread and wine Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God, received Abraham returning from the slaughter of the foreigners; that table prefigured this mystical table, in the way that that priest was a type and image of Christ, the true high priest; for it says, "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek." The loaves of the proposition prefigured this bread. For this is the pure and bloodless sacrifice, which the Lord said through the prophet is offered to Him from the rising of the sun to its setting. It is the body and blood of Christ, passing into the constitution of our soul and body, not being consumed, not being corrupted, not passing into the privy—may it not be so—, but into our essence and preservation, a defense against all manner of harm, a cleanser of all filth—if one receives gold

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ἀνθρώποις ὕδατι λούεσθαι καὶ ἐλαίῳ χρίεσθαι, συνέζευξε τῷ ἐλαίῳ καὶ ὕδατι τὴν χάριν τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ λουτρὸν ἀναγεννήσεως, οὕτως, ἐπειδὴ ἔθος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἄρτον ἐσθίειν ὕδωρ τε καὶ οἶνον πίνειν, συνέζευξεν αὐτοῖς τὴν αὐτοῦ θεότητα καὶ πεποίηκεν αὐτὰ σῶμα καὶ αἷμα αὐτοῦ, ἵνα διὰ τῶν συνήθων καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ φύσιν γενώμεθα. Σῶμά ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ἡνωμένον θεότητι, τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου σῶμα, οὐχ ὅτι αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἀναληφθὲν ἐξ οὐρανῶν κατέρχεται, ἀλλ' ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ ἄρτος καὶ ὁ οἶνος μεταποιεῖται εἰς σῶμα καὶ αἷμα θεοῦ. Εἰ δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἐπιζητεῖς, πῶς γίνεται, ἀρκεῖ σοι ἀκοῦσαι, ὅτι διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου ἑαυτῷ καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὁ κύριος σάρκα ὑπεστήσατο· καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν γινώσκομεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ ἀληθὴς καὶ ἐνεργής ἐστι καὶ παντοδύναμος, ὁ δὲ τρόπος ἀνεξερεύνητος. Οὐ χεῖρον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν, ὅτι, ὥσπερ φυσικῶς διὰ τῆς βρώσεως ὁ ἄρτος καὶ ὁ οἶνος καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ διὰ τῆς πόσεως εἰς σῶμα καὶ αἷμα τοῦ ἐσθίοντος καὶ πίνοντος μεταβάλλεται καὶ οὐ γίνεται ἕτερον σῶμα παρὰ τὸ πρότερον αὐτοῦ σῶμα, οὕτως ὁ τῆς προθέσεως ἄρτος οἶνός τε καὶ ὕδωρ διὰ τῆς ἐπικλήσεως καὶ ἐπιφοιτήσεως τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ὑπερφυῶς μεταποιεῖται εἰς τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ αἷμα, καὶ οὔκ εἰσι δύο, ἀλλ' ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτό. Γίνεται τοίνυν τοῖς πίστει ἀξίως μεταλαμβάνουσιν εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ εἰς φυλακτήριον ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος, τοῖς δὲ ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ ἀναξίως μετέχουσιν εἰς κόλασιν καὶ τιμωρίαν, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ τοῦ κυρίου θάνατος τοῖς μὲν πιστεύουσι γέγονε ζωὴ καὶ ἀφθαρσία εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς αἰωνίου μακαριότητος, τοῖς δὲ ἀπειθοῦσι καὶ τοῖς κυριοκτόνοις εἰς κόλασιν καὶ τιμωρίαν αἰώνιον. Οὐκ ἔστι τύπος ὁ ἄρτος καὶ ὁ οἶνος τοῦ σώματος καὶ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ- μὴ γένοιτο-, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ κυρίου τεθεωμένον, αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου εἰπόντος· «Τοῦτό μού ἐστι» οὐ τύπος τοῦ σώματος ἀλλὰ «τὸ σῶμα», καὶ οὐ τύπος τοῦ αἵματος ἀλλὰ «τὸ αἷμα», καὶ πρὸ τούτου τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὅτι, «εἰ μὴ φάγητε τὴν σάρκα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οὐκ ἔχετε ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Ἡ γὰρ σάρξ μου ἀληθής ἐστι βρῶσις, καὶ τὸ αἷμά μου ἀληθής ἐστι πόσις», καὶ πάλιν· «Ὁ τρώγων με ζήσεται». ∆ιὸ μετὰ παντὸς φόβου καὶ συνειδήσεως καθαρᾶς καὶ ἀδιστάκτου πίστεως προσέλθωμεν, καὶ πάντως ἔσται ἡμῖν, καθὼς πιστεύομεν μὴ διστάζοντες. Τιμήσωμεν δὲ αὐτὸ πάσῃ καθαρότητι, ψυχικῇ τε καὶ σωματικῇ· διπλοῦν γάρ ἐστι. Προσέλθωμεν αὐτῷ πόθῳ διακαεῖ καὶ σταυροειδῶς τὰς παλάμας τυπώσαντες τοῦ ἐσταυρωμένου τὸ σῶμα ὑποδεξώμεθα καὶ ἐπιθέντες ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ χείλη καὶ μέτωπα τοῦ θείου ἄνθρακος μεταλάβωμεν, ἵνα τὸ πῦρ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν πόθου προσλαβὸν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἄνθρακος πύρωσιν καταφλέξῃ ἡμῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ φωτίσῃ ἡμῶν τὰς καρδίας καὶ τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ θείου πυρὸς πυρωθῶμεν καὶ θεωθῶμεν. Ἄνθρακα εἶδεν Ἡσαΐας· ἄνθραξ δὲ ξύλον λιτὸν οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἡνωμένον πυρί· οὕτως καὶ ὁ ἄρτος τῆς κοινωνίας οὐκ ἄρτος λιτός ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἡνωμένος θεότητι· σῶμα δὲ ἡνωμένον θεότητι οὐ μία φύσις ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ μία μὲν τοῦ σώματος, τῆς δὲ ἡνωμένης αὐτῷ θεότητος ἑτέρα· ὥστε τὸ συναμφότερον οὐ μία φύσις, ἀλλὰ δύο. Ἄρτῳ καὶ οἴνῳ ἐδεξιοῦτο Μελχισεδὲκ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀλλοφύλων κοπῆς ὑποστρέφοντα, ὁ ἱερεὺς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου· ἐκείνη ἡ τράπεζα ταύτην τὴν μυστικὴν προεικόνιζε τράπεζαν, ὃν τρόπον ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἱερεὺς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ἀρχιερέως Χριστοῦ τύπος ἦν καὶ εἰκόνισμα· «Σὺ» γάρ, φησίν, «ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ». Τοῦτον τὸν ἄρτον οἱ ἄρτοι εἰκόνιζον τῆς προθέσεως. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ καθαρὰ θυσία, δηλαδὴ καὶ ἀναίμακτος, ἣν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου μέχρι δυσμῶν αὐτῷ προσφέρεσθαι διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὁ κύριος ἔφησε. Σῶμά ἐστι καὶ αἷμα Χριστοῦ εἰς σύστασιν τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς τε καὶ σώματος χωροῦν, οὐ δαπανώμενον, οὐ φθειρόμενον, οὐκ εἰς ἀφεδρῶνα χωροῦν-μὴ γένοιτο-, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν ἡμῶν οὐσίαν τε καὶ συντήρησιν, βλάβης παντοδαποῦς ἀμυντήριον, ῥύπου παντὸς καθαρτήριον-ἂν μὲν χρυσὸν λάβῃ