An email yesterday with an interesting query, asking for the source of a quotation from Cyril of Alexandria (found here and many other places):
Just as by melting two candles together you get one piece of wax, so, I think, one who receives the Flesh and Blood of Jesus is fused together with Him by this Communion, and the soul finds that he is in Christ and Christ is in him.
Our friend has done quite a search and turned up a version in a little treatise from 1534:
Germain Gardiner (later beatified), “The Letter of a Yonge Gentylman…” (London: W. Rastell), verso of f. xxxiii to verso of f. xxxiiii. The candles-and-wax part appears on the recto of f. xxxiiii. See a scan here, on the Internet Archive.
He says, “Wherfore it muste be consydered, that Chryst is in us not onely habitually by cheryte, but also by naturall partycypacyon. For lyke wyse as yf a man take wex that is molten with fyre, & with other wex [that] is in lyke maner molten, so myngle it that bothe twayne be made one: so by the communion of Chrystes body and bloud he is in us and we in hym.”
Thankfully this is all about wax, and a search for Cyril of Alexandria and wax promptly produced a hit here, in Simon Birckbek, “The Protestants Evidence, Taken out of Good Records…,” London (1657), page 176. This is written to show that the Fathers taught the doctrine of the Church of England, and responds to Catholic objections.
Here it quotes the saying, and gives a reference: “Cyril, l.4, c.17, in Joan.” – i.e. the “Commentary on John”, book 4, chapter 17.
Thankfully I have Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John online here, in Philip Pusey’s horribly unreadable translation. Pusey also has different chapter numbers. But it will do for our purposes:
56 He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood dwelleth in Me and I in him.
Manifoldly does Christ initiate us by these words, and since His Discourse is hard of attainment by the more unlearned, asking for itself rather the understanding of faith than investigation, He revolving again and again over the same ground makes it easy in divers ways, and from all parts illumines what is useful therein, fixing as a kind of foundation and groundwork the most excellent desire for it.
For he that eateth My Flesh (saith He) and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in him. For as if one should join wax with other wax, he will surely see (I suppose) the one in the other; in like manner (I deem) he who receiveth the Flesh of our Saviour Christ and drinketh His Precious Blood, as He saith, is found one with Him, commingled as it were and immingled with Him through the participation, so that he is found in Christ, Christ again in him.
Thus was Christ teaching us in the Gospel too according to Matthew, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Good to find a genuine translation, and, if you do quote Cyril here, please indicate that it’s from the Commentary on John, book 4.
Here’s the same passage from the David Maxwell translation published by IVP:
6:56 “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.”
With these words he leads us into the mysteries in many ways. Since this statement is hard for the more uneducated to understand, demanding the understanding of faith rather than investigation, he spells it out with various approaches by going around and around the same material. [535] He sheds light on what is useful about this matter from every angle, planting the most excellent desire for it as a kind of foundation and groundwork for faith. “Whoever eats my flesh,” he says, “and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.” If someone were to join wax with other wax, they will surely see that one has come to be in the other. In the same way, I think, the one who receives the flesh of our Savior Christ and drinks his precious blood, as he himself says, is found to be one with him, mixed together, as it were, and mingled with him through participation so that they are found in Christ, and Christ in them.
Christ was in a way teaching us this also in the Gospel of Matthew when he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into three satons of flour until all of it was leavened.”
Thank you very much! That’s so much better.