PL 38 · cols. 725–729

Augustine, Sermo 130 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermon CXXX

SERMO CXXX. De verbis Evangelii Joannis, ubi narratur miraculum de quinque panibus et duobus piscibus. Cap. V, ℣. 5-14.

SERMON CXXX. On the words of the Gospel of John, where the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes is narrated. Chapter V [=VI], verses 5–14.

1. Miraculi significatio. Miraculum grande factum est, dilectissimi, ut de quinque panibus et duobus piscibus saturarentur quinque hominum millia, et residua fragmentorum implerent duodecim cophinos. Grande miraculum: sed non multum mirabimur factum, si attendamus facientem. Ille multiplicavit in manibus frangentium quinque panes, qui in terra germinantia multiplicat semina, ut grana pauca mittantur et horrea repleantur. Sed quia illud omni anno facit, nemo miratur. Admirationem tollit non facti vilitas, sed assiduitas. Dominus autem quando ista faciebat, non solum per verba, sed etiam per ipsa miracula intelligentibus loquebatur. Quinque panes significabant quinque libros Legis Moysi. Lex vetus hordeum est ad evangelicum triticum. Magna in illis libris de Christo mysteria continentur. Unde ait ipse: Si crederetis Moysi, crederetis et mihi: de me enim ille scripsit (Joan. V, 46). Sed quomodo in hordeo medulla sub palea latet; sic in velamento mysteriorum Legis latet Christus. Ut panis mysteria illa exponuntur, et dilatantur; sic et panes illi crescebant, quando frangebantur. Et hoc quod vobis exposui, panem vobis fregi. Quinque millia hominum significant plebem sub quinque libris Legis constitutam. Duodecim cophini sunt duodecim Apostoli, qui et ipsi de fragmentis Legis impleti sunt. Duo pisces sunt, aut duo praecepta dilectionis Dei et proximi, aut duo populi ex circumcisione et praeputio, aut duae illae sacrae personae regis et sacerdotis. Haec cum exponuntur, franguntur; cum intelliguntur, manducantur.

1. The meaning of the miracle. A great miracle was done, dearly beloved, that five thousand men were filled from five loaves and two fishes, and that the leftover fragments filled twelve baskets. A great miracle: but we shall not wonder much at what was done if we pay attention to the One who did it. He multiplied five loaves in the hands of those breaking them, He who multiplies the seeds sprouting in the earth, so that a few grains are sown and barns are filled. But because He does that every year, no one wonders at it. It is not the cheapness of the deed but its constancy that takes away wonder. But the Lord, when He did these things, spoke to those who understood not only through words but also through the miracles themselves. The five loaves signified the five books of the Law of Moses. The old Law is barley compared with the wheat of the Gospel. In those books great mysteries concerning Christ are contained. Hence He Himself says: If you believed Moses, you would believe Me also: for he wrote of Me (John 5:46). But as in barley the kernel lies hidden under the chaff, so under the veil of the mysteries of the Law Christ lies hidden. As those mysteries are expounded like bread, and are spread wide, so those loaves too grew as they were being broken. And in expounding this to you, I have broken bread for you. The five thousand men signify the people placed under the five books of the Law. The twelve baskets are the twelve Apostles, who themselves too were filled from the fragments of the Law. The two fishes are either the two commandments of love of God and of neighbour, or the two peoples from circumcision and uncircumcision, or those two sacred persons of king and priest. These things, when they are expounded, are broken; when they are understood, they are eaten.

2. Christus panis factus incarnatione. Mercator Christus.

2. Christ made bread by the Incarnation. Christ the merchant.

Editors' notes and page, col. 725

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CXXX (a), in the title› · call in col 725

Prodit nunc primum sermo ille ex veteri codice Colbertinae bibliothecae notato 821. Citatur a Beda seu Floro ad Galat. III, et ad Hebr. II.

This sermon now appears for the first time, from an old manuscript of the Colbert library numbered 821. It is cited by Bede, or Florus, on Galatians 3 and on Hebrews 2.

(printed under page 369)

(b) ‹anchor: Ut panis› · call in col 725

Forte, Legis.

Perhaps "of the Law".

(printed under page 369)

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: Praestet nobis› · call in col 728

Forte, Portet nos.

Perhaps "May he carry us". [The first letter of "Portet" is faint in the scan; the reading is the likeliest one.]

(printed under page 370)

Footnotes

¹ ‹anchor: not visible (call above the page foot)› · call in col 729 (left column) Am. et Er., quod corpus. Manuscripti vero, quorum corpus.

Am. and Er. [the Amerbach and Erasmus editions] read "quod corpus". The manuscripts, however, read "quorum corpus".

² ‹anchor: murmura cogitationis› · call in col 729 (left column) Sic Mss. At editi, murmur ac cogitationes.

So the manuscripts. The printed editions, however, read "murmur ac cogitationes" ("the murmur and the thoughts").

* ‹anchor: not visible (call above the page foot)› · call in col 729 (left column) Emendatus est ad tres bn. ad a. cl. cb. f. fs. gr. lr. m. pr. rm. vd. Am. Er. Par. Lov.

Corrected against three bn. [manuscripts], against a. cl. cb. f. fs. gr. lr. m. pr. rm. vd., and the Am. Er. Par. Lov. [Amerbach, Erasmus, Paris and Louvain] editions.

(printed under page 371)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible (call above the page foot, likely in the title)› · call in col 729 (left column)

Alias, de Verbis Apostoli 2.

Elsewhere numbered "On the Words of the Apostle 2".

(printed under page 371)

(b) ‹anchor: not visible (call above the page foot, likely in the title)› · call in col 729 (left column)

Florus citat duobus locis: et quidem ad I Cor. X, sermonem appellat «de corpore et sanguine Domini;» quomodo Algerus contra Berengarium. At in Philipp. II, sermonem «de Verbis Apostoli 2» vocat. Quo loco in vera Bedae collectione manuscripta, dicitur sermo «de, Nisi manducaveritis,» etc.

Florus cites it in two places: on 1 Corinthians 10 he calls the sermon "On the Body and Blood of the Lord", as does Alger against Berengar. But on Philippians 2 he calls it "On the Words of the Apostle 2". At that place, in the genuine manuscript collection of Bede, it is called the sermon "on 'Unless you eat'", etc.

(printed under page 371)

Locum et diem habiti sermonis ita praenotatum accepimus ex veteri codice bibliothecae PP. Cisterciensium S. Crucis in Jerusalem de Urbe. Dies porro dominicus cum nono calendas octobris coincidebat anno 417, et ad hunc ipsum de facto annum pertinent Apostolicae Sedis rescripta de quibus hic in fine sermonis.

We have taken the place and day of the sermon's delivery, so noted at its head, from an old manuscript of the library of the Cistercian Fathers of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. Moreover, a Sunday fell on the ninth day before the Kalends of October [23 September] in the year 417, and the rescripts of the Apostolic See spoken of here at the end of the sermon do in fact belong to that very year.

¹ ‹anchor: viam istam› · call in the right column Aliquot Mss., viam justam.

Some manuscripts read "viam justam" ("the just way").

(printed under page 371)

Augustine, Sermo 130 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

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