Five loaves and two fishes. Miraculous feeding of the people with five loaves

Jesus called His disciples and said:
“I pity the people; they have been with Me for three days, and they have nothing to eat. And I don’t want to let them go hungry, so that they don’t become exhausted on the road.”
And the disciples say to him:
“Where can we get so many loaves of bread in the desert to feed all these people?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, "Seven loaves and some fish." And He, commanding the crowd to lie down on the ground, took in his hands seven loaves and fish, said thanksgiving, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and the disciples to the people; and they all ate, and were satisfied, and took up seven baskets full of the leftover pieces. And there were four thousand eaters, not counting women and children.

(Mt. 15:32-38)
(Translated by Sergey Averintsev)

More recently, in the Holy Land, during the archaeological excavations of an ancient Christian temple, a mosaic depicting two fish was cleared. Images of this kind - a fish or two fish with five loaves - were a common subject in early Christian art. Of course, this is evidence and a sign of a miracle - the Lord fed thousands of hungry people with two fish and five loaves. All four gospels record this event, and one of them is the personal testimony of Matthew.

Miracle as a sign

The Lord tells His disciples to remain alone and rest, “for there were many who came and went, so that they had no time to eat” (Mark 6:31). And He Himself alone goes on a boat to a deserted place. But people, seeking the Lord, rushed after Him, and Christ, seeing this, “felt compassion on them,” because they were “like sheep without a shepherd,” and taught them, and healed the sick. When the day approached evening, before letting people go home, the Lord also fed everyone, performing a miracle for this. With two fish and five loaves that one boy found, the Lord fed thousands of people so that "they all ate and were satisfied." And lest what He did appear to be a vision, or that which is in modern world called hypnosis, told the disciples to collect twelve more boxes of leftovers. (Note the symbolism of the number twelve - this is the number of the people of God, the number of patriarchs and the number of judges of Israel; and this is the number of the Church, where the twelve apostles first entered). Matthew clarifies that "those who ate were about five thousand people," and adds: "not counting women and children." These words, which may seem strange to the modern reader, were quite appropriate for Matthew, who was brought up in the traditions Old Testament, in which neither children nor women are taken into account when calculating the people (the book of Numbers).

Performing this miracle, the Lord, in the words of the evangelist, “looked up into heaven” and, before giving bread to the disciples, blessed and broke it. And the Book of Acts and the Apostolic Epistles call the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Communion, “the breaking of bread”. We perceive the Lord's miracle of breaking bread not only as a manifestation of His concern for people. For us, this “sign” is a sign: it is a symbol and prototype of the Eucharist. This understanding is confirmed by the Apostle Paul, speaking of the communion with God that is revealed to us in the Church, in the Sacrament of Communion, he writes: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not the communion of the Body of Christ? (1 Cor. 10:16).

Bread of the earth and bread of heaven

All four evangelists, who agreed to describe the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, then speak of different things. In Matthew (as well as in Mark), the Lord after some time once again, now with seven loaves, feeds many people. And soon the disciples, having heard the warning of the Teacher: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees!" (Mt. 16:16) - they think that this is a reproach that they forgot to take bread on the road. And then the Lord reminds them that He has already twice fed thousands of people with a couple of loaves, and explains that He speaks not about the worldly and material, but about the spiritual. And to those people who, according to the Gospel of John the Theologian, having had their fill of five loaves, wanted to make Jesus king (after all, the ideal of the earthly kingdom is a well-fed and contented society), the Lord addresses the reproach: “Truly, truly, I say to you: you are looking for me not because that they saw miracles, but because they ate the bread and were satisfied” (John 6:26). And the Lord calls them to think and take care not about the food of perishability, but about the food that "arrives into eternal life" (John: 6:27).

The eternal food that fills us with life is the Lord, Who calls Himself the Bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. IN sacred history, in which there are no accidents and everything is full of mysterious symbolism, Christ is born in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means "House of Bread." Of Himself He will say: “I am the Bread of Life” (John:6:48) and: “I am the Living Bread that came down from Heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, but the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John: 6:51).

The Bread of Life - Himself - the Lord grants us in the Sacrament of Communion, establishing which on the eve of Easter - on Maundy Thursday, at the Last Supper - He, pointing to the Bread, says to the disciples - and to all, through the centuries, who believe in Him: “Take, eat ( “Take, eat”), this is My Body” (Mt. 26:26). And during the Liturgy, at which the whole earthly life of Christ is remembered, one of the priestly prayers reflects the Miracle of the multiplication of loaves: just as then the Lord distributed bread to the disciples, and they to people, so now the priest, before taking communion himself, and then to commune people, prays to the Lord that He "with His sovereign hand give us His Most Pure Body and Precious Blood, and through us to all people." And the very petition for bread - for "daily bread" - in the prayer "Our Father" we can understand not only as a petition for everything we need in this life, but also as a prayer for the Sacrament of Communion: for Bread descending from Heaven. It is no coincidence that the Lord's Prayer at the Liturgy is raised just before the Sacrament of Communion. The Church commemorates the Miracle of the Multiplication of Loaves at the litia of the All-Night Vigil, when the priest asks that the Lord, "blessing the five loaves and filling five thousand," Himself bless the bread, as well as wheat, wine and oil, and multiply them - "in the whole world", and through them he sanctified those who believe in him.

Faith mark

This is the basic symbolism and meaning of bread in Scripture and the prayer life of the Church. But the fish that served the miracle created by Christ also has its own symbolic meaning. Most of the apostles were fishermen, through a miraculous catch the Lord called them to follow Him, and after the Resurrection, through a new miraculous catch, the Lord strengthened them in faith. In Greek, the most common language in the Roman Empire, in which the New Testament was recorded, "fish" - " ΙΧΘΙС"(IHFIS). This word can be read as an abbreviation, which stands for: "Jesus Christ - Fe at AND O with Sot And r", that is, "God's Son, Savior." This is nothing more than a brief confession of our faith. Therefore, since ancient times, Christians often decorated the places of their prayer meetings with images of fish. For the first time in patristic literature, we encounter the naming of Jesus Christ as a "fish" in Quintius Septimius Florence Tertullian. He refers to the Lord by the Greek word "ichthys" in his Latin treatise On Baptism. That is, by the end of the 2nd century, when Tertullian lived, this understanding of the fish sign was well known. By accepting the Sacrament of Baptism “of water and spirit,” we are born for life with Christ; while receiving the Sacrament of Communion, we mysteriously feed on the Bread that came down for us from Heaven. So everything that was centuries and millennia before us, everything that we read about in the Holy Scriptures, becomes our life. And the miracle that the Lord created, feeding five thousand people with two fish and five loaves, not counting women and children, already tells us about our participation in Christ's miracles, about our participation in His life, about our participation in Him, about the sacrament of the Communion of the Saints. Mysteries of Christ.

How did Jesus Christ feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and still have twelve baskets left? As I understand it, Jesus created all this food out of nothing like God? Or did he attract the abundance of God and create this food out of the light of God already present, as He blessed the loaves and looked to Heaven? Or was it somehow different? Explain this point to me, please! Sincerely, Meir Ahava

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

Among the many miracles that the Lord performed during His earthly life, the miraculous feeding of five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish has a special spiritual significance. All four evangelists narrate about him. This event is in succession with some Old Testament miracles (Ex. 16:3; 1 Kings 17:8-16; 2 Kings 4:42-44). The people of Israel, who lived in expectation of the Redeemer, believed that the Messiah would give new manna. The special significance of this miracle was that it symbolically pointed to the future sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which the Lord established at the Last Supper. St. Evangelist John the Theologian reports an important chronological detail: Passover, the holiday of the Jews, was approaching(John 6:4).

When people, according to the then Eastern custom, lay down to eat food, the Savior looked up to heaven, blessed and, breaking it, gave bread(Matthew 14:19). The blessing formula was based on Lev.19:24 and Deut.8:10. It has been said since ancient times: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth." However, Hebrew and Greek words ( rems And eulogia), denoting "blessing", can also be used in the meaning of "thank", as well as "praise", "glorify". When the four thousand were fed with seven loaves and fishes, Jesus Christ, taking seven loaves and fishes, gave thanks broke and gave to his disciples(Matthew 15:36). Bread in Palestine was baked in the form of thin and fragile cakes. It was easy to break it, which the Savior did.

“How did Jesus Christ feed 5,000 people”? Created from nothing. By this he pointed out to the people his divine dignity. “But why does he not make loaves again? To<...>to teach by the very works that everything that is seen is produced and created by him, and to prove that he is the bearer of fruit and said at the beginning: let the earth bring forth grass; Also: let the waters bring forth living souls(Gen. I, 11, 20). And a real miracle is no less important than the creation of byliya or reptiles. Indeed, reptiles, although created again, are nevertheless created from water. And from five loaves and two fish to make so much is no less important than to produce fruit from the earth and reptiles from water; this meant that Jesus had authority over the earth and over the sea. Hitherto He has worked miracles on only the sick; and now it renders universal beneficence, so that the people do not remain a mere spectator of what happened to others, but they themselves receive a gift. And what seemed wonderful to the Jews during their wanderings in the wilderness (since they said: food and bread can give or prepare a meal in the wilderness (Ps. LXXVII, 20), the same thing the Lord showed in practice. For this, he leads them into the desert, so that the miracle is not subject to any doubt at all, and no one would think that something from the nearby village was brought for food. For this, the evangelist mentions the time, and not just the place. From here we learn something else, namely: we learn the moderation of the disciples in meeting the necessary needs, and how little they cared about food. There were twelve of them; and they had with them only five loaves and two fishes. They cared so little about the carnal, and were only concerned with the spiritual! And even these few loaves were not kept, but they were given away, as soon as they were asked of them. From this we must learn that although we have little in ourselves, we must give even that to those in need. When they are ordered to bring five loaves, they do not say: what shall we eat ourselves? How can we satisfy our hunger? – but immediately obey. In addition to what has been said, in my opinion, Christ does not create bread again to bring the disciples to faith: they were still very weak. That's why he looks up to the sky. They have repeatedly seen examples of other miracles, but such a miracle has not yet been seen. So, he took it, broke it, and distributed it through the disciples, doing them honor through this. However, He did this not so much for their honor, but so that, when a miracle happens, they would not remain in disbelief and forget about the past, when their own hands would testify that<...>But the miracle didn't stop there. The Lord did that there was an excess, and the excess was not in whole loaves, but in pieces, in order to show that these were exactly the remains of those loaves, and so that those who were not at the time of the miracle could know that it was. For this, Christ allowed the people to feel hunger, so that no one would mistake a miracle for a dream; For this he made the remains of twelve baskets, so that Judas would also have something to carry. The Lord could satisfy his hunger even without bread, but then the disciples would not have known His power, because this was also the case with Elijah. And for this miracle, the Jews were so surprised at Him that they even wanted to make Him king, although with other miracles they never attempted it ”(St. John Chrysostom. Interpretation of St. Matthew the Evangelist. Conversation XLIX).

The Holy Church reads the Gospel of Mark. Chapter 6, Art. 30 - 45.

30. And the Apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him everything, both what they had done and what they had taught.

31. He said to them: Go alone to a deserted place and rest a little, - for there were many coming and going, so they had no time to eat.

32. And they went to a lonely place in a boat alone.

33. The people saw them go, and many recognized them; and footmen from all the cities fled thither, and warned them, and gathered themselves to him.

34. When Jesus went out, he saw a multitude of people and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and began to teach them a lot.

35. And how much time has passed, His disciples, approaching Him, say: the place is deserted, but there is already a lot of time, -

36. Let them go, so that they go to the surrounding villages and villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.

37. He answered and said to them: You give them something to eat. And they said unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give them to eat?

38. But He asked them: How many loaves do you have? go take a look. When they heard it, they said: five loaves and two fishes.

39. Then he commanded them to seat everyone in squads on the green grass.

40. And they sat down in rows, one hundred and one fifty.

41. He took five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to give to them; and divided the two fish among all.

42. And they all ate, and were satisfied.

43. And they took up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and the remains of the fish.

44. There were about five thousand men who ate the loaves.

45. And immediately he urged his disciples to get into the boat and go ahead to the other side to Bethsaida, while he sent the people away.

(Mark 6:30-45)

The lines of today's Gospel reading, dear brothers and sisters, are dedicated to the miraculous feeding of five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.

Landing on the deserted shore of the lake, where the crowds of people waiting for the Savior could not find either accommodation or food for themselves, the apostles, with the onset of evening, turned to Christ with a request to let the people go, so that they go to the surrounding villages and settlements and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat(Mark 6:36).

Evfimy Zygaben writes: “The day has already begun to decline towards evening, [...] but they themselves did not eat food, since the zeal for listening overcame hunger. Christ, therefore desiring to feed them miraculously, also waited for an occasion on their part, lest it should seem that He was in a hurry to perform miracles; likewise, so that, having become hungry, they may understand the miracle more.”

To the request of the disciples, the Lord answers: you let them eat(Mark 6:37). Of course, the students were surprised, because they had only five loaves and two fish ( Mk. 6, 38). But in the hands of the Lord, the small becomes great, and therefore, showing the disciples that nothing is impossible for Him, the Savior performs a miracle.

St. Cyril of Alexandria explains: “In order for Christ to be known in every way as God existing by nature, He multiplies a small amount and looks up to heaven, as if asking for a blessing from above… For He, who fills everything, is Himself a blessing from the Father. And so that we may know that when we start eating and about to break bread, we must offer them to God, as if placing them on our hands turned upside down, and bring down on them the highest blessing, He […] became for us the beginning, and the model, and through this work.

When, at the command of Christ, they began to collect the remnants of bread, then they collected twelve full baskets of pieces of bread and fish leftovers. And there were about five thousand men who ate the loaves(Mark 6:43-44). Boxes were those baskets that the Jews took with them on a trip instead of hiking bags for storing food.

St. John Chrysostom remarks: “He broke five loaves and distributed them, and these five loaves were not exhausted in the hands of the disciples. But the miracle didn't stop there. The Lord did that there was an excess, and the excess was not in whole loaves, but in pieces, in order to show that these were exactly the remains of those loaves, and so that those who were not at the time of the miracle could know that it was.

Let us, dear brothers and sisters, always remember that the more a person gives to another, the more is added to the giver, and for everything given to those in need for the sake of Christ, the Lord will return many times more, just as He filled the twelve baskets. The grace and mercy of Christ is abundantly enough for all people, because the Kingdom of God is always near and enters the life of everyone who is ready to accept Him. Help us in this Lord!

Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko)

The Jewish holiday of Passover was approaching. The Lord Jesus Christ did not go to Jerusalem that year for Easter. He knew that a conspiracy was being prepared against Him by the elders and priests of the Jews.

Shortly before this, the disciples of John the Baptist brought the Savior the sad news of the martyrdom of their teacher. His killer, Herod Antipas, was looking for a meeting with Christ. He thought that Christ was the resurrected John the Baptist.

The Lord's presence in Herod's Galilee was becoming unsafe. Christ could be persecuted, but the Savior knew for sure that no one could harm Him until the saving work for which He came to earth was completed.

Meanwhile, the disciples sent by Him to preach the Gospel returned to Christ from cities and villages. They joyfully told the Teacher about their successes, about casting out demons and healing the sick in the name of Jesus.

However, the Savior was saddened by the news of the execution of John the Baptist. And so He hurried away with His disciples away from Capernaum.

Sitting in the boat, Christ ordered the apostles to cross to the other side of the Lake of Galilee - to Bethsaida. Many people followed them.

Coming ashore, the Savior with the disciples climbed the slope of the mountain. And when people gathered around Him, He began to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. At the same time, many sick and suffering received healing.

The day was drawing to a close, but the people did not disperse. The disciples approached Christ and said: “The place is deserted, and the time is late; let the people go so that they go to the nearest villages to buy their own bread, because they have nothing to eat.

But in response to the request of the disciples, the Lord said: “You give them something to eat!” The apostles were greatly surprised by this answer. After all, about five thousand people gathered to listen to Christ's sermon that day, and that's not counting women and children! The Apostle Andrew told the Lord that one boy has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is this for such a multitude? However, Jesus asked the disciples: "Bring here bread and fish and tell the people to lie down."

The apostles told the people to sit on the grass. In it spring time she, like a carpet, covered the slopes of the hills. People sat down on the grass in rows of a hundred and fifty people.

The Lord took the loaves and the fish in His hands. Raising his eyes to heaven, He gave thanks, blessed and broke the loaves, and then gave them to the disciples to distribute among the people. Likewise, Christ divided the two fish among all.

And everyone ate as much as they wanted. And when they were satisfied, the Lord told the disciples to collect the remaining pieces so that nothing would be lost. Pieces of bread and fish were collected 12 full boxes.

This miracle made a deep impression on the people. After all, most of them imagined the Messiah in this way - a person who would bring them earthly abundance and prosperity.

Christ learned that the people wanted to proclaim Him king, and this could lead to a rebellion against Rome. But the Lord did not want to indulge these false ideas about the Messiah as an earthly king.

After all, was His true purpose in the creation of an earthly kingdom? The Lord repeatedly said that His Kingdom is not of this world, that it is created in human hearts and therefore cannot be planted with the help of violence.

History knows many examples when they tried to forcefully make humanity happy by organizing bloody revolutions in the name of freedom, equality and fraternity. However, no just and happy society is possible as long as hatred, envy, pride, self-interest, voluptuousness nestle in human hearts... Here they are, the true enemies of the Kingdom of God! It was these enemies that Christ came to defeat in order to give humanity true freedom - freedom from sin, freedom to live with God.

Gospel of Matthew. Chapter 14 Verses 14-22:

14. And going out, Jesus saw a multitude of people, and had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
15. When evening came, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the time is already late; send the people away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.
16. But Jesus said to them: They don't have to go, you give them something to eat.
17. And they say to Him, We have here only five loaves and two fish.
18. He said: Bring them hither to Me.
19. And he commanded the people to lie down on the grass, and taking five loaves of bread and two fishes, looked up to heaven, blessed, and breaking it, gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the people.
20. And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up the remaining pieces twelve baskets full;
21 And those who ate were about five thousand people, besides women and children.
22 And immediately Jesus urged His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the people away.

Archpriest Pavel Velikanov

Archpriest Pavel Velikanov:

The miracle narrated by the Evangelist Matthew, the feeding of five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, would seem to be extremely simple. In fact, this miracle has a very strong connotation of great sadness.

Imagine a huge stadium, completely packed, filled with people - they want the same Messiah who will solve all their worldly problems, save them from the hated Roman rule and literally make the whole people rich.

And the Savior, it would seem, suddenly follows these aspirations of the Jewish people. The main thing is that everyone is happy, except for One - Christ the Savior Himself.

About how much pain this miracle became for Him, we will hear a little later, when He starts talking about His Body and Blood, about heavenly bread, when almost everyone leaves Him, including even fairly close disciples.

And He will remind you: you are looking for Me, not because you actually believe in Me as the Messiah, but because ate bread and were satisfied. And you want it to happen over and over again.

God, as a loving father, always wants us to be joyful, to be comforted, so that our wishes (if they are not outright sinful) are realized. But this does not mean at all that our wishes for Him bring the same joy as for ourselves.

Let us remember the example of the miraculous feeding with bread, so that every time God answers our prayers, we become closer to Him, we have one more reason to feel His mercy on us, and not at all smugly demand from Him a constant repetition of a miracle. .

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