The Lord had the custom of often secluding himself in desert places and on the mountains. He did so for three reasons. First, in order to make a brief pause in His hasty and abundant work, so that people, so to speak, would digest all the teaching revealed to Him, and all the miracles revealed by Him. Secondly, in order to show the Apostles and us an example that it is necessary to seclude ourselves, to enter the room (Matthew 6:6), prayerfully remaining one's soul alone with God. For solitude and silence purify, humble, clarify and strengthen a person. And thirdly, in order to justify and encourage wilderness life and monasticism, showing us that a good and profitable person cannot hide anywhere, just as a city that stands on the top of a mountain cannot hide (Matt. 5:14).

The history of the Church has shown thousands of times that a great desert dweller, a man of prayer or a miracle-worker could never hide from the people. Many people unreasonably ask: "What is a monk to do in the desert? Is it not better for him to be among people, serving them?" In the desert, in solitude, a monk carries his soul like an unlit candle, in order to kindle it with fasting, prayerful reflection and work. And if he succeeds in kindling it, then the light will be visible to all people, and people will go to him and find him, even if he takes refuge in sands, in impassable mountains or inaccessible caves. No, a monk is not useless, on the contrary, he can be useful to the people more than all other people. This is clearly shown by the incident that happened to our Lord Jesus Christ. In vain did He hide Himself from the people in a desert place - a multitude of people followed Him.

And when He saw them, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Down in the cities, the synagogues were full of self-styled shepherds, who were in fact wolves in sheep's clothing. People knew and felt this, just as they knew and felt the immeasurable mercy and love of Christ for them. People saw and felt that Christ is the only Good Shepherd, sincerely and compassionately caring for them. That is why they fled after Him even to a deserted place. And the Lord healed their sick. The people feel that they need Christ, and they demand a miracle not out of idle curiosity, but because of extreme necessity and torment. And he began to teach them much, says the Apostle Mark.

And when evening came, His disciples came to him and said, "This place is desolate, and the time is late; let the people go, that they may go to the villages and buy food for themselves. The Evangelist Matthew does not tell what exactly the Lord did with the people for so long, reporting only that He healed their sick. However, the Evangelist Mark fills this gap with words and began to teach them much. You see how wonderfully the evangelists complement each other! So, the Lord taught the people until late in the evening. This was to last for many hours. And during such a time you can read the entire Gospel. This means that in this one case the Lord revealed as much of His Divine teaching as would have made up the whole Gospel. In this case, is not the Evangelist John right, who says that if we were to write down everything that Jesus did and said, then the world itself would not be able to contain the books written?

How merciful are the disciples! The place here is deserted and the time is late. People are hungry, it is high time to disperse. But their homes are far away, and they are very hungry. There are many women and children here. It is necessary that they get food as soon as possible. Let them go to the surrounding villages and villages, and buy themselves bread.

But is not Christ more merciful and compassionate than His disciples? How could He not know that the people were hungry? Of course, Christ is more merciful and compassionate than His disciples, and before they spoke, He remembered what the people needed. At the very beginning, as the Evangelist John writes, Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a multitude of people were coming to Him, said to Philip: "Where shall we buy loaves to feed them?" But then people surrounded him with their patients. The Lord first healed all the sick, and then began to teach the people. And this went on until dark. And only then did the apostles remember that the people were hungry and in need of food. Thus, the Lord foresaw this from the very beginning, but later He deliberately did not want to talk about it, waiting for the apostles themselves to remember. This was for two reasons: first, to strengthen their compassion and mercy, and second, to make their powerlessness manifest without Him. For Christ said to the apostles: "They need not go, you give them something to eat." He knows that they cannot do this, but He speaks in such a way that they will fully realize and confess their powerlessness. And they said to him, We have here only five loaves and two fishes. According to the testimony of the Evangelist John, this small amount of food was not theirs, but of a boy who was there. Here a boy has five barley loaves and two fish; But what is it for such a multitude? This is reported to the Lord by Andrew, the First-Called Apostle, who, although he had been with Christ the longest, was not yet perfect in the faith, once asked: "But what is this for such a multitude?" The bread was barley, which is also no coincidence. From this we must learn, as the all-wise Chrysostom says, that we should be content with simple food, and not choose the best, for, in his words, "voluptuousness is the mother of all diseases and passions."

Bring them to Me here, - the Lord commanded the disciples. Only now His turn has come. The people are unable to get food; The apostles also confessed their powerlessness to help the people. Now His time has come, now everything is ripe for a miracle.

And he commanded the people to sit down on the grass, and having taken five loaves and two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed them, and having broken them, he gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the people. Why did our Lord Jesus Christ look up to heaven? He did not do this, performing great miracles: opening the eyes of the blind, cleansing lepers, casting out demons from people, rebuking the sea and winds, making water wine, and even raising some of the dead. So why did He look up to heaven in this case, turning His gaze to His Heavenly Father?

Firstly, in order to show the unity of His will and the Father's will before such a huge crowd of people, and thus to refute the malicious slander of the Pharisees, who claimed that He works all miracles with the help of demonic power. Secondly, as the Son of man, in order to show people the image of man's humility before God and gratitude for all the blessings that come from God. He gave us a similar example during the Last Supper: having blessed, He broke (Matt. 26:26); Taking the cup and thanking him, he said... taking bread and giving thanks, he broke it (Luke 22:17-19). He gave thanks to His Heavenly Father and blessed the bread as a gift of God. In the same way, before every meal, no matter how modest, we must give thanks and praise to God for it, and bless His gift. Thirdly, as the Son of God, in order to show in the multiplication of the loaves, which is exactly like the new creation, the unity of the power of the Trinity in the One, which creates only as such. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity, One-in-Essence and Indivisible - are the Creator of all that exists.

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, with His own hands, broke the loaves. For what? Why did He not command the disciples to break them? In order that we may see His good desire to feed the people and His greatest love for people. And so that we may learn through this: when giving alms and giving gifts, we must give with care and love, as He did.

And they all ate, and were satisfied; and they gathered up the remaining pieces, twelve baskets full; and those who ate were about five thousand people, besides women and children. This is the miracle of miracles and the glory of glory! If so many people take only one piece the size of the antidoron, still five loaves of bread will hardly be enough. And here, look: And they all ate, and were satisfied; and gathered the remaining pieces, twelve boxes full! If it were some kind of mirage, then it would not be said: and they were satisfied. Even if a person could give another person the illusion that he is eating, it is impossible to satiate a hungry person with a mirage. And if it was some kind of mirage, then where did the twelve boxes full of the remaining pieces come from? No, no, only hardened sinners can call this an illusion. However, it was a reality, just as the existence of God is a reality. Notice also that in this miracle no one dares to say anything against it, or to find any foolish explanation for it, as the Pharisees did in the case of other miracles. Not only did no one say anything against it, but the people who saw the miracle performed by Jesus said: "This is truly the Prophet who must come into the world" (John 6:14). Moreover, they wanted to come, accidentally take Him and make Him king. Such a great impression was made by this truly wondrous miracle of Christ on the people! Who and when wanted to make some illusionist tsar? And here reality and truth, and people, inspired by this reality and truth, wanted to force Christ to be their king. And this would have happened if Christ had not withdrawn, thus thwarting this intention of the inspired people.

And immediately Jesus compelled His disciples to enter the boat and go before Him to the other side, until He would let the people go. Does it not seem a little strange that Jesus commands His disciples to enter the boat alone and go to the other side before Him? Why does He do this? First, because of what was; and secondly, because of what will happen. Let them separate themselves from the people as soon as possible and give themselves up privately to contemplation and conversation about the great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. And let them set sail, in which our Lord Jesus Christ will soon reveal to them a new, unprecedented miracle, namely, to walk on the sea as on dry land. The Lord foresaw in advance both what would happen and what He would do. The disciples, not foreseeing anything and, of course, wondering that the Lord was forcing them to depart, left Him with the people, went down to the sea and lowered the boat into the water. Undoubtedly, the reason that the Lord hastily sent the Apostles away from the crowd of people was also His desire to protect them from pride and self-praise before the people: behold, they are, they say, followers and disciples of such an unprecedented Wonderworker! Just as He wanted to teach them humility, saying, "Give them something to eat," so now, by sending them away, He wants to protect them from pride and from the exaltation of the Teacher. And, finally, He wants to show them His infinite meekness and humility before God by retiring to the mountain after such a majestic miracle in order to pray in private. He did not need to tell them directly about this - they were already sufficiently familiar with His custom of often secluding themselves for prayer. However, was it not on that day that He deliberately withdrew to a deserted place, left alone, after the news of the terrible execution of John the Baptist? Let the disciples see that He has not forgotten why He came to the wilderness, and above all, let them see and know that the great deed He unexpectedly did and all the praise and magnificence of the raptured people did not in the least shake His spiritual peace and His meekness, and did not turn Him away from the intention of praying in private.

All this event with the allocation of loaves and fishes to people, as well as the number of loaves and fishes and the number of boxes full of the remaining pieces, also has its own mysterious, inner meaning. Before His death, the Lord called the blessed bread His Body. And here He does this, though not by word, but by the number of the loaves. Five means the five bodily senses, and the five senses represent the whole body. Fish means life. In the first centuries of the Church's existence, Christ was depicted as a fish, which can still be seen today in ancient Christian catacombs and shelters. Thus, Christ will give His Body and His life for food to people. But why were there two fish? Because the Lord offered Himself as a sacrifice in His earthly life, and after His resurrection He offers Himself in His Church to this day. What does it mean that He personally broke the loaves? It means that He voluntarily sacrifices Himself for the salvation of people. Why did He give the loaves and fishes to the disciples to distribute to the people? For they will truly carry Christ throughout the whole world and endow the nations with Him as life-giving food. What does it mean that there are twelve boxes of pieces left? It signifies an abundance of harvest from the labors of the Apostles. The harvest of every apostle will be incomparably greater than the seed he sowed, just as every box contained more bread than that which the hungry ate and were satisfied with it.

But all these mysteries are deep and inexhaustible. Who dares to look too closely at their destinies? Who in this temporal life will dare to descend into their depths? Let the hints be enough for one who enjoys reading and listening to the Gospel. The angels also revel in the sweetness of the Gospel. The more a person reads it, prayerfully reflects on it and follows it in his life, the more the depths of the Gospel are opened and the sweetness of the Gospel is fragrant. For this our Lord Jesus Christ is due honor and glory, together with His Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, One-in-Essence and Indivisible, now and ever, at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen. (This miraculous multiplication of the loaves by the Divine power of Christ is remembered in the wondrous prayer during the blessing of the loaves at the litiya).