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).

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel of the Strongest of Nature

Matt. 59 rec., 14:22-34

The victor is our God, and all good and lasting victories from the beginning to the end of time belong to Him.

He conquers the disorder of the universe and establishes order.

He overcomes the disorder caused by sinners among people and restores order. And when the worst of men climb to the first places, and the best descend to the last, He overthrows this disorder, and the first become last, and the last first.

He defeats the conspiracies and intrigues of evil spirits against the human race and disperses them as the wind disperses a disgusting stench.

He conquers all scarcity: where there is little, He multiplies, and where there is nothing at all, He creates abundance.