Loaves and Fishes
Jesus' miracle of multiplying loaves and fishes is often cited as
evidence that he did not favor the vegetarian way of life. His first
disciples Simon, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen by the Sea of
Galilee. Jesus called them away from their livelihood. "Follow me," he
commanded, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Jesus then performed a miracle illustrating that God can easily provide for
human sustenance. He wanted people to seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness. (Matthew 6:8, 26-33; Luke 12:24-31) On the Lake of
Gennesaret, Jesus told Simon to drop his nets. Huge numbers of fish were
caught to the point where the nets began to break and the boat began to
sink. The fish presumably went back into the lake. Simon knelt before Jesus
and called himself a sinner. "Do not be afraid," Jesus replied. "From now on
you will be catching men." They forsook all and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11)
After John the Baptist's execution, Jesus withdrew into solitude. The
multitudes followed him on foot from the cities. Jesus healed many. When
evening came, his disciples said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is
already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages
and buy themselves food." And Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away.
You give them something to eat."
"Shall we go and buy them two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them
something to eat?" they asked. "We have here only five barley loaves and two
fish," which had been given to the disciples by a boy in the crowd. Jesus
took the loaves and the fish, "and looking up to heaven, he blessed and
broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the
multitudes." Over five thousand ate and were satisfied. (Matthew 14:13-21;
Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:9)
On another occasion, Jesus multiplied seven loaves and a few fish for over
four thousand people. Jesus explained: "I have compassion on the multitude,
because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat.
And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."
(Matthew 15:32-38; Mark 8:1-9)
Jesus raised no objection to the eating of already dead fish when there was
no other food available. This is consistent with the vegetarian way of life.
The prophet Elisha raised people from the dead. (II Kings 4:32-37) Elisha
also multiplied twenty barley loaves to feed one hundred men. (II Kings
4:42-44) Jesus appears to have repeated the same miracle on a larger scale,
using what little resources were available to him.
Matthew 14:19 reads as follows: "he took the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the
disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes." This text implies only
loaves, and not fish were multiplied to give the crowds something to eat.
Jesus' own recollection of the events suggest only loaves were multiplied.
Jesus warned his disciples about "the yeast (teachings) of the Pharisees and
Sadducees." The disciples, having forgotten to bring bread, misunderstood.
"O you of little faith," exclaimed Jesus. "Do you not... remember the five
loaves of the five thousand... the seven loaves of the four thousand and how
many large baskets you took up?" (Matthew 16:5-12; Mark 8:14-21)
The Fourth Gospel describes the event in almost mystical terms. Jesus
multiplied five barley loaves and two fish for over five thousand. Yet he
later told the crowds, "I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the
signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for
the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life,
which the Son of Man will give you... I am the bread of life. He who comes
to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst."
These verses suggest Jesus really satisfied the multitudes spiritually,
giving them "the food which endures to everlasting life." (John 6:1-35)
According to contemporary Christian teacher Abbot George Burke, "...there is
a very interesting distinction made between the bread and the fish in the
Gospels of Saints Matthew (14:19), Mark (6:41) and John (6:11). When writing
of the feeding of the five thousand, all three Evangelists are careful to
note that Jesus first took the bread, blessed it, divided it and gave it for
distribution. But the fish He simply gave for distribution! He gave no
blessing to the eating of fish because it was not given by God to man for
food. Moreover, since it was already dead He did not kill anything -- He
just made more of it."
The New Testament mentions the feeding of the multitudes on four separate
occasions, and fish is listed as one of the items present. However, the
church father Irenaeus, in his great thesis Against Heresies (180-188 AD),
wrote: "He there, seeing a great crowd had followed Him, fed all that
multitude with five loaves of bread and twelve baskets of fragments remained
over and above." Irenaeus makes no mention of fish. In a later text,
Irenaeus again says, "Our Lord after blessing the five loaves, fed with them
five thousand men."
How do we explain this discrepancy? Our oldest existing Greek manuscript of
the New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus, can be found in the British Museum.
It was written in 331 AD. We have no New Testaments from before this time.
It is possible that early copies of the gospels made no mention of fish
being fed to the multitudes, while later copyists added this symbol in order
to enhance the miracle.
Students of the Bible are familiar with the use of bread as a mystical
symbol of Jesus' body, or divine substance. In the early Christian church,
the fish was also a divine symbol. The symbol of the fish was a secret sign,
used in times of persecution. It can be found in the catacombs of ancient
Rome and it remains in popular use today. The Greek word for fish is
"ichtus." This word was used in the early church as an acronym for the Greek
phrase "Iesus Christos Theou Uious Soter," or "Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Savior."
The early church father Origen wrote, "while every passage of Scripture has
a spiritual meaning, many passages have no other meaning, but that there is
often a spiritual meaning under the literal fiction."
Gospel references to fish may be symbolic. The earliest depictions of the
Eucharist in the catacombs were inspired by the story of the multiplication
of the loaves and fishes; believed to symbolize the Eucharist. A bishop in
the early church wrote, "Faith hath provided me as my food a fish of
exceedingly great size, and perfect, which a holy virgin drew with her hands
from a fountain." In the 2nd century, the church father Tertullian wrote,
"We little fish, after the image of our Ichtus (Fish) Jesus Christ, are born
in the water."
"Jesus raised no objection to the eating of already dead fish when there was
no other food available..."
This passage is consistent with the vegetarian way of life by not killing,
since the fish were already dead, and in the multiplication of the loaves
and fishes, Jesus didn't kill anything. This is the position of Abbot George
Burke.
Jesus himself makes no mention of fish when recounting the miracle to his
disciples, and neither does the early church father Irenaeus, in Against
Heresies (180 - 188 AD).
Gospel references to fish may be symbolic. Jesus called his disciples away
from fishing, saying, "I will make you fishers of men."
The Fourth Gospel describes the multiplication of loaves and fishes in
almost mystical terms, suggesting Jesus really satisfied the multitudes
spiritually, giving them "the food which endures to everlasting life." The
fish symbol itself was widespread in early Christianity, and remains popular
today.
James Dawson, raised Catholic and now a Buddhist, commented that Dr. Tony
Page's attempts (in his 2000 book, Buddhism and Animals) to show from the
Mahayana sutras that the Buddha advocated strict veganism is really
stretching it, but worth studying further. Similarly, in the late '90s,
Catholic vegetarian Al Fecko in Michigan shared some of his research
suggesting that Abel might have offered milk rather than the fat of
slaughtered animals. That still won't satisfy the vegans.
Along these lines, it's possible that when Jesus performed his miracle on
the Lake of Gennesaret and the fish which were netted presumably went back
into the lake. This won't satisfy the vegans, either! PETA literature points
out that the "catch and release" of fish is cruel.
In his 1984 book, The Philosophy of Vegetarianism, professor Daniel
Dombrowski studies the classical Greek and Roman vegetarian philosophies
(the Pythagoreans and the Platonists) said there was no need for
Christianity to have taken the anti-vegetarian turn which it did, and notes
that while Jesus performed a miracle for others to eat fish, Pythagoras
saved fish!
But even Pythagoras' paying fishermen to throw their catch back into the
sea, would not satisfy the vegans, with PETA literature condemning "catch
and release" as cruel. Ironically, Pythagoras himself claimed to have been a
fisherman in a previous life.
First century Pythagoreanism is described in detail in The Life of
Apollonius of Tiana. The ancient texts record this neoplatonic philosopher
and miracle worker as having a divine birth, absorbing the wisdom of
Pythagoras, practicing celibacy, vegetarianism, as well as voluntary
poverty; healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, exorcising demons,
foretelling the future, and teaching the innermost secrets of religion.
Finally, the text says he never died, but went directly to heaven in a
physical assumption.
Sound familiar?
The late Reverend Janet Regina Hyland (1933 - 2007) once commented
wistfully, "Christians accept Jesus as the savior, but they (animal
activists) want Pythagoras to be the savior."
Anglican priest Reverend Andrew Linzey says in Christianity and the Rights
of Animals that Christian vegetarians do not have to claim it is always
wrong to kill. There might be circumstances where one might have to eat
flesh to keep from starving (a point admitted to by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada in a 1973 conversation with French Roman Catholic Cardinal Jean
Danielou) and that geographical considerations alone make it hard to
envision Palestine in the first century without some kind of primitive
fishing industry. But, Reverend Linzey says, when we are free to do
otherwise, the killing of Spirit-filled living entities requires moral
justification, and even then, it remains a consequence of original sin.
Bruce Friedrich, who distributed copies of his essay Veganism and
Nonviolence to the Catholic Worker communities before finishing his degree
at Grinnell College in Iowa and joining PETA in 1997, wondered if it's
possible Lent was originally a vegan observance. (Animal rights groups in
England are now promoting a Veg4Lent program, encouraging parishioners to
make the transition to veganism). And the late Reverend Janet Regina Hyland
(1933 - 2007) similarly wondered during that time if the original basis for
vegetarianism in the Christian monastic communities was based upon the
ethical treatment of animals, rather than asceticism.
That would be very hard to prove! As early as the third century, Origen (185
- 254 AD), whose influence upon the early church was second only to that of
Augustine, and who openly espoused belief in reincarnation (and belief in
rebirth in lower species as a punishment for sinning), followed the epistles
of Paul and contrasted Christian asceticism with the vegetarianism of the
Pythagoreans, when debating the Pythagoreans in Contra Celsum. He wrote:
"...when we do abstain (from eating meat), we do so because 'we keep under
our body and bring it into subjection' (I Corinthians 9:27), and desire 'to
mortify our members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence' (Colossians 3:5); and we use every
effort to 'mortify the deeds of the flesh.' (Romans 8:13)"
Similarly, in his 2004 book, The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According
to the Bible, Norm Phelps, Spiritual Outreach Director for the Fund For
Animals says the debate in Romans 14 concerns whether or not it is
acceptable for Christians to eat food offered to pagan idols -- like
Krishna-prasadam -- Madhavendra Puri dasa (Steve Bernath) of the
Bhaktivedanta Institute reports that at a Jewish-Vaishnava interfaith
conference in 1986, none of the rabbis would take prasadam, because they
considered it food offered to idols... whereas Catholic and Episcopal clergy
have defended Krishna devotees from charges of "idolatry" from Christian
fundamentalists and have favorably compared prasadam with the Eucharist.
Norm Phelps says Paul was not discussing vegetarianism based upon the
ethical treatment of animals. "That issue isn't even on Paul's radar
screen!" says Norm.
Apologists might argue that issue was "decided" after the Flood, but Paul
(and the gnostics that followed him) rejected the Law and the Old Testament.
In the late '90s, when someone wrote into the Animals' Agenda saying how Dr.
Laura Schlesinger had said, "After the Flood, all bets are off for animals,"
Dr. Richard Schwartz wrote in and said animal activists should follow the
example of Bruce Friedrich, highlighting the humane and compassionate
teachings of Jesus.
In the late '90s, Rachel MacNair, past president of Feminists For Life, and
a vegan Quaker pacifist, moderated an email list for pro-life vegetarians
and vegans (debunking the Republican lie that animal activists are all
pro-choice). She said she was put off by the Catholic doctrine of
vegetarianism as "penance," rather than seeing it as life-affirming: respect
for all life... like being pro-life!
Is carrying a child to term "penance"?
"Both Hegisuppus and Augustine, 'orthodox' sources, testify that James (the
brother of Jesus) was not only a vegetarian, but was raised a vegetarian,'
writes Keith Akers in the 1986 (updated) edition of A Vegetarian Sourcebook.
"If Jesus' parents raised James as a vegetarian, why would they not also be
vegetarian themselves and raise Jesus as a vegetarian?"
Christianity remained a part of Judaism even after the death and
resurrection of Jesus. From the Acts of the Apostles (2:22), we learn that
St. Peter believed Jesus to be "a man certified by God..."
It was God who made Jesus Lord and Messiah (2:36), and they hoped Jesus
would soon "restore the kingdom of Israel" (1:6) The first Jewish Christians
went to Temple daily (2:46), celebrated the festival of Weeks (2:1),
observed the Sabbath (1:12), and continued to worship the "God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob..." (3:13)
Christ's return, Judgment Day, and the creation of a new heaven and a new
earth were believed to be imminent. The earliest generations of Christians
lived with this expectation. (Matthew 24:29-25:46; Mark 13:24-37; Luke
21:25-36; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; James 5:7-9; I Peter 5:7; II Peter
3:3-12; I John 2:18; Jude 17-18; Revelations 22:20). Vegetarianism was
practiced in expectation of Christ's coming kingdom. Among the various early
Christian sects, the Montanists practiced vegetarianism with the belief that
Christ would soon return.
From history, we learn that the earliest Christians were vegetarians as well
as pacifists. For example, Clemens Prudentius, the first Christian hymn
writer, in one of his hymns exhorts his fellow Christians not to pollute
their hands and hearts by the slaughter of innocent cows and sheep, and
points to the variety of nourishing and pleasant foods obtainable without
blood-shedding.
Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD), a leading Stoic philosopher and a tutor of Nero, was
an ardent vegetarian. He started a vegetarian movement during one of Rome's
most decadent periods. Yet he had to abandon his cause. The early Christians
were vegetarian. The Emperor became suspicious that Seneca might also be a
Christian, so he went back to eating animal flesh. He wrote:
"Certain foreign religions (Christianity) became the object of the imperial
suspicion and amongst the proofs of adherence to the foreign culture or
superstition was that of abstinence from the flesh of animals. At the
earnest entreaty of my father, I was induced to return to my former habits."
Pliny, who was Governor of Bithynia, where Peter had preached, wrote a
letter to Trajan, the Roman Emperor, describing the early Christian
practices:
"...they met on a day before it was light (before sunrise) and addressed a
form of prayer to Christ as to a god, binding themselves by a solemn oath
never to commit any sin or evil and never to falsify their word, nor deny a
trust, after which it was their custom to meet again to take food, but
ordinary and innocent food."
The church father Irenaeus preserved a fragment of a quote by Papias,
disciple of John the Evangelist:
"Papias related how the elders and John heard the Lord teach that creation
renewed and liberated shall yield an abundance of all kinds of food, seeds,
grass, fruits, grains, and flour in corresponding proportion, and that all
animals will use these foods and become in turn peaceful and in harmony with
another and with man."
This teaching of Jesus corresponds to the vision of peace and vegetarianism
given in Isaiah (11:6-9, 65:25).
Clement I, Bishop of Rome, in an epistle to the Corinthians (AD 88 - 97)
similarly wrote: "Perennial springs, created for enjoyment... offer their
life giving breasts to man and even the smallest of animals that they get
together in peace. All things the Creator ordered to be in peace and
harmony... take refuge through our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Clementine Homilies, Ebionite or Jewish Christian teachings written
during the 2nd century, give us a picture of the life of Clement I, Bishop
of Rome. Clement is portrayed as a spiritual seeker, going to various
schools of thought, looking for solutions to his doubts about the origin of
the world, the immortality of the soul, etc. Eventually, he hears about how
Jesus appeared in Judea. He undertakes a long journey through Egypt to
Palestine, where he meets the apostle Peter in Caesarea. Clement becomes a
Christian and is invited by Peter to accompany him on his missionary
journeys.
The text includes debates between Peter and Simon Magus. Peter refers to
Jesus as "Teacher" and "Master," teaches Clement to love his enemies and
persecutors, insists upon the renunciation of worldly goods, and connects
flesh-eating to idolatry. In the Clementine Homilies, we read:
"The unnatural eating of flesh-meats is as polluting as the heathen worship
of devils, with its sacrifices and impure feasts, through participation in
which a man becomes a fellow-eater with devils."
Steven Rosen comments in his 1987 book, Food for the Spirit: Vegetarianism
and the World Religions: "Who are we to argue with St. Peter?"
Secular scholar Keith Akers writes in his as of yet unpublished manuscript,
Broken Thread, The Fate of the Jewish Followers of Jesus in Early
Christianity:
"...a list of known vegetarians among the church leaders reads very much
like a Who's Who in early Christianity. Peter is described as a vegetarian
in the Recognitions and Homilies. Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius, said that
James (the brother of Jesus) was a vegetarian and was raised as a
vegetarian. Clement of Alexandria thought that Matthew was a vegetarian...
"According to Eusebius, the apostles -- all the apostles, and not just James
-- abstained from both meat and wine, thus making them vegetarians and
teetotalers, just like James. Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil, Gregory
of Nanziance, John Chrysostom, and Tertullian were all probably vegetarians,
based on their writings... they themselves are evidently vegetarian and can
be counted on to say a few kind words about vegetarianism. On the other
hand, there are practically no references to any Christians eating fish or
meat before the council of Nicaea...
"Thus vegetarianism was practiced by the apostles, by James the brother of
Jesus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil, Gregory of Nanziance, John
Chrysostom, Tertullian, Bonaventure, Arnobius, Cassian, Jerome, the Desert
Fathers, Paul (the Hermit), Antony, Hilarion, Machrius, Columbanus, and
Aresenius -- but not by Jesus himself!
"It is as if everyone understood the message except the messenger. This is
extremely implausible. The much more likely explanation is that the original
tradition was vegetarian..."
In the (updated) 1986 edition of A Vegetarian Sourcebook, Keith Akers
concludes: "But many others, both orthodox and heterodox, testified to the
vegetarian origins of Christianity. both Athansius and his opponent Arius
were strict vegetarians. Many early church fathers were vegetarian,
including Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Heironymus, Boniface, and John
Chrysostom.
"Many of the monasteries both in ancient times and at the present day
practiced vegetarianism... The requirement to be vegetarian has been diluted
considerably since the earliest days, but the practice of vegetarianism was
continued by many saints, monks, and laymen. Vegetarianism is at the heart
of Christianity."
In her 1991 essay, "The Bible and Peace and War," Ursula King asks, "...how
are we to explain that Jesus, the founder of Christianity, is often called
'the Prince of Peace' and yet Western civilization so deeply shaped by the
Christian story which is clearly pacifist in origin and essence, has become
so militaristic from an early stage in its history?"
King quotes Christian pacifist John Ferguson from War and Peace in the
World's Religions, "The historic association of the Christian faith with
nations of commercial enterprise, imperialistic expansion and technological
advancement has meant that Christian peoples, although their faith is one of
the most pacifistic in its origins, have a record of military activity
second to none."
According to King, "In the early Church, pacifism was the dominant position
up to the reign of Constantine, when Christianity became a state religion.
Until then no Christian author approved of Christian participation in
battle, whereas in AD 314 the Council of Arles decreed that Christians who
gave up their arms in time of peace should be excommunicated."
Robin Gill has written: "The situation of the pre-Constantine church appears
all the more remarkable when it is realized that no major Christian church
or denomination has been consistently pacifist since Constantine. Indeed,
Christian pacifism has been largely confined to a small group of sects, such
as the Quakers, Anabaptists, Mennonites, Brethren and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Further, pacifists within the churches, as distinct from sects, have in
times of war been barely tolerated by their fellow Christians."
Vegetarians are like pacifists. Just as there have been persons throughout
history morally opposed to militarism and war, so have there been
vegetarians, morally opposed to killing animals. Like pacifists or
pro-lifers, vegetarianism in itself is merely an ethic, but has served as
the basis for entire religious traditions: Buddhism, Jainism,
Pythagoreanism, and possibly early Christianity immediately come to mind.
(According to vegetarian historian Rynn Berry, the evidence -- Scriptural,
theological, historical, etc. -- that Jesus was a vegetarian is
circumstancial, but nonetheless compelling.)
St. Peter referred to Jesus as "a man certified by God." (Acts 2:22) Victor
Paul Wierwille, founder of The Way International, wrote an entire book on
the subject, entitled, Jesus Christ Is Not God. It is unclear to some
Christians, having studied the Sanskrit literatures, whether Jesus is
jiva-tattva (one of God's children, like ourselves) or vishnu-tattva (an
expansion of God Himself, like the Trinitarian conception).
And is God limited to expanding Himself into a mere Trinity? According to
secular scholar Keith Akers, the Valentinian gnostics believed God could
expand Himself into multiple Supreme Beings yet still remain one, and the
Valentinian gnostics referred to these thirty manifestations of the Deity
with names like Father, Only-Begotten, Word, Life, Faith, Hope, Love, Grace,
Church, Advocate, etc.
According to Dr. Klaus Klostermaier, Vaishnavas, or the worshippers of Lord
Vishnu, like their Christian brethren, view Jesus Christ differently. "Some
Vaishnavas consider him an avatar or some kind of divine incarnation. Others
see him as a great teacher of moral codes and ethical principles, a saint
whose selfless spirit of sacrifice is a great inspiration to mankind. Then
there are those who see him as a miracle worker, a sort of yogi... There are
quite diverse conceptions of Christ both in the minds of Vaishnavas and in
the minds of Christians.
"Peter's confession to Jesus, saying, 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the
Living God' ... Now, this becomes a difficult passage to explain to
Hindus... Isvar ke putr -- 'the son of God' -- is a very common expression
in Hindu India. In the epics and Puranas are countless stories of 'sons of
gods' -- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva beget sons from princesses and queens.
Hindus will say: 'What is so special about Jesus? We are all sons of God.'
So the idea does not convey the notion of uniqueness as it does in the
West."
Pro-life feminist Mary Krane Derr (1963 - 2012), a vegetarian, served as
guest editor for a special online issue of Studies in Pro-Life Feminism in
the Fall of 1998, which can be viewed online at
www.fnsa.org .
Pax Christi USA contributed an article to the Fall 1998 issue, "Radical
Roman Catholics Affirm a Seamless Garment Position." The Seamless Garment
Network (SGN) is a coalition of peace and justice organizations on the
religious left, taking a stand against war, abortion, poverty, racism, the
arms race, the death penalty, and euthanasia. The missing doctrine in
restoring the church to its pristine condition is not giving up the false
doctrine of the godhood of Jesus, but rather embracing vegetarianism, which
was arguably, like pacifism, an original part of church teaching.
Go on to: Lukewarm About Criminalizing Abortion?
Return to: Articles