John Chrysostom

And observe how He distinguisheth between His bread and the manna, by causing them to hear the result of each kind of food. For to show that the manna afforded them no unusual advantage, He added, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead." He then establisheth a thing most likely to persuade them, that they were deemed worthy of greater things than their fathers, (meaning those marvelous men who lived in the time of Moses,) and so, after saying that they were dead who ate the manna, He addeth, "He that eateth of …

Homily on the Gospel of John 46 ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

They then who ate the manna (He says) are dead, not having received any participation of life therefrom (for it was not truly lifegiving, but rather taken as an aid against carnal hunger and in type of the true); but they who receive in themselves the Bread of Life, will have |408 immortality as their prize, wholly setting at nought corruption and its consequent evils, and will mount up unto boundless and unending length of Life in Christ. …

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 4 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He compares the food He gives them with manna. "I," He says, "am the bread of life, but those who ate manna died." He did not simply add the words "in the wilderness," but with the purpose of showing that the manna did not last long for the fathers — only in the wilderness — and it did not enter the promised land with them.

Commentary on John ↗

Augustine of Hippo

"I am," saith He, "the bread of life." And what was the source of their pride? "Your fathers," saith He, "did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead." What is it whereof ye are proud? "They ate manna, and are dead." Why they ate and are dead? Because they believed that which they saw; what they saw not, they did not understand. Therefore were they "your" fathers, because you are like them. For so far, my brethren, as relates to this visible corporeal death, do not we too die who eat the bread that cometh down from heaven? …

Tractates on John 26 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

It has been proven that the sacraments of the church are more ancient; now realize that they are more powerful. In very fact it is a marvelous thing that God rained manna on the ancestors and they were fed by daily nourishment from heaven. Therefore, it is said, "Humankind has eaten the bread of angels." And yet all those who ate that bread died in the desert, but this food that you receive, this "living bread, which came down from heaven," furnishes the substance of eternal life, and whoever eats this bread "will not die forever," …

On the Mysteries 8.47 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, Your fathers ate manna in the desert, and they are dead, he gives the major premise, namely, the bread that descended from heaven ought to have the effect of giving life. First, he explains this; secondly, he draws his point (v 50). He explains his meaning through a contrasting situation. It was said above that Moses gave the Jews bread from heaven, in the sense of from the air. But bread that does not come from the true heaven cannot give adequate life. Therefore, it is proper to the heavenly bread to give life. …

Commentary on John ↗