Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
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Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
Feebly again does Philip advance, not to the power of Jesus to do all things, and that easily, but on hearing Whence shall we buy said to prove him, forthwith he catches at it, and looks at the means by money alone, not conceiving that the nature of the thing may be accomplished otherwise than by the common law, and that practised by all, to wit, prodigality of expenditure. Therefore as far as regards the disciples' uncare for money and their possessing nothing, and Philip's own apprehension, which did not as yet with perfect clearness view the exceeding dignity of our Saviour, liberality towards the multitudes is turned into an impossibility. But it was not so, the will of the Saviour conducts it to its completion. The impossible with men is possible with God, and the Divine Power proves on all sides superior to the natural order of things with us, strong to accomplish all things wondrously, even what overleap our understanding.
2. What means, to prove him? Did not He know what would be said by him? We cannot assert that. What then is the meaning of the expression? We may discover it from the Old [Testament]. For there too it is said, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Take your beloved son whom you love Genesis 22:1-2; yet it does not appear in that place either, that when He says this He waited to see the end of the trial, whether Abraham would obey or not, (how could He, who knows all things before they come into existence? but the words in both cases are spoken after the manner of men. For as when (the Psalmist ) says that He searches the hearts of men, he means not a search of ignorance but of exact knowledge, just so when the Evangelist says that He proved (Philip), he means only that He knew exactly. And perhaps one might say another thing, that as He once made Abraham more approved, so also did He this man, bringing him by this question to an exact k...
