With this striking exposition of Basil’s view of the spiritual meaning of eating the flesh and drinking the blood, cf. the passage from Athanasius quoted by Bp. Harold Browne in his Exposition of the XXXIX. Articles, p. 693.  It is not easy for Roman commentators to cite passages even apparently in support of the less spiritual view of the manducation, e.g. Fessler, Inst. Pat. i. 530, and the quotations under the word “Eucharistia,” in the Index of Basil ed Migne.  Contrast Gregory of Nyssa, in chap. xxxvii. of the Greater Catechism.