When they pierced Jesus on his side, why did blood and water come out of him?
According to St. John Chrysostom, at the moment when blood and water came out, “an ineffable mystery was accomplished”. The mystery lies on the one hand in the fact that whereas the blood of the other dead people did not come out, because it hardened at once, Christ’s came out, and on the other hand that where blood and water came out of the same place, they were separated, so that they could be distinguished. This fact can not be explained otherwise than that “he who was pierced is suprahuman” and that it was God’s economy for the two basic sacraments of the Church: Baptism (water) and the divine Eucharist (blood), to appear. This act of utter condensation and economy shows also that it was then that the Church was created because it rests on these two Sacraments. The blood indicates the redemption and deliverance and the water indicates the purification (St. Athanasios the Great) As Eve was created from Adam’s side, thus was also the Church created from the side of the new Adam, Chri
