Hello Homer,
When dealing with the Eucharist and the Early Church Fathers, one can often quote snippets, which I do myself, that might seem to support a particular position.
The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. Yet it is also a memorial of His death. As a memorial, some figurative language about the Eucharist will come about. Also, as spiritual food, one can also speak metaphorically about the Eucharist. I believe that this is what St. Clement does. The both/and language does not negate the literal existence of the Body and Blood of Jesus.
Symbols have no power, or that would be majic, and I know you don't espouse that!
As for the Irenaeus quote, I think that it's perfectly fine for Ireneaus to be speaking this way and still have in mind the Body and Blood of Christ. If I am imagining to be driving down the road, I can quite easily seen to be doing so. The "imagining" part is rhetorical, and I think doesn't prove anything.
I found these quote on realpresence.org which demonstrate that the Eucharist was thought of as truly the Body and Blood of Jesus by Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria, and shed a bit more light on the subject:
[Christ] has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies."
Source: St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 180 A.D.:
"So then, if the mixed cup and the manufactured bread receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, that is to say, the Blood and Body of Christ, which fortify and build up the substance of our flesh, how can these people claim that the flesh is incapable of receiving God's gift of eternal life, when it is nourished by Christ's Blood and Body and is His member? As the blessed apostle says in his letter to the Ephesians, 'For we are members of His Body, of His flesh and of His bones' (Eph. 5:30). He is not talking about some kind of 'spiritual' and 'invisible' man, 'for a spirit does not have flesh an bones' (Lk. 24:39). No, he is talking of the organism possessed by a real human being, composed of flesh and nerves and bones. It is this which is nourished by the cup which is His Blood, and is fortified by the bread which is His Body. The stem of the vine takes root in the earth and eventually bears fruit, and 'the grain of wheat falls into the earth' (Jn. 12:24), dissolves, rises again, multiplied by the all-containing Spirit of God, and finally after skilled processing, is put to human use. These two then receive the Word of God and become the Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of Christ."
-"Five Books on the Unmasking and Refutation of the Falsely
According to Irenaeus, and scripture, we receive eternal life from this Eucharist. Symbols or pure metaphors have no power such as this! Symbols do not nourish our flesh, thanks be to God.
And dealing with Clement:
"The Blood of the Lord, indeed, is twofold. There is His corporeal Blood, by which we are redeemed from corruption; and His spiritual Blood, that with which we are anointed. That is to say, to drink the Blood of Jesus is to share in His immortality. The strength of the Word is the Spirit just as the blood is the strength of the body. Similarly, as wine is blended with water, so is the Spirit with man. The one, the Watered Wine, nourishes in faith, while the other, the Spirit, leads us on to immortality. The union of both, however, - of the drink and of the Word, - is called the Eucharist, a praiseworthy and excellent gift. Those who partake of it in faith are sanctified in body and in soul. By the will of the Father, the divine mixture, man, is mystically united to the Spirit and to the Word.",
-"The Instructor of the Children". [2,2,19,4] ante 202 A.D.,
According to Clement, we are sanctified (made holy) in body and soul by the Eucharist, and united mystically to God. This is what the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have taught now for 2000 years. Symbols do not make one holy.
If Clement referred to the "drinkable properties of faith" this does not negate his believing that the Eucharist ALSO sanctifies us. I have seen Augustine also refer to the Eucharist metaphorically, yet he truly believed in the Eucharist as the literal body of Christ.
I can refer to my husband metaphorically as well- "Myne owne beloved husband is a sanctifying prayer sent from above."
This describing of my husband metaphorically does not negate that he really is flesh and blood. Honest! He is real flesh and blood.
God bless,
Liseux