ACC ~ Hebrews 13 v11 - 14

HE SUFFERED OUTSIDE THE GATE. PHOTIUS: This is spoken to those who would still be at a loss, asking, “How do you say, ‘you have an altar’? For what was offered on it?” It is Christ himself whom you neglect above and below and fail to see that he was sacrificed, since his sacrifice and offering took place for the world, although he himself has not been sacrificed on your altar. For it is manifest that “he suffered outside” the city of Jerusalem. Therefore he says to them, “Yes, he suffered outside, but through this very fact it has rather been accomplished that ‘we have an altar.’ For even among you ‘the bodies’ of the sacrificial victims ‘are burned’ not on the altars themselves, but ‘outside the camp.’ And still for this reason ‘he suffered outside the gate,’ so that he might sanctify all and not merely the priests. And if the sacrifice took place for all, how could it not have been an altar?” But the statement “in order to sanctify the people” gives a different interpretation. He says, “I said that ‘those serving the temple do not have authority to eat’ from our altar, not because this is impossible for them, but because in their opinion they reject themselves as unworthy, since—due to the mercy of Christ—not only is it not forbidden, but for this very reason he once suffered.” He says, ” ‘He suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people,’ not this people or that one but all the people and to grant them to have the authority to eat also from this altar.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 13.10-13.

THE CROSS IS THE ALTAR OF THE WORLD. LEO THE GREAT: “Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed,” as the apostle says. Offering himself to the Father as a new and real sacrifice of reconciliation, he was crucified—not in the temple whose due worship is now completed, nor within the enclosure of the city which was to be destroyed because of its crime, but “outside the camp.” That way, as the mystery of the ancient sacrifices was ceasing, a new victim would be put on a new altar, and the cross of Christ would be the altar not of the temple, but of the world. SERMON 59.5.

OUTSIDE THE CAMP. THEODORET OF CYR: “Outside the camp” means, Let our way of life be beyond the law, and let us bear the reproaches for the one who saved us. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 13.

JESUS CALLS US AWAY FROM THE WORLD. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: The Lord Redeemer very rightly commanded whoever would follow Him to strip himself and leave the world; for a man ought first to cast off from himself the causes of slackness, and then approach the work. When the Lord Himself began to wage war with the devil, He fought him in the arid desert. Paul also exhorts those who take up the cross of Christ to go forth from the city, saying: “Let us go forth unto Him without the city and take up His reproach, for He suffered without the city.” For by setting himself apart from the world and what pertains to it, a man speedily forgets his former habits and his mode of life and he will not struggle long with these. But if he should draw near to the world and its possessions, he will speedily enfeeble the strength of his mind. Wherefore one must know that separation from the world greatly aids a man and guides him on the way of progress in the fierce and saving struggle. It is proper, then, and helpful in this struggle if a monk’s cell be in a poor and mean condition, and if his cell be empty and devoid of everything that could incite in him the desire of ease. For when the causes of slackness are distant from a man, he is not endangered by the twofold warfare, that is, the one which is both inward and outward. See how much easier is the struggle when a man desires things that are afar off than when the very things themselves are close at hand and by their sight inflame the thoughts; for the struggle in the latter case is twofold. ASCETICAL HOMILIES 37.

JESUS CALLS US INTO THE WORLD. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The body of the beasts was an example for our Lord, and our Lord is an example for us, so that “we may go forth outside the camp,” that is, go out and become evangelists of his preaching, “and bear the abuse he endured.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 13.

THE BLOOD OF A RED HEIFER. THEODORET OF CYR: Look at the type, compare it with the reality and perceive the similarity. The law required a red heifer to be sacrificed, and the high priest to take some of its blood and sprinkle the mercy seat seven times with his finger. Burning the heifer itself outside the camp, they took the ashes and with them purified those people called impure. This acted as a type of the saving passion. The word red here means the body from Adam in the Hebrew language.He was fixed to the cross outside the gate. His blood purifies our souls; in place of the dust we have the life giving body. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 13.

WE HAVE NO LASTING CITY. THEODORET OF CYR: So let us despise things of this life and look forward to those that are stable and permanent. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 13.

Heb