ACC ~ Hebrews 8 v4 - 6

HE WAS NOT CRITICIZING THE LAW. THEODORET OF CYR: He mentioned this by way of defense to stress that he was not criticizing the law but regarding it also as venerable for containing the type of the heavenly things. This was the reason he said it was pointless to refer to him as a priest while living on earth, there being priests according to the law discharging the worship prescribed by the law. So if the priesthood according to the law also came to an end, and the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek offered sacrifice and made further sacrifices unnecessary, why do the priests of the New Covenant perform the sacramental liturgy? It is clear to those versed in divine things, however, that it is not another sacrifice we offer; rather, we perform the commemoration of the one, saving sacrifice. The Lord himself, remember, required this of us, “Do this in memory of me,”so that we should recall with insight the type of the sufferings undergone for us, kindle love for the benefactor and look forward to the enjoyment of the good things to come. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 8.

SHADOWS OF THE CHURCH. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Since they were in the darkness without a model, they managed their office according to a general affinity in divine matters. That is, all those ancient religious institutions were shadows and symbols of this institution of the church, which is established in its spirituality and divinity before him. And to Moses himself it was ordered, when he was about to build the tabernacle of the hour, “See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

THE END CONSISTS OF A RETURN. ORIGEN: Now if we correctly understand it, this is the statement Moses writes in the beginning of his book, when he says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” For this is the beginning of all creation: to this beginning the end and consummation of all things must return. That is, that heaven and earth may be the dwelling place and rest of the pious, so that all the saints and the meek may first obtain an inheritance in that earth, for this is the teaching of the law and the prophets and the gospel. In that earth I believe there exist, the true and living forms of worship which Moses handed down under the shadow of the law. For it is said that “they serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary”—that is, those who were in subjection in the law. To Moses himself it was also said, “See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”It seems to me, therefore, that on this earth the law was a kind of schoolmaster to those who by it were to be led to Christ and to be instructed and trained in order that, after the training of the law, they might more easily receive the more perfect precepts of Christ. So also that other earth, which receives into it all the saints, may first imbue and mould them by the precepts of the true and everlasting law, that they may more easily gain possession of those perfect precepts of heaven, to which nothing can be added. And in heaven there will truly be what is called the “eternal gospel” and that testament that is always new, which shall never grow old. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.6.8.

SHADOW OF HEAVENLY THINGS. THEODORET OF CYR: The divine apostle, by “shadow of the heavenly things”referred to the worship according to the law and confirms his statement with a scriptural testimony. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 8.

WORTHY OF THE HEAVENS. CHRYSOSTOM: Here we must apply our minds attentively and consider the apostolic wisdom. For again he shows the difference of the priesthood, “who,” he says, “serve a copy and shadow of heavenly things.” What are the heavenly things he speaks of here? The spiritual things. For although they are done on earth, yet nevertheless they are worthy of the heavens. For when our Lord Jesus Christ lies slain as a sacrifice, when the Spirit is with us, when he who sits on the right hand of the Father is here, when sons are made by the washing, when they are fellow citizens of those in heaven, when we have a country and a city and citizenship there, when we are strangers to things here, how can all these be other than “heavenly things”? But what! Are not our hymns heavenly? Do not we also who are below utter in concert with them the same things that the divine choirs of bodiless powers sing above? Is not the altar also heavenly? How? It has nothing carnal. All spiritual things become the offerings. The sacrifice does not disperse into ashes or into smoke or into steamy savor. It makes the things placed there bright and splendid. How again can the rites that we celebrate be other than heavenly? For when he says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained,” when they have the keys of heaven, how can all be other than heavenly? ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 14.3.

ANGELS SERVE NOT SHADOW BUT REALITY. ORIGEN: But who could more properly speak to us about who God is than the Son? “For no one knows the Father except the Son.”We too aspire to know how God is Spirit as the Son reveals it and to worship God in the Spirit that gives life and not in the letter that kills. We want to honor God in truth and no longer in types, shadows and examples, even as the angels do not serve God in examples and the shadow of heavenly realities but in realities that belong to the spiritual and heavenly order, having a high priest of the order of Melchizedek as leader of the saving worship for those who need both the mystical and secret contemplation. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13.146.

JESUS AS DELIVERER. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: It is now time to show that the very name of Jesus, and especially that of Christ, had already been honored by the ancient God-loving prophets. Moses himself, having been the first to make known the name of Christ as being especially revered and glorious, having handed down the types and symbols of heavenly things and the mysterious images according to the oracle which said to him, “See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain,”and having consecrated a man high priest of God insofar as it was at all possible, calls this man Christ. That is, to this dignity of the high priesthood, which surpassed all preeminence among humans, he attaches for additional honor and glory the name of Christ. Thus, then, he indeed knew Christ as a being divine. And the same Moses by divine inspiration foresaw the name Jesus very clearly and again also endowed this with special privilege. The name of Jesus, which had never been uttered among people before it was made known to Moses, Moses applied first to this one alone, whom he knew, again as a type and a symbol, would receive the rule over all after his death. His successor … had never before used the title Jesus but had been called by another name, Hoshea, which his parents had bestowed upon him. He himself [the successor] proclaims Jesus, as a privilege of honor far greater than a royal crown, giving him the name because Jesus, the son of Nun, himself bore a remembrance to our Savior, who alone, after Moses and the completion of the symbolic worship transmitted by him, received the rule of the true and pure religion. And in this way Moses bestowed the name of our Savior Jesus Christ as a mark of the greatest honor upon the two men who in his time surpassed all the rest of the people in virtue and glory—the high priest and him who would rule after him. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 1.3.

THE LAW AND OUR LIFE ARE SHADOWS OF GREATER THINGS. ORIGEN: The apostle says with reference to the law that they who have circumcision in the flesh “serve as the copy and shadow of heavenly things.” And in another place, “is not our life on earth a shadow?”If then both the law that is on the earth is a “shadow” and all our life that is on earth is the same, and we live among nations under the “shadow of Christ,” we must consider whether the truth of all these shadows will be learned in that revelation when, no longer “through a mirror and darkly,” but “face to face” all the saints shall be counted worthy to behold the glory of God and the causes and truth of things. And the pledge of this truth being already received through the Holy Spirit, the apostle said, “Even if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth we know him no more. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.6.7.

BELIEVE THE WORD AS INTENDED. ORIGEN: Since, however, “when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken,” we must admit, as far as the literal meaning is concerned, that, after the Lord was raised from the dead, the disciples understood that the things said about the temple refer to his passion and resurrection, and they recalled that the saying, “in three days I will raise it up” indicated the resurrection. It was then that “they believed both the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken,” since there is no earlier testimony that they had believed the Scripture or this word which Jesus spoke. For faith is, strictly speaking, the acceptance with one’s whole soul of the object of faith at baptism. But as for the anagogical meaning, since we previously mentioned the resurrection from the dead of the whole body of the Lord, we must know that the disciples—once they were reminded through the fulfillments of the Scripture which they had not thoroughly understood when they were in this life and once it was brought before their eyes and made manifest that it contained an example and shadow of certain heavenly things—believed what they formerly did not believe, and believed the word of Jesus as he who spoke it intended, which they had not understood before the resurrection.

For how can one be said to believe the Scripture in the proper sense, when one does not perceive the meaning of the Holy Spirit in it which God wants to be believed, rather than the intent of the letter? According to this, we must say that none of those who walk according to the flesh believe in the spiritual meanings of the law, whose first principle they do not even imagine. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.298-300.

MUCH MORE EXCELLENT. THEODORET OF CYR: He concisely brought out the superiority: whereas the Old Covenant had corporeal promises associated with it—a land flowing with milk and honey, olive groves and vineyards, big families and suchlike things—the New had an eternal and heavenly kingdom. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 8.

Heb