ACC ~ Hebrews 9 v11

THE FUTURE HIGH PRIEST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: All these things, as I have said, were performed according to rules by infirm priests up to the time when God made a correction. From that time “Christ” came “as a high priest” not of sacrifices but of “good things.” And he entered “the tent”—not a small one “made with hands” but a huge and perfect one, which is not the product of human work—“that is, not of this creation,” because it was made out of nothing, unlike that tent which was erected with the spoils of the Egyptians. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 9.

NOT MADE WITH HANDS. THEODORET OF CYR: Here he referred to human nature, which Christ the Lord assumed. It was not made in accordance with the law of marriage: the all-holy Spirit was responsible for the tabernacle. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 9.

THE NEW TABERNACLE OF THE CHURCH. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: The tent built under Moses was to signify servitude [to the law]. Therefore, the more perfect tent is the dwelling of grace, the body of Christ whose head is Christ himself. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 9.11.

THE ROBE OF PERFECTION. ORIGEN: It ought to be observed that the priest uses certain clothes while he is in the ministry of sacrifices and other clothes when he goes out to the people. Paul, the wisest of the high priests and the most knowledgeable of the priests, used to do this. When he was in the assembly of the perfect or, as it were, placed in the “Holy of Holies,” having put on the robe of perfection, he used to say, “Among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. … None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” But nevertheless, after all these things, “going out to the people,”he changes his robe and puts on another one, greatly inferior to that one. And what does he say? “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” You see, therefore, how this most learned priest, when he is among the perfect ones as in “the Holy of Holies,” uses one robe of doctrine. But when “he goes out” to those who are not capable, he changes the robe of the word and teaches lesser things. And he gives to some “milk” to drink as “children,” to others he gives “solid food,” of course, for those who, insofar as they are able, “have their faculties trained to distinguish good from evil.” Thus, Paul knew how to change robes and to use one with the people, another in the ministry of the sanctuary.

But the high priest of high priests, and the priest of priests, is our Lord and Savior, about whom the apostle said, “He is a high priest of the good things that have come.” Hear how first he did these things and so left them for his disciples to imitate. The Gospel refers to this, saying, “In parables he spoke to the crowds, and without parables he did not speak to them. But separately he explained them to his disciples.”You see how he taught that the high priest ought to use certain garments when he went out “to the crowds” and others when he ministered to the experienced and “perfect” in the sanctuary. So we must choose and do, lest Jesus find us so unprepared and bound to the cares of the world that he speaks to us as to the crowds “in parables,” that, “seeing, we may not see, and, hearing, we may not hear.” Rather, let us be worthy to be found among those to whom he says, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 4.6.4-5.

THE BODY AS TABERNACLE VEIL IN HEAVEN. CHRYSOSTOM: Well did he say, “greater and more perfect tent,” since God the Word and all the power of the Spirit dwells therein, “for it is not by measure that he gives the Spirit.”“More perfect,” as being both without blame and setting right greater things. “That is, not of this creation”—see how it was greater, for it would not have been “of the Spirit,” if humankind had constructed it. Nor yet is it “of this creation,” that is, not of these created things, but spiritual, of the Holy Spirit.

See how he calls the body tent and curtain and heaven: “Through the greater and more perfect tent.” “Through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” And again, “into the inner shrine behind the curtain.” And again, “entering into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God.” Why then does he say this? In accordance with whether one thing or another is signified. I mean, for instance, the heaven is a curtain, for as a curtain it walls off the Holy of Holies; the flesh is a curtain hiding the Godhead; and the tent likewise holds the Godhead. Again, heaven is a tent, for the priest is there within. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 15.4.

THE YEARS TO BUILD THE TEMPLE, THE DAYS TO RAISE IT UP AGAIN. BEDE: “The Jews said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’”They answered as they understood. But lest we too should perceive our Lord’s spiritual word in a carnal way, the Evangelist subsequently explained what temple it was of which he was speaking. … This number forty-six of years is most apt for the perfecting of our Lord’s physical body. Writers of natural history tell us that the form of the human body is completed within this number of days. During the first six days after conception it has a likeness to milk; during the following nine days it is changed into blood; next, in twelve days it becomes solid; during the remaining eighteen days it is formed into the perfect features of all its members; and after this, during the time remaining until birth, it increases in size. Six plus nine plus twelve plus eighteen make forty-five. If to this we add one, that is the day on which the body, divided into its separate members, begins to grow. We find the same number of days in the building up of our Lord’s body as there were years in the construction of the temple.

And because that temple made by human hands prefigured our Lord’s most sacred body, which he took from the Virgin, and in like manner pointed to his body which is the church, and to the body and soul of each one of the faithful, as we find in quite a few places in the Scriptures. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.1.

Heb