Homilies on Hebrews 14

'Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the holy things and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.'

Paul mingles the lowly things with the lofty—he who ever imitates his own Master—so that the lowly things may become a road to the lofty, and that by means of these men may be led by the hand to those, and, coming to be among the great things, may learn that these were matters of condescension.

This, at any rate, he does here also;

for having said that He offered up Himself, and having shown Him to be a high priest, he adds:

'Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.'

And yet this belongs not to a priest, but to Him to whom that priest ought to minister as to a God.

Nor is He a minister simply, but 'a minister of the holy things.'

'And of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.'

Do you see the condescension? Was it not but a little before that he drew the distinction, saying:

'Are they not all ministering spirits?' and for this reason they do not even hear this said of them;

and this he says as though He who is seated is by no means a minister;

so that He hears this said on account of the flesh.

And by 'tabernacle' he here means heaven.

Wherefore also, showing the difference with respect to the Jewish tabernacle, he adds, saying, 'Which the Lord pitched, and not man.'

See how he uplifted the souls of those who from among the Jews had believed, by saying this.

For since it was likely that they would imagine, 'We have no such tabernacle,' 'Behold,' he says, 'the priest, and a great one, and far greater than that one, and He offered a more wondrous sacrifice.'

But are these things perhaps mere words—mere boasting and cajolery of the soul? No; for this reason he confirmed it first from the oath, and now also from the tabernacle.

Now this difference, indeed, was itself plain;

but he devises yet another as well;

'Which the Lord pitched,' he says, 'and not man.'

Where then are those who say that heaven is in motion? where are those who declare it to be spherical? For both these notions are here overthrown.

'Now of the things which we have spoken,' he says, 'this is the sum.'

The 'sum' always means the greatest matter.

Having stated the lofty thing, he thereafter utters the lowly things without fear.

Then, that you may learn that the word 'minister' was spoken concerning His humanity, observe how again he marks it out;

'For every high priest,' he says, 'is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices';

'wherefore it is necessary that this One also have something which He may offer.'

Do not, because you hear that He is seated, suppose it to be idle talk that He is called a high priest;

for the former—the being seated—belongs to the dignity of God, but the latter to His great lovingkindness and to His care for us.

For this reason he dwells upon this very point, and lingers more upon it;

for he is afraid lest he overthrow that other truth.

For this reason he again brings the discourse down to this point, since certain persons were inquiring for what reason He died, being a priest.

But a priest without a sacrifice there is none;

it is necessary therefore that this One also have a sacrifice.

And in another way too, having said that He is above, he states and shows that He is a priest on every side—from Melchizedek, from the oath, from His offering a sacrifice.

From this, moreover, he next weaves yet another necessary syllogism.

For if He were on earth, he says, He would not even be a priest,

since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the Law.

If therefore He is a priest, he says—as indeed He is—it is needful that another place be sought for Him.

For while He was on earth, He would not have been a priest;

for how could He be? He offered no sacrifice, He performed no priestly service.

And he shows that it was not even possible for Him to be a priest on earth;

for how could He be? Since, he says, there was no exalted rising up.

Here it is necessary to strain the mind, and to perceive the wisdom of the Apostle;

for once again he shows the difference of the priesthood.

'Who,' he says, 'serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.'

What does he here call 'heavenly things'? The spiritual realities;

for even though they are performed on earth, yet nonetheless they are worthy of the heavens.

For when our Lord Jesus Christ lies slain, when the Spirit is present, when He who sits at the right hand of the Father is here, when men become sons through the washing, when they are citizens of the things in heaven, when we have our fatherland there, and a city, and a commonwealth, when we are strangers to the things here—how are not all these heavenly?

But what? Are the hymns not heavenly? Do we not below utter in concert with those above the very things which the divine choirs of the bodiless powers sing on high? Is not the altar too heavenly? How so? It has nothing carnal;

all that is set forth becomes spiritual;

the sacrifice is not dispersed into ashes, nor into smoke, nor into the savour of burnt fat, but it renders the things set forth bright and radiant.

And how are the things accomplished not heavenly, when those who minister at them hear even yet the words that were spoken:

'Whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained;'

'whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted'? How are not all things heavenly, when these men hold even the keys of heaven? 'Who,' he says, 'serve unto the example and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned of God when he was about to complete the tabernacle;'

'For see, He says, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount.'

Since our hearing is less apt to learn than our sight (for we do not so lay up in the soul the things we hear, as those we behold with our very eyes), He showed him all things.

Either, then, he means this by 'the example and shadow';

or he is hinting at the temple;

for he added, 'See that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount.'

Was it then only concerning the construction of the temple, or did he also see concerning the sacrifices and all the rest?

Rather, one would not err in saying this also.

For the Church is heavenly, and is nothing else than heaven.

'But now He hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant.'

Thou seest, he says, by how much the one ministry is better than the other, if indeed that one was an example and a type, but this is the truth.

But this in no way profited the hearers, nor gladdened them.

Wherefore he mentions that which above all gladdened them, saying:

'Which was established upon better promises.'

Having removed them from the place, and the priest, and the sacrifice, he then sets down also the excellence of the covenant;

having said even earlier, when he was showing that it was weak and unprofitable.

And see what safeguards he lays down, when he is about to accuse it.

For there, having said, 'After the power of an endless life,' he then said that 'there is made a disannulling of the commandment going before;'

then afterwards also he laid down something great, saying:

But here, having led us up into heaven, and shown that instead of the temple we have heaven, and that those things were types of ours, and having exalted the ministry by these means, he fittingly henceforth exalts the priesthood also.

But, as I said, he sets down that which above all gladdens them, saying:

'Which was established upon better promises.'

Whence is this manifest? From the fact that this one was cast out, and that one was brought in in its stead;

for it prevails for this reason, because it is better.

For just as he says, 'If perfection were by it, what further need was there that another priest should rise up after the order of Melchisedek?' so here too he employs the same reasoning, saying:

'For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second;'

that is, if it had lacked nothing, if it had made men faultless.

For that he speaks concerning this, hear what follows:

'For finding fault with them, He saith:'

He said not, 'Finding fault with it,' but, 'Finding fault with them.'

'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will accomplish upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;'

'because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.'

And whence is it manifest that it has come to an end? He showed this indeed even from the priest;

but now he shows it more clearly, in so many words, that it has been cast out.

But how? 'Upon better promises,' having said this.

For where is there equality, tell me, between earth and heaven? But do thou observe how there too he says 'Promises,' that thou mayest not on this account accuse the new.

For there too, 'by which we draw near to God,' he says, 'a better hope,' showing that there also is hope;

and here, 'of a better promise,' hinting that there too He gave a promise.

But since they were always making accusation: 'For behold, the days come, saith the Lord,' he says, 'when I will accomplish upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah a new covenant.'

He does not speak of some old covenant.

For that they might not be able to say this, he also determined the time;

for he did not simply say, 'according to the covenant that I made with their fathers,' lest thou shouldest speak of that made with Abraham, or that with Noah;

but making clear which one, he says, 'Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers'—those in the exodus.

'In the day when I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;'

'because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.'

Dost thou see that the evils begin first from us? 'They,' he says, 'first continued not.'

Henceforth the negligence too is from us, but the good things are from Him—I mean the things of His beneficence.

Here he sets down as it were a defence, showing the very cause for which He forsakes them.

'For this is the covenant, He saith, that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will give My laws into their mind, and write them upon their hearts;'

'and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.'

Thus he says these things concerning the new covenant, because he says:

'Not according to the covenant that I made.'

And what other difference is there but this? Yet if one should say that the difference lies not in this, but in its being given into their hearts—

he does not introduce a difference of commandments, but points out the manner of the giving.

For the covenant, he says, shall no longer be in written characters, but in hearts.

Let the Jew, then, show that this ever came to pass;

for it came about again in written characters after the return from Babylon.

But I show that the apostles received nothing in writing, but received it in their hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Wherefore also Christ said:

When He is come, He shall bring to your remembrance all things, and shall teach you.

And they shall not teach, He says, every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord;

for all shall know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses, and their iniquities and their sins will I remember no more.

From the least, He says, unto the greatest of them they shall know Me, and they shall not say:

When has this come to pass except now? For our case is manifest;

but their case is not manifest, but was shut up in a corner.

In another sense, a thing is then called new when it is different, and when it shows that it has something more than the old.

But this too happens to be new, when part of it is taken away and part is not;

for instance—to speak by way of an example—if someone, leaving the whole of an old house that is about to fall, should underpin the foundation, we straightway say, He has made it new, whenever he takes some parts out and brings other parts in their stead.

For the heaven also is thus called new, when it is no longer as brass, but gives rain;

and the earth likewise is new when it is not unfruitful, not when it is transformed.

And a house is new in this way, when part of it is taken away and part remains.

So that he also well called it a new covenant;

in order to show that that covenant had become old, in that it gave no fruit.

And that you may learn it exactly, read what Haggai says, what Zechariah, what the angel, and of what Ezra complains.

How then did he receive it? And how does no one inquire of the Lord, seeing that they themselves also transgressed, and did not even know it? Do you see how forced your position is? But I lay down my own position, that this may properly be called new.

In another sense, neither do I concede that that saying was spoken concerning this, namely, The heaven shall be new.

For why, when he says in Deuteronomy that The heaven shall be brass, did he set this down conditionally—but if you hearken, it shall be new? And indeed for this reason he says that He will give another covenant, because they did not abide in the former.

This I show from the words by which he says:

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.

Why do you tempt God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Because they themselves, he says, did not abide in it.

Here he shows that He accounts us worthy of greater and more spiritual things.

For their sound, he says, went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

That is to say, They shall not say, every man to his neighbor, Know the Lord.

And again, The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas.

In that He says a new covenant, He has made the first old.

But that which is becoming old and waxing aged is near to vanishing away.

Behold the thing that was hidden, how he uncovered the mind of the prophet.

He honored the law, and would not call it old by name;

for if that had been new, he would not have called this also, which came after it, new.

So that, giving something more and different, He says, It has become old.

Therefore it is being dissolved and perishing and no longer exists.

Taking his boldness from the prophet, he lays hold of him the more, for our profit, showing that our things now flourish;

that is, he showed it to be old.

Then, taking the name of the old, and adding of himself another, the name of age, he took what was still lacking from the rest, and says:

The new therefore did not simply put an end to the old, but as to something that had grown aged, as no longer useful.

For this reason he said, By reason of its weakness and unprofitableness, and, The law made nothing perfect, and that, If the first had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second.

What is faultless? Useful, strong.

But he says this, not so as to show it liable to accusations, but as not sufficing; he spoke in a more homely way.

The house is not faultless, that is, it has a defect, it is rotten;

the garment is not faultless, that is, for the rest it is falling apart.

Not, then, as being wicked does he here speak of it, but as having the fault and defect.

So then we too are new, or rather we became new;

for this reason we are near to vanishing away and to destruction.

But, if we are willing, it is possible to scrape off this old age.

By the laver indeed it is no longer possible, but by repentance it is here possible.

If there be anything old in us, let us cast it away;

if any wrinkle, if any blemish, if any spot, let us wash it off, and let us become fair, that the King may desire our beauty.

It is possible, even for those who have fallen into the utmost deformity, to recover that beauty concerning which David says:

Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, and the King shall desire your beauty.

And indeed forgetfulness does not make beauty—beauty of the soul.

Forgetfulness of what sort? Of sins.

For He is speaking to the Church that is from among the Gentiles, exhorting her not to remember her ancestral things, that is, of those who sacrificed to idols;

for from such was she gathered together.

And He did not say, Do not go after them;

but what is more, Do not even take them into your mind:

I will not make mention of their names through my lips;

That my mouth may not speak the works of men.

or rather great indeed, but not such a thing.

For there what does He say? He did not say, You shall not speak the things of your fathers, but, Neither call them to remembrance, nor take them into your mind.

Do you see how great a distance He would have us keep from wickedness? For he who does not remember, will not reckon;

and he who does not reckon, neither speaks it forth.

But he who does not speak out will not act either.

...let us forget our own evils—not, I mean, the sins committed by us.

by such great distances, and that from what is greater? Let us then, we too, give ear, and let us forget our own evils—not, I mean, the sins committed by us.

For 'Do you,' He says, 'first call to remembrance, and I will not remember.'

Let us no longer keep plunder in memory, but let us even give back what we formerly seized.

This is what it means to forget wickedness: to cast out the rapacious calculation and never again to receive it, and moreover to blot out the offenses already committed.

But whence might a forgetfulness of vice come to us? From the remembrance of God's good gifts.

If we remember God without ceasing, we cannot also keep those other things in mind.

For 'If I remembered You,' he says, 'upon my bed, in the early mornings I meditated upon You.'

We ought indeed always, but most of all then, to remember God—when the mind is at rest, when through that remembrance it is able to pass judgment upon itself, when it can be held fast in the remembrance.

For if we remember Him by day, other cares and disturbances come in upon us and again drive it out;

but by night it is possible to remember Him without ceasing, when the soul is in calm and repose, when it is in harbor, when it is in fair weather.

'What you say in your hearts,' he says, 'be pierced with compunction upon your beds.'

For we ought indeed to hold this remembrance even through the day;

but since you are always anxious and distracted with the affairs of this life, at least then, upon your bed, remember God;

in the early mornings meditate upon Him.

If in the early mornings we meditate upon these things, we shall go forth to our business with great security;

if first we make God propitious to us by intercession and supplication, then, as we go on, we shall have no enemy.

And even if you have one, you will laugh him to scorn, having God propitious to you.

There is war in the marketplace, our daily affairs are a battle, there is a surge of the sea and a tempest.

We need favorable winds; we need to learn all things, so as to accomplish the length of the day without shipwrecks and wounds;

for many are the rocks each day, and often the vessel has dashed against them and been sunk.

For this reason we especially need prayer at dawn and at night.

Many of you have often beheld the Olympic games;

and not only beheld them, but became zealous supporters and admirers of the contestants—one of this man, another of that.

You know then that both during the days of the contests and during those nights, the whole night through the herald thinks of nothing else, is anxious about nothing else, than how the contestant may come forth without disgrace.

For those who sit beside the trumpeter charge him not to utter a sound to anyone, lest by spending his breath he incur ridicule.

If then he who is about to contend before men uses such great forethought, much more will it befit us to be continually anxious and careful—we for whom the whole life is a contest.

Let every night therefore be a vigil, and let us take care how, going forth by day, we may not incur ridicule.

But now the Steward of the contest sits at the right hand of the Father, listening precisely lest we utter anything discordant, anything out of tune;

for He is a judge not of deeds only, but also of words.

We too have supporters, if we are willing;

beside each of us sits an angel;

but we snore the whole night through;

and many even do many licentious things—some going off to the very brothels, others turning their own houses into brothels by bringing harlots there.

Very finely indeed (is it not so?) do they take care to contend!

Others get drunk and babble senselessly, others make an uproar, others keep evil vigils, weaving snares worse than those who sleep;

others counting up interest on loans, others worn out with cares, and doing anything rather than the things that befit the contest.

Wherefore, I beseech you, letting all these things go, let us look to one thing only: how we may receive the prize and bind on the crown;

let us do everything by which we may be able to attain the good things which have been promised;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ.