Fathers

Hebrews 8

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Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the 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. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

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What the Fathers say

Hebrews 8:5

Eastern Fathers

John 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 unto the example 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. …

Homily on Hebrews 14 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Here he shows the superiority of Christ's priesthood, calling the Old Testament priesthood "a copy and shadow," while ours is heavenly. For when nothing is earthly, but rather everything in the sacraments is spiritual, where there are angelic hymns, where there are the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the forgiveness of sins, and again the binding; when our citizenship is in heaven, then how can our priesthood not be heavenly? …

Commentary on Hebrews ↗

Oecumenius

"who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things." Those who are priests of the Jews, he says. And how do they serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things? For he says, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain." And the things shown to him were heavenly. There were also services, and prayers, and sacrifices, and the construction of the tabernacle. …

The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

388. – But according to the first explanation the reading is continued in the following way: There would be many who according to the law would offer such gifts, namely, those who serve a copy [exemplar] and shadow of heavenly things. The sacraments of the Old Law were figures of other things in two respects: first, in regard to knowledge; secondly, in regard to fulfillment. In regard to knowledge he says, exemplar, because in the Old Law, as in an exemplar could be read that to which our knowledge should be led. …

Commentary on Hebrews ↗