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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Theophylact of Ohrid
Just as the earthly high priests served when entering the Holy of Holies, so too He is truly the minister of the holy, true, heavenly sanctuaries. It would seem that Paul here contradicts himself. For in the beginning he said: "To which of the Angels did God ever say: 'Sit at My right hand…'? Are they not all ministering spirits…?" (Heb. 1:13–14), as if giving to understand that a minister ought not to sit. But now, having said "sat down at the right hand of the throne," he again presents Him as a minister. …
Oecumenius
"a minister of the sanctuary." The High Priest, he says, is of men who have been sanctified by him. For he is our High Priest. If he sat at the right hand of the Father, how is he a minister? For it is proper for ministers to stand and serve; but to sit is the role of God to whom the ministry is rendered. But, as has been said, the humble mingles with the awe-inspiring, so that by sitting he may show divinity, and by ministering the guardianship and humanity concerning us.
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
Let men therefore learn and understand why the Most High God, when He sent His ambassador and messenger to instruct mortals with the precepts of His righteousness, willed that He should be clothed with mortal flesh, and be afflicted with torture, and be sentenced to death. For since there was no righteousness on earth, He sent a teacher, as it were a living law, to found a new name and temple, that by His words and example He might spread throughout the earth a true and holy worship. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
382. – Then when he says, a minister of the holies, he shows the dignity of his office. He says, minister of the sanctuary [holies], i.e., of the holy precincts, namely, of the sanctuary. For the ministers of old received the ministry of guarding sacred things and serving the tabernacle. But Christ had this in a more excellent manner, because He is a minister, not inasmuch as He is God, for then He is the author, but inasmuch as He is man: 'And passing he will minister until them' (Lk. 12:37). …
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