Fathers

Hebrews 8

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Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a servant of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.” But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, “that 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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.” In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing 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 ↗