High Priests: Hebrews 7:26-8:2, especially vss. 1, 2: "...We have such a High Priest, Who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." In today's Epistle the Apostle holds up the vision of Christ Jesus, the great High Priest, "seated at the right hand...of the Majesty" (vs. 1), "higher than the heavens" (vs. 26). To aid in the consideration of this vision, St. Paul deliberately contrasts the Lord Jesus, our great High Priest, with the Levitical high priests descended from Aaron. The passage is appropriate as we celebrate the Feast of one of Christianity's High Priests, Archbishop John Chrysostom of Constantinople, for, in the Lord Jesus, we have the prototype of all high priesthood - both for the Old and the New Covenants, a Measure by Whom we may evaluate the character, achievements, and status of all high priests.
The character of our prototypal High Priest, the Lord Christ, is described by the Apostle as One Who is "holy, innocent [and] undefiled" (vs. 26, NAS). He is holy in the sense of being One Whose relationship with God and others manifests impeccable fidelity to the Covenant between God and His People. He is wholly without sin; whereas the Levitical high priests were forced daily to offer up sacrifices for their sins, being fallible, sinful men (vs. 27).
The Lord Jesus also is called "akakos," that is, "innocent," connoting that He is both guileless and untouched by evil. By contrast, the Apostle knew the stain of evil was upon the Aaronic high priests. One of them he even called a "whitewashed wall" for breaking the Law of God (Acts 23:3). The Biblical term "undefiled" mostly refers to ritual or cultic impurity, for, among the Aaronic priests, none was allowed to serve who was defiled by cultic misstep or bodily imperfection (Lev. 21:10-11; 17). By contrast, Christ, the great High Priest, is fit to serve in the eternal "sanctuary and...true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not men" (Heb. 8:2).
Christians expect their Bishops, our High Priests, to shape their lives by the character of the Lord whom they serve - to be holy, innocent and undefiled as they serve on earth. This, so that they may constantly increase in grace and become worthy of serving in the heavens. St. John Chrysostom, of blessed memory, truly was one from whom grace shone forth like fire to enlighten the universe and who attained "treasures of uncovetousness and...heights of humility."
The Apostle, in summing up the achievement of Christ as our High Priest, notes that it was "once for all when He offered up Himself" (vs. 27) - once as a sin-offering for all mankind. His Self-offering stands in marked contrast to the multiple sin-offerings of the Aaronic high priests. Being fallen men, they were bound necessarily "to offer up [daily] sacrifices, first for [their] own sins and then for the people's" (vs. 27; Sir. 45:14). In the present Gospel age, when our Christian Priests recall the great events by which the Lord gave "Himself up for the life of the world," they speak of these mighty acts of the Son of God, represented in the Divine Liturgy, "as memorials of His saving Passion....spread forth according to His commandment."
Aaronic high priests were men of "weakness," appointed under the Law, but the great High Priest was appointed "the Son Who has been perfected forever" (vs. 28). His status is that of a Minister "of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man" (v. 2). All Christian priesthood, including our hierarchs, the "high priests" of Orthodoxy, derive their priesthood from the Lord's Priesthood. On the seat-back of many episcopal thrones in our churches, one finds an icon of the High Priest, a reminder to all that our Bishops serve as icons and types of the reigning Christ, Who "is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (vs. 1).
Upborne upon the heavenly throne, O Christ our God, receive Thou the praises of angels and the hymns of men, exclaiming: Blessed is He that cometh to restore Adam!