Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostommay obtain the prize, [how we may] be crowned with the Chaplet; let us do all by which we shallbe able to attain to the promised blessings. Which may we all attain in Christ Jesus our Lord, withwhom to the Father and also to the Holy Ghost be glory, might, honor, now and for ever and worldwithout end. Amen.Homily XV.Hebrews ix. 1–5“Then verily the first [covenant] had also ordinances of divine service, and a 3028 worldly Sanctuary.For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the Candlestick, and the Table, andthe Shew-bread, which is called the Sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle whichis called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaidround about with gold: wherein was the golden pot that had 3029 manna, and Aaron’s rod thatbudded, and the tables of the covenant: and over it the Cherubim of glory, shadowing theMercy-seat: of which we cannot now speak particularly.”[1.] He has shown from the Priest, from the Priesthood, from the Covenant, that that[dispensation] was to have an end. From this point he shows it from the fashion of the tabernacleitself. How? This, he says, [was] the “Holy” 3030 and the “Holy of Holies.” 3031 The holy place thenis a symbol of the former period (for there all things are done by means of sacrifices); but the Holyof Holies of this that is now present.And by the Holy of Holies he means Heaven; and by the veil, Heaven, and the Flesh 3032 “entereth3033into that within the veil”: that is to say, “through the veil of His flesh.” ( Supra , vi. 19; Heb.x. 20 .)And it were well to speak of this passage, taking it up from the beginning. What then does hesay? “Then verily the first had also” (the first what? “The Covenant”). “Ordinances of Divine3028the.3029held the.3030[ ἅ για , “ the sanctuary. ” ]3031[ ἅ για τῶν ἁγίων , “ the holiest of all. ” ]3032Cf. St. Cyr. Quod Unus Christus t. v. i. 761 c d.]3033This passage is translated [in the English edition] as if there was a point between τὴν σάρκα and εἰσερχομένην : and asif in the next clause τουτέστι was a part of the citation, being put by St. Chrys. before the words διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος ,instead of after them, as in Heb. x. 20 . St. Chrys. says that “ the veil ” represents both Heaven and “ the Flesh ” of our Lord;and cites the two places where it is so interpreted by the Apostle, vi. 19, x. 20 . See below [4], p. 440. [The simple translationof the Greek (as given in the text) seems far better than this curious modification. The clause τὴν σάρκα εἰσερχομένην εἰς τὸἐσώτ. τ. καταπετ . is closely connected together, and it is hardly tolerable to separate σάρκα from the participle agreeing withit. There is no “ which ” in the Greek.—F.G.]633