4.
For the priestly office is indeed discharged on earth, but it ranks amongst heavenly ordinances; and very naturally so: for neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself, instituted this vocation, and persuaded men while still abiding in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels. Wherefore the consecrated priest ought to be as pure as if he were standing in the heavens themselves in the midst of those powers. Fearful, indeed, and of most awful import, were the things which were used before the dispensation of grace, as the bells, the pomegranates, the stones on the breastplate and on the ephod, the girdle, the mitre, the long robe, the plate of gold, the holy of holies, the deep silence within. 1 But if any one should examine the things which belong to the dispensation of grace, he will find that, small as they are, yet are they fearful and full of awe, and that what was spoken concerning the law is true in this case also, that "what has been made glorious hath no glory in this respect by reason of the glory which excelleth." 2 For when thou seest the Lord sacrificed, and laid upon the altar, 3 and the priest standing and praying over the victim, and all the worshippers empurpled with that precious blood, 4 canst thou then think that thou art still amongst men, and standing upon the earth? Art thou not, on the contrary, straightway translated to Heaven, and casting out every carnal thought from the soul, dost thou not with disembodied spirit and pure reason contemplate the things which are in Heaven? Oh! what a marvel! what love of God to man! He who sitteth on high with the Father is at that hour held in the hands of all, 5 and gives Himself to those who are willing to embrace and grasp Him. And this all do through the eyes of faith! 6 Do these things seem to you fit to be despised, or such as to make it possible for any one to be uplifted against them?
Would you also learn from another miracle the exceeding sanctity of this office? Picture Elijah and the vast multitude standing around him, and the sacrifice laid upon the altar of stones, and all the rest of the people hushed into a deep silence while the prophet alone offers up prayer: then the sudden rush of fire from Heaven upon the sacrifice:--these are marvellous things, charged with terror. Now then pass from this scene to the rites which are celebrated in the present day; they are not only marvellous to behold, but transcendent in terror. There stands the priest, not bringing down fire from Heaven, but the Holy Spirit: and he makes prolonged supplication, 7 not that some flame sent down from on high may consume the offerings, but that grace descending on the sacrifice may thereby enlighten the souls of all, and render them more refulgent than silver purified by fire. Who can despise this most awful mystery, unless he is stark mad and senseless? Or do you not know that no human soul could have endured that fire in the sacrifice, but all would have been utterly consumed, had not the assistance of God's grace been great.
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Exod. xxviii. 4 sq. ↩
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2 Cor. iii. 10. ↩
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The Holy Eucharist is frequently called by St. Chrysostom and other Greek Fathers the Sacrifice, sometimes the "unbloody Sacrifice," partly as being an offering of praise and thanksgiving, partly as being a commemoration or representation of the sacrifice of Christ. We must bear in mind that no controversy had then arisen about this Sacrament, and that writers could freely use expressions which in later times would have been liable to objection or misconstruction. The passage before us must be read in the light of other passages in Chrysostom's works; but one of these is sufficient to indicate the sense in which it is to be understood. In Homily xvii. c. 3. on the Epistle to the Hebrews, after contrasting the many and ineffectual sacrifices of the Jews with the one perfect and efficient sacrifice of Christ, he proceeds, "What then? do we not make an offering every day? We do, certainly, but by making a memorial of His death; and this memorial is one, not many. How one, not many? Because the sacrifice was offered once for all, as that great sacrifice was in the Holy of Holies. This is a figure of that great sacrifice, as that was of this: for we do not offer one victim to-day and another to-morrow, but always the same: wherefore the sacrifice is one. Well, then, as He is offered in many places, are there many Christs? No, by no means, but everywhere one Christ, complete both in this world and in the other, one body. As then, though offered in many places, He is but one body, so is there but one sacrifice. Our High Priest is He who offers the sacrifice which cleanses us. We offer that now which was offered then: which is indeed inconsumable. This takes place now, for a memorial of what took place then. Do this,' said He, for my memorial.' We do not then offer a different sacrifice, as the high priest formerly did, but always the same; or rather we celebrate a memorial of a sacrifice." ↩
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This may be only a rhetorical expression, but perhaps there is an allusion to a custom which prevailed in some churches, that the worshippers after receiving the cup applied the finger to the moistened lip, and then touched their breast, eyes and ears. ↩
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The caution mentioned just now in note 3 must be repeated here. A comparison of passages in the writings of Chrysostom and his contemporaries proves clearly enough that they did not hold that the elements of bread and wine were transmuted into the body and blood of Christ in such a sense as to cease to be bread and wine. The authenticity of the letter of Chrysostom to Caesarius is doubtful, but whoever the writer may have been, he is clearly representing the current orthodox belief of the Church in his day. He maintains, in opposition to the Apollinarian or perhaps the Eutychian heresy, that there are two complete natures in the one person of God the Son Incarnate, and illustrates it by the following reference to the holy elements in the Eucharist: "Just as the bread before consecration is called bread, but when the Divine Grace sanctifies it through the agency of the priest it is released from the appellation of bread, and is deemed worthy of the appellation of the Lord's Body,' although the nature of bread remains in it, and we speak not of two bodies, but one body of the Son: so here the Divine nature being seated in the human body, the two together make up but one Son--one Person." ↩
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Some mss. omit the word pisteos "of faith," having in its place tote "at that time." ↩
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In the Liturgy which bears the name of St. Chrysostom, the following invocation of the Holy Spirit occurs: "Grant that we may find grace in thy sight that our sacrifice may become acceptable to Thee, and that the Good Spirit of thy grace may rest upon us, and upon these gifts spread before Thee, and upon all Thy people," and presently the deacon bids the people, "Let us pray on behalf of the precious gifts (i.e., the bread and wine) which have been provided, that the merciful God who has received them upon His holy spiritual altar beyond the heavens may in return send down upon us the divine grace and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost." ↩
