One of the most contrasting scenes in the Bible became the backdrop for the institution of the priesthood. Moses had spent forty days with God on Sinai and received the tablets of the Law; the Hebrew people, for their part, prevaricated by prostrating before a golden calf. Coming down from his retreat on the mountain, the man of God beheld the enormous infidelity of Abraham’s descendants and, filled with zeal, decided to intervene. “Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.’” (Ex 32:26). The sons of Levi gathered around him to make reparation for the offences committed against God’s honour.
In ancient Israel, God chose and consecrated the Levites to serve Him in the Tabernacle as His mediators with and the people
The Lord of hosts, who protects those who defend Him and exalts those who avenge Him, would not fail to reward such fidelity. Because of the Levites’ obedience, He chose and consecrated them (cf. Nm 3:12) to serve Him in the Tabernacle as His mediators with the people. Therefore, in the distribution of the Promised Land, they would not receive any portion with their brothers, since they had the Eternal as their lot: the Lord Himself would be their inheritance (cf. Nm 18:20).
The Lord’s “clergy” originated from intransigence in the face of corruption. In fact, this word from the Greek language – κλῆρος: kléros – means a portion or share.1 It refers to the sector of the people who have only the Lord as their inheritance… as if the term “only” could precede the name of Him who is everything.
The etymologies of “priest”
From that moment on, the Holy Scriptures began to be illuminated here and there by this golden word: priest. However, in order to understand what was meant by this office, we need to look at its deep meaning in the languages of the Old Testament, of the New Testament and of the Church.
In the Hebrew Bible, it is the term kohen that designates it. Its etymology can lead to two meanings that, in part, describe the Levite: if we go back to the verb kánu, we find the meaning of bowing down, paying homage; if we go back to the triliteral root KWN, that of standing, since only the priest is given the right to stand before Yahweh.2
As for the version of the Seventy – the first Greek translation of the Bible – it adopted the term hiereus for the translation of kohen, which contains the idea of the sacred, of what belongs to God and not to men. “The hiereus is one who has the function of performing the sacred ceremonies and especially sacrifice, which is considered a public service.”3
In the language of the Church, Latin, the word sacerdos is used, which again evokes the meaning sacred thing. The verb that goes into its composition properly means to set upon foundations or to found; thus, the sacerdos has the mission of fulfilling what is sacred, giving it a just foundation.4
Consecrated and sacred
The priesthood as instituted by a divine mandate began with Aaron, Moses’ brother from the tribe of Levi. Until then, it is said, the so-called priestly functions were exercised by the heads of each family, without there being a specific social class dedicated to them.5 In the Book of Exodus we read the Lord’s clear command to Moses to consecrate a caste of priests: “bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve Me as priests” (28:1).
The Levite priest was called ‘sanctified’ for he belonged to realm of the sacred; however, God reserved a more sublime priesthood for mankind
This consecration conferred upon Aaron and his descendants imparted to them a state of holiness that enabled them to approach God during worship. In fact, in the Hebrew world, priests were referred to as the “sanctified”, that is, persons who no longer belonged to the profane sphere but to the sacred. The high priest himself, as prescribed in the Law (cf. Ex 28:36), was to wear a gold plate on which was engraved: sanctified to Yahweh.
Thus, in ancient Israel, the priest was chosen primarily for the service of the sanctuary, which consisted of offering the victims on the altar, transmitting divine oracles to the people, giving them instruction and teaching them the precepts of the Law.6
The root and end of all these duties, the Levite’s main function was to be a mediator between God and the people: “When the priest transmits an oracle, he communicates an answer from God; when he gives an instruction […] and later, when he explains the Law, […] he transmits and interprets a teaching that comes from God; when he brings the blood and meat of the victims to the altar and when he makes the incense rise, he presents the prayers and petitions of the faithful to God. Representative of God before men in the first two functions, representative of men before God in the third, in all cases he is a mediator.”7
Enhancement of the sublime
It would seem impossible for there to be any greater sublimity than that of the priest of the Old Law: to be the bridge between the finite and the Infinite, between time and the Eternal, between the miserable and Mercy. God, however, reserved for humanity an even higher priesthood. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to earth and “abolishes the first in order to establish the second” (Heb 10:9). The new priest would also be on a higher pinnacle.
“Imagine,” exhorts St John Chrysostom, “that you have the prophet Elijah before your eyes; see the huge crowd that surrounds him, the victims on the stones, the absolute stillness and silence of everyone and only the prophet praying and, suddenly, the fire that descends from Heaven on the sacrifice. All this is marvellous and fills us with awe.
“Now bring yourself back to contemplate what is happening among us, and you will see not only marvellous things, but something that surpasses all admiration. The priest stands here, not so that fire may come down from Heaven, but so that the Holy Spirit may descend; and he prolongs his prayer at length, not so that a flame come down from above to consume the victims, but so that grace may descend upon the sacrifice and, setting the souls of all those present ablaze, leave them shining brighter than burnished silver. […]
“For whoever attentively considers what it is for a man still clothed in flesh and blood to be able, nevertheless, to come so close to that blessed and most pure nature, he will be able to understand well how great is the honour that the grace of the Spirit has bestowed on priests.”8
Where is the source of this excellence of the new Levites? In the Eternal Priest, who is both the unblemished Victim and the Altar of sacrifice, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Christ the Priest and the priest of Christ
It was fitting that our high priest be One who is “holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens”
“For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. […]. Indeed, the Law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the Law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever” (Heb 7:26, 28).
Such august words about such superior realities leave us speechless with admiration. St. Thomas Aquinas, however, defies the silence of awe and sings true wonders about the fontal character of Christ’s priesthood, commenting on the aforementioned Epistle to the Hebrews.
The Angelic Doctor explains9 that Jesus, as far as holiness is concerned, perfectly fulfilled all the conditions required of a priest: He was consecrated to God from His conception; He remained supremely innocent, since He committed no sin; He remained without blemish, an aspect well symbolized by the lamb without blemish of the ancient Law (cf. Ex 12:5); He remained separate from sinners because, although He lived among them, He never trod their paths (cf. Wis 2:15); finally, “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3), lifting up human nature with Himself. He is, in short, the source of all priesthood, its summit and its purpose.
In His priesthood, He wished to make a few chosen ones participate. In fact, “when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own […], He loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). And to prove His benevolence, He instituted two great Sacraments at the end of His life: the Eucharist, giving Himself in the Supper – “This is my Body” (Lk 22:19a) – and Holy Orders, granting the Apostles the power to prolong the Master’s sacramental presence and His priestly acts until the end of the world – “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Lk 22:19b).
Unveiling this greatness, the Catechism states that “In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ Himself who is present to His Church as Head of His Body, Shepherd of His flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice.”10
Holiness: a requirement!
This sublime doctrine reveals, it is true, the very high dignity with which God our Lord has endowed priests. At the same time, however, it reveals the immense responsibility that ordained ministers carry on their shoulders.
“Understand, therefore, what you do,” cries the Holy Church to the priest, “and imitate what you celebrate. As celebrants of the mystery of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection, strive to put to death whatever in your members is sinful and to walk in newness of life.”11
Walk in newness of life! This is not a request, but a demand, an obligation of one whose hands have been anointed for ministry. It is a requirement of his exalted position as mediator and the condition for his labours to germinate: “Holiness does much for priests in carrying on a fruitful ministry. […] God chooses, to show forth His wonders, those who are more open to the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, and who can by reason of their close union with Christ and their holiness of life say with St. Paul: ‘And yet I am alive; or rather, not I; it is Christ that lives in me’ (Gal 2:20).”12
By consecrating the sacramental Body of the Lord, the priest also acquires direct power over the Mystical Body of Christ. It is his duty to instruct, sanctify and govern the members of the Church. These obligations mean that he always tends towards spiritual perfection, towards the summit of union with Our Lord, towards the summit of Calvary.
God, however, becomes the omnipotent Cyrenian of His ministers and uses the most excellent graces to help them. Sanctifying grace, for example, which the Sacrament of Holy Orders increases ex opere operato in the priest, “is like the finishing touch that likens the soul to Christ.”13 Sacramental grace, moreover, “implies an increase in all those virtues and gifts that we might call professional: the gifts of piety and the virtue of religion, in order to offer sacrifice worthily; the gift of wisdom, in order to instruct; the virtue of prudence, in order to govern.”14
If it is true, in this sense, that the existence of the faithful priest resembles a continuous crucible of holiness, it is also true that with this he becomes worthy of being a “living ciborium of divinity.”15
The prefiguration gives way to its realization
This article has covered much ground: from Moses to the present day, almost thirty-five centuries. But the advantage of making a long journey in a short space of time is that it covers the immense historical development of priestly grace in a single glance.
Prophetæ house – Franco da Rocha (Brazil)
The chosen people of the Old Covenant turned to the Levites to present sacrifices of atonement for their sins to Yahweh. In the New and Eternal Testament, however, the ordained minister has the power to renew the supreme, most perfect and prefigured sacrifice of the Cross, every day.
The priests of the New Law act in the Person of Our Lord: they are not before the Most High; rather, He is present within them
In the synagogue, the Israelites sought out the sons of Levi, to hear divine oracles from them. In the Church, the priests of Christ, with a word, work the greatest miracles: they resurrect, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, souls dead through sin; they transubstantiate bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Saviour.
The priests of the Old Law stood before the Lord. The pontiffs of the New Law act in persona Christi, in the Divine Person of Our Lord Himself. They do not stand before the Most High; it is the Most High who is in them. ◊
Notes
1 Cf. DANKER, Frederick William. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3.ed. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000, p.548.
2 Cf. DE VAUX, Roland. Instituciones del Antiguo Testamento. 2.ed. Barcelona: Herder, 1976, p.449-450.
3 AUNEAU, Joseph. El sacerdocio en la Biblia. Estella: Verbo Divino, 1990, p.10.
4 Cf. Idem, ibidem.
5 Cf. COLUNGA, OP, Alberto; GARCÍA CORDERO, OP, Maximiliano. Biblia comentada. Pentateuco. Madrid: BAC, 1960, v.I, p.663.
6 Cf. DE VAUX, op. cit., p.453; 458.
7 Idem, p.462.
8 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. Tratado sobre el sacerdocio. L.3, n.4-5. In: Obras. Madrid: BAC, 2011, v.III, p.646-647.
9 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Commento alla Lettera agli Ebrei, c.VII. In: Commento al Corpus Paulinum. Bologna: Studio Domenicano, 2008, v.VI, p.375-377.
10 CCC 1548.
11 ROMAN PONTIFICAL. Rito de ordenação de um presbítero. São Paulo: Paulus, 2014, p.125.
12 SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL. Presbyterorum ordinis, n.12.
13 Cf. PIOLANTI, Antonio, apud BARTMANN, Bernardo. Teologia Dogmática. São Paulo: Paulinas, 1964, v.III, p.381.
14 Idem, ibidem.
15 Idem, ibidem.
