Homilies on Leviticus — Homily 6 (Lev. 8 — the consecration; the vestments of the high priest and priests)
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Leviticus, surviving only in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin translation (c. 403–405), from the reading text of W. A. Baehrens (ed.), Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, Leipzig, 1920), pp. 280–507. This English translation is released into the public domain.On the vestments of the high priest and the priests.
1. The Apostle briefly shows the reason why these things that are read to us can be understood or not understood, saying that from his eyes "the veil of the old testament can be taken away, whoever shall have turned to the Lord"; from which he wished it to be known that, the less these things are plain to us, the less is our conversion to God. And therefore we must strive with all our strength that, being free from the occupations of the world and from worldly affairs, and leaving behind even those superfluous tales of our companions, if it can be done, we may give our effort to the word of God and "meditate on his law day and night", so that, being converted with our whole heart, we may be able to behold the unveiled and open face of Moses, and especially in these things which have now been read, whether concerning the priestly vestments or concerning the consecration of the high priest, in which certain such things are said as to exclude entirely even that carnal Israel itself from the historical understanding; and therefore, in expounding these things, we must not rely on the powers of human genius, but on prayers and supplications poured out to God. In this we need also the help of you, that God, the Father of the Word, may grant us the word "for the opening of our mouth", so that we may be able to consider the wonders of his law.
2. The beginning, then, of the things that have been read today lies in these words: "This is the anointing of Aaron and the anointing of his sons from the offerings of the Lord, in the day when he brought them near to sacrifice to the Lord, as the Lord commanded to give to them, in the day when he anointed them from the sons of Israel: an everlasting statute throughout their generations. This is the law of the whole burnt offerings, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecration, and of the peace offering, as the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, in the day when he commanded the sons of Israel to offer their gifts before the Lord in the desert of Sinai." When the lawgiver had set out to say, "This is the anointing of Aaron and the anointing of his sons", he did not add what the anointing was, nor did he explain in what manner he had anointed them, but this indeed he does in what follows; now, however, after he has said, "This is the anointing of Aaron and of his sons", he added nothing about the anointing. Doubtless it was to show that these things which he had said above, that is, "the little breast of imposition and the arm of separation", were themselves the anointing of Aaron and of his sons, lest we should think those things said with reference to the flesh, but that he might teach that these too were inserted under the mystery of the anointing. Finally, in what follows he repeats those things which he had explained above, and says: "This is the law of the whole burnt offerings and of the sacrifice and of the sin offering." This—that is, what was explained above—also appears to be, that is, a recapitulation of the mysteries which had been more fully narrated in what preceded. But after these things he adds: "And the Lord spoke," he says, "to Moses, saying: Take Aaron and his sons, and the robes, and the oil of anointing, and the bull-calf that is for the sin offering, and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread; and gather together all the congregation to the door of the tabernacle of testimony. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and gathered the congregation together to the door of the tabernacle of testimony. And Moses said to the congregation: This is the word which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought near Aaron his brother and his sons, and washed them with water, and clothed him with the tunic and girded him with the girdle; and clothed him with the inner tunic and put upon him the ephod, and girded him according to the making of the ephod and bound him fast in it; and he put upon him the breastpiece, and put upon the breastpiece the manifestation and the truth; and he put the mitre upon his head, and set upon the mitre, before his face, the golden plate, hallowed and holy, as the Lord had commanded Moses." With attentive ears and watchful heart hear the consecration of the high priest, or of the priest, because you too, according to the promises of God, are priests of the Lord: "for you are a holy nation and a priesthood." Moses, he says, took according to the command of the Lord "Aaron and his sons", and first indeed he washes them, and afterward he clothes them. Consider more carefully the order of the words: first he washes, afterward he clothes. For you cannot be clothed unless you have first been washed. "Wash yourselves," therefore, "and be clean, and take away your wickednesses from your souls." For unless you have been washed in this manner, you cannot put on the Lord Jesus Christ, according to what the Apostle says: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts." Let Moses, therefore, wash you, let him himself wash you and let him himself clothe you. How Moses can wash you, you have often heard. For we have often said that Moses in the holy scriptures is put for the law, as it is said in the gospel: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." It is the law of God, then, which washes you, which cleanses your filth, which, if you hear it, wipes away the stains of your sins; this is Moses, that is, the law, which consecrates priests, nor can he be a priest whom the law has not made a priest. For there are many priests, but whom the law has not washed nor the word of God rendered pure nor the divine discourse cleansed from the filth of sins. But you also, who desire to receive the sacred baptism and to merit the grace of the Spirit, ought first to be purged by the law, ought first, having heard the word of God, to cut away your inborn vices and to compose your barbarous and savage ways, so that, having taken up gentleness and humility, you may be able also to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. For thus says the Lord through the prophet: "Upon whom shall I rest, if not upon the humble and quiet one who trembles at my words?" If you are not "humble and quiet", the grace of the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in you, if you have not received the divine words with trembling. For the Holy Spirit flees from a proud and stubborn and feigning soul. You ought, therefore, first to meditate on the law of God, so that, if perchance your acts are unrestrained and your ways disordered, the law of God may amend and correct you. Do you wish to see that Moses is always with Jesus, that is, the law with the gospels? Let the gospel teach you that, when Jesus "had been transfigured" into glory, also "Moses and Elijah appeared" together with him in glory, so that you may know that the law and the prophets and the gospels always come into one and remain in one glory. Finally Peter too, when he wished to make "three tabernacles" for them, is marked for his lack of skill, as one "who knew not what he said". For to the law and the prophets and the gospel there is not three tabernacles, but one, which is the church of God. First, then, Moses washes the priest of the Lord, and when he has washed him and rendered him purged from the filth of vices, after these things he clothes him. But let us consider what these vestments are with which Moses clothes "his brother" Aaron, the first high priest; if perchance it may be possible for you too to be clothed with the same vestments and to be a high priest. There is indeed one great high priest, our Lord Jesus Christ; but he is not the high priest of priests, but the high priest of high priests, nor the prince of priests, but the prince of the princes of priests, just as he is called king not of the people, but "King of kings", and Lord not of servants, but "Lord of lords". It can happen, then, if you too have been washed by Moses and have been so clean, as one whom that great and such a one has washed, that you too may be able to attain to these vestments which Moses brings forth, and to those robes with which he clothes "Aaron his brother and his sons". But not only are vestments needful for the priestly insignia, but also girdles. But before we begin to speak of the very kind of the vestments, I should like to compare those unhappy garments with which the first man, when he had sinned, was clothed, with these holy and faithful garments. And indeed those are said to have been made by God: "for God made," he says, "tunics of skins, and clothed Adam and his wife." Those tunics, then, were of skins taken from animals. For with such a sinner had to be clothed, "with tunics," he says, "of skins", which were to be a token of the mortality which he had received on account of sin, and of his fragility, which came from the corruption of the flesh. But if you have now been washed from these things and purified through the law of God, Moses will clothe you with the garment of incorruption, so that nowhere may "your shame appear" and "that this mortal may be swallowed up by life".
3. Let us see, then, in what order the high priest is appointed. "Moses," he says, "gathered together the congregation, and says to them: This is the word which the Lord commanded." Although, therefore, the Lord had commanded concerning the appointing of the high priest and the Lord had chosen him, nevertheless the congregation too is gathered together. For in the ordination of a priest there is required also the presence of the people, so that all may know and be assured that the one who is more excellent out of all the people, who is more learned, who is more holy, who is more eminent in every virtue, that one is chosen for the priesthood, and this with the people standing by, lest afterward any reconsideration should arise for anyone, lest any scruple should remain. This is, moreover, what the Apostle too commanded in the ordination of a priest, saying: "It is fitting also that he have a good testimony from those who are without." Yet I see also something further in this, that he says: that "Moses gathered together all the congregation", and I think that "to gather together the congregation" is this: to collect all the powers of the soul and to congregate the virtues into one, so that, when discourse is held about the priestly mysteries, all the powers of the soul may be watchful and intent, that nothing of wisdom, nothing of knowledge, nothing of diligence be lacking in these, but that the whole multitude of the senses be present, that the whole congregation of holy thoughts be present, so that, gathering within the sanctuary of his heart, he may be able to observe what the high priest is, what the anointing is, what his vestments are. So then he washed him and clothed him. With what garment? "With a tunic," he says, "and he girded him with the girdle, and again he clothed him with the ankle-length tunic", or, as we read elsewhere, "the inner tunic". With two tunics, as I see, the high priest is clothed through Moses. But what do we make of the fact that Jesus forbade his priests, our Apostles, to use two tunics? And we had said that Moses and Jesus, that is, the law and the gospels, are consonant with one another. Someone might perhaps be able to say that what Jesus commanded, that two tunics are not to be had, is not contrary to the law, but more perfect than the law, just as when the law forbids murder, but Jesus cuts away even anger, and when the law prohibits adultery, Jesus cuts off even the concupiscence of the heart. So then it will seem that there the high priest was clothed with two tunics, and here the Apostles with one. Let this sense too indeed be acceptable, if it seems so; yet I do not confine the priestly mysteries within the narrowness of this understanding. Something further seems to me to be shown by this figure: the high priest is he who holds the knowledge of the law and understands the reasons of each mystery, and, to explain briefly, who knows the law both according to the spirit and according to the letter. That high priest, then, whom Moses was then ordaining, knew that there was a spiritual circumcision, yet he kept also the circumcision of the flesh, because an uncircumcised man could not be high priest. He had, therefore, two tunics: one of the carnal ministry and another of the spiritual understanding. He knew that spiritual sacrifices too ought to be offered to God, yet he offered nonetheless also the carnal ones. For he could not be the high priest of those who then existed unless he sacrificed victims. So then that high priest is fittingly said to have been clothed with two tunics. But the Apostles, who were going to say that "if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing", and who were going to say that "let no one judge you in food or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come", these therefore, in order that they might utterly repudiate observances of this kind according to the letter of the law and might not occupy the disciples with "Jewish fables" and "lay upon them a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear", are rightly forbidden to have two tunics, but one suffices for them, and that the "inner" one. For that tunic which is outside and which appears on top, the tunic of the law, they do not want; for Jesus permits them to have one, and that the "inner" one. Yet Moses puts upon the high priest also the "ephod", which is a certain ornament of the shoulders from the drapery of the garment around them. The shoulders, moreover, hold the tokens of works and of labor. He wishes, then, that the high priest be adorned also in works, nor does knowledge alone suffice, because "whoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven".
4. "And he girded him," he says, "according to the making of the ephod." Already above too he had said that "he girded him with the girdle" over the tunic, and now again he is girded "according to the making of the ephod". What is this double girdle, with which he wishes the high priest to be bound fast on every side? Let him be bound fast in word, bound fast in work, ready for all things, nothing slack, let him have nothing loose. Let him be girded with the virtues of the soul, let him be bound fast from bodily vices, let him fear no lapse of the soul, none of the body, let him always use both girdles, "that he may be chaste in body and spirit". And well is it that he is girded also "according to the making of the ephod". For according to his own deeds and according to his own works he will use the girdle of virtue. And after these things, he says, "he put upon him the breastpiece"—which is the rational—"and put upon the breastpiece the manifestation and the truth; and he put the mitre upon his head". But let us see what the "breastpiece", which is the rational, signifies. After the nakedness has been covered and the shame veiled with garments, after he has been fortified with works and secured with both girdles, then the "breastpiece", that is, the rational, is handed over to him. The "breastpiece" is a token of wisdom, because wisdom consists in reason. But what the virtue of this wisdom and reason is, he shows. For "he puts upon the rational the manifestation and the truth". For it does not suffice for the high priest to have wisdom and to know the reason of all things, unless he can also manifest to the people what he knows. Therefore, then, there is put upon the "rational" also the "manifestation", so that he may be able to answer everyone who asks of him a reason concerning faith and truth. But there is set upon it also "truth", so that he may not build up those things which he was able to devise by his own genius, but those things which "truth" holds, nor ever depart from the truth, so that in all his discourse "truth" may always remain. This, then, is "to have set upon the rational the manifestation and the truth". Unhappy are those who, reading these things, pour out all their understanding upon the sense of the bodily vestment; let them tell us what kind of vestment "manifestation" is, or what kind of garment "truth" is. If anyone ever saw, if anyone ever heard "manifestation and truth" named as vestments, let them tell us who the women are who wove these things, in what weaving-shop these were ever made. But if you wish to hear the truth, it is wisdom that makes garments of this kind. She weaves the manifestation of hidden things, she weaves the truth of all things. Her, then, let us pray from the Lord that we may merit to receive, and she herself will surround us with such garments. But behold also how holy and how wonderful is the very order of the things. Not first the "breastpiece" and afterward the "ephod", because wisdom is not before works, but works ought first to be had and afterward wisdom is to be sought. Then, next, not "manifestation" before the "rational", because we ought not to teach others before we ourselves are instructed and rational. But above these is added "truth", because "truth" is the highest wisdom. Finally the prophet too keeps this same order, when he says: "Sow for yourselves unto righteousness, and reap the fruit of life, kindle for yourselves the light of knowledge." You see how he does not say first: "Kindle for yourselves the light of knowledge", but first: "Sow for yourselves unto righteousness", and it does not suffice to sow, but "reap," he says, "the fruit of life", so that after these things you may be able to fulfill what follows: "Kindle for yourselves the light of knowledge." So then here too the "ephod" ornament is put on, and it does not suffice, but he is also bound fast with the "girdle". But not even this is enough; he is girded yet a second time, so that thus at last the "rational" may be put on, that after these things "manifestation" may follow and "truth". These vestments the high priest uses; with such an ornament ought he to be clothed who bears the priesthood.
5. But he has not yet finished, and yet another ornament is to be added; it is necessary that he receive also a crown. Therefore he receives first the "cidaris", which is either a certain covering of the head or an ornament. And after these things there is set upon him the "mitre". "Before the face", that is, from the forehead of the high priest, "the golden plate, hallowed", on which the name of God is said to be engraved. Truly this ornament of the head, where the name of God is said to be placed, is set on above all those things with which the lower members of the body had been adorned. In this it seems to me to be indicated that above all things which can be perceived or understood, whether of the world or of the rest of creatures, the knowledge of God is more eminent, as of the author of all things. And because he himself "is the head of all things", therefore this ornament too is set upon the head above all things; for nothing is added to the head of the high priest after these. And therefore wretched are those of whom the Apostle says that they do not hold "the head, from which the whole frame, joined and compacted together, grows unto the increase of God in the spirit". But if we have well understood what the ornament of the priest is, and what the honor of his head is above all things, marveling at the depths of the divine mysteries, let us desire not only to know and to hear these things, but also to fulfill and to do them, because "not the hearers of the law shall be justified before God, but the doers". For you too can, as we have already often said, if by your studies and vigils you prepare for yourself garments of this kind, if the word of the law and the anointing of the chrism have washed you and made you clean and the grace of baptism has remained uncontaminated in you, if you are clothed with the double garments of the letter and of the spirit, if you are also doubly girded, so as to be chaste in flesh and mind, if you are adorned with the "ephod" of works and the "rational" of wisdom, if also the "mitre" and the "golden plate", the fullness of the knowledge of God, crown your head—know that, even if you lie hidden among men and are unknown, yet before God you exercise the high priesthood within the temple of your soul. "For you are the temple of the living God", if "the Spirit of God dwells in you". The things that are said after these concerning his consecration and concerning the anointing have been discussed by us dispersedly and often.
6. But as for what he says: "And Moses brought near the sons of Aaron, and clothed them with tunics and girded them with girdles and put upon them cidaras, as the Lord commanded Moses", it must be attended to what is the difference of the lesser priests to the greater priesthoods. To these neither are double vestments handed over, nor the "ephod", nor the "rational", nor the "ornament of the head", but only the "cidaris" and the "girdles", which bind the tunic. These too, then, receive the grace of the priesthood, and these too discharge the office, but not as that one who is adorned both with the "ephod" and the "rational", who is resplendent "with manifestation and truth", who is decorated with the ornament of the "golden plate". Whence I judge it to be one thing among priests to discharge the office, and another to be instructed in all things and adorned. For anyone can discharge the solemn ministry to the people; but few are those who, adorned in morals, instructed in doctrine, learned in wisdom, most fit for manifesting the truth of things, may set forth the knowledge of faith not without the ornament of the senses and the splendor of assertions—which the ornament of the "golden plate" set upon the head designates. There is, therefore, one name of the priesthood, but not one dignity, whether according to the merit of life or according to the virtues of the soul. And therefore in these things which the divine law describes, as in a mirror, each of the priests ought to inspect himself and thence to gather the grade of his merit, if he sees himself placed, in all those things which we have expounded above, in the priestly ornaments; if he is conscious to himself that, whether in knowledge or in acts or in doctrine, he is so great and such a one, let him know that he obtains the highest priesthood not only in name, but also in merits. Otherwise let him know that a lower grade is placed for him, even if he has received the name of the first. It ought not indeed to escape us also this, which can be brought forward by the studious reader, on which I too have often myself hesitated within myself. For reading in Exodus, where it is commanded concerning the priestly vestments, I find that there are eight kinds which are prepared for the high priest; but here only seven are numbered. I ask, then, what it is that has been omitted. There an eighth kind is placed, the campestre, or, as we read elsewhere, the linen breeches, concerning which here, among the other vestments, he was silent. What, then, shall we say? Shall we impute forgetfulness to the words of the Holy Spirit, so that, when he has narrated all the rest a second time, one kind aforesaid should have escaped him? I do not dare to think these things about the sacred discourses. But let us see whether perhaps, since we said above that this kind of garment seems to be a token of chastity, whereby the thighs are seen to be covered or the loins and reins bound fast, whether perhaps, I say, he does not always say that these parts were bound fast in those who were then priests; for sometimes indulgence is granted also concerning the posterity of the race and the succession of offspring. But I would not introduce an understanding of this kind among the priests of the church; for I see another thing meeting the mystery. For in the church too priests and teachers can beget sons, just as also that one who said: "My little sons, whom I again bring forth in travail, until Christ be formed in you." And again elsewhere he says: "Although you have many thousands of tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus through the gospel I have begotten you." These teachers of the church, then, in procreating generations of this kind, sometimes use girded breeches and abstain from begetting, when they have found such hearers in whom they know that they cannot have fruit. Finally in the Acts of the Apostles too it is related concerning certain ones that "we could not," he says, "speak the word of God in Asia", that is, to have had the breeches put on and to have restrained themselves, lest they should beget sons, because namely such were the hearers in whom both the seed would perish and no succession could be had. So then let the priests of the church, when they have seen incapable ears or when they have looked upon feigned and hypocritical hearers, put on the "campestre", let them use the "breeches", lest the seed of the word of God perish, because the Lord too commands the same and says: "Do not give the holy thing to dogs, nor your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them with their feet and, turning, tear you." Therefore, then, if anyone wishes to be a high priest not so much in name as in merit, let him imitate Moses, let him imitate Aaron. For what is said of them? That "they do not depart from the tabernacle of the Lord". Moses, then, was unceasingly in the "tabernacle of the Lord". But what was his work? That he either learned something from God or himself taught the people. These are the two works of the high priest, that he either learn from God by reading the divine scriptures and by meditating more often, or teach the people. But let him teach those things which he himself has learned from God, not "from his own heart", or from human sense, but those things which the Spirit teaches. There is also another work which Moses does. He does not go to wars, he does not fight against enemies. But what does he do? He prays, and, as long as he prays, his people conquer. If he "relaxes and lets down his hands", his people are conquered and put to flight. Let the priest of the church too, then, pray unceasingly, so that the people who are under him may conquer the invisible Amalekites, the enemies who are the demons, assailing those "who wish to live piously in Christ". And therefore, meditating on these things and recalling these things "day and night" to memory and being instant in prayer and watchful in it, let us beseech the Lord that he himself may deign to reveal to us the knowledge of these things which we read, and to show how we may observe the spiritual law not only in understanding, but also in acts, so that we may merit also to attain spiritual grace, being enlightened through the law of the Holy Spirit, in Christ Jesus our Lord, "to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen".