1. jApokekrummevnw": see Lampe, PGL, s.v.

J E S U S A S H I G H P R I E S T

c h a p t e r 115 "But you should believe Zechariah when he thus describes the mystery of Christ in parable, proclaiming it with hidden meaning.1 These are his words: Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I come, and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord.

And many nations shall be joined to the Lord on that day, and they shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst, and they shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me unto you.

2. "And the Lord shall possess Judah, his portion in the holy land, and shall again choose Jerusalem. Let all ﬂesh beware of the presence of the Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy clouds. And he showed me

Jesus the high priest 2 standing before the angel [of the Lord]; and the devil stood at his right hand to oppose him; and the Lord said to the devil: May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Behold, is not this a brand plucked out of the ﬁre?" 3

3. As Trypho was about to answer and contradict me, I said, "Just a moment! Please hear me out, for I am not going to interpret this passage, as you think, as if there never was a priest named Jesus in Babylon, the land of your people's captivity.

Even if I did, I should have proved that, if there was a priest named Jesus among your people, the prophet did not see him in his revelation, just as he did not see the devil or the angel of 1. jApokekrummevnw": see Lampe, PGL, s.v.

2. Yet another Joshua, the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak; see Hg 1.1.

3. Zec 2.10–3.2. See Skarsaune, 185: "Dial 115f. forms a connected commentary on Zec 3,1–7. But only Zec 2,14–3,2 is quoted in the present text of the Dialogue."

Justin, Martyr, Saint. Dialogue with Trypho (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3), edited by Michael Slusser, Catholic University of America Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/de

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Jesus as high priest

the Lord with his own eyes, since in his revelation he was not in a normal state, but in an ecstasy.

4. "But now I claim that, just as the Holy Spirit asserted that by the name of Jesus, which was bestowed upon the son of Nun, he wrought miracles and other deeds which foreshadowed what our Lord would do, so I will prove that the revelation made among your people in Babylon in the days of Jesus the priest was a prediction of what was to be done by our priest and God and Christ, the Son of the Father of the universe.

5. "I was indeed surprised a while ago," I continued, "that you remained silent and did not contradict me when I stated that the son of Nun was the only one of his contemporaries who ﬂed from Egypt to enter the Holy Land together with those described as the youth of that generation. For just like ﬂies upon sores you swarm together and alight.

6. "And even if one utters ten thousand words accurately, and one little word should offend you, because it is not sufﬁciently intelligible or exact, you completely overlook the many accurate words, and pounce upon one little word, doing your utmost to make it appear blasphemous and evil. Consequently, when you are judged by God with the same kind of judgment, you will have to render stricter account for your deeds of rashness, whether they be sinful actions, or false and perverse interpretations of Scripture; For with what judgment you judge, it is right that you be judged.4

[Zechariah], I will continue my discourse by stating that the above-quoted revelation was given to us who believe in Christ, the High Priest and cruciﬁed one.5 For we, who once committed fornication and every other kind of ﬁlthy action, have, through the grace conferred upon us by our Jesus according to the will of his Father, cast off all those ﬁlthy garments of sin in which we were dressed.6 Although the Devil stands nearby ever ready to oppose us and anxious to ensnare all of us for himself,

4. See Mt 7.2.

5. See Zec 3.1.

6. See Zec 3.3–4.

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st. justin martyr the angel of God (namely, the power of God which was sent to us through Jesus Christ) rebukes him, and he departs from us.7

2. "And we have been, so to speak, snatched from the ﬁre, when we were puriﬁed from our former sins, and [delivered] from the ﬁery torment with which the devil and all his assistants try us. From such dangers does Jesus, the Son of God, again snatch us. He has also promised, if we obey his commands, to deck us out in garments which he has set aside for us, and to reward us with an eternal kingdom.8

3. "For, just as that Jesus, who is called a priest by the prophet, was seen wearing ﬁlthy clothes (because he was said to have married a harlot), and is called a brand snatched out of the ﬁre9 (because he was forgiven his sins when the devil that opposed him was rebuked), so we, who through the name of Jesus have as one man believed in God the Creator of all, have taken off our dirty clothes, that is, our sins, through the name of his ﬁrst-begotten Son.10 Having been set on ﬁre by the word of his calling, we are now of the true priestly family of God, as God himself testiﬁes, when he says that in every place among the Gentiles pure and pleasing sacriﬁces are offered up to him.11 But God receives sacriﬁces from no one, except through his priests. c h a p t e r 117 "God has therefore announced in advance that all the sacriﬁces offered in his name, which Jesus Christ commanded to be offered, that is, in the Eucharist of the Bread and of the Chalice, which are offered by us Christians in every part of the world, are pleasing to him. But he refuses to accept your sacriﬁces and those offered through your priests, saying, And I will not receive your sacriﬁces at your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is gloriﬁed among the Gentiles; but you profane it.12

7. See Zec 3.1–2; 2 Thes 2.3–4.

8. See Zec 3.4–7.

9. See Zec 3.2.

10. See Is 53.2, 4. For analysis of the simile see G. Otranto (cited above, Dial. 77.4 n 20).

11. See Mal 1.10.

12. Mal 1.10–12.

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