was prefigured. The high priest alone used to enter the holy of holies, while all
SERMON 198A
ON 1 JANUARY, AGAINST THE PAGANS
FRAGMENTS
Date: 4121
We are rightly called a royal and priestly race
1. The apostle Peter says to the Church, which is the body of Christ, You are a holy people, a royal priesthood (1 Pt 2:9). In those times, you see, only one high priest was anointed; now all Christians are anointed.2 The king used to be anointed, the high priest used to be anointed, the rest were not anointed. The Lord played both roles, both of king and of priest, and not just figuratively, but in very truth. That is why the apostle says about the Lord, whom he had of the seed of David, according to the flesh (Rom 1:3). So there you have the royal line. And so Christ is said to have been of the seed of David because of Mary, since she was of the seed of David.3
But where does Mary's line lead back to?4 It is written in the gospel that the priest Zachary had a wife, Elizabeth, from among the daughters of Aaron (Lk
1:5); thus from the priestly line, because the whole tribe of Levi was such. But in the gospel Mary is told by the angel, Your cousin Elizabeth (Lk 1:36). So if Elizabeth, from among Aaron's daughters, was Mary's cousin, it cannot be doubted that Mary was of the priestly as well as of the royal blood.
As a result, there is in the Lord, as regards the man he assumed, each role or title, the royal and the priestly. So that is the reason why both in those times were anointed as a symbol, the king and the priest; and this has been fulfilled in that head of ours, whose body it is clear that we, the Church, are. That is why we are rightly called a royal and priestly race.5
Christ entered, and there he still is
2. In those old sacraments and symbols that one Lord of ours, Jesus Christ, was prefigured. The high priest alone used to enter the holy of holies, while all the people stood outside. Are you nowadays outside, and not inside, while the bishops stand at the altar? In those days the high priest alone used to enter the holy of holies once a year. The year represented the whole of time. So just once