Sect. 209Notions of Priest and SacrificeNotions of Priest and Sacrifice
I. In Holy Scripture the term “priest” is used in a wide and in a narrow sense. In the wide sense it designates all the members of the chosen people of God, Israelites as well as Christians (Exod. 19:6, and 1 Pet. 2:9), as distinct from other nations. In the narrower sense, priests are men chosen from among the chosen people to act as the officials of the house of God. The former are the lay priesthood; the latter the hierarchical priesthood. Both priesthoods imply in general the same characters (cf. Exod. 9:5 sqq.; Numb. 16:5): Divine vocation or election, special appropriation by God (Heb. 5:1), a consecration or sanctification connected and given with the appropriation (e.g. by the imposition of hands or anointing with oil); a consequent qualification to approach God and to offer gifts in His presence. Election, appropriation, and consecration stamp the priest as “priest of God” (כֹּהֵן ἱερεύς, sacerdos Dei). The offering of gifts to God is his noblest function, from which also is derived his Hebrew name of “approacher” (קָרב “to draw nigh”). The priest approaches God when he enters the temple and deposits gifts on the altar, viz. when as a servant, holy and pleasing to God by his consecration, he offers a worship which is itself made holy and pleasing to God by the dignity of the servant: a dignity derived primarily from his vocation and consecration, rather than from his own moral worth.
The hierarchical priest, then, by his special vocation, consecration, sanctification, and nearness to God, stands between God and the people. Yet his qualification for offering a worship more excellent than that of the people, is given him on behalf of the people, viz. in order to act before God on their behalf, by bringing their gifts, and through their gifts the people themselves, nearer to God. His holiness supplements the deficient holiness of his people. “Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Πᾶς γὰρ ἀρχιερὺς, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων λαμβανόμενος ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων καθίσταται τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἵνα προσφέρη δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν (Heb. 5:1). The addition “for sins” expresses a special function of the priesthood among fallen mankind, but by no means the essence of priesthood; the sacrifice for sins being included in the general functions of bringing the people nearer to God by sanctification.
The Hebrew priesthood was little more than a higher degree of lay-priesthood. Originally the people were elected as priests, and then from among the people the family of Aaron was chosen. This is also implied in the Hebrew term כֹּהֵן (see Bähr, Symbolik, ii. 15). The Latin term sacerdos, and the Greek ἱερεύς, connote a priestly dignity found properly only in the priesthood of the Church. Sacerdos connotes a sacred person, who can give holy things (sacra dans) by reason of his consecration. He not only offers to God the gifts of the people, but he also dispenses to man the gifts of God (1 Cor. 4:1). This latter function, however, was not prominent under the Mosaic Law. The chief function of the sacerdos is sacrificare, i.e. to make sacred, to consecrate, conficere rem sacram, to sanctify the gifts of God to man, and of man to God. The Council of Trent (sess. xxiii. ch. 1) sets forth this character of the Christian priesthood when it describes its power as “a power to consecrate, to offer, and to dispense (ministrandi) the Body and Blood of Christ.” Here we have a supernatural power to change a profane thing into a sacred thing, as opposed to the simple power of offering to God anything either profane or sacred. The act of consecrating is intimately connected with that of offering and dispensing or ministering: the priest consecrates in order both to offer and to dispense what he has consecrated. If, then, we give to the term sacrificare its full meaning, we may define the priest as one who has the power to offer sacrifice.
The hierarchical priesthood, the only one which exists under the present dispensation, is essentially different from the priesthood which would have existed under the simple law of nature. In the order of nature the priest would be the public and legitimate representative of society for the public worship of God. But neither his social position nor his election would give him a dignity of higher sanctity and power: he would only be the principle or medium of unity and order in public worship. The representation of the people is by no means the chief element in hierarchic priesthood, not even if the representatives were adorned by God with special holiness and dignity, or empowered to promote through their own sanctity the sanctification of the people with more or less perfection. These and similar elements make up the notion of a sacred (hieratic) servant (διάκονος, minister), possibly of eminent dignity, but after all only a dignitary whose functions are analogous to those of the lay-priesthood. The hierarchic priest is first and foremost rather a representative and plenipotentiary of God. As such he acts formally when consecrating and ministering. When offering he holds up to God a thing which he has appropriated or consecrated for Divine worship; when praying as priest he acts as divinely appointed patron of the people. Thus in all his functions the hierarchic priest, either formally or as a matter of fact, is the representative of God.
II. Sacrifice is an act of worship in which God is honoured as the Beginning and End of man and of all things by the offering up of a visible creature, which, for this purpose, is submitted to an appropriate transformation by a lawful minister. An internal sacrifice is offered whenever man devotes himself to the service of God by either “reforming or giving up” his life for God (Ps. 50:19). No external sacrifice is perfect without an accompanying internal sacrifice, whereby the soul associates itself with the meaning and object of the external rite (infra. Book VII. § 267).
1. The object of sacrifice is that of practical religion in general: to acknowledge God as the Beginning and End of man and of all things; that is, to profess in deed our entire dependence on Him, both for existence and for ultimate happiness. Some post-Tridentine theologians have narrowed the idea of sacrifice to mean the expression of God’s dominion over life and death, or of the Divine power to dispose of all things, or of the Divine majesty as exalted above all; and have restricted its primary object to the atonement for sin.
2. So, too, the external form of sacrifice—an appropriate transformation of the creature offered—has been limited by Vasquez and later theologians to the “transformation by destruction.” Neither historical nor theological grounds can justify such limitations; e.g. the burning of incense, θυσία, which has furnished the Greek name for all sacrifices, is not so much the destruction of the incense as its conversion into “an odour of sweetness,” the symbol of the soul of man transformed by the fire of charity. Similar remarks apply to all sacrifices without exception. In the sacrifice of the Mass, the immutatio, as the Fathers technically call the sacrificial act, is not the destruction, but the production of the victim.
3. A lawfully appointed minister is necessary to offer public sacrifice in the name of the people. If the sacrifice is to have a peculiar dignity and efficacy as oblation and as action,—i.e. if it is to be more than the most expressive act of external worship, and of man’s earnest desire of sanctification—a consecrated minister is required: for as gift and as action, the value of the sacrifice is measured by the personal dignity of him who offers it Accordingly, the symbolical sacrifices of Moses obtain the efficacy of sacrifices of the covenant through the sanctification and lay-priesthood of all the people; in the Christian dispensation, individual self-sacrifice, and the public sacrifice for the people, derive supernatural sanctity and dignity from the supernatural character of the Christian layman or priest. See St. Thomas, 1 2, q 102; 2 2, q. 85.
I. In Holy Scripture the term “priest” is used in a wide and in a narrow sense. In the wide sense it designates all the members of the chosen people of God, Israelites as well as Christians (Exod. 19:6, and 1 Pet. 2:9), as distinct from other nations. In the narrower sense, priests are men chosen from among the chosen people to act as the officials of the house of God. The former are the lay priesthood; the latter the hierarchical priesthood. Both priesthoods imply in general the same characters (cf. Exod. 9:5 sqq.; Numb. 16:5): Divine vocation or election, special appropriation by God (Heb. 5:1), a consecration or sanctification connected and given with the appropriation (e.g. by the imposition of hands or anointing with oil); a consequent qualification to approach God and to offer gifts in His presence. Election, appropriation, and consecration stamp the priest as “priest of God” (כֹּהֵן ἱερεύς, sacerdos Dei). The offering of gifts to God is his noblest function, from which also is derived his Hebrew name of “approacher” (קָרב “to draw nigh”). The priest approaches God when he enters the temple and deposits gifts on the altar, viz. when as a servant, holy and pleasing to God by his consecration, he offers a worship which is itself made holy and pleasing to God by the dignity of the servant: a dignity derived primarily from his vocation and consecration, rather than from his own moral worth.
The hierarchical priest, then, by his special vocation, consecration, sanctification, and nearness to God, stands between God and the people. Yet his qualification for offering a worship more excellent than that of the people, is given him on behalf of the people, viz. in order to act before God on their behalf, by bringing their gifts, and through their gifts the people themselves, nearer to God. His holiness supplements the deficient holiness of his people. “Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Πᾶς γὰρ ἀρχιερὺς, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων λαμβανόμενος ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων καθίσταται τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἵνα προσφέρη δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν (Heb. 5:1). The addition “for sins” expresses a special function of the priesthood among fallen mankind, but by no means the essence of priesthood; the sacrifice for sins being included in the general functions of bringing the people nearer to God by sanctification.
The Hebrew priesthood was little more than a higher degree of lay-priesthood. Originally the people were elected as priests, and then from among the people the family of Aaron was chosen. This is also implied in the Hebrew term כֹּהֵן (see Bähr, Symbolik, ii. 15). The Latin term sacerdos, and the Greek ἱερεύς, connote a priestly dignity found properly only in the priesthood of the Church. Sacerdos connotes a sacred person, who can give holy things (sacra dans) by reason of his consecration. He not only offers to God the gifts of the people, but he also dispenses to man the gifts of God (1 Cor. 4:1). This latter function, however, was not prominent under the Mosaic Law. The chief function of the sacerdos is sacrificare, i.e. to make sacred, to consecrate, conficere rem sacram, to sanctify the gifts of God to man, and of man to God. The Council of Trent (sess. xxiii. ch. 1) sets forth this character of the Christian priesthood when it describes its power as “a power to consecrate, to offer, and to dispense (ministrandi) the Body and Blood of Christ.” Here we have a supernatural power to change a profane thing into a sacred thing, as opposed to the simple power of offering to God anything either profane or sacred. The act of consecrating is intimately connected with that of offering and dispensing or ministering: the priest consecrates in order both to offer and to dispense what he has consecrated. If, then, we give to the term sacrificare its full meaning, we may define the priest as one who has the power to offer sacrifice.
The hierarchical priesthood, the only one which exists under the present dispensation, is essentially different from the priesthood which would have existed under the simple law of nature. In the order of nature the priest would be the public and legitimate representative of society for the public worship of God. But neither his social position nor his election would give him a dignity of higher sanctity and power: he would only be the principle or medium of unity and order in public worship. The representation of the people is by no means the chief element in hierarchic priesthood, not even if the representatives were adorned by God with special holiness and dignity, or empowered to promote through their own sanctity the sanctification of the people with more or less perfection. These and similar elements make up the notion of a sacred (hieratic) servant (διάκονος, minister), possibly of eminent dignity, but after all only a dignitary whose functions are analogous to those of the lay-priesthood. The hierarchic priest is first and foremost rather a representative and plenipotentiary of God. As such he acts formally when consecrating and ministering. When offering he holds up to God a thing which he has appropriated or consecrated for Divine worship; when praying as priest he acts as divinely appointed patron of the people. Thus in all his functions the hierarchic priest, either formally or as a matter of fact, is the representative of God.
II. Sacrifice is an act of worship in which God is honoured as the Beginning and End of man and of all things by the offering up of a visible creature, which, for this purpose, is submitted to an appropriate transformation by a lawful minister. An internal sacrifice is offered whenever man devotes himself to the service of God by either “reforming or giving up” his life for God (Ps. 50:19). No external sacrifice is perfect without an accompanying internal sacrifice, whereby the soul associates itself with the meaning and object of the external rite (infra. Book VII. § 267).
1. The object of sacrifice is that of practical religion in general: to acknowledge God as the Beginning and End of man and of all things; that is, to profess in deed our entire dependence on Him, both for existence and for ultimate happiness. Some post-Tridentine theologians have narrowed the idea of sacrifice to mean the expression of God’s dominion over life and death, or of the Divine power to dispose of all things, or of the Divine majesty as exalted above all; and have restricted its primary object to the atonement for sin.
2. So, too, the external form of sacrifice—an appropriate transformation of the creature offered—has been limited by Vasquez and later theologians to the “transformation by destruction.” Neither historical nor theological grounds can justify such limitations; e.g. the burning of incense, θυσία, which has furnished the Greek name for all sacrifices, is not so much the destruction of the incense as its conversion into “an odour of sweetness,” the symbol of the soul of man transformed by the fire of charity. Similar remarks apply to all sacrifices without exception. In the sacrifice of the Mass, the immutatio, as the Fathers technically call the sacrificial act, is not the destruction, but the production of the victim.
3. A lawfully appointed minister is necessary to offer public sacrifice in the name of the people. If the sacrifice is to have a peculiar dignity and efficacy as oblation and as action,—i.e. if it is to be more than the most expressive act of external worship, and of man’s earnest desire of sanctification—a consecrated minister is required: for as gift and as action, the value of the sacrifice is measured by the personal dignity of him who offers it Accordingly, the symbolical sacrifices of Moses obtain the efficacy of sacrifices of the covenant through the sanctification and lay-priesthood of all the people; in the Christian dispensation, individual self-sacrifice, and the public sacrifice for the people, derive supernatural sanctity and dignity from the supernatural character of the Christian layman or priest. See St. Thomas, 1 2, q 102; 2 2, q. 85.
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