Christ is Born!
🌞
This reading is preceded by the one I wrote about here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/01042023.html
The immediate continuation of this reading is the one I wrote about here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/14042023.html
Hebrews X, 7 — 'ἐμοῦ' - 'emou' - 'me'.
Hebrews X, 11 — 'ἡμέραν' - 'emeran' - 'day'.
Hebrews X, 15 — 'ἡμῖν' - 'emin' - (to) 'us'.
Hebrews X, 16 — 'ἡμέρας' - 'emeras' - 'days'.
The apostle Paul compares the Sacrifice of Christ in detail with the sacrifices of the Old Testament priests. He quotes prophecies about Christ from the Old Testament.
The Apostle Paul is not talking about the psychology of sacrifices, but only about the ontology (what is essential). Thus, from a psychological point of view, a sinner who had to offer a sin offering in the Old Testament felt sadness at having to sacrifice their possessions, and if they loved the animal or had compassion for it (and this could also be the case), they felt additional reproaches of sadness that increased the desire to repent and improve. Also, the sight of animal sacrifices was supposed to make the priests more eager not to sin and to prevent people from sinning, more zealous in their service, and more and more expectant of the Redeemer, the promised Saviour, the Messiah.
But on the level of ontology, the level of the essential, animal sacrifices could not really bring purification and forgiveness. Instead, at this level, they were images and prototypes of Christ's sacrifice, a certain likeness of the very Sacrifice of the Son of God for salvation. Whereas Christ's Sacrifice is no longer an image, but is substantial and brings forgiveness and redemption. See more about this here:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/15072023.html
Just as the spiritual heavens are higher than the material world (earth), so the Sacrifice of Christ is more substantial than the sacrifices of the Old Testament, being their fulfilment and completion, the end, which is why they do not have the same meaning now as they once did.
For the readings from the Gospel, please refer to the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/27092023.html
To the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen:
From the Apostle we read an abridged account of the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. I wrote about it earlier, see the link:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/01052023.html
For readings from the Gospel, please see the following links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/10042023.html
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/commentaries/15082023.html
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!