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The Pastoral Epistles of Saint Paul
Talk by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen), part 47, Hebrews 10
November 7, 2023

Topics include:
(1) The Mosaic law was ineffectual, not able to clear the conscience, despite repeated sacrifices, a shadow only of that which was to come in Christ. Reference to Isaiah chapter 1: "Bring no more vain offerings ... I am weary of them". 
(2) On still feeling guilty after confession: a sign that one didn't come clean completely. With true repentance and absolution the sins are wiped away ... you may remember them, but the conscience is cleared and the guilt is all gone. 
(3) For the Christian, the only sacrifice that matters is Christ's self-offering, which achieved a cosmic atonement ... no need for it to ever be repeated. This is a radical overturning of the Mosaic Law ... Christ has a new law, written on our heart by the Holy Spirit, a new sacrifice, in which we participate by receiving His body and blood, a new covenant. The Eucharist is no longer a sin offering in the Old Testament way, but a participation in the ultimate self-offering of Christ to the Father. 
(4) On Hebrews 10:5, from Psalm 39:7: LXX (3rd century, B.C.) "But a body You prepared for Me". Masoretic (5-7 centuries later): "You have given me an open ear". Evidence of the later anti-christian revision of the text. Clearly, St. Paul is using the LXX. 
(5) On the difference between guilt and shame:  guilt is the consciousness of sin and evil, shame says therefore I *am* bad/evil, instead of what I did is wrong/evil. 
(6) On the cynicism that the Second Temple sacrifices induced. The Sadducees, priests of the Second Temple, did not even believe in sprits, the after-life, etc., and yet continually participated in bloody sacrifices ... how cynical, a foretaste of atheism. The First Temple sacrifices are speculated to be predominantly bread and wine, after the pattern of Melchizedek; 
(7) Christ came to expiate our sins, not propitiate God. An extensive discussion of the difference between Expiation and Propitiation, the former being Orthodox, the latter being taken up by Luther and Calvin based on the false doctrine of substitutionary atonement. Calvin believed that "God poured out his wrath on Christ and damned Him to Hell". Compare this with a text from the Orthodox Old Believers: "God received Jesus with His blood, coming into His presence as a blameless Lamb." The angry God, who wants vengeance, to pour out his wrath on sin, is a FALSE God. 
(8) v19ff: Jesus went to the very throne of God in Heaven, bearing His own blood that he poured out for the remission of sins, inaugurating a new and living way, by incorporating us into His body, by the veil which is His flesh. He made a way for us to follow Him, but through His own flesh, to the very throne of God. The veil of Christ's flesh covered the presence of God ... to many Jesus is just a good man, but to us He is the Word, the Son of God. Our hearts are sprinkled in His blood and washed in baptism. Let us unswervingly confess our hope, for He who promised is faithful. 
(9) Some were skipping Church then in St. Pauls time, which certainly is the case now, and this was also true in the period leading up to the Russian Revolution. In that period there was rampant materialism and rationalism, a falling away from the Church, a swallowing of the poison of the Socialists, an aristocracy that had abandoned Orthodoxy and embraced Masonism and in some cases Roman Catholicism. They were dark times, with much chaos and numerous political assassinations; 
(10) A warning against willingly sinning after Baptism, against falling away and trampling underfoot the Son of God, of deeming His blood common and insulting the Spirit, of leaving the faith and regarding the Eucharist as mere wine. Rather, keep gong to Church, don't drop out! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Repent and return with tears! The Hebrews were persecuted immediately following their Baptism. Their goods were confiscated, but they had hope in heavenly treasures and dwellings. Stay strong and bold!