“... so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.” (Hebrews 6:18)
Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s First Reading:
““Through two unchangeable things” ... the former is that he swore by himself. The latter is that David said, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, that you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” It is by this means that we who have been made coheirs of his promise “might have strong encouragement.” We “have fled for refuge” in order to protect ourselves, not for God’s justice, in order that God may draw and drive us away from the evils of this world, and may open for us the way “into the inner shrine behind the curtain.” We do not go in first. We do not go into the shrine of the tabernacle, where Moses went, but into the inner shrine in heaven, “where Jesus has gone as a forerunner, having become a high priest forever,” not in order to offer the victims of sacrifices, like Aaron, but to offer the word for all nations, like Melchizedek.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews.)
“In 6: 17-18, the author passes from the third-person plural, “the heirs of the promise,” to the first-person plural: “So that ... we may have a powerful consolation.” That confirms that the expression “the heirs of the promise” really does designate the Christians. The author continues by saying, “We who have sought refuge by seizing the hope” (6:18); he thus comes back to the theme of hope, which he introduced with insistence in 6:11. He describes hope by saying that we have it “as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm.” This nautical comparison is not found elsewhere in the Bible, but is found in some Greek authors in antiquity. The author loses contact with it when he adds, “and which enters within the curtain.” An anchor does not enter within a curtain; it is cast to the bottom of the waters.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 114-115.)
“In 6: 17-18, the author passes from the third-person plural, “the heirs of the promise,” to the first-person plural: “So that ... we may have a powerful consolation.” That confirms that the expression “the heirs of the promise” really does designate the Christians. The author continues by saying, “We who have sought refuge by seizing the hope” (6:18); he thus comes back to the theme of hope, which he introduced with insistence in 6:11. He describes hope by saying that we have it “as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm.” This nautical comparison is not found elsewhere in the Bible, but is found in some Greek authors in antiquity. The author loses contact with it when he adds, “and which enters within the curtain.” An anchor does not enter within a curtain; it is cast to the bottom of the waters.” (Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, The Letter to the Hebrews: A New Commentary. Paulist Press 978-0809149285, pages 114-115.)
Collect
O God,
Who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony
to serve You
by a wondrous way of life in the desert,
grant, through his intercession,
that, denying ourselves,
we may always love You above all things.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony
to serve You
by a wondrous way of life in the desert,
grant, through his intercession,
that, denying ourselves,
we may always love You above all things.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
