Husek Vit, Cernuskova Veronika, Ashwin-Siejkowski Piotr, Kovacs Judith, Rizzerio Laura, Yli-Karjanmaa Sami, Platova Jana, Salminen Joona, Dietmar Wyrwa: The High-Priest of the Epistle to the Hebrews in Clement

Clement thinks that the Epistle to the Hebrews is a letter by Paul, originally written in hebrew, but translated by Luke. In a remarkable technique of quotations this enables him to give some of Paul's basic concepts a more or less different emphasis. So he transforms the paradigm of the two aiones, used by Paul, into the view of one universal salvation history. Likewise he gives a more distinctive stress to the other-wordly realm above in comparison to Paul's prevainling eschatological orientation to the future. This goes together with his notion of faith and his differentiation between milk and strong meat. The most prominent issue however is, that Clement adopts the sovereign title of the great High-Priest for Christ, which is missing in Paul altogether. As in Hebrews he want to express in this way the mediatory functions of Christ, though in his concept the central idea of sacrifice is nearly absent. In his view it is less the incarnate Christ, but above all the preexistent Logos or the risen Christ, who exercises functions, which have cosmological and anthropological implications, especially such of soteriology, epistemology, liturgy and eschatology and which work in both directions between God and man and between man and God. But he also identifies the upwards moving soul of the perfect with the high-priest of Hebrews. The allegorical interpretation of the tabernacle and the vestments of the high-priest are to a large extent borrowings from Philo, but lead in the end to a clear Christian position.