Is the pope a high priest?

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Moses went up with 2 brothers.
Peter went up with 2 brothers.
Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:16 sounds similar to the high priest Caiphas in Matthew 26:63.

So we all know the Jesus is the high priest in heaven but is the pope also a high priest on earth?
 
It’s stretching the analogy. Yes the OT high priest had some leadership role, but the king was a religious leader.

The high priest offered a very special unique sacrifice. The pope’s Mass is not different from that of any other priest, nor is his Mass on any one day any holier than his Mass on another day.

The high priest had some authority over the priests, and Temple, but not (to my knowledge) over the rabbis and synagogue, or the prophets. We know his utterance on certain occasions had special meaning, but we don’t know if they became embodied in their Tradition.
 
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the king…meaning Soloman, David and the gang were religious leaders?
 
I see Pope Francis as a servant, not a high priest. In fact, I believe many of the papal bulls will use the line servus servorum Dei which translates from Latin to servant of the servants of God. See Misericordiae Vultus which has this right at the beginning of the document.

Blessings,

John
 
tablecorner said:
the king…meaning Soloman, David and the gang were religious leaders?
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To some extent they were. Certain kings built a temple, called for spiritual reform, restoration of the Law of Moses, etc. Other kings not so much.

It was important that the Messiah be descended from the line of kings, not from any high priests.

Prophets also were religious leaders, apparently independent of high priests. We really don’t know much about OT rabbis, at least I don’t.

I think most Protestant leadership comes from the synagogue tradition, though charismatic groups come from the prophetic leadership tradition. The Catholic priesthood is a successor to all of these, sacrificial priest, prophet, teacher-pastor.
 
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tablecorner said:
is the pope also a high priest on earth?
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Not in the proper sense; Jesus Christ is the only true high priest; the others are his ministers. However, the pope and other bishops, as Jesus Christ’s ministers, are sometimes called high priests because they participate more fully in the high priesthood of Jesus Christ than other Christians.
 
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Every bishop, including the Pope, is a high priest. This is very much part of our tradition and is reflected in the Catechism.
Christ is the one true high priest, who offers his one perfect sacrifice, but every ordained priest participates / shares in his priesthood, offering the Eucharist through and with him here on earth. Bishops are given the fullness of the Christian priesthood and preside over the local Church on behalf of Christ, and are thus called high priests… though you could also say they are vicars of the High Priest.
 
twf said:
Bishops are given the fullness of the Christian priesthood and preside over the local Church on behalf of Christ, and are thus called high priests
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Did the high priest have any general authority outside supervising the sacrifices in the Temple, as well as entering the Holy of Holies? I am sure they would be involved juridically if Someone was accused of saying something against the Temple, but I don’t know if they had relationship with “laity” otherwise.

I realize they had prestige, during their year of service, and to some extent afterwards. But were they connected at all to the synagogues, where the great majority of Jews presumably had much more contact?
 
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In 31 BC Augustus defeated Mark Antony in the battle of Actium and became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. At that time there had been, for several centuries, a pagan high priest in Rome who bore the title Pontifex Maximus, usually translated into English as Supreme Pontiff. Augustus, however, deposed the Pontifex Maximus and appointed himself as Supreme Pontiff in his place. From then on, the title seems to have been used by every Roman Emperor down to and including Gratian, who reigned from 359 to 383. At some time in the middle of his reign, maybe in the 370s, Gratian formally renounced the title and transferred it to Pope Damasus. I’m not sure that all of Damasus’ successors actually used the title, but they evidently had the right to use it if they chose to. Pope Francis still uses it now.
 
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I tend to think the typology of Eliakim is more akin to Peter, or Aaron (Peter) to Moses (Jesus). I just tend to think of the High Priest as Jesus, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have successors…so yeah I guess Peter could be topologically present in some of the High Priests of the Old Testament.
 
Probably depended on the era. In the Maccabees era, didn’t the high priests have essentially theocratic power?
 
another question. In the past it was only the high priest who could go into the holy of holies was it?
In the NT church, is the alter at mass the HOH?
 
twf said:
Probably depended on the era. In the Maccabees era, didn’t the high priests have essentially theocratic power?
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The other way around. Jonathan, the second Hasmonean king, appointed himself high priest as well, in 152 BC. His successors continued the same way until the death of Alexander Jannaeus in 76 BC. After that the situation became more complicated.
 
The sanctuary / altar area of Christian temples (churches) is modeled after the holy of holies… this is more clear in the Eastern and Oriental traditions. In the Byzantine tradition, you have the iconostasis, an actual wall separating the sanctuary from the rest of the church. In the various Oriental rites, there is at least a curtain, modeled after the temple curtain that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple… the key difference? After the consecration, the curtain is opened (symbolic of the temple curtain being torn at the moment Our Lord died) and the holiest of holies - the Eucharist - is brought out to the people.
 
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