A treatise on the Trinity by St Faustinus
Christ, king and priest for ever |
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Our
Saviour received a bodily anointing and so became a true king and a
true priest. Both king and priest he was of his very self; a saviour
could be nothing less. Hear in his own words how he himself became a
king: I have been appointed king by God on Zion his holy mountain. Hear in the Father’s words that he was a priest: You are a priest for ever in the line of Melchizedek.
Aaron was the first under the law to be made a priest by being anointed
with chrism, yet the Father does not say, “in the line of Aaron,” lest
it be believed that the Saviour’s priesthood could be passed on by
inheritance, for at that time Aaron’s priesthood was transmitted by
lineal descent. But the Saviour’s priesthood is not inherited because
this priest lives on for ever. Therefore Scripture says: You are a priest for ever in the line of Melchizedek.
There is, therefore, a savior in the flesh who is
both a king and a priest, though his anointing was not physical but
spiritual. Among the Israelite's , those kings and priests who were
actually anointed with oil were either kings or priests. No man could be
both king and priest; he had to be one or the other. Only Christ was
both king and priest; because he had come to fulfill the law, he alone
possessed the twofold perfection of kingship and priesthood.
Those who had been anointed with the oil of kingship
or priesthood, although they received only one of these anointings, were
called messiahs. Our Saviour, however, who is the Christ, was anointed
by the Holy Spirit so that the passage in Scripture might be fulfilled: God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness and raised you above your companions.
The difference, then, between the one Christ and the many christs is in
the anointing, since he was anointed with the oil of gladness, which
signifies nothing other than the Holy Spirit.
This we know to be true from the Saviour himself. When he took the book of Isaiah, he opened it and read: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. He then said that the prophecy was fulfilled in the hearing of those listening.
Peter, the prince of the apostles, also taught that
the chrism which made the Saviour a christ was the Holy Spirit; that is
to say, the power of God. When in the Acts of the Apostles Peter spoke
to that faithful and merciful man, the centurion, he said among other
things: After the baptism which John preached, Jesus of Nazareth,
whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, started out in
Galilee and travelled about performing powerful miracles, and freeing
all who were possessed by the devil.
So you see that Peter too said that Jesus in his
humanity was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. Thus Jesus in
his humanity truly became the Christ. By the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, he was made both king and priest for ever.
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