Steven Avery
Administrator
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Was Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist, a High Priest?
John Sanidopoulous
September 23, 2014
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014/09/was-zechariah-father-of-john-baptist.html
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Facebook
Patristics for Protestants
https://www.facebook.com/groups/884609654958164/permalink/3298531663565939/
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The Confusing Case of Zacharias
Lynne Hilton Wilson
https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-14-no-2-2013/confusing-case-zacharias
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The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity: The Day of Atonement from Second Temple Judaism to the Fifth Century (2003)
Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra
https://books.google.com/books?id=nqbzCb_2wNkC&pg=PA254
p. 249-253 not available
https://www.scribd.com/document/382...mpact-of-Yom-Kippur-on-Early-Christianity-pdf
P. 254-255 has some material
Was Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist, a High Priest?
John Sanidopoulous
September 23, 2014
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2014/09/was-zechariah-father-of-john-baptist.html
...
That Zechariah was a High Priest is testified to us not only by the early Protoevangelium of James, but also by many Church Fathers and writers, such as Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Ambrose, Theodoret, Dionysius the Areopagite, Venerable Bede and Theophylact among others, not to mention the hymnography, iconography and entire tradition of the Church.
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The objection arises that Luke merely says Zechariah was a "Priest" and not a High Priest. Yet it was common for the High Priest to only be referred to as a Priest. For example, Aaron who was High Priest is referred to as being a Priest numerous times in Numbers and also in Leviticus: "...they must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest" (Lev. 13:2). David prophecies of Christ the High Priest: ’You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek" (Ps. 110:4). Even St. Paul calls Christ a Priest: "And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears" (Heb. 7:15). A few verses later Paul refers to Christ as "High Priest", indicating the interchangeability of the title. This is even carried down through the tradition of the Church, as we see in Gregory the Theologian's and John Chrysostom's writings on the Priesthood, where Priest is used in fact to describe the High Priest, or Bishop. Lastly, it is assumed by many that the Gospel of Luke was written to the High Priest Theophilus (37-41 A.D). If this is the case, that Luke refers to Zechariah as a Priest could merely mean a familiarity on the part of Theophilus as to who Zechariah truly was as well as his duties.
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Patristics for Protestants
https://www.facebook.com/groups/884609654958164/permalink/3298531663565939/
I was watching a documentary and in it a professor from the University of Oxford named Dr. Philipp E. Nothaft says that early Christians thought Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, was the high priest which is mentioned in the 2nd century text Protoevangelium of James. Also Dr. Nothaft says that early Christians possibly as early as the 2nd century believed that when Zacharias received the news from the angel that his wife was going to be pregnant that the event was on the Day of Atonement also known as Yom Kippur during the month of September. Does anyone know any early Christians texts that describe this event being on the Day of Atonement or at least allude to the event happening on the Day of Atonement before the 4th century or some other secondary sources that I have not mentioned below?
Here are some primary sources that I’ve read but they are from the 4th century:
John Chrysostom, Homily on the Day of the Birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ 4–5
On the Solstices and Equinoxes
Ambrose of Milan, Exposition on the Gospel According to Luke 1.22
Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on the Diatessaron 1.29
Secondary sources I’ve read which argue that the story of St. John the Baptist’s conception happening on Yom Kippur dates to at least the 2nd century CE:
Stökl Ben Ezra, Daniel. “The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity: The Day of Atonement from Second Temple Judaism to the Fifth Century.” (Germany: Isd, 2003.) Pg. 250-255
Nothaft, Philipp E. “Early Christian Chronology and the Origins of the Christmas Date: A Defense of the ‘Calculation Theory’,” in Questions Liturgiques 94 (2013) Pg. 258-261
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The Confusing Case of Zacharias
Lynne Hilton Wilson
https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-14-no-2-2013/confusing-case-zacharias
=======================
The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity: The Day of Atonement from Second Temple Judaism to the Fifth Century (2003)
Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra
https://books.google.com/books?id=nqbzCb_2wNkC&pg=PA254
p. 249-253 not available
https://www.scribd.com/document/382...mpact-of-Yom-Kippur-on-Early-Christianity-pdf
P. 254-255 has some material
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