Baptism or Temple Initiation? Part II

The Ancient Temple Initiation of the High Priesthood

As I stated in my last post, Margaret Barker shows some interesting similarities between Christian baptism and the initiatory rites of the ancient royal high priesthood which generally took place at the temple. While she makes some good points, I think some caution is required. Barker herself states that the ancient temple customs were often “reinterpreted” by the (later) Christians (p. 100, see also p. 133).

An important insight that Barker provides is that the world of the Christians revolved around the Temple and the High Priesthood (which she often refers to as the Royal High Priesthood or the Melchizedek Priesthood).  The ideal vision for Christian worship was John’s Revelation, concerning which Barker points out: The Christians worshipping in John’s vision were all high priests (p. 99). The Christians saw themselves as the royal priesthood “called out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet 2:9).  That this was the case Barker makes very clear, and so I would like to now focus on some of the insights she gives us concerning the initiatory rites of the ancient high priests.

In the Testament of Levi, we see the patriarch of the priestly tribe receiving the priestly initiatory rites. There are some noteworthy steps involved:

• The heavens open and an angel of the Lord tells Levi that he would be a son (of the Most High) and minister in his presence (T. Levi 4:2)
• Later seven angels come and the first angel anoints him with holy oil and gives him a staff
• The second washes him, gives him bread and wine and puts on him his glorious vestment
• The third puts on him a fine linen garment (over the other clothes?)
• The fourth gives him a purple sash
• The fifth gives him an olive branch
• The sixth puts a wreath on his head
• The seventh gives him the priestly diadem and incense (T. Levi 8:2-11)

According to this text, washing, anointing, and clothing are necessary rites for Levi to undergo in order for him to serve in the (Heavenly) Temple. For a great overview of this text, have a look at Bryce Haymond’s post. As part of this initiation, Levi was given the “Name” of God–literally the letters YHWH written on the diadem, a type of crown with a gold plate affixed over the forehead, upon which the letters were written. The priest, thereafter, would pass the Name on to his “sons”–those who were initiated into the priesthood by him.

It is interesting to note that Testament of Levi is found in an Aramaic version at Qumran, and was likely written by priests who had separated themselves (or were banned) from the Second Temple. Testament of Levi, according to Barker, “is clearly hostile to the corrupt priesthood of the second temple” (p. 106). Joshua, the first high priest of the Second Temple, was vested according to tradition, but was not anointed (Zech 3:1–7). According to tradition, the anointing oil of the temple had been hidden away by King Josiah. Levi warns that for a time there would be corrupt and apostate priests (T. Levi 16:1). These apostate priests would rule for a certain period until the coming of a new priest, over whom the heavens would open. He would be consecrated and receive the glory of the Most High. The Spirit would rest upon him in the water. He would pass on the Name to his sons, open the gates of Paradise and give access to the Tree of Life (T. Levi 18:1-14).

The Significance of Anointing

One of the important differences between the First and Second Temples, as I mentioned above, was that in the Second Temple, the priests were not anointed. We see the importance of anointing restored with Christ and his followers. Christians were “Christs” or “anointed ones,” following the example of Jesus himself (see p. 125).  The were “Christians, the anointed, from Christ the Anointed…” (Apostolic Constitutions 3:15). The Gospel of Phillip declares:

 ”the chrism (anointing) is superior to baptism, for it is from the word chrism that we have been called Christians. And it is because of the chrism that the Christ has his name” (CG II:3:74).

The significance of the anointing, according to Barker, is that the oil was a symbol of theosis, of becoming divine (p. 126). Commenting on Psalm 45:6–7, Eusebius speaks of Christ’s premortal anointing:

The Anointer, being the supreme God, is far above the Anointed, he being God in a different sense…Therefore in these words you have it stated clearly that God was anointed and became the Christ (Proof IV:15).

Eusebius goes on to state that the anointed high priest was “the figure and symbol on earth” of the Second God, the heavenly High Priest.

Those who were anointed received vision and Wisdom. Wisdom was represented by the Tree of Life, and she was the giver of Resurrection (pp. 126-127). The oil that anointed Christ was extracted from the perfumed wood of the Tree of Life, and the oil that was used to anoint the priests/kings in the temple was made to imitate this original oil. In Clementine Recognitions, Peter explains:

The Son of God, the beginning of all things, became Man. Him first God anointed with oil which was taken from the wood of the tree of life…In the present life, Aaron the first high priest was anointed with a composition of chrism which was made after the pattern of the spiritual ointment…If then this temporal grace, compounded by men, had such efficacy, consider how potent was that ointmentextracted by God from a branch of the tree of life (Clem. Rec.  1:45-46).

The Adam legends (like Life of Adam and Eve and Apocalypse of Moses) tell the story of Seth returning to Eden to try to obtain some of the precious oil of the Tree of Life for his dying father Adam, but the angel forbids him, saying that the sacred oil would only be restored later, when all flesh will be raised up and healed (see p. 128). The Gospel of Phillip declared:

The Tree of Life is in the midst of Paradise, and from [it] comes chrism, and from chrism comes resurrection. People who say they will die first and then arise are mistaken. If they do not first recive resurrection while they are alive, once they have died they will receive nothing (CG II:3:73).

Certainly, then, it is essential to receive the anointing in this life, so that we may be raised up and healed afterwards. That is why this world is called the Telestial–because this is the place where the telos, the “initiation,” must be performed.

According to Origen, the Orphite Gnostics had known of the significance of this anointing and had declared: “I have been anointed with the white chrism which flows from the tree of life” (Celsus, 6:27). If there was white chrism, there could also have been white fruit! 

Next time: Back to Baptism…

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