Theophylact of Ohrid, on Heb 8:3

“For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that he also should have some thing to offer.”

“Since he said "sat down" (Heb. 8:1), lest you consider it a deception that he called Him a priest, he says that although He sat down, He did not thereby cease to be a High Priest; for everything that belongs to high priests, He possesses, and just as they offer sacrifices, so He offered Himself as a sacrifice. To sit at the right hand belongs to His dignity, while the high priesthood is a matter of great love for mankind. And furthermore, since some were asking why He died if He was truly the Son and eternal, he resolves this perplexity and says: since He was a Priest, and a priest does not exist without a sacrifice, it "was necessary that this one also have something to offer." And this was nothing other than His own body. Therefore, it was necessary for Him to die. Between "gifts" and "sacrifices," in the precise sense, there is a distinction. For sacrifices are offerings of blood and flesh, or more precisely, everything that is consumed by fire. For the word θυσία — sacrifice — properly derives from the word θύεσθαι, that is, to be burned. But gifts, such as fruits and the like, are bloodless and not burned. However, in Scripture both terms are used interchangeably, as for example: "And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his gift," although the gift was precisely from the firstborn of the sheep, "but for Cain and for his gift He had no regard," although the gift was from the fruits of the earth (Gen. 4:3–5). And if anyone attempts to reconcile this with empty arguments, which we ourselves have also heard, I still do not see how he will free himself from the charge of inattentive reading of the Scriptures. For often in other places as well these terms are used interchangeably, and I could cite an innumerable multitude of passages if I did not consider it unnecessary. However, it will suffice for us that the apostle himself further on called everything offered in sacrifice simply gifts. Now listen.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.