HIGH-PRIEST (Heb. kohen kaggadol, or emphat. kohen, Gr. archiereus, Lat. primes pontifex, etc.), the chief of the Jewish priesthood. His dignity was hereditary in the line of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and many more restrictions attached to it than belonged to. the ordinary office of a priest. He was only allowed to marry an intact virgin, and one of his own tribe; every impure contact even of the dead bodies of his olvn parents he was strictly forbidden, besides having to abstain from many other things that might cause any defilement whatever. His functions consisted principally in the general administration of the sanctuary and all that belonged to the sacred service. He alone was allowed to enter the holy of holies on the day of atonement, and to con suitthe urim and thiumnim (q.v.). No less was his costume of surpassing costliness and splendor, comprising numerous vestments in addition to those of the ordinary priests. This brilliant costume, however, was laid aside by the high-priest when, on the day of atonement, he went to perform the most service in the holy of holies: a garb of white linen—the funeral dress of the Jews in later times—was all he wore on that occasion. The revenues of the high-priest were in the main the same as
those of the other priests; but, according to the Talmud, he was to be richer than these, mid if his own means'.were insufficient, he was to be provided with opulent means by his brethren, in virtue of his exalted position; the other priests never addressed the high-priest but by islai kohen ga,dol, "my Before the law, however, thehigh-priestwas equal to any other Israelite. It is doubtful at what time the office of twan, or vice-high-priest, was created. The Talmud, moreover, speaks of s madliach milkamah, "anointed for the war," an officer who seems to have shared almost the dignity of the high-priest, and whose special duty it appears to have been to read the proclamation prescribed in Dent. xx. 3, in the time of war, and who may have accompanied the troops for the purposes of celebrating the service in the camp. For further historical and theological points connected with this subject, see PmEsis,.. AARON, and JEWS.