XXXII Международный конгресс ИИСАА. 26–28 апреля 2023 г.

546 XXXII Международный Конгресс по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки Секция XIV Ben Sira speaks of the binary of everything created by God (all things are in pairs, each the opposite of the other — Sir 42:24) and of the balance of all objects, phenomena and concepts that exist in the world. These are the main directions of ideas within which the theological system of Ben Sira, a Jewish author of the Hellenistic era, is built. Mescherskaya E. N. (SPbU, Saint-Petersburg) The high priest and temple worship according to the Wisdom of Ben Sira 1 Jewish piety has been most evident in relation to the Temple, rituals of the Temple and its attendants. Ben Sira holds the priesthood and temple worship high (Sir 7:29–31). In the early Hellenistic period in Jerusalem and Palestine, the role of a high priest increased. First, it was because Hellenistic rulers did not trust secular officials and preferred ruling the country relying on the local priesthood. Second, in the times of Ben Sira Jews themselves thought highly of the high priest and his role in ruling the country and the people. The reason for it was the fact that by that period of history the Jerusalem high priesthood had been succeeded from generation to generation for eight centuries within the same family of the Sadokites and therefore it was enhanced by the tradition. The high priest had command of secular and spiritual authority. Therefore, Ben Sira puts the status of the high priest above the king’s one. A contemporary of Ben Sira, Simon II whose merits described in the book of Sirach, played an important political and creative role in reconstruction of Jerusalem after the struggle/confrontation of Ptolemais and Seleucidae. However, Ben Sira tells about his liturgical activity as well. In Sir 50:5–21 the author described a sacrament in Jerusalem Temple executed by the priests led by Simon II. The scholars have not come to the consensus on this narration and what sort of liturgical act is performed here. Most of the researchers assume that this is about a ritual at the Yom Kippur fast when the Jewish people show the total repentance and wash away the sins accumulated over the year. Celebration of this day was particularly important for the Jews of the diaspora as they were in a pagan environment that created many situations led to ritual impurity and other sins. It also became relevant for Hellenistic Jerusalem. Indeed, it was on the day of the Lent, as the Jews called Yom Kippur, that the high priest could enter the holy of holies and perform sacrificial rituals only once a year. However, there is another point of view, which is based on a comparison of the rite of worship described in Wisdom and the daily rite of morning and evening sacrifice. The order of these services is known from the Talmudic 1 The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project number 21–011–44142.