Who is the anointed Kohen (priest) who we’ve been saying brings the Par Kohen Mashiach (bull of the anointed priest) when he makes a mistake in ruling and then follows it? He is a Kohen who actually took his position through being anointed with the special Shemen ha-Mishcha, the anointing oil, as opposed to the Kohen Gadol (High Priest), who took his position by adding a number of garments to his clothing, by wearing the extra garments of the Kohen Gadol. The regular Kohen wore four special articles of clothing, and the Kohen Gadol wore eight articles of clothing.
If a Kohen Gadol took his position not through the Shemen ha-Mishcha, it was because, in the times of the first Bet HaMikdash, they wanted to make sure the Shemen ha-Mishcha did not fall into the wrong hands. So they hid it, they got rid of it, and the Kohen Gadol started to wear more clothing in order to assume his position. Since the Pasuk (verse) says that the Kohen ha-Mashiach (anointed priest) is the one who brings the Par Kohen Mashiach, only an individual who actually had it done to him—the anointing—could bring this Korban (offering). A Kohen Gadol who took his position in a different way, with more clothes, could not bring this Korban.
And the only difference bein (between) a Kohen Gadol who was anointed with anointing oil and a Kohen Gadol who took his position by increasing the number of his garments without the anointing is the bull that’s brought for the Par Kohen Mashiach. That’s only brought by the Kohen Gadol who was anointed with oil. But in terms of all other laws, both Kohanim Gedolim are equal.
Now we’ll talk about the Kohanim Gedolim. What do we mean by that in the plural? The Kohen Gadol becomes temporarily impure, and he’s not allowed to serve in the Bet HaMikdash. They have a second Kohen Gadol take his place. When the first Kohen Gadol becomes pure again or becomes ready to fit, he goes back to his position, and the one who took his place temporarily retires. Even after his retirement, though, that substitute still retains some sort of the Kedushah, the holiness of the Kohen Gadol position. But there are minor differences between them, which we’ll list.
There’s no difference between the serving Kohen Gadol and the retired Kohen Gadol except for the bull offered by the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. If the substitute Kohen Gadol offered it when he wasn’t in the position anymore, the whole thing would not be valid. Only the regular serving Kohen Gadol could be the one who offers it.
The tenth of an eifah (dry measure) of flour brought by the Kohen Gadol every single day—the flour was turned into twelve loaves. Six of them were offered in the morning and six in the afternoon. This type of Korban also could only be brought by the serving Kohen Gadol, not by the one who was retired.
Both Kohanim Gedolim, the serving and the retired Kohen Gadol, are equal in their ability to do the Yom Kippur Avodah (service), which has to be done by a Kohen Gadol. It should be done by the one who’s serving, but if it was done by the one who was retired, it’s a valid Avodah, a valid service.
Both Kohanim Gedolim are only allowed to marry a woman who is a virgin. They’re both forbidden to marry a widow, even if she never had relations. Both of them are not allowed to become impure through the corpses of their relatives. Regular Kohanim are allowed to become impure through their relatives, but a Kohen Gadol is not allowed to. When they have a relative who passes away, neither of them is allowed to grow their hair out or tear their garments in the way that mourners usually do.
The death of either Kohen Gadol allows a Rotzeach, a person who killed by mistake, to return from exile. When a person kills by mistake, he has to go to the Ir Miklat, the city of refuge, and stay there until the Kohen Gadol dies. At that point, the family of the person who killed does not have the option or the ability to redeem the blood of their relative who was killed. This continues until one of these two Kohanim dies, and then the person who killed is allowed to go back home, and he has no threat against his life.