The Leontopolis temple
differed from the Jerusalem temple in another important though inexplicable respect.
Instead of the seven-branched menorah, the temple had a single gold lamp
suspended on a gold chain which shone with great brilliance, epiphainonta
selas. This Greek expression implies a divine epiphany, but not, we
suggest, of the LORD. It seems that the Leontopolis temple had a sun symbol.
Further, the priests of this temple had the same status as those whom Josiah
expelled from Jerusalem in 623 BCE, those called kemārîm rather
than kōhanîm (2 Kgs
23.5, 9). They retained certain priestly rights even though they were
barred from the temple after the purge that expelled the Great Lady. (Margaret
Barker, The Great Lady: Restoring Her Story [Sheffield: Sheffield
Phoenix Press, 2023], 164, emphasis in bold added)
Further Reading:
The
Use of כמר KMR at Elephantine and the Etymology of "Cumorah"