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7

crying out of Christ. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind.” And not only Isaiah, but also David cries out in his person, saying: “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions”; in which words the Logos in the first verse proclaims him God, in 1.3.15 the second honors him with a royal scepter, then proceeding next after the divine and royal power, in the third place presents him as having become Christ, anointed not with oil made from material substances, but with the divine oil of gladness; whereby he also signifies his excellence and great superiority and difference from those of old who were anointed in a more corporeal way through types. 1.3.16 And elsewhere the same one declares the things concerning him in this way, saying “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet,” and “From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are 1.3.17 a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” But this Melchizedek is introduced in the sacred scriptures as a priest of the most high God, not having been designated with any prepared unction, nor yet belonging by succession of lineage to the Hebrew priesthood; for which reason our Savior has been proclaimed Christ and priest after his order, but not after that of the others who received symbols and types, with an oath of 1.3.18 reception; whence history does not record that he was anointed corporeally among the Jews, nor that he was born from the priestly tribe, but from God himself before the morning star, that is, before the constitution of the world, being substantiated, and holding the immortal and ageless priesthood for 1.3.19 infinite ages. A great and clear proof of the incorporeal and divine anointing that he received is that he alone of all who have ever existed until now among all men throughout the whole world is called Christ, and is confessed and witnessed to by all under that name, and is commemorated by both Greeks and barbarians, and to this day by his followers throughout the world is honored as a king, marveled at as more than a prophet, and glorified as the true and only high priest of God, and on top of all this, as the pre-existent Logos of God and being substantiated before all ages, has received reverent honor from the Father, and is 1.3.20 worshiped as God; but what is most marvelous of all is that we who are consecrated to him honor him not with voices only and sounds of words, but also with every disposition of soul, so as to prefer the testimony to him even before our own life. 1.4.1 These things, therefore, I must of necessity place here before the history, so that no one may think our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ to be a recent figure on account of the times of his life in the flesh. And lest anyone should suppose his teaching to be new and strange, as if put together by a new man who differed in nothing from other men, come, let us discuss this briefly as well. 1.4.2 For when the presence of our Savior Jesus Christ had recently shone upon all men, a new nation confessedly appeared—not small nor weak nor established in some corner of the earth, but the most populous and most pious of all nations, and for this reason indestructible and unconquerable, because it always receives help from God—which has thus suddenly appeared within unspoken appointed times, the one honored by all with the 1.4.3 name of Christ. At this one of the prophets was astonished, foreseeing with the eye of the divine Spirit what was to be, so as to exclaim: “Who has heard such things, and who has spoken thus? Has the earth travailed in one day, and has

7

ἀναβοῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. «πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπ' ἐμέ, οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέν με· εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέν 1.3.14 με, κηρῦξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν». καὶ οὐ μόνος γε Ἡσαΐας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ∆αυὶδ εἰς τὸ αὐτοῦ πρόσωπον ἀναφωνεῖ λέγων· «ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ θεός, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέν σε, ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός σου ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου»· ἐν οἷς ὁ λόγος ἐν μὲν τῷ πρώτῳ στίχῳ θεὸν αὐτὸν ἐπιφημίζει, ἐν 1.3.15 δὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ σκήπτρῳ βασιλικῷ τιμᾷ, εἶθ' ἑξῆς ὑποβὰς μετὰ τὴν ἔνθεον καὶ βασιλικὴν δύναμιν τρίτῃ τάξει Χριστὸν αὐτὸν γεγονότα, ἐλαίῳ οὐ τῷ ἐξ ὕλης σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐνθέῳ τῆς ἀγαλλιάσεως ἠλειμμένον, παρίστησιν· παρ' ὃ καὶ τὸ ἐξαίρετον αὐτοῦ καὶ πολὺ κρεῖττον καὶ διάφορον τῶν πάλαι διὰ τῶν εἰκό1.3.16 νων σωματικώτερον κεχρισμένων ὑποσημαίνει. καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς ὧδέ πως τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ δηλοῖ λέγων «εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου», καὶ «ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε. ὤμοσεν κύριος καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται· σὺ εἶ 1.3.17 ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ». οὗτος δὲ εἰσάγεται ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς λόγοις ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ ἱερεὺς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου, οὐκ ἐν σκευαστῷ τινι χρίσματι ἀναδεδειγμένος, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ διαδοχῇ γένους προσήκων τῇ καθ' Ἑβραίους ἱερωσύνῃ· δι' ὃ κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τάξιν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἄλλων σύμβολα καὶ τύπους ἀνειληφότων Χριστὸς καὶ ἱερεὺς μεθ' ὅρκου παρα1.3.18 λήψεως ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν ἀνηγόρευται· ὅθεν οὐδὲ σωματικῶς παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις χρισθέντα αὐτὸν ἡ ἱστορία παραδίδωσιν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐκ φυλῆς τῶν ἱερωμένων γενόμενον, ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ θεοῦ πρὸ ἑωσφόρου μέν, τοῦτ' ἐστὶν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως, οὐσιωμένον, ἀθάνατον δὲ καὶ ἀγήρω τὴν ἱερωσύνην εἰς τὸν 1.3.19 ἄπειρον αἰῶνα διακατέχοντα. τῆς δ' εἰς αὐτὸν γενομένης ἀσωμάτου καὶ ἐνθέου χρίσεως μέγα καὶ ἐναργὲς τεκμήριον τὸ μόνον αὐτὸν ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν πώποτε εἰς ἔτι καὶ νῦν παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις καθ' ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου Χριστὸν ἐπιφημίζεσθαι ὁμολογεῖσθαί τε καὶ μαρτυρεῖσθαι πρὸς ἁπάντων ἐπὶ τῇ προσηγορίᾳ παρά τε Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις μνημονεύεσθαι, καὶ εἰς ἔτι νῦν παρὰ τοῖς ἀνὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην αὐτοῦ θιασώταις τιμᾶσθαι μὲν ὡς βασιλέα, θαυμάζεσθαι δὲ ὑπὲρ προφήτην, δοξάζεσθαί τε ὡς ἀληθῆ καὶ μόνον θεοῦ ἀρχιερέα, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις, οἷα θεοῦ λόγον προόντα καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων ἁπάντων οὐσιωμένον τήν τε σεβάσμιον τιμὴν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑπειληφότα, καὶ 1.3.20 προσκυνεῖσθαι ὡς θεόν· τό γε μὴν πάντων παραδοξότατον, ὅτι μὴ φωναῖς αὐτὸ μόνον καὶ ῥημάτων ψόφοις αὐτὸν γεραίρομεν οἱ καθωσιωμένοι αὐτῷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσῃ διαθέσει ψυχῆς, ὡς καὶ αὐτῆς προτιμᾶν τῆς ἑαυτῶν ζωῆς τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν μαρτυ1.4.1 ρίαν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀναγκαίως πρὸ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐνταῦθά μοι κείσθω, ὡς ἂν μὴ νεώτερόν τις εἶναι νομίσειεν τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν τὸν Χριστὸν διὰ τοὺς τῆς ἐνσάρκου πολιτείας αὐτοῦ χρόνους. ἵνα δὲ μηδὲ τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτοῦ νέαν εἶναι καὶ ξένην, ὡς ἂν ὑπὸ νέου καὶ μηδὲν τοὺς λοιποῦς διαφέροντος ἀνθρώπους συστᾶσαν, ὑπονοήσειέν τις, φέρε, βραχέα καὶ περὶ τούτου δια1.4.2 λάβωμεν. τῆς μὲν γὰρ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας νεωστὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐπιλαμψάσης, νέον ὁμολογουμένως ἔθνος, οὐ μικρὸν οὐδ' ἀσθενὲς οὐδ' ἐπὶ γωνίας ποι γῆς ἱδρυμένον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν πολυανθρωπότατόν τε καὶ θεοσεβέστατον ταύτῃ τε ἀνώλεθρον καὶ ἀήττητον, ᾗ καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ τῆς παρὰ θεοῦ βοηθείας τυγχάνει, χρόνων προθεσμίαις ἀρρήτοις ἀθρόως οὕτως ἀναπέφηνεν, τὸ παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσι τῇ 1.4.3 τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσηγορίᾳ τετιμημένον. τοῦτο καὶ προφητῶν κατεπλάγη τις, θείου πνεύματος ὀφθαλμῷ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι προθεωρήσας, ὡς καὶ τάδε ἀναφθέγξασθαι· «τίς ἤκουσεν τοιαῦτα, καὶ τίς ἐλάλησεν οὕτως; εἰ ὤδινεν γῆ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ εἰ