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God and Father. {ORTH.} So then, do we say that Melchizedek was begotten? {ERAN.} Begotten. {ORTH.} But the account concerning him teaches the opposite. For recall what you just recited: "Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life." How then does 124 "without father" and "without mother" fit him? and how also that he has neither received a beginning of being, nor will receive an end? For these things are beyond human nature. {ERAN.} These things indeed surpass the measures of human nature. {ORTH.} What then? Shall we say the apostle has spoken falsely? {ERAN.} May it not be! {ORTH.} How then is it possible both to attest to the truth of the apostle, and to apply these things that are beyond nature to Melchizedek? {ERAN.} The passage is exceedingly obscure, and requires the greatest possible exposition. {ORTH.} For those willing to pay attention, the understanding of the meaning of the words is attainable. For after the divine apostle had said, "Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life," he added, "But made like the Son of God, he remains a priest forever." And he taught us clearly that in these things that are beyond human nature, the archetype of Melchizedek is the Lord Christ, while Melchizedek is an image and a type of the Lord Christ; for he said Melchizedek was made like the Son of God. Let us consider it this way: do you say that the Lord had a father according to the flesh? {ERAN.} Not at all. {ORTH.} Why? {ERAN.} For He was born of the holy virgin alone. {ORTH.} Therefore, is he not rightly named "without father"? {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} Do you say that He had a mother according to the divine nature? {ERAN.} Certainly not. {ORTH.} For He was begotten of the Father alone before the ages. {ERAN.} It is agreed. {ORTH.} Therefore, He has also been called "without genealogy," as having an ineffable generation from the Father. "For his generation," says the prophet, "who will declare?" 125 {ERAN.} You speak truly. {ORTH.} Thus it befits Him to have neither a beginning of days, nor an end of life; for He is without beginning and indestructible, and to put it briefly, eternal, and co-eternal with the Father. {ERAN.} These things seem so to me as well. But it remains to consider how these things also fit the wonderful Melchizedek. {ORTH.} As an image and a type; but the image, as we have also said before, does not have all the things that the archetype has. So to the Savior these things belong by nature and in truth; but to Melchizedek the history of ancient lineage has applied these things. For having taught us the father of the patriarch Abraham, and both the father and the mother of Isaac, and of Jacob likewise, and of his children, and indeed having shown the genealogy of those who came long before, it has mentioned neither the father nor the mother of Melchizedek, nor indeed taught that he traced his lineage from any of Noah's children, so that he might become a type of the one who is truly without mother and without father. And the divine apostle taught us to understand it this way; for in the passage itself he also added these things: "But he whose descent is not reckoned from them has received tithes from Abraham and has blessed him who had the promises." {ERAN.} And because the divine scripture did not mention those who begot him, can he be called "without father" and "without mother"? {ORTH.} If he were truly without father and without mother, he would not be an image, but the truth. But since he does not have these things by nature, but according to the economy of the divine scripture, he shows the type of the truth. {ERAN.} The image ought to have clear characteristics of the archetype. {ORTH.} Is man called an image of God? {ERAN.} He is not an image of God, but was made according to the image of God. {ORTH.} Listen then to the apostle saying: "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God." {ERAN.} Let him be an image of God. {ORTH.} Therefore, according to your argument, he ought to preserve the clear 126 characteristics of the archetype, and be neither created, nor composite, nor

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ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατήρ. {ΟΡΘ.} Γεννητὸν οὖν ἄρα τὸν Μελχισεδὲκ εἶναί φαμεν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Γεννητόν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλ' ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος τἀναντία διδάσκει. Ἀναμνήσθητι γὰρ ὧν ἀρτίως ἀπεμνημόνευσας· "Ἀπάτωρ, ἀμήτωρ, ἀγενεαλόγητος, μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν, μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχων." Πῶς τοίνυν αὐτῷ τὸ 124 ἀπάτωρ ἁρμόττει καὶ τὸ ἀμήτωρ; πῶς δὲ καὶ τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν εἰλη φέναι τοῦ εἶναι, μήτε λήψεσθαι τέλος; Ὑπὲρ ἀνθρωπείαν γὰρ ταῦτά γε φύσιν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὑπερβαίνει τῷ ὄντι ταῦτα τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἀνθρωπείας τὰ μέτρα. {ΟΡΘ.} Τί οὖν; ψευδῆ τὸν ἀπόστολον εἰρηκέναι φήσομεν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Μὴ γένοιτο. {ΟΡΘ.} Πῶς οὖν οἷόν τε καὶ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ προσμαρτυρῆσαι ἀλή θειαν, καὶ τῷ Μελχισεδὲκ προσαρμόσαι τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἄγαν ἀσαφὲς τὸ χωρίον, καὶ πολλῆς ὅτι μάλιστα δεό μενον ἀναπτύξεως. {ΟΡΘ.} Τοῖς προσέχειν ἐθέλουσιν ἐφικτὴ τῆς τῶν ῥητῶν διανοίας ἡ κατανόησις. Εἰρηκὼς γὰρ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, "Ἀπάτωρ, ἀμήτωρ, ἀγενεαλόγητος, μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν, μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχων," ἐπή γαγεν, "Ἀφωμοιωμένος δὲ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ μένει ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸ διηνεκές." Καὶ σαφῶς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν, ὡς τοῦ Μελχισεδὲκ ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἀρχέτυπόν ἐστιν ὁ δεσπότης Χριστός, ὁ δέ γε Μελχισεδὲκ εἰκών ἐστι καὶ τύπος τοῦ δεσπότου Χριστοῦ· τὸν γὰρ Μελχισεδὲκ εἶπεν ἀφωμοιωμένον τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ. Σκοπήσωμεν δὲ οὑτωσί· λέγεις ἐσχηκέναι τὸν κύριον κατὰ σάρκα πατέρα; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐδαμῶς. {ΟΡΘ.} ∆ιατί; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἐκ μόνης γὰρ ἁγίας ἐγεννήθη παρθένου. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν εἰκότως ἀπάτωρ ὠνόμασται; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Λέγεις αὐτὸν κατὰ τὴν θείαν φύσιν ἐσχηκέναι μητέρα; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐ δῆτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἐκ μόνου γὰρ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐγεννήθη πατρός. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Συνωμολόγηται. {ΟΡΘ.} Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἀγενεαλόγητος, ὡς ἄρρητον ἔχων τὴν ἐκ πατρὸς γέννησιν, προσηγόρευται. "Τὴν γενεὰν γὰρ αὐτοῦ, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης, τίς διηγήσεται;" 125 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθῶς λέγεις. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὕτω αὐτῷ προσήκει τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν, μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχειν· ἄναρχος γὰρ καὶ ἀνώλεθρος, καὶ συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ἀΐδιος, καὶ τῷ πατρὶ συναΐδιος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ταῦτα μὲν οὕτω κἀμοὶ συνδοκεῖ. Χρὴ δὲ σκοπῆσαι λοιπόν, πῶς ἁρμόττει ταῦτα καὶ τῷ θαυμασίῳ Μελχισεδέκ. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὡς εἰκόνι καὶ τύπῳ· ἡ δὲ εἰκών, ὡς καὶ πρόσθεν εἰρήκαμεν, οὐ πάντα ἔχει ὅσα τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἔχει. Τῷ μὲν οὖν σωτῆρι ταῦτα προσήκει φύσει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ· τῷ δέ γε Μελχισεδὲκ ἡ τῆς ἀρχαιογο νίας ἱστορία προσήρμοσε ταῦτα. ∆ιδάξασα γὰρ ἡμᾶς τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατέρα, τοῦ δὲ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ὡσαύτως, καὶ τῶν τούτου παίδων, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν πρόπαλαι γενομένων τὴν γενεαλογίαν ἐπιδείξασα, τοῦ Μελχισεδὲκ οὔτε τὸν πατέρα εἴρηκεν οὔτε τὴν μητέρα, οὔτε μὴν ἔκ τινος τῶν Νῶε παίδων κατάγειν τὸ γένος ἐδίδαξεν, ἵνα γένηται τοῦ ἀληθῶς ἀμήτορος καὶ ἀπάτορος τύπος. Οὕτω δὲ νοεῖν ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ τῷ χωρίῳ καὶ ταῦτα προστέθεικεν· "Ὁ δὲ μὴ γενεαλογούμενος ἐξ αὐτῶν, τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἀποδεδεκάτωκε, καὶ τὸν ἔχοντα τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ηὐλόγηκεν." {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τῶν γεγεννηκότων αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐμνημόνευσεν ἡ θεία γραφή, ἀπάτωρ δύναται καὶ ἀμήτωρ καλεῖσθαι; {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰ ἀληθῶς ἀπάτωρ ἦν καὶ ἀμήτωρ, οὐκ ἂν ἦν εἰκών, ἀλλ' ἀλήθεια. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐ φύσει ταῦτ' ἔχει, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τῆς θείας γραφῆς οἰκονομίαν, δείκνυσι τῆς ἀληθείας τὸν τύπον. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Χρὴ τὴν εἰκόνα ἔχειν ἐναργεῖς τοῦ ἀρχετύπου τοὺς χαρακτῆρας. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν καλεῖται θεοῦ; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ ἔστιν εἰκὼν θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐγένετο. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἄκουσον οὖν τοῦ ἀποστόλου λέγοντος· "Ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλήν, εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα θεοῦ ὑπάρ χων." {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἔστω εἰκὼν θεοῦ. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἐχρῆν τοίνυν, κατὰ τὸν σὸν λόγον, σώζειν αὐτὸν ἐναργεῖς 126 τοῦ ἀρχετύπου τοὺς χαρακτῆρας, καὶ μήτε κτιστὸν εἶναι, μήτε σύν θετον, μήτε