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according to the flesh; he alone was taken from the lump of humanity for the salvation of the whole world and was transferred to a better and heavenly commonwealth and way of life. Glory to God. Amen. 5.95 This is Melchizedek, how great a priest of the most high God, the one who receives tithes from the priests according to the law of Moses. This is the king of peace and of righteousness, and at the same time priest of the most high God, the one made like the Son of God, the one who received the priesthood neither by succession from other priests, nor passed it on to other priests. This is the one who performs the sacred rites not according to the law of Moses, but ministering with other, better symbols. This is the one who blessed the patriarch Abraham, the one without father and without mother and not genealogized from them, the only priest and king, the one made like the Son of God, and he himself was deemed worthy to be the announcer of so many good things. Note 5.96 After the flood, when humanity had finally multiplied, this one alone from them by his own choice was shown to be a priest of the most high God and king of Jerusalem, in the likeness of the Son of God, and he offered as sacrifices to God the most beautiful things of all creation, in which the human race is always strengthened and made glad, according to the Scripture. This one, as a king, surely also admonishing the people governed by him to conduct themselves in these things, continued ministering in this very order and making atonement for his own people. However, being a Canaanite and king of the Canaanites, not being of the race of the forefathers of Abraham, but being known of the genealogy of the Abrahamic forefathers, such a one was shown among men to be righteous, both king and priest. This one first, as a priest, having blessed Abraham and given thanks to God, received tithes from all that Abraham had. 5.97 And I think perhaps I will also speak the truth, that Rebecca, having gone through him, as it is written, inquired then of the Lord concerning the twins she had in her womb, who also heard that: "The elder shall serve the younger"; for as to a priest of God she came out of custom at that time to inquire of the Lord. 5.98 And it spoke of him as without father and without mother and without genealogy, and having neither beginning of days nor end of life, as not being, on the one hand, of the people genealogized from Abraham, but having a likeness, on the other hand, in this also to the Lord Christ, because He is without father according to the flesh, but without mother according to the divinity, and likewise without genealogy, having neither beginning of days as being without beginning according to the divinity, nor having an end of life again according to it, likewise also according to the humanity, as having become immortal and unchangeable. Always, therefore, God reminds people, whether through words or through types, that a certain second state is laid up for people after the life here. ABRAHAM 5.99 This is the great patriarch Abraham, the first of men to leave his fatherland and race and nation, and who believed God and was justified for this reason and because of the promises of God, which God made to him, the one who established myriads from a deadened body and a deadened womb, the one who grew the blessed fruit for the world as from a root, through whom the world is blessed and created anew, the one who announces to the world the resurrection from the dead through works and through promises; through promises, on the one hand, as in this: "In you and in your seed all the nations will be blessed," just as the Apostle also cries out: "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed, which is Christ"; through works, on the other hand, when he offered his only-begotten son as a sacrifice; for thus says the Lord: "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." 5.100 And the apostle Paul cries out: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only-begotten son, to whom it was said: 'In Isaac your seed shall be called,' concluding that God was able to raise him even from the dead, from which he also received him back in a figurative sense." For again also in

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κατὰ σάρκα· μόνος ἐκ τοῦ φυράματος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐλήφθη πρὸς σωτηρίαν παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου καὶ εἰς κρείττονα καὶ οὐράνιον πολιτείαν καὶ διαγωγὴν μετέστη. ∆όξα τῷ Θεῷ. Ἀμήν. 5.95 Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Μελχισεδέκ, ὁ πηλίκος ἱερεὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου, ὁ τοὺς κατὰ νόμον Μωϋσέως ἱερεῖς ἀποδεκατῶν. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς εἰρήνης καὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἅμα καὶ ἱερεὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου, ὁ ἀφωμοιωμένος τῷ Υἱῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ τὴν ἱερωσύνην μήτε ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἑτέρων ἱερέων παραλαβών, μήτε ἑτέροις ἱερεῦσι παραπέμψας. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μὴ κατὰ νόμον Μωϋσέως τὰς λατρείας ἐπιτελῶν, ἀλλ' ἑτέροις κρείττοσι συμβόλοις ἱερουργῶν. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν πατριάρχην Ἀβραὰμ εὐλογήσας, ὁ ἀπάτωρ καὶ ἀμήτωρ καὶ μὴ γενεαλογούμενος ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὁ μόνος ἱερεὺς καὶ βασιλεύς, ὁ ἀφωμοιωμένος τῷ Υἱῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀξιωθεὶς τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν μηνυτής. Παραγραφή 5.96 Μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμόν, τῶν ἀνθρώπων λοιπὸν πληθυνθέντων, οὗτος μόνος ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκ προαιρέσεως ἰδίας ἀνεδείχθη ἱερεὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου καὶ βασιλεὺς τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὰ κάλλιστα πάντων τῶν κτισμάτων, ἐν οἷς ἀεὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος στηρίζεταί τε καὶ εὐφραίνεται, κατὰ τὴν Γραφήν, προσέφερεν ἱερεῖα τῷ Θεῷ. Οὗτος ὡς βασιλεὺς πάντως καὶ τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διοικούμενον λαὸν ἐν τούτοις ἀναστρέφεσθαι νουθετῶν, διετέλει αὐτῇ τῇ τάξει ἱερουργῶν καὶ ἐξιλεούμενος περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου λαοῦ. Χαναναῖος μέντοι ὑπάρχων καὶ τῶν Χαναναίων βασιλεύς, μὴ ὢν ἐκ γένους τῶν προπατόρων Ἀβραάμ, ἀλλὰ γνωστὸς ὢν τῆς γενεαλογίας τῶν προπατόρων Ἀβρααμιαίων, τοιοῦτος παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀνεδείχθη δίκαιος, καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἱερεύς. Οὗτος πρῶτος ὡς ἱερεὺς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ εὐλογήσας καὶ τῷ Θεῷ εὐχαριστήσας δεκάτας ἐλάμβανεν ἀπὸ πάντων, ὧν εἶχεν Ἀβραάμ. 5.97 Οἶμαι δὲ τάχα καὶ ἀληθὲς ἐρῶ καὶ τὴν Ῥεβέκαν διὰ τούτου πορευθεῖσαν, καθὰ γέγραπται, πυθέσθαι τότε παρὰ Κυρίου περὶ ὧν εἶχεν ἐν γαστρὶ διδύμων, ἣ καὶ ἤκουσεν ὅτι· "Ὁ μείζων δουλεύσει τῷ ἐλάσσονι"· ὡς ἱερεῖ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ συνηθείας κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον προσήρχετο πυθέσθαι παρὰ Κυρίου. 5.98 Ἀπάτορα δὲ καὶ ἀμήτορα καὶ ἀγενεαλόγητον αὐτὸν ἐξεῖπε, καὶ μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν μήτε τέλος ζωῆς ἔχοντα, ὡς μὴ ὄντα μὲν τῶν γενεαλογουμένων ἐκ τῶν Ἀβραμιαίων ἀνθρώπων, ἔχοντα δὲ ὁμοίωσιν καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πρὸς τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστόν, ὅτι ἀπάτωρ μέν ἐστι κατὰ σάρκα, ἀμήτωρ δὲ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα, καὶ ὁμοίως ἀγενεαλόγητος, μήτε δὲ ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν ἔχων ὡς ἄναρχος κατὰ τὴν θεότητα, μήτε δὲ ζωῆς τέλος ἔχων πάλιν κατ' αὐτήν, ὁμοίως καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα, ὡς ἀθάνατος γενόμενος καὶ ἄτρεπτος. Ἑκάστοτε τοίνυν ὁ Θεὸς ὑπομιμνῄσκει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, εἴτε διὰ λόγων εἴτε διὰ τύπων, ὡς δευτέρα τις κατάστασις μετὰ τὴν ἐνταῦθα ζωὴν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀπόκειται. ΑΒΡΑΑΜ 5.99 Οὗτος ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης Ἀβραάμ, ὁ πρῶτος ἀνθρώπων καταλείψας πατρίδα καὶ γένος καὶ ἔθνος, καὶ πιστεύσας τῷ Θεῷ καὶ δικαιωθεὶς διὰ τοῦτο καὶ διὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἃς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐποιήσατο ὁ Θεός, ὁ ἐκ νενεκρωμένου σώματος καὶ νενεκρωμένης μήτρας μυριάδας συστησάμενος, ὁ τὸν εὐλογημένον καρπὸν ὡς ἀπὸ ῥίζης φὺς τῷ κόσμῳ, δι' οὗ ὁ κόσμος εὐλογεῖται καὶ ἀνακτίζεται, ὁ δι' ἔργων καὶ δι' ἐπαγγελιῶν μηνύων τῷ κόσμῳ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν· δι' ἐπαγγελιῶν μέν, ὡς τό· "Ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ καὶ ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου πάντα τὰ ἔθνη", καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος βοᾷ· "Τῷ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ ἐρρέθησαν αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ, ὅ ἐστι Χριστός"· δι' ἔργων δέ, ὅτε τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν εἰς θυσίαν προσήνεγκεν· οὕτως γὰρ λέγει ὁ Κύριος· "Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἠγαλλιάσατο ἰδεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἐμήν, καὶ εἶδε καὶ ἐχάρη." 5.100 Ὁ δὲ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος βοᾷ· "Πίστει προσήνεγκεν Ἀβραὰμ τὸν Ἰσαὰκ πειραζόμενος, καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ προσέφερεν ὁ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἀναδεξάμενος, πρὸς ὃν ἐλαλήθη ὅτι· Ἐν Ἰσαὰκ κληθήσεταί σοι σπέρμα, λογισάμενος ὅτι καὶ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγεῖραι δυνατὸς ὁ Θεός, ὅθεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν παραβολῇ ἐκομίσατο." Πάλιν γὰρ καὶ ἐν