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For the blessed Paul says of God the of all things: "To the incorruptible, invisible, only, wise God"; but concerning the only-begotten he says: "Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." And again: "Wisdom was given to us from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption." The one who is truly a philosopher would rightly be called a lover of God. But the lover of God, despising all other things and seeing only the beloved, prefers His worship above all things together, saying and doing and thinking only those things which please and serve the beloved, and abominating all that He forbids. 31.16 Adam, having slighted this love, and having become ungrateful toward his benefactor, reaped thorns and labors and hardships as the wages of his ingratitude. Abel, having kept this love steadfast for the provider of good things, and having despised the pleasures of the belly, but choosing the worship of God, was adorned with undefiled crowns, and he journeys through every generation, reaping praise through memory. Enoch, having acquired this true and genuine love, both sowed well, and reaped better, and received as the reward for his worship of God his translation, and immortal life for a time, and a glorious and celebrated memory throughout all his life. What could one say about the love of God of Noah, which not even the rush of the lawless refuted? But when all had turned aside and chosen the opposite way, he alone walked the straight path, preferring the creator above all things together; for which reason, he alone with his children obtained salvation, and a seed was left for nature, and a spark was preserved for the race. Thus Melchizedek the great high priest, having abominated the madness of those who chose to worship idols, dedicated his own priesthood to the creator of all things; for which reason, he received that great reward, becoming a type and shadow of the one who is in truth without father and without mother and without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. 31.17 But the account, proceeding on its way, has arrived at him who was called the friend of God, who both kept and taught the laws of friendship precisely. For who of those thus instructed in divine things is ignorant of how Abraham the great patriarch obeyed when God called, how he left his paternal house, and chose the foreign land over his fatherland? Since he at once loved the one who had called him, he resolved to place all other things second to His friendship, and having often fallen into many difficulties, he did not abandon his beloved, as one who did not bring fulfillment to the promises; but even when oppressed by thirst, and prevented from drinking water from the wells he had dug, he neither became angry at the one who had called him, nor defended himself against his wrongdoers. He also received the assault of famine, and did not extinguish the torch of love; his wife was also taken from him, one radiant in beauty, and adorned with modesty, and who through all things provided him a life pleasing to his heart; and with his wife, his love for God was not taken away. But even with God defending him, and exercising him in long-suffering, and permitting him to receive the assaults of injustice, he remained loving just the same. And he became an old man, and did not become a father, and he was disposed in the same way toward the one who had promised to make him a father, but had not yet done so. But when at last he also received the promise, and the nature of Sarah was overcome, and the limits of old age were surpassed, and he was shown to be the father of Isaac, for a short time he enjoyed the gladness from this; but when the child became a young man he was ordered to offer him as a sacrifice to the one who had given him, and to give the gift back to the provider, and to become a priest of the fruit of the promise, and to bring the great fountain of the nations as a sacrifice, and to redden his hands with the blood of an only-begotten child.

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μὲν γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ὁ μακάριος λέγει Παῦλος· "Ἀφθάρτῳ, ἀοράτῳ, μόνῳ, σοφῷ θεῷ"· περὶ δὲ τοῦ μονογενοῦς φησι· "Χριστός, θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία". Καὶ πάλιν· "Ἐδόθη ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπὸ θεοῦ, δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις." Ὁ τοίνυν τῷ ὄντι φιλόσοφος καὶ φιλόθεος ἂν εἰκότως καλοῖτο. Ὁ δὲ φιλόθεος τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ὑπερφρονῶν καὶ τὸν ἐρώμενον μόνον ὁρῶν, πάντων ὁμοῦ τὴν ἐκείνου προτίθησι θεραπείαν, ἐκεῖνα μόνα καὶ λέγων καὶ πράττων καὶ λογιζόμενος ἃ τὸν ἀγαπώμενον ἀρέσκει καὶ θεραπεύει, καὶ μυσαττόμενος ἅπαντα ὅσα ἐκεῖνος ἀπαγορεύει. 31.16 Ταύτης Ἀδὰμ τῆς ἀγάπης ὀλιγωρήσας, καὶ περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην ἀγνώμων γενόμενος, ἀκάνθας καὶ πόνους καὶ ταλαιπωρίας ἐδρέψατο τῆς ἀχαριστίας μισθόν. Ταύτην Ἄβελ τῷ χορηγῷ τῶν ἀγαθῶν βεβαίαν διαφυλάξας, καὶ τῶν μὲν τῆς γαστρὸς ἡδονῶν καταφρονήσας, τὴν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ προελόμενος θεραπείαν, τοῖς ἀκηρατοῖς κατεκοσμήθη στεφάνοις, καὶ διὰ πάσης γενεᾶς ὁδεύει, τὴν εὐφημίαν διὰ τῆς μνήμης καρπούμενος. Ταύτην Ἐνὼχ ἀληθῆ καὶ γνησίαν κτησάμενος, καὶ ἔσπειρε καλῶς, καὶ ἐθέρισεν ἄμεινον, καὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ θεραπείας μισθὸν ἐκομίσατο τὴν μετάθεσιν, καὶ τὴν ἀθάνατον τέως ζωήν, καὶ τὴν διὰ τοῦ βίου παντὸς εὐκλεᾶ καὶ ἀοίδιμον μνήμην. Τί ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῆς τοῦ Νῶε φιλοθεΐας, ἣν οὐδὲ τῶν παρανόμων διήλεγξεν ἡ φορά; Ἀλλὰ πάντων ἐκκλινάντων, καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν προελομένων, μόνος τὴν εὐθεῖαν ὥδευσε, πάντων ὁμοῦ τὸν ποιητὴν προτιθείς· οὗ χάριν, καὶ μόνος μετὰ τῶν παίδων τῆς σωτηρίας τετύχηκε, καὶ σπέρμα κατε λείφθη τῇ φύσει, καὶ σπινθὴρ ἐφυλάχθη τῷ γένει. Οὕτω Μελχισεδὲκ ὁ μέγας ἀρχιερεύς, τῶν τὰ εἴδωλα σέβειν προελομένων τὴν ἄνοιαν βδελυξάμενος, τῷ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων τὴν οἰκείαν ἱερωσύνην ἀνέθηκεν· οὗ χάριν, τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον μισθὸν ἐκομίσατο, τύπος γενόμενος καὶ σκιὰ τοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀπάτορος καὶ ἀμήτορος καὶ ἀγενεαλογήτου, μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν, μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχοντος. 31.17 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁδῷ βαδίζων ὁ λόγος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀφίκετο τὸν χρηματίσαντα τοῦ θεοῦ φίλον, τὸν ἀκριβῶς τῆς φιλίας τοὺς νόμους καὶ φυλάξαντα καὶ διδάξαντα. Τίς γὰρ ἀγνοεῖ τῶν οὕτω πως τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευμένων, ὅπως ὑπήκουσεν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης καλέσαντι τῷ θεῷ, ὅπως τὴν πατρῴαν κατέλιπεν οἰκίαν, καὶ τῆς πατρίδος τὴν ξένην προείλετο; Ἐπειδήπερ ἅπαξ ἠράσθη τοῦ κεκληκότος, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα δεύτερα τῆς ἐκείνου φιλίας ἐδοκίμασε θέσθαι, καὶ πολλαῖς πολλάκις δυσκολίαις περιπεσών, οὐ κατέλιπε τὸν ἐρώμενον, ὡς ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις οὐκ ἐπιθέντα τὸ πέρας· ἀλλὰ καὶ δίψει πιεζόμενος, καὶ πιεῖν ὕδωρ ἀφ' ὧν ὤρυξε φρεάτων εἰργόμενος, οὔτε κατὰ τοῦ καλέ σαντος ἐδυσχέρανεν, οὔτε τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἠμύνατο. Ἐδέξατο καὶ λιμοῦ προσβολήν, καὶ οὐκ ἔσβεσε τὸν τῆς ἀγάπης πυρσόν· ἀφῃρέθη καὶ τὴν ὁμόζυγα, καὶ ὥρᾳ λάμπουσαν, καὶ σωφροσύνῃ κοσμουμένην, καὶ διὰ πάντων αὐτῷ θυμήρη τὸν βίον παρέχουσαν· καὶ οὐ συναφῃρέθη τὴν περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἀγάπην τῇ γυναικί. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπαμύνοντος τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ τῇ μακροθυμίᾳ γυμνάζοντος, καὶ συγχωροῦντος δέχεσθαι τῆς ἀδικίας τὰς προσβολάς, ὁμοίως διέμεινεν ἀγαπῶν. Καὶ πρεσβύτης ἐγένετο, καὶ πατὴρ οὐκ ἐγένετο, καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν πατέρα ποιήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενον μέν, οὐ πεποιηκότα δὲ τέως, ὁμοίως διέκειτο. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὀψέ ποτε καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἔλαβε, καὶ τῆς Σάρρας τὴν φύσιν ἐνίκησε, καὶ τοῦ γήρους ὑπερέβη τοὺς ὅρους, καὶ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ ἀπεφάνθη πατήρ, ὀλίγον μὲν χρόνον τῆς ἐντεῦθεν θυμηδίας ἀπήλαυσε· μειράκιον δὲ τὸ παιδίον γενόμενον προσενεγκεῖν εἰς θυσίαν προσετάχθη τῷ δεδωκότι, καὶ τὸ δῶρον ἀντιδοῦναι τῷ χορηγῷ, καὶ ἱερεὺς γενέσθαι τοῦ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας καρποῦ, καὶ προσαγαγεῖν εἰς θυσίαν τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν μεγάλην πηγήν, καὶ αἵματι μονογενοῦς παιδὸς καταφοινίξαι τὰς χεῖρας.