ACC ~ Hebrews 7 v1

A PRIEST FOREVER. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: An ancient priest of the Mosaic order could only be selected from the tribe of Levi. It was obligatory without exception that he should be of the family descending from Aaron and do service to God in outward worship with the sacrifices and blood of irrational animals. But he that is named Melchizedek, which in Greek is translated “king of righteousness,” who was king of Salem, which would mean “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without line of descent, not having, according to the account, “beginning of years or end of life,” had no characteristics shared by the Aaronic priesthood. For he was not chosen by humans, he was not anointed with prepared oil, he was not of the tribe of those who had not yet been born; and, strangest of all, he was not even circumcised in his flesh, and yet he blesses Abraham, as if he were far better than he. He did not act as priest to the Most High God with sacrifices and libations, nor did he minister at the temple in Jerusalem. How could he? It did not yet exist. And he was such, of course, because there was going to be no similarity between our Savior Christ and Aaron, for he was neither to be designated priest after a period when he was not priest, nor was he to become priest, but be it. For we should notice carefully in the words, “You are a priest forever,” he does not say, “You shall be what you were not before,” any more than, “You were that before which you are not now”—but by him who said, “I am who I am,” it is said, “You are, and remain, a priest forever.” …

And the fulfillment of the oracle is truly wondrous to one who recognizes how our Savior Jesus, the Christ of God, now performs through his ministers even today sacrifices after the manner of Melchizedek’s. For just as he, who was priest of the Gentiles, is not represented as offering outward sacrifices but as blessing Abraham only with wine and bread, so in exactly the same way our Lord and Savior himself first, and then all his priests among all nations, perform the spiritual sacrifice according to the customs of the church and with wine and bread darkly express the mysteries of his body and saving blood. This by the Holy Spirit Melchizedek foresaw and used the figures of what was to come, as the Scripture of Moses witnesses, when it says, “And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abraham.” And thus it followed that to him only was the addition of an oath, “The Lord God has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”

The psalm too, continuing, even shows in veiled phrase the passion of [Christ], saying, “He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.”And another psalm shows “the brook” to mean the time of temptations: “Our soul has passed through the brook; yes, our soul has passed through the deep waters.” He drinks, then, in the brook, that cup of which he darkly spoke at the time of his passion, when he said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” And also, “If this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

It was, then, by drinking this cup that he lifted up his head, as the apostle says, for when he was “obedient unto death, even death on a cross, therefore,” he says, “God has highly exalted him,”raising him from the dead and setting him at his right hand, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name which is named, not only in this world but in that which is to come. And he has put all things in subjection under his feet, according to the promise made to him, which he expresses through the psalmist, saying, “Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool. … Rule in the midst of your foes.”

It is plain to all that today the power of our Savior and the word of his teaching rule over all them that have believed in him, in the midst of his enemies and foes. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 5.3.

NOT IN THE LINE OF AARON. AUGUSTINE: On receiving this promise Abraham moved on and stayed in another place in the same land, Hebron, near the Oak of Mamre. … But he received at the same time a public blessing from Melchizedek, who was “a priest of the Most High God.”Many important things are written about Melchizedek in the epistle entitled “To the Hebrews,” which the majority attribute to the apostle Paul, though many deny the attribution. Here we certainly see the first manifestation of the sacrifice which is now offered to God by Christians in the whole world, in which is fulfilled what was said in prophecy, long after this event, to Christ who was yet to come in the flesh: “you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” Not, it is observed, in the line of Aaron, for that line was to be abolished when the events prefigured by these shadows came to the light of day. CITY OF GOD 16.22.

MELCHIZEDEK’S PRIESTHOOD. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: It is for a reason that we are reminded how Melchizedek met with Abraham after his victory over the Assyrians and gave him one-tenth of all the spoils. This indicates that Melchizedek, the priest, was a forefather of the tribe of the Levites. However, the priesthood without the law is greater than that under the law. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 7.1-2.

PRIEST OF THOSE IN UNCIRCUMCISION. JUSTIN MARTYR: And Melchizedek was priest of those who were in uncircumcision, and he blessed Abraham who was in circumcision, who offered him tithes. Thus God has shown that his eternal priest, also called “Lord” by the Holy Spirit, would become priest of those in uncircumcision. DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 33.

INSTITUTED THE SAME TYPE OF SACRIFICE THAT WAS TO COME. BEDE: Just as our Redeemer, when he appeared in the flesh, deigned to become like a king to us by bestowing a heavenly kingdom, so too did he become a high priest by offering himself for us as a sacrifice to God with an odor of sweetness. Hence it is written, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” Melchizedek, as we read, was a priest of the Most High God long before the time of the priesthood of the law, and he offered bread and wine to the Lord. Our Redeemer is said to be a priest “after the order of Melchizedek” because he put aside the sacrificial victims stipulated by the law and instituted the same type of sacrifice to be offered in the new covenant in the mystery of his own body and blood. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.19.

THE ONE PREFIGURED BY MELCHIZEDEK. LEO THE GREAT: We therefore confess, dearly beloved, not rashly but with faith, that the Lord Jesus Christ is present in the midst of believers. Although he “sits at the right hand” of God the Father “until he makes of his enemies a footstool,” the high priest has not left the assembly of his priests.

Fittingly does this chant rise up to him from the mouth of the whole church and from that of all priests, “The Lord has sworn, and he will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”He himself is the true and eternal bishop whose ministry can neither change nor end. He is the one prefigured by the high priest Melchizedek.

Attached to oaths among human beings are certain conditions that have been made irrevocable by permanent guarantees. Surety for the divine oath can therefore be found in promises that have been fixed by immutable decrees. Since regret implies a change of will, God does not regret what, according to his eternal good pleasure, he cannot want to be otherwise than how he has wanted it. SERMON 5.3.

MELCHIZEDEK BORE A TYPE OF CHRIST. CYPRIAN: Also in the priest Melchizedek we see prefigured the sacrament of the sacrifice of the Lord, according to what divine Scripture testifies and says, “And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine.” Now he was a priest of the Most High God and blessed Abraham. And that Melchizedek bore a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the psalms, saying from the person of the Father to the Son, “Before the morning star I begat you; you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” That order is assuredly this, coming from that sacrifice and thence descending, that Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God; that he offered wine and bread; that he blessed Abraham. For who is more a priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered a sacrifice to God the Father and offered that very same thing which Melchi-zedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, to wit, his body and blood? And with respect to Abraham, that blessing going before belonged to our people. For if Abraham believed in God and it was accounted unto him as righteousness, assuredly whosoever believes in God and lives in faith is found righteous and already is blessed in faithful Abraham and is set forth as justified. This the blessed apostle Paul proves, when he says, “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ So you see that it is people of faith who are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith.”Thus in the Gospel we find that “children of Abraham are raised from stones, that is, are gathered from the Gentiles.” And when the Lord praised Zacchaeus, he answered and said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.” In Genesis, therefore, that the benediction, in respect of Abraham by Melchizedek the priest, might be duly celebrated, the figure of Christ’s sacrifice precedes, namely, as ordained in bread and wine. The Lord, completing and fulfilling, offered bread and the cup mixed with wine, and so he who is the fullness of truth fulfilled the truth of the image prefigured. LETTER 62.4.

THE THINGS THEY IMAGINE ABOUT MELCHIZEDEK. EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: These people honor Melchizedek, the one mentioned in the Scriptures, and regard him as some great power. They consider him to be [in the heavens] above, in places that cannot be named, and in their error they claim as truth not only that he is not just a power, but also that he is greater than Christ. Also, supposedly based on a literal reading of the saying “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,” they believe that Christ merely came and was deemed worthy of the order [of Melchizedek]. Therefore, they say, Christ is inferior to Melchizedek. For if his status were not somehow secondary, he would not need the order of [Melchizedek].

As for Melchizedek himself, they say that he came into being “without mother, without father, without genealogy,” as they would like to show from St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews. They also fabricate spurious books for their own use, and so deceive themselves.

Yet, their refutation comes from the very writings themselves. After all, at the same time David prophesies that the Lord will be established a priest after the order of Melchizedek,the sacred Scripture is also saying that Christ will be a priest. What we find is that [speaking of Melchizedek, St. Paul] adds immediately, “resembling the Son of God he remains a priest for ever.” If he resembles the Son of God, he is not equal to the Son of God. For how can the servant be equal to the master? You see, Melchizedek was a man, and the designation “without father, without mother,” is not said because he did not have a father or a mother, but because they were not explicitly named in the sacred Scripture. . . .

Remember that, even though some give an account of Melchizedek’s father and mother, there is no basis for this in the canonical and established Scriptures. … And of how many others is the genealogy not clearly given [in the Scriptures]? Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Elijah the Tishbite—neither their fathers nor their mothers are mentioned anywhere in the canonical Scriptures. . . .

What are we, then, to say? Will the examples of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego force our imagination to consider what we ought not and marvel with excessive owe, beyond all measure, at each of their cases, considering them to be without father and without mother? Let it not be so! After all, the traditions of the apostles and the holy Scriptures and the successions of teachers have been set as our boundaries and foundations for the building up of our faith; and the truth of God is has been protected from every side, so that no one would be deceived by empty myths. PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHIZEDEKIANS 1.1—3.8.

MELCHIZEDEK NOT PART OF THE HEAVENLY ORDER. EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: But I return to the matter at hand, namely, the things these people imagine about Melchizedek. On the one hand, it is clear that he was a holy man, a priest of God, and the king of Salem, and on the other, that he was not of the heavenly order, nor did he descend from heaven; for, as the holy God, the Word, who does not lie, says: “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” As for the order of Melchizedek, when the divine Scripture proclaimed and the Spirit clearly taught about it, they revealed the transposition of the priesthood from the ancient synagogue and the nation onto the finest and best nation, which is not united by descent from the [same] flesh. You see, this holy man, Melchizedek, had neither descendants after him nor was his priesthood removed. For he remained a priest all the days of his life and even still he is praised in Scripture as a priest, since no one either succeeded him or abolished the priesthood during the time of his service. So also our Lord, though he was not a human being—but the holy divine Word of God, Son of God, begotten without beginning nor in time, being always with the Father, who for us became a human being, of Mary and not by the seed of man—offers the priesthood to the Father, having taken the clay from his humanity, so that, on our behalf, he may be established a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, which has no succession. And he remains [as such], forever offering gifts on our behalf, having first offered himself through the cross, so that he may abolish every sacrifice of the old covenant, offering the most perfect and living sacrifice on behalf of the whole world: he is the sacrificial victim, he is the offering, he is the priest, he is the altar, he is God, he is human, he is King, he is High Priest, he is sheep, he is lamb, having become all in all on our behalf, so that life may be ours in every way, and so that the unmovable foundation of his priesthood may be established forever, no longer allotting it according to the flesh and successions, but granting that it might be preserved by the Holy Spirit, according to his decree. PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHIZEDEKIANS 4.1-7.

MELCHIZEDEK AS HOLY SPIRIT? EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: And then again, others come to imagine various things by what they say about this Melchizedek. You see, since they do not understand spiritually what is being said by the holy apostle in the same letter to the Hebrews, they are condemned to an [understanding that is] according to the flesh. The Egyptian heresiarch Hieracas considers this Melchizedek to be the Holy Spirit because of the phrase “Resembling the Son of God he remains a priest forever,” as though this ought to be interpreted by the words of the apostle when he said, “the Spirit intercedes for us through wordless sighs.”Yet, the one who is able to understand the mind of the Spirit knows that he intercedes with God on behalf of the elect. In this way [Hieracas] has fallen completely off the prescribed path. For the Spirit never took on flesh, and, not having taken on flesh, he could not be king of Salem and priest of any place. PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHIZEDEKIANS 5.1-4.

MELCHIZEDEK AS SHEM? EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: And how many things about this Melchi-zedek others also imagine! The Samaritans, for example, consider him to be Shem, the son of Noah; but they, too, will be found to be absurd. For the sacred Scripture, which safeguards everything with good order, has fortified the truth from all sides, and it has not set the order of the times and the years of the lives of each of the patriarchs and enumerated their successions in vain. After all, when Abraham was eighty-eight or, more or less, ninety years old, Melchizedek met him and offered him loaves of bread and wine, prefiguring the mysteries through the types; types, that is, of the Lord’s body—since the Lord himself says, “I am the living bread”—and types of his blood, which flowed from his side for the cleansing of those who have been defiled and the sprinkling and salvation of our souls. . . .

Shem, however, of whom we spoke before, and whom the Samaritans imagine to be Melchi-zedek, fathered Arpachshadin the one hundred second year of his life, and altogether there were 1,241 years until the time of Abraham, when he met Melchizedek on his return from the slaughter of the kings, Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal.

And Shem did not live as many years as their silly imagination thinks, but he was 102 years old when he fathered Arpachshad, in the second year after the flood. “And after these events, he lived,” as the sacred Scripture says, “for five hundred years, and had other sons and daughters, and he died.” Now then, since he lived for 602 years and then died, how is it possible for him to reach the span of 1,241 years, so that Shem, the son of Noah, who preceded Abraham by ten generations, may be called Melchizedek by them, after ten generations, after 1,241 years? O, the great deceit of men! And according to the evidence of other manuscripts, from the age of Shem—from the time in which Shem lived—until the time at which Abraham met Melchizedek, as was stated before, which was during [Abraham’s] eighty-eight or ninetieth year of life, 628 years passed, more or less. All of this evidence, therefore, means that it is impossible for Shem to have reached the period of Abraham, so as to be identified with Melchizedek. Thus, the nonsense of the Samaritans is destroyed in every way. PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHIZEDEKIANS 6.1-11.

MELCHIZEDEK A SON OF A HARLOT? EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: And then again, the Jews say that though he himself was a righteous man and good and a priest of the Most High, just as the sacred Scripture says, it is because he was the son of a prostitute that his mother is not recorded and his father is not known. But their silly assertion, too, has been deposed. After all, Rahab was a prostitute and she is recorded, so also Zimri, who committed fornication, is recorded, as well as Cozbi after him, even though she was a foreigner and she did not descent from the nation of Israel…. “Everyone who does not enter by the door,” as the holy Gospel said, “is a thief and not a shepherd.” PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHI-ZEDEKIANS 7.1-2.

MELCHIZEDEK THE SON OF GOD? EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: And even in the church there are some who consider this Melchizedek to be by nature different. That is, they consider him to be essentially the Son of God, who appeared to Abraham in the form of a man. They, too, fall away from the path; for no one ever became like [the Son of God] just as the sacred Scripture states, that “resembling the Son of God he remains a priest for ever.” Indeed, “this man who does not belong to their genealogy collected tithes from Abraham”; and since he is not counted to have descended from the Israelites themselves, he is counted as having descended from other people. . . .

And so the ideas of all the heresies are shown to be futile. See now, even these have denied their master who “bought them with his own blood,” who did not begin to exist since Mary, as they think, but who is the divine Word, always with the Father, begotten of the Father without a beginning and not in time, just as the whole Scripture attests. It was him, and not to Melchizedek, that the Father also said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.”For even though he [Melchizedek] was a priest of God Most High in his own generation and had no successors who came after him, he did not come down from heaven. After all, the Scripture did not say that he “brought down” bread and wine, but that he “brought them out” to [Abraham] and those with him when he received the patriarch who was passing by, coming from [the battle with] the kings. And he blessed [Abraham] because of his righteousness and because of the faithfulness and the piety of the man. For, even though he was tested in all things, the patriarch did not fall away from righteousness in the slightest, but God was his helper even against those who truly fell upon the land of Sodom and carried away even his own nephew, the holy Lot, whom [Abraham] brought back with all the spoil and booty.

Where, then, can we not find that the Son was always with the Father? For it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and not “In the beginning was Melchizedek,” or “Melchizedek was God.” PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHIZEDEKIANS 7.3—9.6.

MELCHIZEDEK THE FATHER OF JESUS? EPIPHANIUS OF SALAMIS: Again, it has been reported to us that some, who have been deceived more than anything that we have said before and have been inflamed by greater pride of intellect, have dared to turn to an unthinkable notion and have arrived to a blasphemous idea, saying that this Melchizedek is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. O, what careless minds people have, and what deceitful hearts, not having a place for truth! Since the apostle says that Melchizedek is “without father” and “without mother” and “without genealogy,” because of the exaggeration of the phrase these people misunderstand the notion and think that what is said corresponds to the Father of all, and thus describe for themselves a blasphemous error. Because the Father of all, God the almighty, has neither father nor mother nor beginning of days nor end of life—and this is confessed by all—they have fallen into the foolish blasphemy of comparing him to Melchizedek, because the apostle has spoken of him like this, not understanding the other things said about him. That is, concerning Melchizedek it is said that “he was a priest of the Most High.” Now, if [Melchizedek] is the “Most High” and “Father,” then, as the priest of another “Most High,” he cannot be himself the “Father of all,” for he serves another “Most High” as priest.

O, the confusion of people, who do not understand what is true but bend themselves towards error! To give the final solution to the whole affair, the holy apostle brought together everything and said: “This man who does not have his descent from them” (clearly meaning “but from others”), “received tithes from Abraham,” and again he said, “who, in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and petitions, to him who was able to save him”—it is obvious that the Father did not take on flesh.

And now that we have discussed sufficiently, let us leave this heresy, for we have stuck it with the firm faith that is supported, as if we had struck down a field-mouse with a stone, and have avoided its deadly poison. For they say that the field-mouse does not harm immediately the one it bites but, in time, it destroys the body and infects with leprosy every limb of the one who is injured. Likewise, even though this heresy may not sound as much to the minds of those who first hear it, as it dwells in their minds, it creates questions and, from there, leads to the destruction of those who have not happened on the remedy of this antidote, namely, the refutation and counterargument I have given against it.

The mouse is not seen readily. It walks about at night and so works its harm, especially in the land of the Egyptians. Those who know about the animal understand that I do not make mention it either incidentally or sycophantically, but from this they can compare the harm done by the heresy: for such is the damage it does. PANARION 4, AGAINST MELCHIZEDEKIANS 9.11-18.

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