Historia de Melchisedech

By the same author, why Melchisedech was called "fatherless, motherless, and without genealogy." A history of Melchisedech. In that time there was a certain queen, Salem, named after the city; she gave birth to Salaad. Salaad gave birth to Melchi. Melchi took a wife named after her, Salem; she bore him two sons, one called Melchi, and the other Melchisedech. Their father was a Greek, a profligate, performing sacrifices to the idols. A suitable time arrived for sacrificing to the idols; for he was sacrificing in the dodekatheon. And Melchi the king says to his own son Melchisedech: "Take with you some of the boys, and go to the cattle pen, and bring me seven calves, so that we may sacrifice to the gods." So Melchisedech, as he went, a divine thought came upon him along the way, and gazing with his eyes at the sky, he looked at the sun, and pondered about the moon and the stars; and coming to himself he said: "If someone made the sky, the earth, and the sea, and the stars, to that one the sacrifice ought to be given, to the one who created them. The signs of the sky make it clear to me that their creator rests above them, incorruptible, invisible, immortal, the only God existing in heaven and on earth, knowing the blasphemies of hearts; he is the true God; to him the sacrifice ought to be given. So let me go to my father, and I will reason with him; perhaps he will listen to me." Melchisedech returned, bringing nothing. When his father saw him, he says to him: "Where are the calves?" Melchisedech says to him:

Do not be angry, father king, but hear me out. And he said, “What do you have to say? Say it quickly.” And Melchisedech says, “Come, let us not give the sacrifice which we are to offer to these gods; for these do not seem to me to be gods; but rather let us offer sacrifice to the one who rests above the heavens. For he is the God of gods.” And his father, angered, says to him, “Go; bring what I told you, or you will not live.” And as Melchisedech went again to the cattle pen, King Salem Melchi went to his wife Salem, saying to her, “Come, let us offer one of our sons as a sacrifice.” And his wife, hearing this, wept bitterly; for she knew that the king, under pretext, wished to kill Melchisedech because he had reproached him concerning the sacrifice. And the queen groaned and said, “Alas, I have labored and toiled in vain.” And seeing her, the king said to her, “Do not weep, but come, let us cast lots; and if the lot falls to me, I will choose whom I wish and give him as a sacrifice to our gods; but if the lot falls to you, choose whom you wish and keep him safe.” He said this, thinking he would win the lot against the priest; and casting the lot, the queen won, and she chose Melchisedech, whom she loved. And King Salem, defeated by his wife, prepared the son who fell to him by lot for sacrifice; for he feared to offend his gods. And Melchisedech came and brought the seven calves. And his father, taking the son who fell to him by lot, proceeded to the temple of the idols in the Dodekatheon; and three hundred and three children were brought together for the sacrifice by their own fathers.

and another three hundred from the mothers, and countless cattle and sheep, and the sacrifice was made ready. But Salem, the mother of Melchisedech, sitting in her house, cried out with a loud voice and says to Melchisedech, “Do you not weep for your brother, that after so much labor he is going to be slaughtered?” And hearing this from her, he wept, and says to his mother, “I have need of you until this point.” And rising up, he went up to Mount Thabor. And his mother, rising up, went to the temple of the idols to see her own son before he was slaughtered, and her whole family. But Melchisedech, having gone up to Mount Thabor, bending his knees, said, “O God, the Lord of all, who made the heaven and the earth, I call upon you, the only true God; hear me at this hour, and command that as many as have come to the sacrifice of my brother Melchi, the place become Hades and swallow them up.” And God heard Melchisedech, and immediately the earth gaped open and swallowed them and the whole tribe of Melchi, together with the entire city; and neither man, nor altar, nor temple, nor beast, nor any creature of the whole city remained, but everything was swallowed up. And Melchisedech came down from Mount Thabor, and seeing that God had heard him, in great fear he returned again to the mountain, and going into the thicket of the wood, he lived there as a solitary for seven years, naked as he came from his mother’s womb; and his nails became a span long, and the hairs of his head reached to his loins, and his back became like the skin of a tortoise.

His food was tree fruits, and his drink was dew, which he licked. And after the seven years, a voice came to Abraham, saying, "Abraham, Abraham." And Abraham said, "My Lord." And it said, "Saddle your beast of burden, and carry costly garments and a razor, and go up to Mount Thabor, and cry out three times: 'Man of God'; and a wild man will come. Do not be afraid of him, but shave him, and cut his nails, and clothe him, and be blessed by him." And Abraham did as the Lord commanded him, and went up to Mount Thabor, and stood in the thickets of the wood, and cried out three times: "Man of God." And Melchisedech came out, and saw Abraham, and was afraid. And Melchisedech said to him, "Do not be afraid, but tell me: Who are you, and whom do you seek?" And Abraham said, "The Lord commanded me to shave you and cut your nails, and clothe you, and be blessed by you." And Melchisedech said to him, "Do as the Lord commanded you." And Abraham did as the Lord commanded him. And coming down from Mount Thabor after three days, Melchisedech took a horn of oil, and sealing it with the word of God, blessed Abraham, saying, "You are blessed by the Most High God, and henceforth your name is called 'of the perfected,' and no longer is your name called Abram, but your name shall be perfect, Abraham." And again a voice came to Abraham; and he said, "What, my Lord?" And the Lord said to him,

Since no one from the race of Melchisedek remained upon the earth, for this reason he will be called fatherless, motherless, unregistered in genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life; but he is likened to the Son of God, and remains a priest forever. And I loved him as I loved my beloved Son, because he kept my commandments and will keep them forever. So that he might not seem to have no beginning of days, because no one knows when he was born, nor his genealogy, nor his father, nor his mother, for this reason he is called fatherless, motherless, and unregistered in genealogy; and because he pleased God, he remains a priest perpetually. So when Melchisedek met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, he gave him a cup of wine, invisibly placing upon it a fragment of bread, and to his people, who were three hundred and eighteen men, which is called boukakraton to this day. In this manner he was likened to the Son of God, but not in grace; and thus he became the first type of the bloodless sacrifice of the Savior, bearing it into the holy offering. Therefore it says: "You are a priest forever according to the order

Melchisedek, since he became a type of the holy offering, having given it to Abraham, and to the 318. Thus also the holy Fathers were found at the city of Nicaea in due time, who also set the faith straight; whose number, in likeness of the patriarch Abraham, is three hundred and eighteen holy bishops in the council. To our God is due glory now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.