In illud Ascendit dominus in templo

On the passage, “When the Lord went up into the temple,” in the middle of the feast, and on Melchisedek. On Mid-Pentecost. Streams and apple and palm and the other fruits of orchard trees sweeten the throat of the body; but divine words of holy teachers, mingled with love, conveyed to the hearing of instruction, sweeten the throat of the soul. And just as he who has gathered the fruits of the trees, in the partaking of the fruits, gives praise to the trees; likewise also he who has gathered the divine oracles of the teachers in the basket of hearing, then conveyed them to the mind, and tasted the sweetness of the word, sending forth praises to the teacher from his lips, says: How sweet to my throat are your words, more than honey and honeycomb to my mouth! And the most wise Solomon, likening good words to honeycombs, says: Honeycombs are good words. For just as the throat, tasting foods, knows how to distinguish the good from the bad; likewise also the mind of the soul knows how to distinguish useful words from the bad, as it says in Job: For the throat tastes foods, but the mind distinguishes words.

Let no one suppose that a householder may have in his own garden various trees—I mean palms, apples, and olives—but that the Lord in his own garden, the Church, does not have various stocks of the fathers, each according to its own excellence offering the fruits of its words from the depth of the heart for the enjoyment of those who enter. For one of them is like a flourishing olive, thick with the leaves of faith and laden with the fruits of piety; another is like a palm, crowned with the branches of victory over the devil and putting forth the sweetest fruit of beneficence for the poor, concerning whom Scripture says, “The righteous will blossom like a palm.” Another is like an apple, providing two delights to men—I mean the fragrance and the sweetness to the throat. And praising such a one in the Song of Songs, what does the Bride Church say? “Like an apple among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons of Israel.” And she says, “In his shade I desired and sat down, and his fruit is sweet in my throat.” What then shall I do, beloved, I who possess but a meager leafage of words and fruits, able neither to refresh those who are parched nor to nourish the hungry with the fruits of words? For it would be good for me to learn the teachings of the holy fathers along with you. But since fear of God and your longing rouse us to speak, let us take two or three sayings of the sweetest Gospel like palms, and after tasting them, let us rouse you.

For thus you will eagerly hasten, burning in spirit, to the fruit-bearing trees of the holy fathers. Just now we heard the evangelist saying, "In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught." The word of the Gospel did not pass by, since the time of the feast has come; the reading of the Gospel is fitting for the present occasion, the narrative is suitable for the day; for the power of the word is sister to the present feast. "In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple"; but when the feast was completed, he no longer goes up into the temple, but runs up into heaven. "In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple." He says "feast," not the one that takes place among Greeks and Jews, where there are drinking bouts, revels, licentious songs, charms of fine singing, and intricate dances, but a holy feast befitting Christians, where there are not drinking bouts and revels, but prayers, hymns, and supplications; where there are not licentious songs that weaken bodies, but divine songs that strengthen souls; where there are not intricate dances, but the leaping of holy souls in exultation. And if you wish to see what those who sing and dance and leap among us are like, look at Isaiah singing and saying, "I will sing a song to my beloved, to my vineyard." And behold also a chorus of holy women, Mary the sister of Moses, together with other Israelite women, singing victory hymns to God and saying, "Let us sing to the Lord; for he has been gloriously glorified.

Of this David also makes mention in his hymns, saying, "In the midst of young women playing tambourines in the churches, bless the Lord." And the same blessed David is not ashamed to dance before the God-bearing ark, as one may hear him saying, "And I will play, and laugh, and dance before the Lord." For the infant John, the child of Elizabeth, seeing the God-bearing cluster still hidden in the unwed womb, leaped dancing in the linen of the belly. In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple. Now a temple is a dwelling place for God alone. For even the Greeks say, "We have a temple," not knowing that that is not a temple but a defilement. For where there is outpouring of blood and libations, and idolatrous smoke and rites of demons, that would not be a temple but a defilement of demons. In the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple. Now a temple is a dwelling place set apart for God alone, where love and peace, where faith and chastity abide. For this reason also the priest of God who performs the sacred rites for God must be peaceful and calm, without theft, without guile, without love of money, so that first God may be established in his soul, and then he may reshape the people according to his own image. The soul of every faithful person that has been purified can also be called a temple: "For I will dwell in you and walk about in you." But the truly holy temple, and sacrifice, and priest, is Christ himself, in whom, according to the divine Apostle, the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily; to whom the Father said, "You are priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Now, having fallen unexpectedly into a most weighty inquiry, I am at a loss where to turn the eye of my mind, whither to steer the rudder of my teaching—I know not. For if the Apostle, when he came to the passage concerning Melchizedek, hesitated to expound it in detail, saying, "Concerning whom we have much discourse, and it is hard to interpret," what could I say, who am as far beneath the Apostle as human discernment is from his? And just as a traveler, as long as he proceeds along some smooth and level road, gladly completes his journey; but when he comes to a place that is very rough or steep and hard to traverse, where there is a mountain reaching to the sky, he stops, and considering the toil of the ascent, begins to walk slowly, lest he quickly give out—so also we, as long as we had the smooth and level ground of the Gospel, gladly proceeded with the step of our discourse; but when we have arrived at a thought that reaches to the sky, we begin to step slowly upon the heavenly ladder of interpretation. What then is the doctrine sought after by all Christians? Why, they say, did the Apostle, when he mentioned Melchizedek, call him fatherless and without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life? This one would not be a man, but a God. And many, not understanding what has been said about him, have declared him to be greater than Christ, and have established for themselves a heresy, and they are called Melchizedekians; and contending with us and wishing to show that Melchizedek is greater than Christ, they bring forward as a witness the Scripture which says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

For how," he says, "would Melchizedek not be greater, in whose image and order Christ serves as priest?" But others, having been led astray, say that he is the Holy Spirit. We, however, say that he is a man of like passions with us, and that he is neither greater than Christ—what am I saying, than Christ?—but not even than John the Baptist. For the word of the Lord is true: 'Truly I say to you, among those born of women, none greater than John the Baptist has arisen.' Nor, indeed, is he the Holy Spirit. And that Melchizedek is not greater than Christ, let those who say this tell us of what realm or what region they say he is. Is it of the heavenly? Is it of the earthly? Is it of the subterranean? If, then, they say that Melchizedek is of the heavenly or of some other region, let them hear that his knee bends to Christ; for the Apostle says that 'Every knee will bend to him, and every tongue will confess, of the heavenly, the earthly, and the subterranean.' If, then, Melchizedek bends his knee to Christ, Melchizedek, as one who worships, would be lesser than Christ, who is worshipped by him. But why do these wretches not also hear the next verse spoken by the Apostle, so that they may learn that he is lesser than Christ? For he adds, saying, 'Having been made like the Son of God,' just as we also were made in the image and likeness of Christ. But perhaps one of the hearers asks and says: 'What, then, does it mean that Melchizedek is called fatherless, motherless, and without genealogy?' To him we will say that the Jews have said that he was born of fornication, and for this reason he is not genealogized by Scripture.

To them we will say, "You have spoken wrongly; for we find others born from fornication and yet genealogically recorded. Immediately Solomon, born from the wife of Uriah, was genealogically recorded, and Abimelech, son of Gideon, who was born from fornication, was genealogically recorded. For what reason, then, is Melchizedek not genealogically recorded? But because Melchizedek was a type of Christ and bore the image of Christ. For this reason, Scripture omitted his father and mother and related him as without genealogy, so that in him, as in an image, we might behold Christ, who is truly fatherless, motherless, and without genealogy. For Christ is fatherless on earth according to the flesh, motherless in the heavens according to the Spirit, according to the divinity. Such also is the one who has neither beginning of days nor end of life. For Scripture did not record the genealogy of Melchizedek but omitted both his birth and his death, so that, as we said before, in him we might behold the true Melchizedek. For Melchizedek is interpreted as 'king of righteousness,' who is Christ, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. For neither did God the Word have a beginning of days, nor did he ever cease or die; for Christ endures forever. For the Melchizedekians argue against us, saying, 'What then is it that the Father says to him, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek"?'

To them we say that this Melchizedek was a righteous man, and truly bore the image of God in himself. Moved, therefore, by the prophetic Spirit, and having understood that the offering which would later be brought to God by Christ was now being presented, he honored God with bread and wine, imitating the future Christ. Since, then, in the synagogue of the Jews the order of Aaron offered sacrifice, not bread and wine, but honored God with calves and lambs and blood sacrifices, God cries out and says to Jesus, who was to be born from the virgin Mary: "You are priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to the order of Aaron, who serves with calves and lambs and blood sacrifices, but, You are priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, bringing the offering of the nations with bread and wine perpetually." But lest we seem, beloved, to be trifling by prolonging the discourse, having stopped the discourse here, we will refer you to the fathers' spring of teaching, who will both quench the thirst of your soul and gladden your hearts, filling you with the Holy Spirit, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.