Theophilus of Antioch, in Theophilus to Autolycus 2.31, wrote the following concerning Melchizedek:
And
at that time there was a righteous king called Melchisedek, in the city of
Salem, which now is Jerusalem. This was the first priest of all priests of the
Most High God; and from him the above-named city Hierosolyma was called
Jerusalem. And from his time priests were found in all the earth ('Απο
τουτου ευρεθησαν και ιερεις γινομενοι επι πασαν την γην [PG 6:1104]). And after
him reigned Abimelech in Gerar; and after him another Abimelech. Then reigned
Ephron, surnamed the Hittite. Such are the names of the kings that were in
former times. And the rest of the kings of the Assyrians, during an interval of
many years, have been passed over in silence unrecorded, all writers narrating
the events of our recent days. There were these kings of Assyria:
Tiglath-Pileser, and after him Shalmaneser, then Sennacherib; and Adrammelech
the Ethiopian, who also reigned over Egypt, was his triarch;—though these
things, in comparison with our books, are quite recent.
The Greek does not simply indicate
that one could find priests (ιερευς) upon the earth; it also states that priests were made
(γινομαι).
