Monday, November 20, 2023

Theophilus to Autolycus 2.31 on Melchizedek and Subsequent Priests

 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).