Orth. -Then we assert that Melchisedec was begotten?
Eran. -Yes.
Orth. -But the passage about him teaches the opposite. Remember the words which you quoted a moment ago, "Without father without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life." How then do the words "Without father and without mother" fit him; and how the statement that he neither received beginning of existence nor end, since all this transcends humanity?
Eran. -These things do in fact overstep the limits of human nature.
Orth. -Then shall we say that the Apostle told lies?
Eran. -God forbid.
Orth. -How then is it possible both to testify to the truth of the Apostle, and apply the supernatural to Melchisedec?
Eran. -The passage is a very difficult one, and requires much explanation.
Orth. -For any one willing to consider it with attention it will not be hard to attain perception of the meaning of the words. After saying "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life," the divine Apostle adds "made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." Here he plainly teaches us that the Lord Christ is archetype of Melchisedec in things concerningthe human nature. And he speaks of Melchisedec as "made like unto the Son of God." Now let us examine the point in this manner;-do you say that the Lord had a father according to the flesh?
Eran. -Certainly not.
Orth. -Why?
Eran. -He was born of the holy Virgin alone.
Orth. -He is therefore properly styled "without father"?
Eran. -True.
Orth. -Do you say that according to the divine Nature He had a mother?
Eran. -Certainly not.
Orth. -For He was begotten of the Father alone before the ages?
Eran. -Agreed.
Orth. -And yet, as the generation He has of the Father is ineffable, He is spoken of as "without descent." "Who" says the prophet "shall declare His generation?"
Eran. -You are right.
Orth. -Thus it becomes Him to have neither beginning of days nor end of life; for He is without beginning, indestructible, and, in a word, eternal, and coeternal with the Father.
Eran. -This is my view too. But we must now consider how this fits the admirable Melchisedec.
Orth. -As an image and type. The image, as we have just observed, has not all the properties of the archetype. Thus to the Saviour these qualities are proper both by nature and in reality; but the story of the origin of the race has attributed them to Melchisedec. For after telling us of the father of the patriarch Abraham, and of the father and mother of Isaac, and in like manner of Jacob and of his sons, and exhibiting the pedigree of our first forefathers, of Melchisedec it records neither the father nor the mother, nor does it teach that he traced his descent from any one of Noah's sons, to the end that he may be a type of Him who is in reality without father, and without mother. And this is what the divine Apostle would have us understand, for in this very passage he says further, "But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises."
Eran. -Then, since Holy Scripture has not mentioned his parents, can he be called without father and without mother?
Orth. -If he had really been without father and without mother, he would not have been an image, but a reality. But since these are his qualities not by nature, but according to the dispensation of the Divine Scripture, he exhibits the type of the reality.