1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
Melito, overseer of the church at Sardis, had numerous other works, but none fully extant, except perhaps his topical Peri Pascha. The present book, called in the LSV collection Discourses of Melito, contains many of the fragments from his discourses and works that are still available today. Notably, from the Book of Extracts (Ch. 6 in the present work), Melito certifiably defines the canon of the Old Testament; this, in combination with the Muratorian Canon (see Apocryphal Fragments), demonstrates quite conclusively that the present 66-book canon is essentially traceable to the 2nd century at the latest, and not post-Nicaea as many conspiracists suppose.
From the Discourse on Soul and Body.
For this reason, the Father sent His Son from Heaven without a bodily form, that, when He should put on a body by means of the Virgin’s womb, and be born man, He might save man, and gather together those members of His which death had scattered when He divided man. . . . The earth shook, and its foundations trembled; the sun fled away, and the elements turned back, and the day was changed [into night]: for they could not endure the sight of their Lord hanging on a tree. The [whole] creation was amazed, marveling and saying, “What new mystery, then, is this? The Judge is judged, and holds His peace; the Invisible One is seen, and is not ashamed; the Incomprehensible is laid hold on, and is not indignant; the Illimitable is circumscribed, and does not resist; the Impossible suffers, and does not avenge; the Immortal dies, and does not answer a word; the Celestial is laid in the grave, and endures! What new mystery is this?” The [whole] creation, I say, was astonished; but, when our Lord arose from the place of the dead, and trampled death underfoot, and bound the strong one, and set man free, then the whole creation clearly saw that for man’s sake the Judge was condemned, and the Invisible was seen, and the Illimitable was circumscribed, and the Impassible suffered, and the Immortal died, and the Celestial was laid in the grave. For our Lord, when He was born man, was condemned in order that He might show mercy, was bound in order that He might loose, was seized in order that He might release, suffered in order that He might feel compassion, died in order that He might give life, was laid in the grave that He might raise [from the dead].
From the Discourse on the Cross.
On these accounts He came to us; on these accounts, though He was incorporeal, He formed for Himself a body after our fashion—appearing as a sheep, yet still remaining the Shepherd; being esteemed a servant, yet not renouncing the Sonship; being carried in the womb of Mary, yet arrayed in the nature of His Father; treading on the earth, yet filling Heaven; appearing as an infant, yet not discarding the eternity of His nature; being invested with a body, yet not circumscribing the unmixed simplicity of His Godhead; being esteemed poor, yet not divested of His riches; needing sustenance inasmuch as He was man, yet not ceasing to feed the entire world inasmuch as He is God; putting on the likeness of a servant, yet not impairing the likeness of His Father. He sustained every character belonging to Him in an immutable nature: He was standing before Pilate, and at the same time was sitting with His Father; He was nailed on the tree, and yet was the Lord of all things.
From the Discourse on Faith.
We have collected together extracts from the Law and the Prophets relating to those things which have been declared concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may prove to your love that this Being is perfect reason, the Word of God; He who was begotten before the light; He who is Creator together with the Father; He who is the Fashioner of man; He who is all in all; He who among the patriarchs is Patriarch; He who in the law is the Law; among the priests, Chief Priest; among kings, the Ruler; among prophets, the Prophet; among the messengers, Chief-messenger; in the voice of the preacher, the Word; among spirits, the Spirit; in the Father, the Son; in God, God; King forever and ever. For this is He who was pilot to Noah; He who was guide to Abraham; He who was bound with Isaac; He who was in exile with Jacob; He who was sold with Joseph; He who was captain of the host with Moses; He who was the divider of the inheritance with Jesus the son of Nun; He who in David and the prophets announced His own sufferings; He who put on a bodily form in the Virgin; He who was born in Beth-Lehem; He who was wrapped in swaddling-clothes in the manger; He who was seen by the shepherds; He who was glorified by the messengers; He who was worshiped by the magi; He who was pointed out by John; He who gathered together the apostles; He who preached the kingdom; He who cured the lame; He who gave light to the blind; He who raised the dead; He who appeared in the temple; He who was not believed on by the people; He who was betrayed by Judas; He who was apprehended by the priests; He who was condemned by Pilate; He who was pierced in the flesh; He who was hanged on the tree; He who was buried in the earth; He who rose from the place of the dead; He who appeared to the apostles; He who was carried up to Heaven; He who is seated at the right hand of the Father; He who is the repose of those that are departed; the recoverer of those that are lost; the light of those that are in darkness; the deliverer of those that are captive; the guide of those that go astray; the asylum of the afflicted; the bridegroom of the Assembly; the charioteer of the cherubim; the captain of the messengers; God who is from God; the Son who is from the Father; Jesus Christ the King forevermore. Amen.
This is He who took a bodily form in the Virgin, and was hanged on the tree, and was buried within the earth, and did not suffer decomposition; He who rose from the place of the dead, and raised up men from the earth—from the grave below to the height of Heaven. This is the Lamb that was slain; this is the Lamb that did not open His mouth. This is He who was born of Mary, fair sheep of the fold. This is He that was taken from the flock, and was led to the slaughter, and was slain in the evening, and was buried at night; He who had no bone of His broken on the tree; He who suffered no decay within the earth; He who rose from the place of the dead, and raised up the race of Adam from the grave below: This is He who was put to death! And where was He put to death? In the midst of Jerusalem. By whom? By Israel: because He cured their lame, and cleansed their lepers, and gave light to their blind, and raised their dead! This was the cause of His death. You, O Israel, were giving commands, and He was being crucified; you were rejoicing, and He was being buried; you were reclining on a soft couch, and He was watching in the grave and the shroud. O Israel, transgressor of the Law, why have you committed this new iniquity, subjecting the Lord to new sufferings—your own Lord, Him who fashioned you, Him who made you, Him who honored you, who called you Israel? But you have not been found to be Israel: for you have not seen God, nor understood the Lord. You have not known, O Israel, that this was the firstborn of God, who was begotten before the sun, who made the light to shine forth, who lighted up the day, who separated the darkness, who fixed the first foundations, who poised the earth, who collected the ocean, who stretched out the expanse, who adorned the world. Bitter were your nails, and sharp; bitter your tongue, which you sharpened; bitter was Judas, to whom you gave hire; bitter your false witnesses, whom you stirred up; bitter your gall, which you prepared; bitter your vinegar, which you made; bitter your hands, filled with blood. You slew your Lord, and He was lifted up on the tree; and an inscription was fixed above, to show who He was that was slain. And who was this? (That which we will not say is too shocking to hear, and that which we will say is very dreadful: nevertheless listen, and tremble.) It was He because of whom the earth quaked; He that hung up the earth in space was Himself hanged up; He that fixed the heavens was fixed with nails; He that bore up the earth was borne up on a tree; the Lord of all was subjected to humiliation in a naked body—God put to death! The King of Israel slain with Israel’s right hand! Woe for the new wickedness of the new murder! The Lord was exposed with naked body: He was not deemed worthy even of covering; and, in order that He might not be seen, the luminaries turned away, and the day became darkened because they slew God, who hung naked on the tree. It was not the body of our Lord that the luminaries covered with darkness when they set, but the eyes of men. For, because the people did not tremble, the earth quaked; because they were not frightened, the earth was frightened. You struck your Lord: you also have been stricken on the earth. And you indeed lie dead; but He is risen from the place of the dead, and ascended to the height of Heaven, having suffered for the sake of those who suffer, and having been bound for the sake of Adam’s race which was imprisoned, and having been judged for the sake of him who was condemned, and having been buried for the sake of him who was buried. . . . This is He who made the heavens and the earth, and in the beginning, together with the Father, fashioned man; who was announced by means of the Law and the Prophets; who put on a bodily form in the Virgin; who was hung on the tree; who was buried in the earth; who rose from the place of the dead, and ascended to the height of Heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father.
He that bore up the earth was borne up on a tree. The Lord was subjected to humiliation with naked body—God put to death—the King of Israel slain!
From the Book of Extracts, Showing the Accepted Canon of the Old Testament.
Melito to his brother Onesimus: Greetings! As you have often, prompted by your regard for the word of God, expressed a wish to have some extracts made from the Law and the Prophets concerning the Savior, and concerning our faith in general, and have desired, moreover, to obtain an accurate account of the Ancient Books, as regards their number and their arrangement, I have striven to the best of my ability to perform this task: knowing full well your zeal for the faith, and your eagerness to become acquainted with the word, and especially because I am assured that, through your yearning after God, you esteem these things beyond all things else, engaged as you are in a struggle for eternal salvation. I accordingly proceeded to the East and went to the very spot where the things in question were preached and took place; and, having made myself accurately acquainted with the books of the Old Testament, I have set them down below, and herein send you the list. Their names are as follows: The five books of Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, the two of Chronicles, the book of the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, also called the Book of Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job, the books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, of the twelve contained in a single book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From these I have made my extracts, dividing them into six books.
From the Catena on Genesis.
In place of Isaac the just, a ram appeared for slaughter, in order that Isaac might be liberated from his bonds. The slaughter of this animal redeemed Isaac from death. In like manner, the Lord, being slain, saved us; being bound, He loosed us; being sacrificed, He redeemed us . . . For the Lord was a lamb, like the ram which Abraham saw caught in the bush Sabec. But this bush represented the cross, and that place Jerusalem, and the lamb the Lord bound for slaughter. For as a ram He was bound—he says concerning our Lord Jesus Christ—and as a lamb He was shorn, and as a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb He was crucified; and He carried the cross on His shoulders when He was led up to the hill to be slain, as was Isaac by his father. But Christ suffered, and Isaac did not suffer: for he was but a type of Him who should suffer. Yet, even when serving only for a type of Christ, he struck men with astonishment and fear. For a new mystery was presented to view: a son led by his father to a mountain to be slain, whose feet he bound together, and laid him on the wood of the sacrifice, preparing with care whatever was necessary to his immolation. Isaac on his part is silent, bound like a ram, not opening his mouth, nor uttering a sound with his voice. For, not fearing the knife, nor quailing before the fire, nor troubled by the prospect of suffering, he sustained bravely the character of the type of the Lord. Accordingly, there lies Isaac before us, with his feet bound like a ram, his father standing by, with the knife all bare in his hand, not shrinking from shedding the blood of his son.
Two Scholia on Genesis 22:13.
The Syriac and the Hebrew use the word “suspended,” as more clearly typifying the Cross. The word Sabek some have rendered [forgiveness], others [upright], as if the meaning, agreeing with the popular belief, were a goat walking erect up to a bush, and there standing erect caught by his horns, so as to be a plain type of the Cross. For this reason, it is not translated, because the single Hebrew word signifies in other languages many things. To those, however, who ask it is proper to give an answer, and to say that Sabek denotes [lifted up].
From the Discourse on the nature of Christ.
For there is no need, to persons of intelligence, to attempt to prove, from the deeds of Christ subsequent to His immersion, that His soul and His body, His human nature like ours, were real, and no phantom of the imagination. For the deeds done by Christ after His immersion, and especially His miracles, gave indication and assurance to the world of the Deity hidden in His flesh. For, being at once both God and perfect man likewise, He gave us sure indications of His two natures: of His Deity, by His miracles during the three years that elapsed after His immersion; of His humanity, during the thirty similar periods which preceded His immersion, in which, by reason of His low estate as regards the flesh, He concealed the signs of His Deity, although He was the true God existing before all ages.
1. The head of the Lord: His simple Divinity; because He is the Beginning and Creator of all things in Daniel.
2. The white hair of the Lord, because He is “the Ancient of Days” (as above).
3. The eyes of the Lord: the Divine inspection: because He sees all things. Like that in the apostle: “For all things are naked and open in His eyes.”
4. The eyelids of the Lord: hidden spiritual mysteries in the Divine precepts. In the Psalm: “His eyelids question, that is to test the children of men.”
5. The smelling of the Lord: His delight in the prayers or works of the holy ones. In Genesis: “And the Lord smelled an odor of sweetness.”
6. The mouth of the Lord: His Son, or word addressed to men. In the prophet: “The mouth of the Lord has spoken”; and elsewhere: “They provoked His mouth to anger.”
7. The tongue of the Lord: His Holy Spirit. In the Psalm: “My tongue is a pen.”
8. The face of the Lord: His manifestation. In Exodus: “My face will go before you”; and in the prophet: “The face of the Lord divided them.”
9. The word of the Lord: His Son. In the Psalm: “My heart has uttered a good word.”
10. The arm of the Lord: His Son, by whom He has worked all His works. In the prophet Isaiah: “And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”
11. The right hand of the Lord: that is, His Son; as also above in the Psalm: “The right hand of the Lord has done valiantly.”
12. The right hand of the Lord: as in Deuteronomy: “In His right hand is a fiery law.”
13. The wings of the Lord: Divine protection. In the Psalm: “In the shadow of Your wings will I hope.”
14. The shoulder of the Lord: the Divine power, by which He lowers to carry the feeble. In Deuteronomy: “He took them up and put them on His shoulders.”
15. The hand of the Lord: Divine operation. In the prophet: “Have not My hands made all these things?”
16. The finger of the Lord: the Holy Spirit, by whose operation the tables of the Law in Exodus are said to have been written; and in the Gospel: “If I by the finger of God cast out demons.”
17. The fingers of the Lord: The lawgiver Moses, or the prophets. In the Psalm: “I will regard the heavens,” that is, the books of the Law and the Prophets, “the works of Your fingers.”
18. The wisdom of the Lord: His Son. In the apostle: “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God”; and in Solomon: “The wisdom of the Lord reaches from one end to the other mightily.”
19. The womb of the Lord: the hidden recess of Deity out of which He brought forth His Son. In the Psalm: “Out of the womb, before dawn, have I borne You.”
20. The feet of the Lord: His immovableness and eternity. In the Psalm: “And thick darkness was under His feet.”
21. The throne of the Lord: messengers, or holy ones, or simply sovereign dominion. In the Psalm: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
22. The seat [of the Lord]: the same as above, messengers or holy ones, because the Lord sits on these. In the Psalm: “The Lord sat on His holy seat.”
23. The descent of the Lord: His visitation of men. As in Micah: “Behold, the Lord will come forth from His place; He will come down trampling underfoot the ends of the earth.” Likewise in a bad sense. In Genesis: “The Lord came down to see the tower.”
24. The ascent of the Lord: the raising up of man, who is taken from earth to Heaven. In the Psalm: “Who ascends above the Heaven of heavens to the east.”
25. The standing of the Lord: the patience of the Deity, by which He bears with sinners that they may come to conversion. As in Habakkuk: “He good and measured the earth; and in the Gospel: “Jesus stood, and bade him to be called,” that is, the blind man.
26. The transition of the Lord: His assumption of our flesh, through which by His birth, His death, His resurrection, His ascent into Heaven, He made transitions, so to say. In the Song of Songs: “Behold, He comes, leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills.”
27. The going of the Lord: His coming or visitation. In the Psalm.
28. The way of the Lord: the operation of the Deity. As in Job, in speaking of the devil: “He is the beginning of the ways of the Lord.”
29. Again: The ways of the Lord: His precepts. In Hosea: “For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the just will walk in them.”
30. The footsteps of the Lord: the signs of His secret operations. As in the Psalm: “And Your footsteps will not be known.”
31. The knowledge of the Lord: that which makes men to know Him. To Abraham He says: “Now I know that you fear the Lord”; that is, I have made you to know.
32. The ignorance of God is His disapproval. In the Gospel: “I know you not.”
33. The remembrance of God: His mercy, by which He rejects and has mercy on whom He will. So in Genesis: “The Lord remembered Noah”; and in another passage: “The Lord has remembered His people.”
34. The conversion of the Lord: His change of procedure. As in the book of Kings: “I have changed My mind that I have made Saul king.”
35. The anger and wrath of the Lord: the vengeance of the Deity on sinners, when He bears with them with a view to punishment, does not at once judge them according to strict equity. As in the Psalm: “In His anger and in His wrath will He trouble them.”
36. The sleeping of the Lord: when, in the thoughts of some, His faithfulness is not sufficiently wakeful. In the Psalm: “Awake, why do You sleep, O Lord?”
37. The watches of the Lord: in the guardianship of His chosen, He is always at hand by the presence of His Deity. In the Psalm: “Behold! He will not slumber nor sleep.”
38. The sitting of the Lord: His ruling. In the Psalm: “The Lord sits on His holy seat.”
39. The footstool of the Lord: man assumed by the Word; or His holy ones, as some think. In the Psalm: “Worship [at] His footstool, for it is holy.”
40. The walking of the Lord: the delight of the Deity in the walks of His chosen. In the prophet: “I will walk in them and will be their Lord.”
41. The trumpet of the Lord: His mighty voice. In the apostle: “At the command, and at the voice of the chief-messenger, and at the trumpet of God, will He descend from Heaven.”