Pseudo-Athenasius History of Melchizedek

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Stirling Bartholomew
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Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Pseudo-Athenasius History of Melchizedek

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Pseudo-Athenasius History of Melchizedek

Spent the last several weeks focusing on the priesthood of Melchizedek. Yesterday I discovered a ninth century (?) folk tale about Melchizedek. The first few lines read somewhat similar to Genesis narrative. This is easy reading. Thought it might provide an amusing diversion.
Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἦν τις βασίλισσα Σαλὴμ, κατὰ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως· ἐγέννησε δὲ τὸν Σαλαάδ. Σαλαὰδ δὲ ἐγέννησε Μελχί. Μελχὶ δὲ ἔσχε γυναῖκα κατὰ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς Σαλήμ· ἔτεκε δὲ αὐτῷ δύο υἱοὺς, ἕνα καλούμενον τὸν Μελχὶ, καὶ ἕτερον Μελχισεδέκ. Ἦν δὲ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῶν Ἕλλην, ἄσωτος, θυσίας ἐπιτελῶν τοῖς εἰδώλοις. Συνέφθασε δὲ καιρὸς ἐπιτήδειος τοῦ θυσιάζειν τοῖς εἰδώλοις· ἦν γὰρ θυσιάζων ἐν τῷ δωδεκαθέῳ· καὶ λέγει Μελχὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ ἑαυτοῦ υἱῷ Μελχισεδέκ· Λάβε μετὰ σοῦ ἐκ τῶν παιδαρίων, καὶ ἄπελθε εἰς τὸ βουκόλιον, καὶ πρόσαγέ μοι ἑπτὰ μόσχους, ἵνα θύσωμεν τοῖς θεοῖς. Ἀπερχόμενος οὖν ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ, ἔννοια θεϊκὴ ἐπῆλθεν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ ἀτενίσας τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἠτένιζε τῷ ἡλίῳ, καὶ ἐνεθυμεῖτο περὶ τῆς σελήνης καὶ τῶν ἄστρων· καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ γενόμενος εἶπεν· Εἴ τις ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν, τὴν γῆν, καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ τὰ ἄστρα, ἐκείνῳ ὀφείλει δοθῆναι ἡ θυσία τῷ κτίσαντι αὐτά. [1]
You can read about it here:

The Story of Abraham and Melchizedek in the
Palaea Historica
, William Adler

https://www.academia.edu/37229749/The_S ... _Historica

[1]
http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Mig ... sedech.pdf
Note: This text is in the TLG public/open corpus.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Pseudo-Athenasius History of Melchizedek

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

That looks like a lot of fun, thanks.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
nathaniel j. erickson
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Re: Pseudo-Athenasius History of Melchizedek

Post by nathaniel j. erickson »

This is great! Thanks for posting it, along with links to the whole text.
Nathaniel J. Erickson
NT PhD candidate, ABD
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
ntgreeketal.com
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