Christ the true Melchizedek: without father on earth, without mother in heaven
Eustathius is closing his treatise by explaining how Melchizedek's unrecorded genealogy points to Christ, who alone is truly without father on earth and without mother in heaven.
For Christ is without father on earth according to the flesh, and without mother in the heavens according to the spirit, according to the divinity. Such also is the one who has neither beginning of days nor end of life. Scripture did not trace a genealogy for Melchizedek, but omitted his birth and his death, so that, as we said before, we might behold this one in him. For Melchizedek is interpreted as king of righteousness, who is Christ, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. The Word of God was neither begotten at a beginning of days, nor did he ever cease or come to an end, for Christ remains forever.
So Melchizedek was a righteous man and truly bore the image of God in himself. Moved therefore by prophetic spirit, he understood the offering that was to be brought to God by Christ, and he honored God with bread and wine, imitating the Christ who was to come. Since in the synagogue of the Jews the order of Aaron offered sacrifice to God—not bread and wine, but calves and lambs, glorifying God with bloody sacrifices—God cried out to Jesus, who was to be born from the virgin Mary, saying: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4; LXX 109:4), not according to Aaron, who served with bloody sacrifices, but according to the order of Melchizedek, bringing the offering of the nations in bread and wine perpetually.
Greek
Ἀπάτωρ
γὰρ ἐπὶ γῆς Χριστὸς κατὰ σάρκα, ἀμήτωρ ἐν οὐρανοῖς κατὰ πνεῦμα κατὰ τὴν θεότητα· τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχων. Οὐ γὰρ ἐγενεαλόγησεν ἡ γραφὴ τὸν Μελχισεδέκ, ἀλλὰ παρέλιπεν αὐτοῦ τὴν γέννησιν καὶ τὴν τελευτήν, ἵνα, καθὰ προείπαμεν, ἐν ἐκείνῳ τοῦτον θεωρήσωμεν. Βασιλεὺς γὰρ δικαιοσύνης ἑρμηνεύεται Μελχισεδέκ, ὅς ἐστι Χριστὸς μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν ἕχων μήτε ζωῆς τέλος· οὔτε γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἡμερῶν ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἐγεννήθη, οὔτε ἔληξέ ποτε ἢ ἐτελεύτησεν, εἰς ἀεὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς διαμένει. Οὕτως οὖν ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ ἀνὴρ δίκαιος γέγονε καὶ ἀληθῶς εἰκόνα Θεοῦ φέρων ἐν ἑαυτῷ· προφητικῷ τοίνυν πνεύματι κινούμενος τὴν μέλλουσαν ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ προσφορὰν τῷ Θεῷ προσκομίζεσθαι νοήσας, ἄρτῳ καὶ οἴνῳ τὸν Θεὸν ἐγέραιρεν μιμούμενος τὸν μέλλοντα Χριστόν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίων συναγωγῇ ἡ τάξις τοῦ Ἀαρὼν θυσίαν προσέφερε τῷ Θεῷ, οὐκ ἄρτον καὶ οἶνον, ἀλλὰ μόσχους καὶ ἀμνούς, ἐναίμοις θυσίαις δοξάζουσα τὸν Θεόν, ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν μέλλοντα γεννᾶσθαι ἐκ τῆς παρθένου Μαρίας Ἰησοῦν ἐβόα λέγων· Σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ, οὐ κατὰ τὸν Ἀαρὼν τὸν ἐναίμοις θυσίαις λατρεύοντα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδὲκ ἐν ἄρτῳ καὶ οἴνῳ τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν προσκομίζων προσφορὰν εἰς τὸ διηνεκές.