Hebreus 7
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Hebreus 7:1-3
This is Melchisedek — that so great priest of God most high, who received tithes from the priests under the Mosaic law. This is the King of peace and righteousness, and at the same time a priest of God most high, who was made like to the Son of God — who neither received the priesthood in succession to other priests, nor transmitted it to other priests. This is he who did not perform the rites of divine worship according to the law of Moses, but exercised his priestly office with other and more excellent symbols. This is he who blessed the patriarch Abraham, he who was without father and without mother and did not trace his descent from them; the only person who was priest and king, who was made like to the Son of God, and was held worthy to be the revealer of so many good things. — The Christian Topography, Book 5
Hebreus 7:17
For it is testified of him, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Behold how in the clearest terms he speaks of Christ as a perpetual priest in virtue of His power and indissoluble life. How then is it possible for the Priest to be indissoluble whilst the Tabernacle, of which He is the minister, is subject to be dissolved? For he says: A minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, thus here, as also in Heb. vi, 16, 17, and 20, and x, 34, expressly declaring it to be true and indissoluble. — The Christian Topography, Book 7
Hebreus 7:23-26
For the high priest being eternal, of necessity the salvation also and the Tabernacle are eternal, in accordance again with what is written: And they indeed are many priests, because that by death they are hindered from continuing: but he, because he abideth for ever, hath his priesthood unchangeable. Wherefore also, he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing that he always liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. The expression higher than the heavens means, according to the idiom of the language, heaven; and, more clearly still, the expressions "unchangeable", and "the abiding for ever", and "always" indicate a state of things that is indissoluble. For if the priest is unchangeable, the Tabernacle also, wherein he exercises his office, must of necessity be unchangeable, that is, exempt from succession. — The Christian Topography, Book 7