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Father" (Frag. 14). It was also by the Father's will that the Son suffered his passion (On Pascha 76), so
Melito could even describe in vivid terms, "He carried the wood on his shoulders as He was led up to be
slain like Isaac by his Father" (Frag. 9). In the Son's resurrection and ascension, the Son offered the
Father a gift (New Frag. II.17) and presently sits at the Father's right hand.
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In his current state the Son
is made judge by the Father (New Frag. II.18) and has been glorified in and exalted by God.
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But there are other passages that suggest some sort of equality of Father and Son--especially in their
relationship to creation. As creatures, Christians worship both God and Christ (Frag. 2).
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In one
controversial passage, On Pascha 9, we read, "For he is all things: inasmuch as he judges, Law;
inasmuch as he teaches, Word; inasmuch as he saves, Grace; inasmuch as he begets, Father; inasmuch as
he is begotten, Son (kaq* o} genna'/ pathvr, kaq* o} genna'tai uiJov"); inasmuch as he suffers, Sheep;
inasmuch as he is buried, Man; inasmuch as he is raised, God (kaq* o} ajnivstatai qeov")." This
language is sometimes understood as implying a "naive modalism."
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However, we must recall the
genre of On Pascha as a rhetorical work, a Paschal homily. Given Melito's other statements that
consistently distinguish the persons of Father and Son, a better explanation for the title "Father" (pathvr)
applied to Christ is that the Son is "father" figuratively in his relationship to creation, which was made
through him and by him (Frag. 15). This, however, should not be understood as diminishing the
relevance of this passage for our present study, for even if Melito was not confusing the persons of
Father and Son, he was at least placing them in an equal relationship to the created order, since both the
Father and the Son can be said to have "begotten" (gennavw) the universe.
Another passage that implies equality between Father and Son is On Pascha 105: "He is the one who
sits at the Father's right hand; he carries the Father and is carried by the Father" (forei' toVn patevra
kaiV uJpoV tou' patroV" forei'tai). Melito's metaphor of "carrying" (fevrw) may mean "to support" or
"uphold," as in Hebrews 1:3--"And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His
nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power (fevrwn te taV pavnta tw'/ rJhvmati th'"
dunavmew" aujtou')." This would suggest that the two persons of Father and Son "uphold" each other in
some sense. Or, Melito could have simply been using the common meaning of "to carry" or "to
transport," so Christ was said to mediate the Father to the world, and Christ himself is mediated to the
world by the Father. In this sense the functioning of Father and Son in revelation to the world would be
reciprocal and Melito would be attempting to raise the person and position of Christ by demonstrating
the mutual dependency of the Father and Son. A final option would incorporate both of the above
understandings, which I believe fits the context of enthronement and also the Christology we find
elsewhere in Melito and in other second century fathers. That is, we are told that the Son is given his
power and authority in his enthronement by the Father (Frag. 15; New Frag. II.18). We are also told that
through the Son's incarnation the Father is revealed on earth (On Pascha 45; Frag. 14, New Frag. II.4).
Melito was perhaps summarizing his past exposition in On Pascha 102­104 where he described the
coming of Christ in power for salvation, dying and rising again, who does the works of the Father and is
God's Messiah and King. In this sense, the Son is carried by the Father (upheld in his exalted position)
and the Father is carried by the Son (in revealing the Father to the world in the economy of the
incarnation).
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If this is the case, there is still a relationship of mutuality and interdependence, though
the roles are distinct and the primary source of authority in the relationship is God the Father.
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On Pascha 104; 105; Frag. 14; 15; New Frag. II.18.
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Frag. 15; 16b; New Frag. II.18; II.22.
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"We are worshippers of the only God who is before all and over all, and of his Christ who is the Word of God before the
ages" (Frag. 2).
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Stewart-Sykes offers up this apologetic for Melito: "In time modalism became recognized as heretical because of its
inadequacies, but it would be unreasonable to apply such a title to Melito, in whose period the complexities of Trinitarian
relationships had not been discussed" (Alistair Stewart-Sykes, The Lamb's High Feast: Melito, Peri Pascha and the Quartodeciman
Paschal Liturgy at Sardis [Leiden: Brill, 1998], 39).
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Melito called the Son "Word" (lovgo") in both a revelatory sense (On Pascha 9) and philosophical sense (Frag. 15; 16b;
New Frag. II.4), though the emphasis appears to be on representing and communicating God's inner-most being to creation.