Letter 549

To Cyprian the Delegator [dielgator, a transliteration of the Latin delegator, an official charged with apportioning and collecting taxes]. You said that you wonder why the honored one among the servants [Abraham's chief steward], when he was being sent into Mesopotamia, does not swear by the head of Abraham, but rather, placing his hand under the thigh, gives the oath to his Master. Abraham knew, and already foresaw with the eyes of the soul, that Christ, the Maker of all things, was destined in his own times to come forth in the flesh from the thighs of Abraham, that is, from his seed; and already, so many generations beforehand, he confessed in advance the mystery that was to be. For "the God who is to be made flesh from my thighs," he says, "is Lord of heaven and earth." Therefore he says to the household servant: "Put your hand under my thigh, and I adjure you by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth."

Θαυμάζειν ἔφης, διατί οὐχὶ κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ὀμνύειν ὁ τίμιος τῶν παίδων πεμπόμενος εἰς Μεσοποταμίαν, ἀλλὰ τῷ μηρῷ ὑποθεὶς τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ παρέχει τῷ Δεσπότῃ τὸν ὅρκον. Ἐγίνωσκεν ὁ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ἤδη προέβλεπεν τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλ- μοῖς τὸν πάντων δημιουργὸν Χριστὸν μέλλειν καὶ- ροῖς ἰδίοις ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, τουτέστιν ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ, προελθεῖν κατὰ σάρκα, καὶ ἤδη προωμολόγει πρὸ τοσούτων γενεῶν τὸ μέλλον μυστήριον. Ὁ γὰρ μέλλων, φησίν, ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν μου σαρκοῦσθαι Θεός, Κύριος ὑπάρχει τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς. Διὸ λέγει τῷ οἰκέτῃ· «Ὑπόθες τὴν χεῖρά σου ὑπὸ τὸν μηρόν μου, καὶ ἐξορκῶ σε Κύ- ριον τὸν Θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς.»